Confessions

[arabaliozian]

01/01/10

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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS

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In Herman Melville I come across a new word:

“sultanism,” meaning the exercise of authority with a touch of sadistic pleasure.

*

A mediocrity will be subservient to any regime or power structure that gives him a regular salary, or a title, or a uniform, or the license to persecute better men than himself: there you have it, the root of our sultanism.

*

When one of Moliere’s characters first delivered the line

“A knowledgeable fool is a greater fool than an ignoramus!”

he no doubt alienated several members of the audience.

That’s the problem with good lines:

they tend to alienate self-satisfied jackasses.

*

There are many kinds of dupes, but the worst are those

who are easily seduced by the irresistible charm of their own arguments.

*

Great nations need big lies;

small nations need bigger lies.

*

After reading one of my things,

an old friend writes: “I am glad you continue to be a patriotic Armenian.”

I don’t have the heart to tell him that I loathe patriotism.

I love honest men and loathe charlatans regardless of nationality;

and some of the worst charlatans I have met are Armenian patriots.

*

My father was a law-abiding citizen.

He never said a word against anyone.

No, not even Turks.

He kept to himself.

He kept his distance.

He didn’t see anything wrong in that.

Neither did I.

Subservience comes naturally to all Armenians.

But they don’t call it subservience.

They call it good citizenship.

They call it respect for authority.

#

01/02/10

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COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS

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All "aBush" (brainless) leaders share two things in common: (one) they overestimate their powers to the same degree that they underestimate the enemy's; and (two) they refuse to learn from history -- in Bush's cases, the war in Vietnam; in our case, the turn-of-the-century series of massacres that preceded the Genocide.

Even after their blunders are exposed, such leaders continue to have their followers and admirers. There are fascists in Italy today, Nazis in Germany, Stalinists in Russia, and skinheads all over the world.

*

If you prove to an anti-Semite that the man he hates is not a Jew, he will say, "But his teacher was." Which makes all Christians vulnerable targets of hatred.

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Loyalty becomes subservience when it says, “Yes, sir!” to idiots.

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They tell me I am anti-Armenian because I oppose idiots who pretend to be smart.

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Intolerance of dissent is a sure symptom of the fact that the foundations of the power structure are so flimsy that a single wrong word may precipitate its collapse.

#

01/03/10

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FRAGMENTS

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Non-believers who build churches,

pirates who collect art,

fornicators who preach chastity --

what I find even more offensive about our men at the top is their conviction that they are indispensable to the nation and not even remotely responsible for our misfortunes.

*

In a country of the homeless, they build cathedrals which they call Houses of God – as if God needed their housing.

*

Never trust a man who lives on excellent terms with himself.

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It's amazing how much an Armenian can accomplish when he works for alien interests.

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There is a Jewish saying: “Some people are such nonentities that when they go out of a room, it feels like someone came in.” We call such people “unshook” -- literally shadowless, or men whose insignificance is such that they don't even cast a shadow.

*

On the day an Armenian enters politics,

politics gains nothing,

but Oriental carpet dealership loses something.

*

When law and order legitimize oppression, exploitation, or subservience in the name of the state, what they really legitimize is lawlessness and disorder.

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A dupe is an idiot who trusts other idiots. Consider the history of fascism communism, and nationalism.

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My definition of an idiot: anyone whose actions do more harm than good, or someone who bites more than he can chew and chokes on it.

*

I don't mention names because I don't want to immortalize nonentities who make headlines today and are forgotten tomorrow.

#

01/04/10

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FRAGMENTS / II

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There is a margin of error in all our judgments. That's one way to explain the blunders of popes, imams, and self-righteous fanatics who think of themselves as infallible.

But I could be wrong.

If only we, all of us, were capable of ending all our assertions with that qualifier – I could be wrong.

*

The flunky of a national benefactor once gave me to understand that “they” were willing to “help” me, provided I followed instructions.

Because they have the cash and I have only ideas, they speak of “helping” me. Which means, they value cash more than ideas.

Which may also explain why everything they touch turns into ashes.

*

I speak as I do probably because I suffer from a rare condition known as allergy to money.

*

On more than one occasion I have been informed that those I call “flunkies” or “the scum of the earth,” are in fact honorable men.

They may be right.

I think as I do probably because I refuse to rely on the brainless for political guidance and on pimps for moral values.

*

Because he felt neglected and ignored by his audience, one of our authors once wrote a story in which a priest is caught masturbating in a public lavatory. Whereupon he was verbally assaulted and severely chastised by a wide number of outraged defenders of the faith. At one point even one of our national benefactors joined the the lynch mob. It was not so much a tempest in a teacup as a tsunami in a thimble. “I am ashed to be identified as an Armenian,” said the author, assuming the role of innocent victim. The whole situation reminded me of Oscar Wilde's dictum on fox-hunters: “The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.”

*

MEMO TO OUIR ACADEMICS

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No literature, please! Just tell us what's on your mind.

#

01/05/10

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FRAGMENTS / III

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After we lose a war – and according to Saroyan we have lost them all – we call our losers heroes. There are cultures in which losers are either executed or commit suicide.

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I love the contradictions of an honest man. I loathe even the shadow of an inconsistency in the dishonest.

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I loathe anti-Semites because they are on the side of majorities and against perennial victims. I identify with victim for two reasons: (one) I am an Armenian, and (two) I am a dissident.

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It is painful to be misunderstood. But when I think of the alternative – to be understood and appreciated by idiots – I feel much better.

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Theatrical producer Joe Papp to an uncooperative mayor: “Shakespeare should be as important as garbage collection.”

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I remember to have read somewhere: “British soldiers fight like lions, but lions led by donkeys.”

#

01/06/10

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FRAGMENTS / IV

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Like all fundamentalists, an Armenian wants to change the world but not himself. He refuses to do the possible and attempts the impossible – that is to say, to teach justice, human rights, and morality to present and former empires like the United States and Turkey that operate on the assumption they know better than a failed state like Iran, Yemen and Somalia -- states with little history of central government control; states so corrupt and inept that they shoot to kill innocent demonstrators with a legitimate grievance, or they violate the human rights of their own citizens.

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To assess oneself amounts to pronouncing a verdict of not guilty after a trial without judge, jury, and prosecution.

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American children are brought up to believe in Santa. Nothing wrong in that so long as childhood illusions are not replaced with propaganda.

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The greatest gift parents can make to their children is the gift of approaching reality without illusions.

#

[arabaliozian]

01/10/10

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VOODOO

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Every branch of learning and activity

has its voodoo counterpart.

There is voodoo economics,

voodoo medicine,

and voodoo history.

Conspiracy theories belong to the voodoo branch of history.

So does anti-Semitism – sorry! I meant to say, anti-Zionism.

There is a conspiracy theory that says

Dick Cheney directed the Mossad

to bring down the World Trade Center.

There is another conspiracy theory that says

the Young Turks were Jews

or puppets of Jews,

or student of Jews.

There is another one,

which happens to be a favorite of mine, that says

the serpent in the Garden of Eden

was a CIA agent in disguise.

Conspiracy theories attract lunatics

as surely as sh*t attracts flies.

Our Turcocentric ghazetajis pretend to know

all there is to know about Turks

and our anti-Semites expect us to believe

they know more about Jews than most Jews.

Our dime-a-dozen pundits, speechifiers,

and sermonizers, and activists are

past masters of voodoo.

Where solidarity is essential, they divide.

Where honesty is a must,

they engage in charlatanism.

Where free speech and dialogue are required,

they are dead set against both.

And when things go wrong,

our voodoo pundits explain it

by pointing their finger on alien agencies.

That may explain why

we have been going backward instead of forward;

and even as we advance towards the abyss,

we are brainwashed to brag

about our genius for survival.

Figure that one out,

if you can – and please, no voodoo!

#

01/11/10

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WWIII

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You cannot win a war against an enemy who loves death more than life. The Japanese lost because the Yanks dropped the Bomb on them. If terrorists succeed in staging more 9/11-style attacks, the Yanks will have no choice but to elect a more warlike president who will not only carry a big stick but he will also use it.

*

I say what I think;

you say what you were told;

after which we go our separate ways.

That's dialogue, Armenian style.

*

In our Ottoman phase, no Armenian would ever dare to contradict a Turk.

In our diaspora today, no Armenian would ever dare to contradict a boss, bishop, or benefactor.

As the French are fond of saying, “Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme merde.”

*

My guess is, one reason our revolutionaries lost is that they were brought up to believe they were so smart they could do no wrong. Positive feedback may work in Oriental carpet dealership but is bound to be counterproductive in politics and international diplomacy where the competition is much stiffer.

*

We have enough gold in our communities (think of Gulbenkian, Krikorian, Manoogian, & Co.) for two Golden Ages. Instead, we wallow in the recycled crap of our Panchoonies and Jack S. Avanakians.

#

01/12/10

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THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND

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We are a failed state.

Our “brainless” leaders have been successful only in one endeavor, that of brainwashing us to channel our discontent in the direction of the enemy.

As for our press, whose main function is to expose corruption and incompetence: its favorite motto is, “No polemics, please!”

Who the hell is talking about polemics?

I am talking about facts.

But facts are not facts to those who refuse to acknowledge them.

Case in point: our genocide is a fact to us.

It is a controversy to them.

See what I mean?

I once wrote a letter to an editor questioning a fact discussed in an editorial and I received the following answer: “We don't, as a rule, publish letters that are critical of our editorial.”

Anti-Turkish venom, no matter how predictable, repetitive, and tedious is in.

Armenian reality is out.

What Jews were to the Nazis, capitalists to communists, and Armenians to the Sultan and Talaat, Turks are to us. Turks are the alpha and omega of all our problems. That's the way it is with all rotten systems. They need scapegoats and when they can't find them, they invent them.

The Turks are guilty of a crime that was committed a century ago. They have nothing to do with our divisiveness, incompetence, and intolerance of dissent and dialogue. Only the blind leading the blind and their dupes refuse to see this.

#

BOOKS RECEIVED

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THE DARK VALLEY: SHORT STORIES by Axel Bakounts, translated from the Armenian by Nairi Hakhverdi. Preface by Victoria Rowe. (London, 2008).

*

SOUTHERN FEVER: SHORT STORIES by Abig Avagyan. (Yerevan, 2002). (In Armenian)

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HOMO DEI or A BIBLICAL STORY: A NOVEL and

CAVE STORIES or 1993: NOVELLAS by Karen A. Simonian (Yerevan, 2006). (In Armenian)

*

COLORS OF THE PRISM: COLLECTED REVIEWS, ARTICLES, AND DRAWINGS by Krikor Keusseyan (Watertown, 2009). (In Armenian)

*

DRO (DRASTAMAT KANAYAN): ARMENIA'S FIRST DEFENCE MINISTER OF THE MODERN ERA by Antranig Chalabian, Translated by Jack Chelebian. (Los Angeles, 2009).

