Confessions

[arabaliozian]

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

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CONFESSIONS OF A LIBERAL

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In one of his books Ben Bagdikian says that conservatives like Murdoch, Conrad Black, and Buckley control most of the media in America, and yet they bitch about the liberal media. Something similar could be said about our own pro-establishment right wingers, who control not only our media but also our community centers, schools, university chairs, and institutions. Hence the misconception that we never had it so good because we are in good hands. As for the one or two minor problems, like our mafia democracy in the Homeland: they will fix themselves in twenty or thirty years. What about dissenting voices? What dissenting voices? I don’t hear them. They don’t hear them because they have been ruthlessly and systematically silenced.

*

There is a tendency in America to exaggerate the importance of words spoken in anger – Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic tirade when arrested for drunk driving, for instance. When angry we say things we don’t always mean. I have myself said many harsh things in anger even about my mother whom I love very much. That doesn’t make me anti-motherhood or for that matter, God forbid, anti-apple pie.

*

Speaking of motherhood: some Armenians look down at fellow Armenians who cannot speak their mother tongue. To them I ask: What’s the use of speaking Armenian if the sentiments you express are Ottoman?

*

I have been called a variety of names, none of them remotely close to honest. And yet, that has been my sole aim in life: to be an honest witness.

*

If you think you are a better Armenian, it is of course your privilege to do so and I will say nothing to disabuse you -- only warn you: if you expect all Armenians to agree with you, be prepared to be disappointed and end your days as a bitter old man.

*

As for our ultra-conservative Turcocentric pundits and their ubiquitous, predictable, and cliché-ridden commentaries: the only way to describe them is to say they are ideal instances of diarrhea of words and constipation of ideas.

*

As Brahms used to say on his way out from a party: “I apologize to anyone I may have neglected to offend.”

#

[Dinozavrik]

And.............What do you want to say by this?

[arabaliozian]

And.............What do you want to say by this?

i can give you reasons but i cannot give you understanding.

[arabaliozian]

UNTITLED

******************************

by Shavarsh Nartuni

***************************************

Translator’s note: the original of what follows

is in prose. I did not go out of my way to versify it.

It came out that way. I am not a poet. I have

written only one poem in my life, a bad poem, as befits

the bad man who inspired it.

About Nartuni: he was not a poet but a doctor who

produced several volumes of prose (published in

book form only posthumously). He lived in Paris. This

translation (my very first) was published 25 years ago

in ARARAT Quarterly in New York.

***************************************************************

This morning more than ever

I am seized by an irresistible longing

to speak my mother tongue.

I search for an Armenian,

any Armenian, with whom I can speak.

If you understand this strange,

irresistible longing,

please help me.

I would like to meet an Armenian,

any Armenian,

even an alienated one

who has forgotten his mother tongue.

Let him remember a single word only;

and let our paths cross

so that I may say to him:

Are you Armenian?

And if he were to nod yes with his head,

I would immediately cry out the words

taught to me by my father and mother:

Pari Louys!

In the name of everything that is holy,

I swear to you

there can be nothing sweeter,

nothing more heart-rending.

How much meaning have our ancestors

placed in that expression!...

O my lovely Armenian language:

as fresh as the morn

and as deep as the night;

as frolicsome as a child

and as wise as an old man;

as consoling as a prayer

and as beautiful as Spring.

O my sweet Armenian language

fit for a mighty king

as well as a humble peasant,

suitable for townspeople

as well as villagers,

ever youthful,

ever mighty,

may you live forever

=====

[arabaliozian]

QUOTATIONS FROM KAREKIN NEJDEH (1886-1957)

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Selected and translated by Ara Baliozian

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The morally depraved can also voice noble principles.

Life is constant and endless renewal. Only the morally irresponsible refuse to understand this.

Without renewal, a nation dies every hour, every minute. Our political parties either don't understand this or they have no desire to understand it.

A nation that fails to do what it can and must do has no right to expect foreign assistance.

Nations that are unwilling to defend their own interests condemn themselves to death.

