notes / comments

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Societies are made to protect the individuals within that are seeking refuge and protection...and in return individuals contrive, in the name of honor, patriotism, to preserve that ideal. To the extent of personnel sacrifices...
Aforesaid, it's not really a matter of ignorance nor submissiveness. And I personally wouldn't go on in the details of different entities and concepts. Besides, Isolating "entities" as per (regime) to either support and oppose would seem absurd in the bigger picture. It's like a chain; brake a link, you'll end up loosing it all.
I'd say patriotism is a good business provided that the two concerned parties remain "faithful" to each
other. Citizens and societies, neither can persist without the other.

As for "Armenian patriotism" regarding the Diaspora. It's more of a puzzle.
A Citizen as in Dictionary.com is a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection
What are we? where lies our allegiance?
The exclusiveness of these "entities", would make sense here. (True only amongst Armenians that's what they say!
But is it healthy to choose different "entities" from different "Homelands" to end up with a mix that sets our eccentricity?!

sorry, i don't follow you.
are you saying under Hitler a good german would be a member of the nazi party and under stalin a good armenian would be a stalinist perhaps even a commissar of culture and an executioner?
i hope not!/ara

[zourna]

Re: notes / comments

No!
Again, am not speaking of regimes or "entities" as you mentioned.
I'm rather generalizing the human-society relation.

There is no such thing as good person, be it Armenian, German... We are all survivals, and in that sense, we are constantly (subconsciously) calculating the odds of every move we make.
So a member in the Nazi party would rather be an opportunist than a good or bad German.

[zourna]

Re: notes / comments

Saturday, August 18, 2007
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ON BEING A PROUD ARMENIAN
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What’s wrong with being a humble Armenian?
#

We're not that great!

And I would most probably deal with those infatuated proud ones; they always tend to be dumb and ignorant. The humble ones have the scales off of their eyes. Hard to make a profitable deal in this case.

When does life end and death begins?! We're made of stardust, energy. Energies don't die out; they propagate and create new energies. Scientists will be able to amplify Hitler’s speeches in the future (at least in theory). Sound is lost because of low amplitudes it doesn’t extirpate.
Are we going to die? I don't think so, that of course if we are not zombies in the first place.

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

No!
Again, am not speaking of regimes or "entities" as you mentioned.
I'm rather generalizing the human-society relation.

There is no such thing as good person, be it Armenian, German... We are all survivals, and in that sense, we are constantly (subconsciously) calculating the odds of every move we make.
So a member in the Nazi party would rather be an opportunist than a good or bad German.

a german under Hitler who was not an opportunist but a man of principle, condemned himself to extinction. the instinct for survival is more an animal than a human attribute.

[zourna]

Re: notes / comments

a german under Hitler who was not an opportunist but a man of principle, condemned himself to extinction. the instinct for survival is more an animal than a human attribute.

I agree. However,
I believe we sapiens are socialized primates, superior animals as some say. Characterized by our faculty of abstract thinking.
We all carry traits from our parents, just like we all carry traits from our ancestors... Our gene pool is strikingly similar to those of the animals namely of the apes. around 90% of our genes are common.

Survival is our basic instinct, our driving force... without it we are hopeless we'll be extinct. Not much has been changed since the dawn of life, the rules are the same. We're players; the game: survival of the fit. Don't be fooled by the new more "civilized" customs, new polite accommodations. you just have to scratch the surface to reveal the true intentions...

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Sunday, August 19, 2007
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OREOS
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Some of my readers think if a writer does not parrot their views, his license to use a pen should be revoked. The only reason it isn’t, there is no agency authorized to do so. To which I say, thank god for that! Let them miss the good old days under Stalin when to express a dissenting view meant a bullet in the neck. And to think that these readers classify themselves as good Armenians. They may think like fascist butchers but they assess themselves as dedicated patriots. The other day I was accused of calling one of my readers a racist. Did I? I am not sure. One should never call a fool a racist. I know what I am saying because I had an Armenian education and I was brought up as a fool and a racist. I even wrote a racist book – my opus one – and when a Canadian critic called me a racist in his review I was so taken aback that I dismissed the charge as perverse. Can a victim of racism be a racist? As the offspring of perennial victims, is it not my human right to despise and even hate victimizers? But if I hate my victimizers, in what way am I different from them? If I think of Turks the way Turks thought of us, am I not like some of my readers who would gladly see me silenced permanently if possible? If the only reason I don’t exterminate Turks today is that I don’t have the power to do so, am I not an oreo – Armenian on the outside, Turk on the inside?
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

I agree. However,
I believe we sapiens are socialized primates, superior animals as some say. Characterized by our faculty of abstract thinking.
We all carry traits from our parents, just like we all carry traits from our ancestors... Our gene pool is strikingly similar to those of the animals namely of the apes. around 90% of our genes are common.

Survival is our basic instinct, our driving force... without it we are hopeless we'll be extinct. Not much has been changed since the dawn of life, the rules are the same. We're players; the game: survival of the fit. Don't be fooled by the new more "civilized" customs, new polite accommodations. you just have to scratch the surface to reveal the true intentions...

we all know that united we stand (or survive), divided we fall. and yet we have allowed ourselves to be divided by our tribal leaders. how does that fit into your instinct for survival?

[zourna]

Re: notes / comments

True, But let's just not generalize. Different tribes have different needs, different strategies for survival. Some would choose to fight along side with the invader to secure their properties in real estate, human lives... They are labeled traitors, but I call them survivors. Not that I am supportive of such an act...

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

Monday, August 20, 2007
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MEMO: FOR THE SUGGESTION BOX
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We do the right thing when we mourn our victims. But we do the wrong thing when we mourn only our victims. We should mourn for all victims, including Turkish victims.
Mourn for the enemy? No other civilized nation does that, why should we?
That’s no excuse. Let’s be as daring and progressive as we were in the 4th century. We did not wait then for the rest of the world to civilize itself. We showed them the way. It was the rest of the world that followed our example by converting to Christianity, a religion that speaks of God as our Father. Which means we, all of mankind, including infidels, are brothers and sisters. There are no infidels in the eyes of the Lord, only prodigal sons who sooner or later are destined to return to the fold.
#

[arabaliozian]

Re: notes / comments

True, But let's just not generalize. Different tribes have different needs, different strategies for survival. Some would choose to fight along side with the invader to secure their properties in real estate, human lives... They are labeled traitors, but I call them survivors. Not that I am supportive of such an act...

how do you assess a nation whose best and the brightest did not survive?
and if they did not survive, what are the chances that the balance will survive? what if ours is the death of a thousand cuts, most of them self-inflicted?