#

01/13/10

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SARTRE ON ASCETICS

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“The ascetic is a man rich enough to choose his poverty freely.”

Good point.

Gandhi enjoyed the financial support of a wealthy Indian industrialist by the name of Birla, who once complained that Gandhi's poverty cost him a lot of money.

As for Tolstoy: he was a multimillionaire.

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SARTRE ON HIMSELF

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“I turned rebel later only through having pushed submissiveness to the extreme.”

In my case, I became a dissident through having said “yes, sir!” to too many idiots.

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If I knew my words mattered, I would be more careful in my choice of them.

*

One reason Armenian writers are willing to work for nothing is that the job has other compensations, one of them being deflating noxious gasbags.

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THREATS

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I don't believe in Armenians who send me threatening e-mails anonymously. I believe if an Armenian can do me harm, he would have done it already.

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AN UNFORTUNATE DEVELOPMENT

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As a result of the Genocide, we have become self-righteous fanatics not only in our dealings with the enemy, but also in our dealings with our fellow Armenians.

*

ON SURVIVAL

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Survival is important. But what is even important is survival with honor. To stress the importance of survival at the expense of honor is to legitimize cowardice, opportunism, moral degradation, even treason and betrayal.

#

[arabaliozian]

January 22, 2010

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OUR REVOLUTIONARIES

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Their dreams were too big,

their ability to realize them too small,

and their faith in the West misplaced.

Result: the perfect storm of genocide.

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MY CRITICS

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They are unanimous in letting me know that

I should bugger off,

get a life, and

mind my own business.

And may I confess that there are times

when I am tempted to do exactly that.

What keeps me going?

Perhaps Abovian knew better.

Instead of getting a life,

he chose death – either that

or death chose him.

*

CHILDHOOD

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They were so sure of what they were doing

and I was so confused and uncertain

as to why I felt as I did

that it never even occurred to me to ask:

“Why are you doing this to me?”

#

January 23, 2010

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FROM THE MOUTH OF BABES & COMEDIANS

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George Carlin: “Traditional American values: Genocide, aggression, conformity, emotional repression, hypocrisy, and the worship of comfort and consumer goods.”

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RISE & FALL

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In his STUDY OF HISTORY, Toynbee writes: “A growing civilization can be defined as one which the components of its culture [economic, political, intellectual, scientific, etc.] are in harmony with one another; and, on the same principle, a disintegrating civilization can be defined as one in which these same elements have fallen into discord.”

You may now decide whether we are growing or disintegrating.

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TWO KINDS OF MEN

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“Hell is other people,” wrote Sartre. But according to his life-long friend-enemy, Merleau-Ponty: “When a man takes an oath to exist universally, concern for himself and concern for others become indistinguishable for him; he is a person among persons, and the others are other himselves. But if, on the contrary, he recognizes what is unique in incarnation lived from within, the other person necessarily appears to him in the form of torment, envy, or at least uneasiness.”

Wars, revolutions, and massacres are committed by Sartrian men. By contrast, great spiritual leaders from Socrates and Jesus to Gandhi and Schweitzer conform to Merleau-Ponty's definition of men who choose to “exist universally.”

#

[arabaliozian]

January 24, 2010

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METAPHYSICS

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Disagreement is inevitable when we search for meaning in the meaningless, or

when we reduce an infinite number of factors into only a handful.

*

We say God is on our side when we want to do the Devil's work.

*

The visible is one; it is the invisible that is legion.

*

Newspapers write more about criminals than law-abiding citizens. Doctors deal more with the sick than with the healthy. And critics deal more with deceivers than with honest men. I am not consistently negative; our reality is.

*

What will save us is neither our conception of patriotism nor our degree of self-esteem but our courage to confront and deal with reality.

#

January 25, 2010

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A STORY WITH MORALS

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Three friends in a tavern were arguing about the greatest evil in the world, and since they were not Armenian, they were able to reach a consensus: Death, they decided, was the greatest evil. Next they also agreed to search for Death and kill him. During their long search they met an old man who told them where Death lived. They followed the old man's directions but instead of Death they found a pot of gold. To celebrate their good fortune, one of them went to fetch a bottle of wine. While he was gone, the two friends decided to kill him to have his share of gold too. And as soon as he returned they fell on him and killed him, drank the poisoned wine, and they died, because the same idea had occurred to their victim.

MORAL I: If you look for Death, long before you find him, he will find you.

MORAL II: If after a long search you find what you were looking for, you will wish you had not found it.

MORAL III: Gold and friendship are mutually exclusive concepts.

#

January 26, 2010

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ARMENIAN PHILOSOPHY

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To express his contempt for me, one of our Turcocentric ghazetajis once called me a “philosopher.” It is true, philosophy has at no time been a favorite subject of ours. Our most famous medieval philosopher, David Anhaght, is remembered for his invincibility in argument, not his originality of ideas. And as far as I know, none of our academics (of which we have over a thousand) has ever produced a text on 20th-century Armenian philosophy, probably because it is not easy to write about nothing. If I were to sum up the dominant philosophical idea of the past century, it would have to be “I hate Turks, therefore I am.”

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AN AMERICAN FALLACY

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With big bucks, you can hire the best brains. But only the kind of brains willing to be subservient to big bucks.

*

THIS AND THAT

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I love my fellow Armenians as much as a good Christian loves his executioner -- with one difference: I am not a good Christian.

*

Speaking of good Christians: There are those who define a good Muslim as one who goes about murdering infidels. Christians used to do that too but not anymore. These days some good Christians murder only homosexuals, Blacks, abortionists, Jews, and Communists – remember the slogan, “Kill a commie for Christ”).

*

It is a well-known fact that swine don't have self-esteem problems.

#

January 27, 2010

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INSANITY

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Somewhere Jung explains that there is a woman in every man and a man in every woman, and that this becomes apparent when one reaches middle age.

I once had a friend (may he rest in peace) who believed one reaches middle age only by adopting some form of insanity.

Whereas I am of the opinion that we are born and raised into an insane world and we survive only by adapting ourselves to it.

(To be noted: Jung harbored pro-Nazi sentiments.)

*

Under the Sultan, our writers were free to tear our institutions to shreds. Under our own mini-sultans they are free to do so too but only to the opposition and to brainwash children into believing their side is good, the other bad.

*

I have never been psychoanalyzed. One could say avoiding shrinks is a luxury only the poor can afford.

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Whenever I think I am smart, I remind myself of the number of times I have been taken in by idiots.

*

To believe in miracles is bad enough. To believe one is worthy of them is infinitely worse.

#

[arabaliozian]

January 28, 2010

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AN HONEST ANSWER

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Asked how he had managed to survive the Stalinist purges when so many of his contemporaries had perished, Avedik Issahakian is said to have replied: “By applauding the murderers.”

For more on this remarkable interview, see Antranig Chalabian, DRO (DRASTAMAT KANAYAN), page 269.

*

To be read by friendly readers: nothing unusual in that.

To be read by hostiles: That’s where the money is,

because it means being allowed the opportunity

to introduce thoughts where none exist.

*

Even after you prove to him that his position is untenable,

an Armenian will go on defending it to the bitter end,

like a captain going down with the ship.

That’s his way of asserting his manhood.

I don’t write for readers whose central concern is their own manhood.

That would be like writing about hallucinations.

#

January 29, 2010

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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS

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Even when we speak of others, we speak of ourselves.

*

Martin Luther (1483-1546): "I am more afraid of my own heart than of the Pope and his cardinals. I have within me the great Pope, Self."

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If the Turks say what really matters is only their side of the story, we should not say the same about our side of the story.

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The cruelest thing that has happened to Armenian writers after they were systematically and ruthlessly slaughtered by Talaat and Stalin was to become dependent on the charity of swine.

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There are those who think membership in a party qualifies them as experts on Armenian history, culture, and human nature.

*

I believe in progress. I believe in human perfectibility. I believe in the ultimate triumph of reason. These are my three greatest illusions.

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I wish God existed so that He would punish all those who dared to speak in His name.

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To speak the truth privately but not publicly is to compound the felony of perjury with cowardice.

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Gordon W. Allport: "Many studies have discovered a close link between prejudice and patriotism. Extreme bigots are almost always super-patriots."

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It is only by confronting our dark side that we may see the light.

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Commissars and mullahs are philistines, that is to say, killers who adopt an ideology or religion to legitimize their killer instincts.

*

It is the height of non sequitur to call Turks barbarians and to demand justice from them.

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There will come a time when people will reject all religions and ideologies simply because imams and commissars believe in them.

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Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), political philosopher: "Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think."

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Kingsley Amis (1922-1995), English novelist: "If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing."

#

January 30, 2010

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ONE-LINERS

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A good diplomat can charm a cobra or it takes one to know one.

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“Armenians of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your dividers.” What if this slogan succeeds only in producing our own Stalin?

*

My favorite genre: brevity.

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To be self-righteous and to be wrong might as well be synonymous.

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Arrogance allows a man to think he has all the answers even when none of them is right.

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To be sure means to ignore one's doubts.

*

One way to define freedom of speech is by saying even the ablest statesman is not qualified to tell even the worst scribbler what to write.

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The spirit of contradiction in some Armenians is so highly developed that if you were to agree with them they would disagree with you.

*

It is now time that we think of lamentation and hatred as experiments that failed and try another approach.

#

[arabaliozian]

January 31, 2010

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MORE ONE-LINERS

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To be a fool means to be at the mercy of worse fools who think they are smart.

*

The lower on the totem pole you are, the more subject to checks and balances you will be.

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Faceless bureaucrats follow rules not because they believe in them but because their only concern is their source of income.

*

When sacred cows are in charge, they will criminalize the consumption of shish-kebab.

*

The truth? Let us say, we may never know it and as human beings we were not meant to know it. All we can hope to do is move in its direction by discarding half-truth and lies.

*

Everything makes sense if you find the right explanation.

*

The aim of all religions and ideologies is to make you say "Yes, sir!"

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In theory, religion is meant to civilize; but in practice what it does is legitimize barbarism.

*

To acquire a faith is not the same as to see the light.