When dealing with foreign powers and issues, our press adopts a permissive, forgiving, and subservient tone. With our own internal problems, however, it becomes arrogant, vindictive, vicious.

[Zinvor]

УХ ты это чё на ИНГЛИШЕ?о дают!!!!!!!!мне бы так по Армянски и я б тогда такое высказал что азерам бы не поздоровилось!

[Nazel]

УХ ты это чё на ИНГЛИШЕ?о дают!!!!!!!!мне бы так по Армянски и я б тогда такое высказал что азерам бы не поздоровилось!

охотно верю вам

davit.bmp

[arabaliozian]

охотно верю вам

me no speak russki! / ara

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, December 13, 2007

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CAIN’S ANSWER

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Political lies have been with us for a long time. Even Plato discusses them in his Dialogues, which where written 2500 years ago.

*

No one lies as surely as he who speaks in the name of truth or God. In the Bible we read that God asked Cain where Abel was, the implication being that Cain knew something God did not. And Cain replied: “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9).

*

Speaking of lies, murder, and brotherhood: Our Turcocentric ghazetajis tell us they don’t hate Turks. Their sole aim, they say, is justice. But justice, like truth, is an abstraction. No one has ever laid eyes on it. Instead of abstractions, let’s speak of reality. The truth about reality is that we cannot speak about it, only fractions of it. That’s because we have only a limited number of words and reality has an infinite number of levels and complexities. That’s one reason why when we speak we lie.

*

Does that mean Cain did not kill Abel? No. Of course not! It only means we don’t know why Cain became a murderer. Was it envy? Why should envy lead to murder? What is envy? What has made us capable of envy? Or rather, who has instilled envy in man? For what purpose? The infinite number of complexities generates an equal number of questions until the final one, which is also Cain’s: We don’t know because we are not God’s keeper.

#

Friday, December 14, 2007

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FRAGMENTS

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When nine out of ten are unanimous in believing one thing, go with the tenth, for believing and thinking are mutually exclusive concepts.

*

I disagree with anyone who holds views that were mine thirty years ago; and if I don’t stand on ceremony with them it may be because I don’t stand on ceremony with myself.

*

The man who views the world and his fellow men in black and white terms, as opposed to shades of gray, will invariably classify himself as all white even when he is pitch black.

*

If character is destiny, as the ancient Greeks thought, the question we should ask is: To what extent our character as a nation has been shaped by 600 years of Ottoman oppression followed by 60 years of Bolshevik tyranny? If this question has so far gone unanswered it may be because our nationalists and masters of the blame-game have done their utmost to ignore or cover up that aspect of our identity.

#

Saturday, December 15, 2007

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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS

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Where charlatans are in charge,

honest men will be silenced.

Where ignoramuses are in charge,

knowledge will be outlawed.

Where the blind are in charge,

the one-eyed will be blinded.

*

I don’t tell you things I already know.

I tell you things that I discover as I write.

*

Why should I trust the judgment of underdogs whose sole ambition in life is to be top dogs so that they will have the pleasure of stepping on underdogs, even when the underdogs happen to be their brothers?

*

The worst mistake we can make is to assume that Comrade Panchoonie is a character in a satirical novel by Yervant Odian written a century ago. Every other day I get a letter from him that ends with the word “mi kich pogh…” something similar could be said of Hagop Baronian’s “honorable beggars.” Characters in great literary works live much longer than their creators. Or rather, great writers achieve immortality through the characters they create.

*

Our standards have fallen so low that every panchoonie, honorable beggar, and ghazetaji parades as a defender of the faith and the savior of the nation.

*

What if I am wrong? There is always that possibility, of course. In my defense I will say that if only the infallible were allowed to speak, the only voice would be that of the Pope of Rome, we would all be Catholics, and Latin would be the most widely spoken language in the world.

*

I.B. Singer: “I am not a vegetarian for the sake of my health, but for the health of the chickens. For animals, every day is Treblinka.”

#

[arabaliozian]

Sunday, December 16, 2007

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THE DEATH OF SOCRATES

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When the Greeks executed Socrates, they did not just kill a man but someone who represented the very best of Greek wisdom. To silence a thinker is like burning down a library.