#

February 1, 2010

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DIARY

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There are two Armenians mentioned in Cheever's biography: one of them is a loud-mouth phony and the other Saroyan and his “tax problems.” Elsewhere we are informed Saroyan was popular in communist countries and “all but forgotten in the West.”

Cheever and Updike were thought to be good friends but in his diary Cheever had this to say about him: “He describes erections so exhaustively that he's beginning to look like a big prick with a hair-piece” -- a remark that probably hastened Updike's death.

*

Those who say “We need solutions,” want nothing of the kind because solutions may expose them as dupes or frauds.

*

Politics seems to attract the kind of people whose role model is not Gandhi but Don Corleone.

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A good fraction of mankind today makes a comfortable living by deceiving their fellow men.”

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One should judge a religion not by its theology but by its history, which also means, by its crimes against humanity.

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If I repeat myself it may be because our blunders keep repeating themselves and not repeating myself would amount to either giving up or covering up.

#

February 2, 2010

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IF...

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If the West were to adopt the methods of the Ottoman Empire, all Muslims within its borders would be deported to Siberia, Sahara, and even Antarctica. This may still happen if things get worse instead of better.

When civilizations clash it is not always the most civilized that prevails but the most ruthless. Democracy and respect for human rights may be noble principles, but life-and-death situations demand not moderate measures but ruthless tactics.

It is true that most Muslims, perhaps even the overwhelming majority, are not for terrorism, they may even be against it, but so were Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I and Jews in Europe during World War II.

Some of us may not live long enough to witness this apocalyptic denouement. That does not mean it may never happen. On the contrary, it may even be thought of as inevitable.

#

February 3, 2010

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FRAGMENTS

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As children we are brought up not to questions the words and conduct of adults. The trouble is, some of us never quite grow up. That's the only way to explain the popularity of men like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao (who is said to have slaughtered more people than the other two combined, or so I read in today's paper).

One could sum up the work of all great thinkers with two words: “Grow up!” Or, as the Scriptures tell us: “When one grows up, one should put aside the toys of one's childhood.”

*

I am a man without a country and without a neighborhood, if one defines a neighborhood not as a collection of houses but of homes. Every house in which I have lived at one time or another has been torn down by either war or real-estate developers; only my alma mater stands but it is no longer an educational institution but a cheap motel. As for my present neighborhood where I have lived for fifty years: the old are either dead or in nursing homes; the young have moved on to better neighborhoods or have been arrested on drug charges and taken away never to be seen again, and the immigrants have returned to their homeland.

*

Gresham's Law, named after the 16th-century English merchant Sir Thomas Gresham, states, "Bad money drive out good money," meaning: adulterated gold drives out pure gold, for the simple reason that it is cheaper. By extension, opportunists drive out men of principle, and mediocrities drive out those who seek to achieve excellence.

*

An extension of Gresham's Law: Evil knows how to organize itself because it appeals to the selfish instincts of the majority.

*

Likewise, recycled crap drives out objective judgment, and hoodlums and their verbal abuse drive out dialogue.

#

[arabaliozian]

February 4, 2010

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BORN-AGAIN

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Somewhere Sartre describes the process whereby a man passively accepts values invented by others as “kneeling down like an animal to be loaded with them.” In other words, to die as a man and be born again as a jackass.

*

In everything I write I try to understand and explain myself hoping thus to understand my fellow men and the world around me. As for changing the world: even when one succeeds in that particular endeavor, one may fail in many others. Consider Marx's dream and the reality of the Soviet Union. If Marx had been a contemporary of Stalin, my guess is either he would have committed suicide or written a treatise in praise of capitalism.

*

Whenever I am insulted anonymously, I say to myself: Let's give the devil his due. Obviously the man knows how to read. He may not always understand what he reads but he has taken an important first step. It would be a mistake to give up on him. In a year or two, or in ten or twenty years, his understanding may catch up with his reading skills. Rome wasn't built in one day. My own understanding took longer than twenty years to reach the present point. What right do I have to make greater demands on others?

#

February 5, 2010

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THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS

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The most valuable thoughts are those that contradict our emotions.

*

When I wrote what they wanted to read, I was happy and they were happy, until I read Einstein's remark to the effect that to aim at happiness at the expense of truth is to entertain “the ambitions of a pig.”

*

ON SOLUTIONS

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The first step is the realization that, like the kingdom of God, solutions too are within you.

*

MEMO TO READERS

WHO INSULT ME ANONYMOUSLY

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Your own shadow is a much more serious threat to you than I could ever be. But then, cowards don't need a real threat to experience fear, for their greatest enemy is their own imagination.

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TOYNBEE'S CONCEPTION OF REALITY

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

“Every human being now alive has links, however tenuous, not only with every one of his contemporaries, but also with every other human being that has ever lived. In this sense human history is one single seamless web, and any dissection of it is an arbitrary misrepresentation of Reality.”

*

MAX WEBER ON MODERN MAN

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

“Specialists without vision, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved.”

#

February 6, 2010

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

MIKOYAN

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

In his 1959:THE YEAR EVERYTHING CHANGED (New Jersey, 2009), Fred Kaplan devotes an entire chapter to Mikoyan's 1959 visit to America. A man of “blunt words, crackling wit, and unfailing good humor,” Mikoyan is also said to have been followed by Hungarian demonstrators who called him “mass murderer!” We also read here that Khrushchev affectionately called him “my Armenian,” and my “rug merchant.”

*

ON NATIONALISM

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

The trouble with nationalists is that they will be as divided as multinationalists because everyone will have his own conception of nation and patriotism that will stand in direct contradiction to another's. Hence the frequency and inevitability of civil wars.

*

SPENGLER ON DEMOCRACY

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

“A small number of superior heads, whose names are very likely not the best-known, settle everything, while below them are the great mass of second-rate politicians selected through a provincially-conceived franchise to keep alive the illusion of popular self-determination.”

This may explain the popularity of conspiracy theories.

*

VERSIONS OF THE PAST

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

Nationalist historians tend to be good at telling one side of the story: their own. The same applies to historians with an ideological or religious ax to grind. Which is why there are as many versions of the past as there are ideologies, religions, nations, tribes, and schools of thought, all of whom assert to have a monopoly on truth.

To say therefore that our own version of the past is true but the French, Russian, American, British, Patagonian, or, for that matter, Turkish versions of their own past is false, is to bury our heads in the sand.

#

[arabaliozian]

February 7, 2010

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

EXPOSING A MYTH

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

“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, continued, and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, pervasive, and unrealistic.” John F. Kennedy

*

There is a type of Armenian patriotism that believes in covering up the incompetence, corruption, and even the criminal conduct of our leadership on the grounds that, if exposed, our image as a nation may be harmed in the eyes of the world.

*

Earthquakes, we are told, are acts of God. But victims of earthquakes are not. Earthquakes don't kill people. Buildings do. How many of our contractors and commissars in charge of constructions are in jail today? What guarantee do we have that the next earthquake, which may happen in ten or twenty years, will not kill many more victims?

*

Our phony patriots are against hanging our dirty laundry out in the open for everyone to see. Americans, on the other hand, believe that sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Who is right?

Who knows better?

*

To those who say I should write in Armenian for Armenian papers, and not in English in open forums: Our writers from Khorenatsi and Yeghishé (5th century) to Zarian and Massikian (20th century) have done exactly that without any discernible results.

When Zarian assumed a critical stance, he was silenced, driven out of the United State and into Soviet Armenia, where he became an abominable no man. There are even those who accuse him today of having been an agent of the KGB and the CIA, and worse, that in his final phase he went mad.

*

Generally speaking the average Armenian dupe respects our bosses, bishops, and benefactors much more than our scribblers and vodanavorjis. Bosses, bishops, and benefactors are perceived as men of power, God, and capital (make it, Capital and god). What do scribblers and vodanavorjis do? They try to cook pilaf with words. Let the buggers shut up; and if they refuse, let them starve! Serve them right.

*

In our environment today Turcocentric ghazetajis are more respected and compensated than writers, even if after a century of verbiage (letters to the editor, commentaries, essays in the foreign press, not to say treatises, documentaries, symposia, and textbooks), they have failed to resurrect a single victim, annex a single inch of historic Armenia, or collect a single red cent as reparation.

When writers fail, they do so on their own and at their own expense. The same cannot be said of our ghazetajis, speechifiers, propagandists, and their assorted fund-raisers and bloodsuckers who survive and prosper by victimizing victims all over again, as if, once a victim, always a victim were their jagadakir.

Amot!

#

February 8, 2010

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

DIARY

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

Asked if he had seen Mozart's DON GIOVANNI, Casanova is said to have replied: “Seen it? I have lived it.” Which reminds me of a similar line in reference to Reagan's longevity as president. When asked if he had heard of Marco Polo, he is said to have replied: “Heard of him? I knew him!”

*

An old tactic that seldom fails: when cornered in an argument, assume the air of someone with a large store of inside information not available to ordinary laymen like your adversary, and proceed to lie your head off.

*

Free and fair elections are probably known by corrupt regimes (like our own) as an American disease.

*

It is fashionable to blame the Yanks for dropping the first bomb on Hiroshima. No one says, Thank God the Japs didn't have it first. And some day in the near or distant future if history repeats itself and the bomb is dropped on Muslim fanatics, they will call it a crime against humanity until they realize the only reason Muslims didn't drop the bomb on New York City or Washington or Paris is that they didn't have it.

*

An unspoken Armenian mantra: “Tell me what I want to hear and I will believe it even if you happen to be an habitual and compulsive liar.”

*

A nation that places propaganda above literature is doomed.

#

February 9, 2010

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

WINNING AN ARGUMENT --

ARMENIAN STYLE

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

Another tactic that never fails is to make an assertion so untenable and asinine as to make your adversary give up in despair and disgust. Three examples of such assertions that have been leveled against me follow:

“Armenians are incapable of hatred.”

“The only reason people quit their homeland and emigrate to foreign countries is greed for more money.”

“Criticizing Armenians in English in an open forum on the Internet is akin to treason.”

*

Armenians cannot engage in dialogue because their aim is not to get at the truth or to learn from one another's experience and understanding but to assert their intellectual prowess by being invincible in argument. So what if in the process they expose themselves as inbred morons? For perennial losers, victory trumps all other considerations.

*

We like to speak of “the Armenian wound.” What we carefully avoid mentioning is that more often than not this so-called wound is self-inflicted.

If we are at the mercy of unprincipled mediocrities today it's because we betrayed two generations of our ablest men to alien authorities. We could not betray all of them because in the Diaspora free speech is not thought of as a capital offense.

As a result, those who survived were either silenced or treated as parasites and nonentities whose sole contribution to our welfare as a nation has been empty verbiage. After all, who has ever heard of a chef who can cook pilaf and shish-kebab with words?

*

It has been said that for the shoeless, happiness is a pair of shoes, not the complete works of Shakespeare. Likewise, for the starving, happiness is a loaf of bread, not the music of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. And now that we are neither shoeless nor starving, can we really say we are a success as a nation or a diaspora because we are progressive, civilized and smart? And if we are smart, why do we take pleasure in uttering inanities?

#

February 10, 2010

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

ARE JIHADISTS PARAGONS OF VIRTUE?

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

How does a jihadist justify the slaughter of innocent civilians?

Easy!

“My imam tells me if I act in the name of Allah I will be rewarded with a harem of virgins in paradise.”

*

ARE ARMENIANS SMART?

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

How does an Armenian justify his stupidity?

Easier.

“Everyone knows Armenians are smart. Whatever I say must therefore be smart. Those who disagree with me are ignoramuses.”

Correction!

Everyone does not know Armenians are smart for the simple reason that everyone does not even know we exist because they tend to confuse us with Romanians and Aramaeans. The very few who think we are smart, they mean smart only in the marketplace or as rug merchants.

*

WOMEN IN LOVE

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

In a biography of Patricia Highsmith, author of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (filmed by Hitchcock and partly scripted by Raymond Chandler) we read: “For most of the 1940s Pat never stops falling in love with women – sometimes for no more than an hour or an evening.” (See THE TALENTED MISS HIGHSMITH: THESECRET LIFE AND SERIOUS ART OF PATRICIA HIGHSMITH, [New York, 2009, page 569].)

*

In a recent issue of LE POINT (Paris, January 2010) one of Brigitte Bardot's old lovers reminisces: “I was 18 when I first met her. She was then a famous star pursued by paparazzi. At one point she whispered to me: 'Listen, I don't go to bed with someone I am not in love with.' Ten minutes later she added: 'But, you know, I can fall in love three times in a single day.'”

#

[arabaliozian]

February 11, 2010

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

COMMENTS

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

The history of deceivers and their dupes has a beginning (the Serpent and Eve) but no end.

*

If we have not been taken in by Patagonians and Zulus it's because we have at no time dealt with them.

*

In the latest issue of the NEW YORKER dealing with the Internet I read: “...pervasive anonymity (which encourages bullying and moblike behavior)...”

*

When I was young I went out of my way to make friends. In my old age I am much better at making enemies. The friends I made were not always worthy of friendship. As for my enemies, I will say this: they make solitude a glorious experience.

*

How much of what we know today would be reduced to ignorance if we were to see reality through the eyes of God?

*

Greed makes a man more cunning as well as stupid: more cunning in his employment of means to achieve his end, and more stupid in thinking he can hide his greed.

*

THOREAU SPEAKS

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

“The man I meet with is not often so instructive as the silence he breaks.”

*

“Society: Pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm.”

#

February 12, 2010

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

ON LEADERSHIP & NATIONAL IDENTITY

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

Unlike American “birthers” who believe Obama is a Muslim double agent born in Kenya, I have no interest in questioning the national identity of our leaders some of whom may well be of mixed parentage. But I have every right to question their honesty. So much so that the expression “an honest Armenian leader” sounds to me as absurd as saying the sun rises in the West or one plus one makes eleven.

Speaking for myself: I'd much rather be ruled by an honest Zulu, Patagonian, or even Turk than a pure-blooded Armenian (assuming such a one exists) who speaks with a forked tongue.

*

About the irrelevance of national identity in political leadership: some of the most competent Byzantine emperors spoke Greek with a foreign accent for the simple reason that they were of Armenian descent.

*

To repeat what we have heard is not to say what we think.

*

Honest Armenians prefer to be silent. The louder the speech, the bigger the lies.

When one of our sermonizers died of cancer of the tongue, a friend who was personally acquainted with him said: “That's because he spoke too many lies.”

*

To quote someone does not always mean to agree with him but to point out a different perception of reality.

#

February 13, 2010

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

THE OTTOMAN CURSE

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

Like all imperial powers, the Turks adopted divide-and-rule tactics in their dealings with us and they appear to have succeeded so brilliantly that we remain divided long after their empire collapsed. Think about that next time you say Armenians are smart.

*

Explaining a phenomenon is easy. What is hard is dealing with it. Armenian literature has failed to convince our leaders in that endeavor. Hence the contempt for our vodanavorjis and scribblers.

*

The dumbest Armenian is capable of inflicting the deepest wounds and the smartest Armenian can voice the dumbest opinions.

*

One reason why our wheeler-dealers – unlike our writers -- have prospered and no doubt will continue to prosper is that they can pretend to be idealistic, committed, and principled much more convincingly than honest men.

#

[arabaliozian]

February 14, 2010

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

DEMONOLOGY

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

If you are not with us, you are against us.

If you are against us, you are against God.

If you are against God, you are with the Devil.

That's not theology but demonology.

One could even say, theological dogmas are the inventions of the Devil.

Hence the countless innocent victims...

*

Loyalty, when it is obedience of the powerless to the powerful, it is a one-way street.

*

Idiots who think they are smart: they are my favorite sources of inspiration. Our world is full of them...and they are full of it. I speak from experience. I was one of them myself. In the eyes of God I still am -- I use the word God as a point of reference that is invisible, inaccessible, incomprehensible, but Almighty.

*

The most powerful people in the history of mankind – those who changed the world and continue to do so -- men like Christ, Marx, and Einstein – were born, raised, and lived without power. They did not command armies and they were not part of a power structure or bureaucracy. Think about that next time you say you cannot cook pilaf with words. Remember, it took a three-letter equation to incinerate Hiroshima.

#

February 15, 2010

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

UNDERSTANDING HISTORY

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

Some of our ablest writers lacked the faculty of understanding history or of seeing “the other side of the hill” (to use a military metaphor) or “the angularity of time” (Sartre). Face to face with history, even our realists remained romantics at heart. They were more influenced by French literature and less by real events that made headlines in the international press. I am not talking of prophetic insight or vision but simply of deciphering the writing on the wall. I am talking of a myopia so advanced that it might as well have been blindness.

Consider Zohrab as a case in point, without any doubt one of our most sophisticated, experienced, and politically savvy observers of the Ottoman scene. And yet, instead of warning his readers of the coming catastrophe, he wrote fiction about adulterous women, golden-hearted prostitutes, and the death of a salesman. He wrote a pamphlet about the Hamidian massacres, true, but he saw them not as preludes to a greater tragedy but as aberrations that if exposed may not be repeated. His naïve faith in the Ottoman power structure was such that he even saved the life of the future architect of the Genocide by risking his own. If one were to compile profiles of famous Armenian dupes, surely Zohrab would qualify as the greatest of them all.

As for Baronian and Odian: they wrote about the moral bankruptcy of the Armenian community and ignored the apocalypse looming on the horizon.

If the sins of our intellectuals were sins of omission, those of our political leadership were sins of commission. Instead of doing their utmost to prevent the coming catastrophe, they did the exact opposite: they did their best to provoke it.

History repeats itself today. Our academics and pundits prefer to speak of past massacres and are blind to the “spitak chart” (white slaughter) or assimilation in the Diaspora and mass exodus from the Homeland.

It seems to me, we worry too much about our identity and not enough about our soul, and “what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

#

February 16, 2010

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

NOTES & COMMENTS

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

Talaat and Stalin murdered two generations of our best writers. We cannot forget that. But it seems we have forgotten or we don't even like to mention the fact that there is more than one way to slaughter a writer and we are not as innocent as we pretend to be.

*

There are two kinds of Armenians: those who think and those who recycle propaganda. Those who recycle propaganda speak louder and they are never wrong; and armed with that conviction, they persecute and silence anyone who dares to think for himself. Examples from the past: writers from Abovian to Zarian.

*

You can always rely on an Armenian to justify his selfish interests with a verbal avalanche of noble principles and ideals. In the words of a friend: "After fattening themselves on the blood of the innocent and the helpless, our Count Draculas are good at delivering lectures on the virtues of vegetarianism."

*

Celine was a notorious anti-Semite but he is viewed as a great writer even by some Jews (among them Philip Roth) because he had enough hatred in him to cover most of mankind, including his fellow countrymen, about whom he had this to say: “Vicious and spineless, raped, robbed, gutted, and always halfwits. That's France and that's the French.”

*

Beethoven suffered horribly over his deafness, but I doubt if anyone listening to his music thinks of it. I don't. The things that mean most to us may not even register on someone else's consciousness.

#

February 17, 2010

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

MISTAKES

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

Because I was not a gentleman, I assumed everybody else was. That was a big mistake.

*

If instead of ten thousand belief systems mankind had adopted the Socratic dictum “The only thing I know is that I don't know,” or “Of the gods we know nothing,” history would not have been an endless horror story.

*

The two most frequently abused words in all languages are “I think.” When a brainwashed idiot or, for that matter, a man of faith (but I repeat myself) begins a sentence with the words “I think,” he should be interrupted and informed that perjury is a serious criminal offense.

*

The exercise of power over the powerless is an insult. Hence Hamlet's phrase “the insolence of office.” As for law and order: I am reminded of the Roman saying: “They make a desert and call it peace.”

*

No matter how you describe me, there will be some truth in it. But this is true of all men. We are not a single person but a crowd. There is a particle of all men, both dead and alive, in all of us.

#

[arabaliozian]

February 18, 2010

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

INFIDELS

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

Muslims call us infidels. But, it seems to me, the real infidels are Muslims who slaughter other Muslims, and I am not talking about Muslim warriors killing other Muslim warriors but bloodthirsty fanatics killing innocent women and children.

*

Imams share with our bishops and bosses the false assumption that to divide and rule might as well be synonymous. They are too blind to see that their real enemy is themselves; and that a war fought on two fronts against a united enemy is doomed to end in defeat.

*

Let others speak of the long arm of the law. Ours, which was short to begin with, has been amputated.

*

Winston Churchill: “We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

Where were our “rough men” when we needed them most?

Did we ever have them?

*

The fewer the number of “rough men,” the greater the number of sermonizers, speechifiers, and ghazetajis.

#

February 19, 2010

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

REFLECTIONS

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

We live as though we will never die

and when death knocks on the door

we pretend it's Beethoven's 5th.

*

You want to know why I stress the negative?

Because whenever I take a closer look at a positive,

it reveals itself as propaganda.

*

There are no shortcuts to Golgotha.

*

Civil wars too are fought in the name of patriotism.