*

The difference between an editor violating someone’s human right of free speech and a head of state ordering a massacre is one in degree. In both instances power is being abused at its maximum. Promote the editor (or a forum moderator) to head and state, and vice versa, demote a head of state to editor, and they will behave the same way.

*

Stalin or Hitler saying they have no use for intellectuals is the same as an architect saying he has no use for higher mathematics. The result will be buildings that collapse as surely as Stalin’s USSR and Nazi Germany did.

*

Hitler had no use for Jewish scientists. As a result, he lost to America some of Germany’s ablest minds, including Einstein. Had he been less of a racists, he would have won World War II and I would now be writing this in German. Toynbee is right: civilizations and empires are not killed, they commit suicide.

*

What our critics were saying about Levon Der Bedrossian and Robert Kocharian, they are now saying about each other; and if what they say is true, they both deserve the hangman’s noose.

*

Those who declare wars have a better chance to survive them than those who do the actual fighting.

#

[SamvelT]

2 arabaliozian : It is my pleasure to meet You in this Forum ! I remember your conversation from hyebiz.com a few years ago and even then , when I was just a reader of your commentaries and postings , I saw your independence in thinking and allways respected it . So , Welcome to Hayastan.com ! In every of your postings , I found something about me ... Well , and good and bad ... Of course , the bad I don't like , but now I understand more : it is not just me , it is US and in the good - it is US also . Thank's for being Ara Baliozian . Of course , I don't think that You expect for everyone to agree with You all the time ...

[arabaliozian]

Monday, December 17, 2007

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ILLUSIONS

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“Nothing you say makes sense!” a reader writes; and another: “Tell us something we don’t know.” These two contradictory comments suggest that I may well be on the right track. But perhaps I am deluding myself.

*

I understand illusions. I have quite a few of them myself, as a matter of fact. I believe reason matters. I believe common sense is transferable. I believe explanations work. I think I may be able to make a difference. I like to hope where far better men than myself failed, I may succeed. Call it optimism run riot. Call it hubris. Whatever it is, it allows me to go on.

*

“You repeat yourself,” I am reminded once in a while. So do our Turcocentric pundits. So do our sermonizers who quote the Scriptures from hundreds of pulpits every Sunday. Has anyone ever dared to stand up and accuse them of repeating themselves? Once when I said as much in a commentary, the secretary of an archbishop wrote an angry letter to the editor in which she said: “How dare you, sir, comparing the trash you dish out [i am now abridging and paraphrasing] with the Holy Scriptures which happen to be the word of God?” My answer: Almost everything I write may be considered a paraphrase or variations on the Biblical dictum “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

*

Scratch a defender of the status quo and expose a hireling for whom the establishment is manna.

*

There are no new ideas, only subtle adjustments of old ones.

*

I should like to meet an Armenian whose first impulse is to understand rather than to dismiss as absurd that which he makes no effort to understand.

#

[arabaliozian]

2 arabaliozian : It is my pleasure to meet You in this Forum ! I remember your conversation from hyebiz.com a few years ago and even then , when I was just a reader of your commentaries and postings , I saw your independence in thinking and allways respected it . So , Welcome to Hayastan.com ! In every of your postings , I found something about me ... Well , and good and bad ... Of course , the bad I don't like , but now I understand more : it is not just me , it is US and in the good - it is US also . Thank's for being Ara Baliozian . Of course , I don't think that You expect for everyone to agree with You all the time ...

always wonderful to meet old friends.

thanks for your comments. i enjoyed them. / ara

[arabaliozian]

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

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TYRANNY VERSUS DEMOCRACY

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A community or a nation is not a congregation that will sing the same tune in unison. There will always be discordant voices. Get used to them. Our degree of tolerance and civilization depends on the manner in which we handle dissent.

*

I have been rereading Herodotus. What a great storyteller he was! Speaking of a certain Greek city-state, he writes that its citizens preferred tyranny to freedom. Impossible, I thought. Who in his right mind would choose tyranny when he can live in freedom? And then I thought of my fellow countrymen and remembered the words of our progressive and enlightened citizens (self-assessed of course) who tell us we are not yet ready for democracy. If by “we” they mean our leaders, they may be right. If they mean a fraction of the people that have been brainwashed, ditto. But I have no doubt whatever in my mind that, given a choice, the overwhelming majority will choose to live in a democracy. You want proof? Consider Armenians in the United States and Canada who did not immigrate en masse to Armenia under Stalin.

*

After centuries of oppression we have accumulated vast stores of resentment, anger, and bitterness. Our leaders are aware of this. That is why they channel this suppressed fury in the direction of the Turks. What motivates them to do that is self-preservation.

*

The chances of the unthinkable happening will be diminished if we think about it. If the unthinkable did happen it is because those who thought about it were ignored. “Zohrab effendi is exaggerating,” they said…

*

There is a type of critic (make it, kibitzer) who is so blinded by his own brilliance that he does not mind making an ass of himself. But he is smart enough to do so anonymously and dumb enough to add cowardice to narcissism.

#

[arabaliozian]

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

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EITHER / OR

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If we are unique, that’s because every individual, tribe, nation, or for that matter, snowflake and grain of sand is unique. Whether this uniqueness is an asset or a liability I will let you decide, provided you don’t adopt one of our ubiquitous dealers of chauvinist crapola as your guide. Speaking for myself, I will say that our uniqueness is not what concerns me. What concerns me is our problems and there is nothing – repeat, nothing -- unique about them. Corruption, incompetence, divisiveness, authoritarianism, prejudice, and intolerance are as old as mankind. So is unawareness of them or self-deception. We either confront our shortcomings and make an honest effort to overcome them or we pretend there is nothing we can do because they are an integral part of the human condition. Again, speaking for myself, I am all for calling a spade a spade, a charlatan a phony and a wheeler-dealer not a man of vision or a noble specimen of humanity but a low-life and a bottom feeder.

#

[Kars]

Ara, first of all – welcome to this forum!

And a question: are your Armenian acquaintances getting used to your eccentricity in self-loathing?

Regards,

Kars

[Dinozavrik]

i can give you reasons but i cannot give you understanding.

Hah........This says a lot about you

[Kars]

Just wait and see…

I’m sure Mr. Baliozian will eventually show himself in full color.

[arabaliozian]

Thursday, December 20, 2007

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NOTES / COMMENTS

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Just when I think I am done with Armenians and their problems, a new one comes up or an old one that demands a novel approach. Who gives a damn about Armenians and their problems, anyway? Not even Armenians, it seems. I dream of the day when I will exhaust the subject and start writing love stories, adventure yarns, and murder mysteries. I love murder mysteries. I have read hundreds of Simenons… We all have our cross to bear. The smaller the nation, the heavier the cross.

*

If you want to convince a civilized man to behave like a barbarian, you tell him barbarians are at the gate even if there is no one there, and if there is one, he is either the gatekeeper or a harmless pilgrim.

*

Whenever I feel depressed, I console myself by saying that even those who hate me read me. Writers have this is common with women: they want to be irresistible.

*

Since there are no final answers, not even in science, every assertion is open to debate, provided of course the rules imposed on us by reason, common sense, common decency, and grammar are followed. And no one will ever succeed in convincing me that reason, common sense and decency, and grammar are anti-Armenian.

*

When I wrote flattering commentaries, I was published. When I wrote critical commentaries, I was published too. But when I started getting at the truth, I was silenced. Truth was my undoing.

*

I write for readers with an open mind. Not even the Good Lord can reach brainless idiots or, for that matter, brainy bastards. Consider the influence of the New Testament on the likes of Stalin (a seminarian) and his countless dupes, among them some very smart Armenians, like Anastas (ditto).

#

[arabaliozian]

ARMENIAN WISDOM

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Baruir Sevak: "It is better to be a good reader

than a bad writer."

***

Karekin Nejdeh: "When a man falls down and

doesn’t have the will to stand up, no amount of

help will be of any use to him. It is the same

with a nation that does nothing but complain,

lament, and beg."

***

Anonymous: "The worship of money is a terminal

disease."