*

In theory – truth.

In practice – lies.

A great deal is lost in translation.

*

The difference between mathematics and life is that

in life to solve a problem very often means

creating more of them.

*

Literature: Art irritating life.

*

Life is a harsh taskmaster and being a fool

is a luxury no one,

not even the most powerful man on earth,

can afford.

#

February 20, 2010

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

IT HAS BEEN SAID...

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

“He who speaks does not know.

He who knows does not speak.”

Does that mean mankind would have been better off

without Socrates, Plato, Christ, and Gandhi?

*

It has also been said:

“Take everything you hear with a grain of salt.”

Why salt? To make the lie more palatable?

*

“He who speaks does not know?”

What if that's only in reference to propagandists and their dupes?

*

There are those who say God does not speak

because He has already said

what must be said, and if our problems persist

it's not His fault but ours.

Does that mean both victimizers and victims

must share responsibility for their (in)actions?

Does that means a child that is raped and murdered

by a cold-blooded serial killer

must share the killer's guilt?

*

Instead of saying

“Give us this day our daily bread,”

the rich should say

“Give us this day our share of compassion.”

And we should all say:

“Our Father, Who art in Heaven,

why don't you come down on earth once in a while?”

#

[arabaliozian]

February 21, 2010

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

AUTISM

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

There is an element of autism in even the mildest form of nationalism or patriotism, and autism is defined as “a state of mind characterized by daydreaming, hallucinations, and disregard of external reality.”

It is autism that leads some people to believe they belong to a superior race or they are God's chosen people.

It was autism that led our revolutionaries in the Ottoman empire to believe we were invulnerable because the Great Powers of the West were on our side.

It is autism (what else?) that makes us believe we are survivors par excellence. So what if the best perished and it is the worst that survived?

*

Since I have been a dupe most of my life, I don't particularly care to be duped even if it is for the enhancement of my own self-esteem or for some other nebulous or poorly defined term whose aim is to make me disregard or ignore my perception of reality, and reality tells me in no uncertain terms that God doesn't choose, men do, and when men do the choosing, they invariably choose themselves.

#

February 22, 2010

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

COMPROMISE

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

To reach a consensus, one must compromise, and compromise has been defined as “the introduction of inconsistency to closed minds.”

The key qualifier here is “closed minds.”

Another symptom of closed minds is to think of criticism as negative and of propaganda as positive. Or to view political speeches and flattery as patriotic and to reject objective assessment and analysis as treason. Also to think of free speech not as a fundamental human right but as a crime against humanity.

Our history is clear on this point.

No writer has ever been in a position to silence a boss, bishop, or benefactor.

And now consider the manner in which we treated our best writers from Abovian to Zarian.

A nation addicted to lies may survive, but can it live?

*

We have become a nation of cynics as defined by Oscar Wilde – people “who know the price of everything but the value of nothing.”

I doubt if there is a single Armenian today who has not heard of Gulbenkian, Kirkorian, or Manoogian. But how many have read or even heard of Massikian, one of our three most brilliant satirists – the other two being Baronian and Odian.

Once more I am reminded of my favorite literary anecdote which I never tire of retelling because it so beautifully exposes the dark side of our ethos. When on his deathbed, community leaders asked him to leave his estate (Massikian was also a successful lawyer, a wealthy man, and a lifelong bachelor) to an Armenian educational foundation, he is said to have replied: “I'd much rather leave it to a Cairo bordello.”

#

February 23, 2010

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

THERAPY

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

How do you convince someone that he may be smart in the marketplace but a retard in politics?

In psychology, there is a school of thought that believes in “aversion therapy,” which consists in exposing the patient into repellence against his neurotic convictions.

By saying and repeating that we have been moronized into thinking we are smart not just in the marketplace but in all fields of human endeavor, I emphasize not the negative, as some of my critics accuse me of doing, but I engage in the practice of aversion therapy.

I do this because that's how I acquired my objectivity on this issue.

Once, when I said “Armenians are smart” to an alienated Armenian academic (may he rest in peace) whom I respected, he for the first time in our many conversations literally lost his temper, and that made such a powerful impression on me that I suddenly saw very clearly the absurdity of my assertion and the systematic way in which I had been turned into a dupe by our propagandists.

If so far I have failed to expose the lies of our nationalists by aversion therapy, it may be because most ideas, even the best, fail. Violence continues to be popular in films as well as politics notwithstanding Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King.

And consider what happened to Marx and his ideas.

#

February 24, 2010

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

POLITICS

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

To support a leader simply because he is “our” leader is a fascist concept. So is obeying laws because “the law is the law.” To be subservient to a system because “you can't fight City Hall” is not good citizenship but cowardly subservience. We owe all our freedoms and privileges today to men who dared to say “No!” to incompetent or corrupt leaders.

*

LITERATURE

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

We have two kinds of writers: those who look backward (Mesrob Mashdots, Vartan Mamikonian, Turks and massacres) and those who tell us looking backward has turned us into “pillars of salt.” This has been said before and it bears repeating. And I will go on repeating it even if it means being ostracized, unpublished, called “consistently negative,” and “an enemy agent.”

*

PROPAGANDA

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

Propaganda does not solve problems, it creates them. The illusion of moral superiority, for instance, or the illusion that God takes sides in human conflicts is worse than propaganda; it is a Big Lie and a curse that has destroyed nations and empires and continues to do so in our own days. We are people like any other people because “all men are brothers.”

*

RELIGION

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

In POWER AND GREED: A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WORLD by Philippe Gigantes (London, 2002) I read the following: “Very early in human history, the autocrat with the big club and the witch doctor with his potions and maledictions, became natural allies. The one with the big club organized the hunt and the defense of the territory. The sorcerer took care of the uncontrollable, the unpredictable and the inexplicable – he took care of God, in other words. The two, king and priest, in modern parlance, ran the tribe through the fear of violence and the fear of 'God.' In that tribal system, they each took a much bigger share of everything.”

To which I will only add: “Nothing further, Your Honor.”

#

[shun]

Dear Ara,

I would highly urge you to open a page (here it is called TOPIC) in the Literature Forum under your name (as opposed to some topic like Oil, which will do very little good). That will be like a permanent address : Ara Baliozian as Topic title. There is a lot of activity in the literature section over the last few months. Karen A. Simonian will also be opening there a topic page soon under his name. It will be nice to have a group of writers together in one forum. The total effect will be synergistic.

Shun Shan Vordi

[shun]

I am wondering if there is better word than "Turkocentric" in this context that you often use. You must certainly know that centric is often politically used to connote the superiority of a given group, such as, Eurocentric - a eurocentric worldview. I tried Turkophobic, but it doesn't work, because it has a totally different connotation. Maybe Turkomaniac?

Shun Shan Vordi

[SAS]

I am wondering if there is better word than "Turkocentric" in this context that you often use. You must certainly know that centric is often politically used to connote the superiority of a given group, such as, Eurocentric - a eurocentric worldview. I tried Turkophobic, but it doesn't work, because it has a totally different connotation. Maybe Turkomaniac?

Shun Shan Vordi

Eurocentric = Եվրամետ(եվրակենտրոն)

Turkocentric = Թրքամետ(թրքակենտրոն)

Turkomaniac = Թրքամոլ

Turkophobic = Թրքատյաց

Edited February 27, 2010 by SAS

[arabaliozian]

February 25, 2010

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

FROM MY NOTEBOOKS

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

Jean Rostand, French biologist and son of Edmond, author of CYRANO DE BERGERAC: “Afterlife? It is the body that survives the mind, for several hours.”

*

John Crowe Ransom, American poet:

“In all the good Greek of Plato,

I lack my roastbeef and potato.”

That's like going to hell for a cold beer.

*

The best I can say about our benefactors and their flunkies is to quote Pushkin's line: “Where there is a trough, there will be swine.”

*

Chinese proverb: “Behind an able man there are always other able men.”

The reverse is also true: Behind a failure...

*

I don't remember any references to Armenians in John Updike's works. I am a little surprised therefore to read the following in TOWARDS THE END OF TIME (New York, 1997, page 124): “The Armenians of the region [Asia Minor] remained loyal to Christianity but were savagely slaughtered during World War I.”

The only other Armenian connection to Updike that I can think of is Cher starring in THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK.

*

In the mind of most odars Armenians are invariably associated with slaughter or hunger.

*

Armenian arguments polarize. When two Armenian friends start an argument, the chances are not only will they disagree but they will also end up as enemies. I speak from experience.

#

February 26, 2010

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

ON POWER

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

Capitalism is the best system for capitalists.

So is Marxism for communists.

The same could be said of all organized religions and ideologies.

It never fails. As soon as a religion or an ideology is established, it creates and persecutes heretics. That's because men of power hate to share it. Power and corruption might as well be synonymous. To cover up this obvious fact, men of power in a democracy call themselves public servants. But one man's public servant is another's fascist dictator. In the eyes of right-wing racists, Obama is another Hitler.

*

It has been said that a good diplomat can charm a cobra. If only our diplomats had been as good as our carpet dealers.

*

Confucius: “Oppressive government is worse than a tiger.”

*

We disagree like people who have tasted blood. We behave like sharks even if our opponent is a sardine. Which may explain our abuse of writers. I am not voicing a theory, just summing up the history of our literature.

#

February 27, 2010

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

PLAGIARISM

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

Shahnour once accused Siamanto of plagiarism and quoted chapter and verse.

Oshagan accused Zarian of plagiarism too but without quoting chapter and verse.

Perhaps because Oshagan thought of himself as the best and refused to consider the possibility of anyone else being as good or even better without foul play.

Sometimes I too am accused of plagiarism minus chapter and verse. But I don't mind pleading guilty as charged.

Nothing I write is original.

Everything I say has been said before if not in the Bible than by Plato.

All I do is paraphrase, expand, and emphasize.

Bertrand Russell used to say that all philosophy is a footnote to Plato. Plato has been accused of being a fascist. There are those who believe Heidegger to be the greatest philosophy of the last century. Not only was he a fascist but also a member of the Nazi party. A coincidence?

It has also been said that if you want to have an idea of infinity, think of human ignorance. Even better, think of human history where ideas are translated into action – that is to say, wars, revolutions, and massacres.

No one wants war, except of course deranged megalomaniacs and their dupes who seem to have their way every time.

How to explain that?

Or rather, what must be done?

This simple question has a simple answer but no one seems to listen or care. Homo sapiens seems to be more easily seduced by lies than by truth – namely that, all men are brothers. And because I say and repeat as much, I am accused of plagiarism. But I shouldn't complain. Far better men than myself have been crucified or assassinated for uttering that blasphemy.

#

[arabaliozian]

i use Turcocentric in the same sense as egocentric.

but your objection is legitimate.

[arabaliozian]

February 28, 2010

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

#1

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

When it comes to my own self-interest, or taking care of #1, I have an instinctive drive to work against it on the grounds that the difficulties that confront me will become more challenging, and the greater the challenge, the greater the rewards, even if the rewards come not in this life but in the next, and I don't believe in an afterlife. Figure that one out, if you can.

*

It takes faith to see meaning in the meaningless or the incomprehensible. Has anyone ever been successful in explaining if God is love, why does He allow the massacre of the innocent?

*

When the mother of a good friend died a few years ago, to console her, I said: “Think of it this way: God has given you two lives – one with Mother and another without her.”

When my own mother died I said and repeated the same thing to myself, but it didn't work; and I now think of it as one of the dumbest things anyone can say to a friend who has lost a loved one. It's like saying to a blind amputee: “God has given you two lives – one with your eyes and limbs, the other without them.”

*

How easy it is to bear another's grief! And how impossibly hard it is to come to terms with one's own.

#

March 1, 2010

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

CRITICS

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

The function of a critic is not to know better or to speak in the name of a superior brand of patriotism or loyalty to the nation, but to expose contradictions. To say, for instance, that it makes no sense to brag about survival when it is the best that perish and the worse that survive. Or, to praise freedom in theory and to ban free speech in practice.

Whether we like it or not, whenever we make an assertion, more often than not we speak in the name of an ideology or belief system whose fundamental principles we refuse to question or doubt.

It is not that ideologies and religions can be wrong, but that they are never right because there are no final answers or answers to the most important questions. And as everyone knows by now, for every belief system there is another that contradicts it.

Which belief system is the best?

It depends where you were born and educated – make it, brainwashed. Which means, belief systems are an extension not of reason but of geography. Mountains, valleys and climate have more to do with what we believe than our brains.

Am I advocating skepticism? No! Only reminding my readers that none of us is infallible, not even the Pope of Rome or, for that matter, the Catholicos of Etchmiadzin or Antelias.

*

It is not easy to see meaning in the meaningless. But what is even infinitely harder is to question the validity of meaning itself. A philosopher (I no longer remember his name) once wrote a book titled THE MEANING OF MEANING. It seems to me, in a historic context, it would be far more accurate to speak of the meaninglessness of meaning, in view of the fact that countless innocent victims were slaughtered in the name of a belief system or heresy that is no longer a heresy.

#

March 2, 2010

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

...AMONG OTHER THINGS

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

If a hundred million people believe in a lie, it doesn't follow that lie ceases to be a lie.

*

On more than one occasion I have been given to understand that if my income is below minimum wage I am in no position to negotiate or to say anything but “Yes, sir!”

*

Not all Turks are enemies, and not all Armenians are friends. Some Turks saved our lives by risking their own, and some Armenians betrayed us to the authorities.

*

Think of me as someone who is doing his utmost to be an honest witness in the eyes of an honest jury that may or may not exist.

*

Dividers don't like to speak of solidarity, or bankers of usury, or cannibals of vegetarianism, or pimps of castration.

*

Anyone who trusts someone else's judgment more than his own is a potential dupe.

#

March 3, 2010

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

FROM MY NOTEBOOKS

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

If you want to teach yourself how to lie and deceive, write your memoirs. Even better, if you are a nationalist or a patriot, write a history of your nation. I speak from experience: I have done both.

*

To brag about the fact that we have oppressed no other nation is like a lizard asserting his moral superiority on the grounds that he has never killed and devoured a crocodile.

*

Too many chiefs, no Indians: that's one way to explain our divisions.

*

Memo to readers who like to compare me to Mencken: Please, take the trouble to learn how to spell his name.

*

I am not a good or even a mediocre pianist, but I can brag about one thing: I have been murdering Mozart's and Beethoven's complete Sonatas and so far no cop has ever laid a glove on me.

*

Disraeli claimed he had read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE eighteen times. May I confess that I have read it only three times.

*

A critic once said of Gore Vidal: “He exudes despair and cynical misery and a grudge against society which is really based on his own lack of talent and creative joy.”

I am reminded of Churchill's World War II remark: “Some chicken! Some neck!”

*

No complete bastard ever wrote a decent line. Believable lies, yes!

#

[arabaliozian]

March 4, 2010

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

ON A VARIETY OF UNRELATED THINGS

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

When someone you love dies, death ceases to be just another word in the dictionary and becomes a special kind of hell designed especially for you by a diabolically cunning sadist who knows you better than you know yourself, and is thus in a position to tell what will hurt you the most. He doesn't just behead you with an ax. Instead, he cuts your throat with a rusty knife and watched you bleed to death in a garbage can.

*

To say “Yes, sir!” to superiors has nothing to do with respect for authority and everything to do with cowardly subservience.

*

As far as I know, no one has ever heard anyone saying that a nation with the ablest Oriental carpet dealers is in a better position to make a valuable contribution to world peace and progress.

*

It is twice as hard to remain silent in two languages; and because most Armenians speak more than two languages, they suffer from chronic verbal diarrhea.

*

Insanity could also be defined as a process in which emotions are allowed to define thoughts.

#

March 5, 2010

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

CONNECTIONS

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

Whenever I read about oppression, I hear echoes, see parallels, make connections: Martin Luther King: “It is a strange and twisted logic to use the tragic results of segregation as an argument for its continuation.”

It is almost as strange and twisted as preaching Armenianism and practicing Ottomanism.

*

I see connections where none exist: first genocide of the 20th century and none of the Three Wise Men was Armenian. But then, they also say everything is connected to everything else.

*

Our version of democracy: Say what you like provided you believe what you are told by wiser men than yourself even when they happen to be damn fools.

*

Some of my readers enjoy using me as a punching bag. After Turks, an Armenian's favorite target is another Armenian.

*

Solidarity is a nation's greatest source of wealth and power.

*

If you are defenseless, you will be exploited and oppressed by men who will pretend to be your brothers, protectors, and benefactors. But you will make a big mistake if you think the only way to liberate yourself is by exploiting and oppressing your brothers.

#

March 6, 2010

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

COMMENTS

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

If freedom enlarges the usefulness of our faculties (according to Kant), millennial oppression narrows them down to such a degree that it is not at all unusual to see a fool parading as a genius.

*

Dealing with fools is hard enough; infinitely harder is dealing with a fool who has been taken in by another fool.

*

Assessing oneself as infallible may well be the surest symptom of terminal cretinism.

*

The more unwavering a man’s commitment to his own self-interest, the more altruistic the principles he pretends to espouse.

*

Politics is the second oldest profession and in many ways it resembles the first. Fascists agree but they think this does not apply to fascism.

#

[arabaliozian]

March 7, 2010

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

WHAT I BELIEVE

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

Just because we understand and explain some things, we think we can understand and explain many other things. But so far, and after millennia of speculation by theologians, philosophers, and scientists, we have failed to answer the most important questions and we fool ourselves when we think some day we may at last grasp the meaning of life and the nature of God.

Because in our arrogance (hubris) we think it is within our abilities to do so, we are punished (nemesis) with intolerance, jihads, fatwas, papal encyclicals, ten thousands commandments, belief systems and as many heresies and contradictions that suggest even the wisest among us is no better than a damn fool.

I believe or I would like to believe God to be inaccessible, incomprehensible, and indifferent to both believers and nonbelievers alike. I suspect any Being or Power that can create the universe, only a fraction of which is visible to us, must be too busy creating other universes in an infinite number of dimensions only one of which is accessible to us.

What are the chances that after we die, the incomprehensible will be comprehensible? I would say 50/50. I would also add that after we die we may no longer care whether life makes sense or not.

#

March 8, 2010

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

REFLECTIONS

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

Why is an Armenian another Armenian's Turk?

My only tentative answer is: Because his worldview is based on prejudice, propaganda, and lies.

*

Sartre: “Fascism is not defined by the number of its victims, but by the way it kills them.”

Or silences them.

Remember Milton's celebrated words in defense of free speech: “Who kills a man, kills a reasonable creature. But he who destroys a good book kills reason itself.”

*

I am beginning to see the truth in the old saying, sooner or later our blessings become curses, and everything that contributed to our good fortune, returns to destroy us.

*

There are prodigal fathers as surely as there are prodigal sons.

*

Propaganda is more dangerous than ignorance because it is identified as knowledge -- the kind that paralyzes the mind and moves crowds.

*

The bigger the lie, the greater the number of its dupes.

*

About the protocols: If history is on our side, why are we afraid of historians?

*

Ever since Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, our benefactors have been building churches in the hope of bribing God, thus adding blasphemy to their previous list of sins.

#

March 9, 2010

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

METAPHORS

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

“An eye for an eye.”

“If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out.”

“When the blind lead the blind...”

“In the country of the blind, the one-eyed is king.”

These metaphors – assuming that's what they are – explain so much about human nature and history.

And consider the following by Toynbee: “Any man of forty who is endowed with moderate intelligence has seen – in the light of the uniformity of Nature – the entire Past and Future.”

*

It takes less than a second to see the light. But compared to what we can't see or what God sees, the light we see may well be another form of darkness.

*

The unspoken threat of all authoritarian leaders to dissidents: “Since you refuse to see me as I see myself, I will pluck out your eyes and cut out your tongue.”

#

March 10, 2010

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

POWER & GREED

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

What I put into words is the obvious, which may or may not be perceived as such by others, who may or may not wish to jeopardize their position within the power structure. As for our press: it is too dependent on the goodwill of our bosses, bishops, and benefactors for its survival to print anything that may not be flattering to their colossal egos.

*

The French have an untranslatable word for obnoxious, ignorant, brainwashed, narrow-minded, loud-mouth patriots: they call them “patriotards.” I call ours Panchoonies, Jack S. Avanakians, Turcocentric ghazetajis, and during the Soviet era, “chic Bolsheviks.”

*

The only time they are willing to admit blunders is when they want to assert their humanity (“Nobody is perfect”), never their abysmal incompetence.

*

I am resigned to the fact that I will never be popular with our brown-nosers and the source of the brown on their nose.

*

In his POWER & GREED: A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WORLD (London, 2002, page 189), Philippe Gigantes writes: “The Christian Armenians in the Caucasus regions of the Muslim Ottoman Empire favoured the Christian Russian Empire and were slaughtered by the Turks, the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. How many were slaughtered? The numbers are in dispute, varying between 500,000 and I.5 million.”