***

Raffi: "The message of the world is clear: If you

don’t learn how to kill, you forfeit your right

to exist."

***

Gostan Zarian: "If a thought cannot be expressed

in a few words it cannot be worth expressing."

***

Shmavon Hovsepian: "A jury of tigers, crocodiles,

wolves, and hyenas is not qualified to condemn to

death a cat guilty of killing a mouse."

***

Hagop Baronian: "Avarice is an addiction whose

eyes are bigger than its belly."

[arabaliozian]

Friday, December 21, 2007

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NAREGATSI

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He is one of those writers everyone praises but no one reads, except our academics who are unanimous in naming him our Dante and Shakespeare combined. But whereas every Italian and Englishman is brought up to learn a few lines from Dante and Shakespeare by heart, I have yet to meet the Armenian who can quote a single line from Naregatsi.

*

One reason Naregatsi is not a popular writer is that he cannot be said to be a cheerful fellow. His LAMENTATION is an endless catalogue of sins, failings, and vices. A typical passage reads: “I constantly have recourse to lies, / Never uttering the truth…/ I am diligent in malignant acts of ribaldry; / I am ever active in satanic inventions.”

*

In his INFERNO, Dante speaks of hell as if it were a real place. Naregatsi has a more modern, not to say, existential view on the subject. “Hell is me,” he seems to be saying. And if “hell is other people” (Sartre) it’s because there is a “me” in all of us. It follows, in the eyes of our holier-than-thou propagandists, Naregatsi is bad news. Because if we are as bad as Naregatsi tells us, then perhaps we deserved our fate. But Naregatsi does not write to promote self-loathing and despair. His final message is one of hope. Salvation is yours, he tells us, provided you plead guilty as charged and repent. Not exactly a condition that will be welcome by our charlatans who parade as paragons of virtue.

*

TWO FACTS

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Naregatsi wrote in krapar (classical Armenian) but he is now available in both ashkharapar (the spoken idiom) and English (in an excellent translation by Mischa Kudian).

*

Naregatsi lived a thousand years ago, long before we were Ottomanized and Sovietized.

*

NARCISSISM

*******************************

One way to define our holier-than-thou sanctimonious pricks and dealers in chauvinist crapola is to say, they are jackasses who believe, when they bray, they sound better than Pavarotti singing “Nessun dorma.”

#

[arabaliozian]

Saturday, December 22, 2007

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MER HAIRENIK

TSHVAR, ANDER

***********************************

How much of what I say is right? As a prejudiced observer I cannot be a reliable judge. You tell me! But instead of asking whether I am right, say, How right are those I quote and paraphrase, beginning with the Biblical dictum (“A house divided against itself cannot stand”) and Toynbee’s (“Civilizations are not killed, they commit suicide”).

*

As masters of the blame-game, our denialists assert they had nothing to do with our misfortunes, which amounts to saying, they reject all responsibility in shaping our tragic destiny, thus implying their role in our history has been that of nonentities or absentee landlords.

*

Writing in the 5th century, Movses Khorenatsi speaks of our divided and corrupt leadership (see his LAMENTATION, not to be confused with Naregatsi’s, which was written in the 10th century). Writing in the 20th century we have two distinguished witnesses who support Khorenatsi’s verdict: Avedik Issahakian (“our brainless leaders”) and Zarian (“Our political parties have been of no political use to us. Their greatest enemy is free speech.”) In our own days, listen to what Kocharian and Levon Der Bedrossian are saying about each other.

*

If I repeat myself, it’s because I don’t have a phobia of repetition. If you do, I suggest you see a shrink. If you can’t afford one, stop reading me. Never say I speak of problems without suggesting any solutions. But if you reject my solution to your problem and continue to read me, I thank you. Have a nice day.

#

[arabaliozian]

What kind of people are we? What kind of leadership is

this? Instead of compassion, mutual contempt.

Instead of

reason blind instinct. Instead of common sense,

fanaticism.

They speak of the cross and nail us to it again as

they

speak.

ANTRANIK ZAROUKIAN

(1912-1989)

Poet, novelist, critic, editor.