This passage has a footnote that reads:

“My father's uncle, Dr Nicholas Vassiliades, living in Constantinople (now Istanbul) and conscripted as a colonel in the Turkish army's medical corps, saw the massacre in Armenia. From the records of the Turkish army's medical corps, he placed the slaughtered at more than 1 million.”

#

[arabaliozian]

March 14, 2010

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

SLOGANS

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

To be brainwashed is bad enough.

What is infinitely worse is to be brainwashed by idiots who pretend to be smart. And what could be easier for an adult than to appear smart to a child, which is when they get you – when you are a child and cannot yet think for yourself. And they get you not with logic or sentences that make sense or have any connection with reality, but with slogans – slogans like “America the Beautiful,” “The Land of the Brave and the Free,” “Deutschland uber alles.”

Massacres and genocides come naturally to people who are brainwashed to parrot slogans like “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.”

All slogans should come with a warning or a counter-slogan, such as “Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.”

“Workers of the world unite, provided you don't drop your pants and bend over to murderous morons.”

“Allawa akhbar!”

God may be One.

God may be Great.

God may even be Almighty.

But God is also Incomprehensible, and to speak in His name is to bluff and blaspheme.

#

March 15, 2010

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

QUESTIONS

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

Toynbee: “When prophets disagree, are we to give credit to either of their opposing voices?”

Likewise, when our dividers disagree...

*

The difference between an agnostic and a man of faith: the agnostic will not kill and die in the name of an entity whose existence is based on hearsay evidence.

*

Simone Weil: “It is impossible to forgive whoever has done us harm if that harm has lowered us. We have to think that it has not lowered us but revealed our true level.”

*

A noted French philosopher (Merleau-Ponty) once described the German occupation of France during World War II, as being “raped by history.”

How are we to describe our own experience?

After being gang-raped for 600 years we were eviscerated?

Are we dead or alive?

*

Questions that I ask myself seven times every day (which is how many times a pope is said to doubt his faith every day):

Am I wasting my time?

I am.

Why do I go on?

I don't know.

#

March 16, 2010

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

IF YOU LIE DOWN WITH DOGS....

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

If you lie down with cannibals, you are sure to end up in their digestive tract. Perhaps genocide was the price we had to pay for being not only subservient to them for 600 years but also their “most loyal subjects.”

*

Winners say they won because God was on their side or it was their “manifest destiny” to win. Losers say they lost because their enemies were predators who spoke with a forked tongue.

*

Prejudice comes as naturally to men of faith as extremism to fanatics and big lies to dupes.

*

The greater the number of divisions, the great the number of panchoonies and letters that end with the words “mi kich pogh.”

*

Who benefits from our divisions? Only our dividers.

*

I plead guilty to the charge that I recycle ideas as opposed to propaganda, and to propagandists, recycling ideas might as well be a capital offense.

*

Our crypto-sultans and neo-commissars are so insecure that they will promote any mediocrity that knows how to flatter them, and silence anyone who dares to question their infallibility.

*

I am not personally acquainted with any one of our leaders but I have dealt with some of their underlings and I am appalled by their intellectual mediocrity (which I am willing to forgive) and moral moronism (which is at the root of all crimes against humanity”).

*

Incompetent leaders might as well be shepherds who drive their flocks in the direction of ravenous wolves.

*

A belief system or faith is a product of man's creative mind as surely as the composition of a great symphony, and man has created many more gods than great symphonies.

#

March 17, 2010

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

THIS & THAT

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

The Irish like to say, “There are two kinds of people: the Irish and those who would like to be Irish.” How many kinds of Armenians are there? I would say, as many as there are Armenians; but I could also say there are also two kinds: dividers and their dupes.

*

If I am wrong, I can be corrected. But if those who are in charge of our destiny are wrong, the result may be another massacre – if not “garmir” (red) than “jermak” (white).

If I have said this before, I apologize. I happen to be an addict of reiteration. Or, as Socrates used to say, “To know is to remember.”

*

Awareness of ignorance is better than false knowledge.

*

When an American politician needs a dedicated aide, my guess is, he says: “I need a Young Turk.” I doubt if anyone of them says “I need a rug merchant.”

I read recently that Khrushchev referred to Mikoyan as “my rug merchant.”

*

My English dictionary defines “Young Turk” as “a young person eager for radical change to the established order.”

*

If what you say makes sense,

let your words speak louder than your emotions.

#

[arabaliozian]

March 18, 2010

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

OLD-TIME RELIGION

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

What does the average Armenian know or understand about the reasons why we are divided? I suspect most Armenians follow the old-time religion routine: if it's good enough for my father, it's good enough for me. It follows the son of a Tashnak will be a Tashnak, the son of a Ramgavar will be a Ramgavar, and so on. It also follows, our divisions are based not on facts or values but on habit and tradition. Which may explain why even our revolutionaries are right-wing conservatives. As a result, instead of renewal we have stagnation, instead if progress paralysis, and instead of dialogue two monologues that never cross.

*

To join a group means to surrender a fraction of one's individuality and uniqueness.

*

In a group it is not always the best that rises to the top but the most cunning and ruthless.

*

Even the most absurd slogan will make sense if it flatters our ego.

*

Sometimes I am accused of repeating myself. If you agree with a slogan, you don't mind to have it repeated countless times. But if you disagree with an idea, being exposed to it even once, it will be a source of annoyance, irritation, and hostility.

*

Who is more guilty? The leader or his dupe (who assesses himself as smart)?

*

The 11th Commandment in the Armenian Decalogue: “Thou shalt not be a dupe.”

#

March 19, 2010

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

OPIUM

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

Marx said religion is “the opium of the people.”

The word assassin comes from the Arabic “hashish” (opium).

Voltaire: “Since it was a religious war, there were no survivors.”

*

As a nonbeliever I respect equally both believers and nonbelievers– both Sartre and Schweitzer (who were cousins).

Sartre, the atheist, writes in his memoirs: “I depend on people who depend on God.”

A contradiction?

Walt Whitman: “So what if I contradict myself? I contain multitudes.”

*

Nationalism is defined as an ideology by nationalists, and as pathology by those who have studied its history.

*

Some are too big to fail, and some are too insignificant to register on the consciousness of the world. You may now guess to which category we belong.

*

Incompetence and intolerance of dissent is a lethal combination that might as well be a death warrant.

*

What makes life bearable is the idea of death.

*

Whitman: “Nothing can happen more beautiful than death.”

*

Optimism? Nothing wrong with it, provided you are prepared to be disappointed.

*

Why do I write in short sentences and paragraphs?

The short answer is, fear.

Fear of boring my readers.

#

March 20, 2010

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

ON PATERNALISM

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

Our genocide is not only a symptom of man's humanity to man but also of our own misplaced and naïve trust in an alien power structure that we were led to believe to be paternalistic because that is how it had (mis)represented itself to us for 600 years. One reason we don't emphasize this aspect of our past is that paternalism continues to be our favorite mode of perceiving our own leadership.

*

Xenophobia blinds us to the virtues of our adversaries to the same degree that it blinds us to our own vices.

*

In our traumatized partisan environment you are safe only if you parrot the partisan line. But if you dare to think and speak for yourself – that is to say, to give expression to your own thoughts. convictions, and experiences – then prepared yourself to be verbally abused by dupes who know and understand even less than their “educators” -- meaning, those who brainwashed them.

*

Oliver Goldsmith: “The laws govern the poor, and the rich govern the law.”

#

[arabaliozian]

March 21, 2010

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

METAPHYSICAL SPECULATIONS

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

Perhaps Existence or Reality and God are one and the same

if only because they share one very important quality in common,

namely, total indifference.

One way to explain this indifference is to say that

if we were to add up the positives and the negatives in a man's life,

the result will be zero.

*

The end of being is nothingness,

and from nothingness to being again.

From stardust to existence

and from existence to stardust again.

From here to eternity.

A cycle whose beginning is shrouded in mystery

and whose end is invisible and inconceivable,

very much like God Himself.

*

Scientists speak of the Big Bang.

But so far no scientist has ever ventured to speculate

about the nature or dimension of existence before the Bang.

*

The dead enter a timeless realm

in which a second is as long as a billion years.

In cosmic time, a life lasts no more than a fraction of a second.

The purpose of life – assuming it has one –

is to experience the human dimension,

and of dimensions there may well be an infinite number.

*

Nothing is impossible to an Almighty God,

the creator of the Universe only a small fraction of which

we can see even with the most powerful telescopes and microscopes.

*

Am I trying to explain the meaning of life?

No! Only doing my utmost to come to terms with Reality,

which is beyond our comprehension

and will remain so until we die, perhaps even after...

assuming there is an after.

The rest is propaganda.

#

March 22, 2010

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

READING TOYNBEE

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

“Private intellectual enterprise, unlike private economic enterprise, lives by co-operation not by competition.”

Translated into every-day language and applied to us, this simply means, Armenian writers dig their own graves if they continue to crap on one another as Oshagan did on Zarian, and as Oshagan's disciples continue to do so to this day.

*

“It is always easier, both intellectually and morally, to debit one's ills to the account of some outside agency than to ascribe the responsibility to oneself.”

What Toynbee is saying here is this: if you paint the opposition all black and yourself all white, as our dividers and Turcocentric ghazetajis tend to do, you will be believed only by those you have brainwashed and no one else.

*

What follows is one of my favorite passages from THE STUDY OF HISTORY:

“In the life which Man has made for himself on Earth, his institutions, in contrast to his personal relations, are the veritable slums, and that taint of moral obliquity is still more distressing in the least ignoble of these social tenements of the Human Spirit – for instance, in the churches and the academies – than in such unquestionably malignant institutions as Slavery and War.”

As I see it, what Toynbee is saying here: wars and massacres are extensions of the lies taught in schools and preached in churches (including temples and mosques); or again, there is more evil in legitimizing and promoting intolerance than in violations of human rights and in crimes against humanity, including genocide. But whereas war criminals are occasionally arrested, tried, found guilty, and punished, or are assassinated, hanged, or commit suicide, rabbis, bishops, and imams go on preaching their venom unmolested.

#

March 23, 2010

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

VOODOO

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

In his VOODOO HISTORIES: THE ROLE OF THE CONSPIRACY THEORY IN SHAPING MODERN HISTORY (New York, 2010, page 340), David Aaronovitch writes, conspiracy theorists are masters of writing “history for losers” in which they try to prove that “their defeat is not the product of their inherent weakness, let alone their mistakes; [but] it is due to the almost demonic ruthlessness of their enemy.”

*

Understanding reality is an endless process. After millennia of thinking and research some of the most important questions in science and philosophy remain unanswered. A partisan (and it makes no difference wheter he is a religious or a political partisan) is one who operates on the assumption that he knows all he needs to know; he has understood reality or its most important aspects, and all that remains to be done is to gather more evidence in order to strengthen his case. He confuses a fraction of reality with reality, his nation with mankind, and one side of an issue with all sides. He is a dogmatist and like all dogmatists he is intolerant, narrow-minded, self-righteous and prone to violence. Even when he speaks for peace and the brotherhood of all men he is prepared to kill and die. He is more of a preacher and propagandist than an observer and analyst. Which is why arguing with a partisan might as well be synonymous with making an enemy.

*

Reason unites. Emotion divides. Reason unites because it is predictable and it obeys laws of universal validity. We all agree that 2+2=4.

Emotion divides because it is unpredictable and inconsistent.

We all do not and cannot agree on matters of taste, faith, or anything else that is outside reason’s orbit.

Even when we disagree, reason tells us "to agree to disagree," because consensus

(which means working together rather than thinking alike) is better than conflict.

I say therefore, Let us reason together.

#

March 24, 2010

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

TAKING CARE OF #1

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

A power structure is as invisible as a glass wall. You feel its presence only when you bump into it and shatter your glasses or flatten your nose. That is why, from a very early age, you are taught obedience and respect for authority. That is also why you are constantly reminded you can't fight City Hall, it is heresy to contradict those who speak in the name of God, don't rock the boat, the law is the law...

A power structure knows the only way to take care of itself is by controlling the educational system, and by rewriting history.

And yet, every single privilege we enjoy today as citizens of a democracy we owe to dissenters like Socrates (who dedicated his life to proving those who pretend to know better are ignoramuses), Martin Luther (who dared to question the infallibility of the Pope), and Solzhenitsyn (who by exposing the criminal nature of Soviet despotism, undermined its legitimacy).

What about our own dissidents?

The short answer is: they have been ignored, buried, and forgotten by our commissars, who, with the blessings of our “popes,” continue to be in charge of our destiny as a nation today.

I suspect one reason we are constantly reminded of massacres is to let us know that we owe the fact that we are no longer being massacred to the statesmanship of our leaders. As for the fact that we were massacred at the turn of the last century: we should in no way ascribe it to their abysmal ignorance, arrogance, and incompetence.

They assert their legitimacy is by painting themselves all white and their enemies all black; and their dupes, who invariably outnumber those who can think for themselves, are more than willing to believe them. Hence the popular adage: “There is a sucker born every minute.”

#

[arabaliozian]

March 25, 2010

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

AS I SEE IT

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

Negotiating from a position of weakness might as well be synonymous with defeat.

*

We cannot see the dead, but can the dead (or their immortal soul) see us? If they can see us, is it with the indifference of Reality or God? Does our misery spoil their bliss (assuming they are in heaven)?

*

An ideal explanation combines truth (or a semblance of it) with consolation. Hence the popularity of religions – notwithstanding their many contradictions.

*

My views of my fellow men (beginning with myself) are so unflattering that I look forward to the day when someone will prove me wrong.

*

Do I write because I like to annoy the hell out of dupes, bigots, and charlatans?

Why not? Isn’t that as good a reason as any?

*

Where a part-time janitor makes more money than a full-time writer, there will be an abundance of recycled crap and a total absence of ideas. When, in such an environment, they say “We need solutions,” you can be sure of one thing: that's the last thing they need.

*

In all political movements, lust for power is invariably hidden beneath noble slogans: the greater the lust, the nobler the slogans.

*

There are many forms of cowardice, surely one of the worst must be fear of free speech.

*

It is not easy being civil to individuals who in a different time and place would have been my executioners.

#

March 26, 2010

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

FROM ABC TO Z

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

Abovian committed suicide, Bakounts and Charents were betrayed to an alien regime and “purged,” and Zarian died with the conviction that he had been murdered. The enormity of this crime against humanity is such that it needs to be repeated again and again and as often as the other great crime committed against us at the turn of the last century. Remember that next time you speak about Armenian literature and culture.

*

When top dogs fail to reach a consensus, the interests of underdogs cease to be a priority.

*

Because I am against a divided, incompetent, and corrupt regime, I am treated as an enemy of the people on the assumption that the people are too alienated or dumb to recognize a friend when they see one.

*

Just because the stars are not visible during the day, it doesn't mean they are not there. Likewise, just because our “betters” are unreasonable, it doesn't mean reason should be abolished.

*

If you insult someone anonymously, you may expose more your cowardice and less your target's failings.

*

Henri Barbusse: “The real and the supernatural are one and the same.”

So are the reasonable and the absurd.

*

Baudelaire: “Life is a disease. This is a widely known secret.”

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March 27, 2010

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VANDALS

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To practice medicine, you need a diploma. To drive a car, you must have a license. But any charlatan can be a politician and proceed to dismantle the nation. This is a well-known historic fact. There are still millions of people who believe Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam were great leaders, in the same way that there are many Armenians who believe what they are told by our bosses, bishops, and benefactors, who, after vandalizing the nation's most important possession – namely, its solidarity – dare to speak in the name of patriotism and God. If that's not speaking with a forked tongue, I should like to know what is.

*

At the end of his life, Arthur (DARKNESS AT NOON) Koestler was so disgusted with politicians that at the beginning of every interview he would say, “No politics.”

*

When, a few days ago, I posted a short commentary titled “Metaphysical Speculations,” several readers said such speculations are a waste of time because they never lead to believable final answers. But according to Toynbee: “Comprehension sometimes consists in just a correct understanding of questions that are unanswerable.”

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[arabaliozian]

March 28, 2010

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WHAT WE ALL WANT

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The maximum amount of respect for the minimum amount of effort to earn it.

*

LIES AND LIARS

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According to an old saying, “All men are liars.” But whereas the poor and the weak lie in defense of their survival, the rich and powerful lie in defense of a power structure that allows them to deceive, exploit, and oppress the poor and the defenseless. Only the blind will not see a difference there.

*

ON HISTORY AND HISTORIANS

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Where there are two version of the past, both can't be right, though both may contain fractions of truth. What happened, what is described in a book, and what is understood by readers are three different things. Which is why every historian disagrees with every other historian. Which is also why even the greatest historians – from Herodotus to Spengler and Toynbee – have been torn to shreds by other historians. Which may suggest that historians, even the very best, are as fallible as popes, imams, and rabbis.

*

ON REINCARNATION

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I see reincarnation not as a concept or occurrence that may happen after death, but as a ceaseless, ongoing process in life. The air we breathe and the food we consume are constantly being recycled by our bodies. Which is why scientists tell us we all have within us atoms that once belonged to Socrates and Alexander the Great. In Toynbee's version of the story: “Every human being now alive has links, however tenuous, not only with every one of his contemporaries, but also with every other human being that has ever lived.”

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March 29, 2010

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CONTEXTS

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In a NEWSWEEK commentary I read the following about THE NEW YORK TIMES: “Could America's greatest newspaper really be led by such vicious, untrustworthy people?” I have been asking that same question about our own weeklies which, compared to THE NEW YORK TIMES, are as nothing!

*

Am I poisoning the well?

You cannot poison a well of lies with a drop of antidote which may contain particles of truth.

*

Whenever I am told a self-important Armenian is too busy to answer his mail – that is to say, to behave like a civilized human being or to do what he is paid to do – the first question that comes up is: “Busy doing what -- beside pulling his d*ck?”

*

Literary immortality, including that of Dante and Shakespeare, lasts only a fraction of a second when placed in the context of cosmic time. I read this in a book on death by Julian Barnes titled NOTHING TO BE FRIGHTENED OF (New York, 2008).

*

Are Armenians smart? Maybe, But it is a mistake to use that line as a license to behave like an inbred moron. As Yanks are fond of saying, “That's my philosophy.”

*

"Truth shall set you free," we are told. Not always. Especially not in an Armenian context. An Armenian who thinks truth is on his side behaves more like a slave to his Ottomanism.

*

An assertion and its contradiction are only two steps on a road that stretches to infinity. But in an Armenian context, they might as well be dead ends.

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March 30, 2010

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COMMENTS

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“This Western Sun-King's [Louis XIV] palace at Versailles weighed as heavily upon the land of France as the pyramids of Gizah weighed upon the Land of Egypt.”

My first thought on reading this passage in Toynbee's STUDY OF HISTORY: “and as our own four religious denominations (Protestant, Catholic, Etchmiadznagan, and Anteliassagan) weigh upon our communities everywhere.”

*

An infallible man or institution does not have to be proven wrong because nothing can be as foolish, to the point of being asinine, as claiming infallibility.

*

I knew Armenian literature and culture were bankrupt on the day I heard the words of a national benefactor and patron of the arts spoken to one of our poets: “I hire and fire people like you every day.”

*

We can truly say of the brainwashed: "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they say because they understand nothing and they know even less."

*

Writes Shahan Shahnour in a letter to a friend (I am now translating and paraphrasing from memory): "Dupes have been the source of our downfall. What we need most today is the kind of common sense that can discriminate right from wrong, and good from evil. What we don't need is the empty verbiage [i.e. propaganda] of partisan rhetoric. In the words of Arpiar Arpiarian, 'If we can't be useful to this nation, let us at least refrain from doing it any harm'."

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March 31, 2010

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READING SARTRE

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“History is the result of conscious but often shortsighted decisions made by men in face of the problem of scarcity.”

At the turn of the last century in the Ottoman Empire, the problem of scarcity for the people was human rights or freedom, and for the revolutionaries, power. And now that they have the power, what are they doing with it? They run schools and educate a new generation of “decent” Armenians who will support their “cause” (that is to say, their power).

*

And here is Sartre again on the subject of decency in a political context:

“The decent man will make himself deaf, dumb, and paralyzed. He is the most abstract negation. He will define himself narrowly by tradition, by obedience...”

Now you may be in a better position to understand why when Talaat and Stalin felt threatened, the first thing they did was to systematically eliminate the intellectual class. Now you may also be in a better position to understand why under the sultans we had a vibrant literature, and under our own so-called revolutionaries we have nothing.

*

“In order for reality to be revealed, it is necessary for a man to struggle against it.”

The Ottoman and Soviet realities revealed themselves to us when we undertook to struggle against them.

What about our present reality?

It will never reveal itself as long as we allow those in power to brainwash us into being “decent” Armenians – that is to say, deaf, dumb, and stupid dupes who cannot think for himself.

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