*******************************************

All our religious, political, and cultural

institutions

share a single aim, the survival of the nation. If

the nation perishes, neither Echmiadzin nor Antelias,

not

even God in his heaven, can be of any help to us.

SIMON VRATSIAN

(1882-1969)

Statesman. Last Prime Minister of the Republic of

Armenia

(1918-1920).

***********************************************

We Armenians are products of the tribal mentality of

Turks

and Kurds, and this tribal mentality remains

stubbornly

rooted even among our leaders and elites.

NIGOL AGHBALIAN

(1873-1947)

Statesman, literary scholar, educator.

***************************************************

A familiar figure in our collective existence is the

prosperous and arrogant community leader who, by

obstructing the path of all those who wish to reform

and

improve our conditions, perpetuates a status quo whose

sole

aim is his own personal profit and aggrandizement.

LEVON PASHALIAN

(1868-1943)

Athor, editor.

**************************************************

The Armenian Diaspora is losing its character. Our

language, our literature, and our traditions are

degenerating. Even our religious leaders have

abandoned

their calling and turned into cunning wheeler-dealers.

Our

publications thrive on meaningless controversies.

I see charlatanism and cheap chauvinism everywhere

but not

a single trace of self-sacrifice

and dedication to principles and ideals. What's

happening

to us? Where are we heading?

Quo vadis, O Armenian people?

SHAVARSH MISSAKIAN

(1884-1957)

Author, editor, critic.

[arabaliozian]

WORDS OF WISDOM

*************************************

Paul Valery: "Critics: The dirties cur can inflict a

mortal wound; all he needs is to be mad."

Chinese saying: "He who loses temper has wrong on his

side."

Overheard: "To get angry means to punish yourself for

someone else’s stupidity."

Leon-Paul Fargue: "One cannot argue unless one is in

agreement, and then only on points of detail."

Montherlant: "Why should I undergo stress and strain

simply to please men? The idea is repellent and would

incite me rather to cowardice."

Albert Memmi: "Every colonial nation carries the seeds

of fascist temptation in its bosom."

Jean Rostand: "There are some persons we could not cut

down to size without diminishing ourselves as well."

Thomas Hardy: "More life may tickle out of men through

fear than through a gaping wound."

Mirabeau on Talleyrand: "He would sell his soul for

money, and he would be right, for he would be

exchanging dung for gold."

[arabaliozian]

Press release on a new book.

THE HORRIBLE SILENCE by Ara Baliozian, has just come out in a Russian translation by Ara Hakopian and Tigran Zakoyan. It is an autobiographical novella wherein we read about the author’s daily existence in a distant Canadian town: his encounters and conversations with friends, relatives, neighbors, and members of his family, about his life in Greece, Italy, and about Armenians and the Armenian Diaspora.

In addition to the novella, the reader will find here a comparative fictional study of the life and achievements of two Armenian personalities titled BILL AND BASIL, Bill being William Saroyan, and Basil, the founder of the mightiest

imperial dynasty in Byzantium. The book also contains selected passages from another book by Ara Baliozian titled PAGES FROM MY DIARY.

Ara Baliozian was born in Athens, Greece, and educated in Venice, Italy. Widely published in English and Armenian, he has been awarded many prizes and grants for his literary work. He is a regular contributor to many publications in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East.

His books include THE GREEK POETESS AND OTHER WRITINGS, ARMENIA OBSERVED: AN ANTHOLOGY, FRAGMENTED DREAMS: ARMENIANS IN DIASPORA, and the best-selling study, THE ARMENIANS: THEIR HISTORY AND CULTURE.

His translations of such Armenian classics as Grigor Zohrab, Zabel Yessayan, and Kostan Zarian have been described as "valuable," "eloquent," and "brilliant" contributions to world literature. He has himself been translated into French, German, Greek, Spanish, and Armenian.

"I read everything Ara Baliozian writes with fascination and gratitude," William Saroyan has said.

The book can be purchased here or directly from Ara Hakopian,( price $10.00, postage included).

You can reach Ara Baliozian at: [email protected]