ara

[Guest arabaliozian]

ON PROPHECY IN GENERAL AND OUR PROPHETS IN PARTICULAR**************************************Does anyone really care what I think? Is what I am doing of any use to anyone? Am I in a position to change anything?When it comes to my work, I have more questions than answers, unlike some of my critics who not only pretend to know everything there is to know about our past and present but also about the future.At least two of my critics last week alone predicted the downfall of Turkey within the next century. These gentlemen forget that the downfall of Turkey was predicted more than a century ago by all the statesmen, diplomats, and pundits of the West, including the Czar of all the Russias, who compared Turkey to a terminally ill patient. That’s the trouble with some prophets: they get so involved in predicting someone else’s future that they lose sight of their own immediate prospects.PATRIOTISM: A SEMANTIC INVESTIGATION**************************************************Like so much else in life, patriotism too is in the eye of the beholder: it may mean anything from love of homeland to license to kill.If an Armenian historian were to write a history of Armenia, he would think of patriotism as love of Armenia and hatred of Turks. If, on the other hand, a Turkish historian were to write a history of Turkey, he would define patriotism as love of Turkey and hatred of Armenians. But if an odar historian were to write a history of the Middle East, he would tend to view patriotism as organized hatred and license to massacre.What we have here are three distinct definitions of patriotism, the first of which contradicts the second and the third disagrees with both.Which is right?Another question: Is exposing the dark side of our identity, history, and culture an act of patriotism or betrayal?If we ever agree on the answer to these questions it may well be in a future (make it, distant future) Golden Age of Mankind or perhaps when #### freezes over. DEMOCRACY ************************************Formulating noble policies: what could be easier? All you need is a speechifier or charlatan (but I repeat myself) suffering from verbal diarrhea. Implementing them: that’s when the real hard work begins; hence the old sayings, "the road to #### is paved with good intentions," and "the devil is in the detail."Democracy is an improvement over other forms of government because (one) it allows, even encourages, dissent, debate, and participation; (two) it considers compromise a legitimate negotiating tool (as opposed to betrayal of inflexible principles) and (three) it views consensus as a necessary stage preceding implementation.By contrast, in an authoritarian power structure, policies are formulated by a small group of non-representative and like-minded men, dissent is stifled, and the will of the people ignored.Democracy does not guarantee success or infallibility; only continuity and a longer lifespan for those in power.Fascist regimes collapse; democracies have a better chance to endure.PATERNALISM+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++There is a type of Armenian who tends to confuse objectivity with pessimism. We must emphasize the positive, he says (as if he were dealing with infants) because self-esteem is more important than an accurate assessment of the situation.About the Homeland we are told again and again: "Yes, there are mafias, corruption on all levels, etc., but they must be ascribed to the Soviets and their evil ways." The implication being that deep, very deep inside somewhere, we are as white as the driven snow; it is the rest of the world that is rotten.We are expected to believe that after 3000 years of history, our elites have not yet learned the principles of good governance and they need 30 or 40 more years to discover the dangers of despotism and he benefits of democracy.What these phony patriots promote is not responsible citizenship but irresponsible procrastination motivated by Ottoman subservience.ONE OR TWO THINGS I HAVE LEARNED AS AN ARMENIAN****************************************The ambition of the oppressed is not to abolish oppression but to become an oppressor. Likewise, the ambition of an underdog is not to abolish inequality but to become a top dog.*Armenians are natural born commissars. *All Armenian writers share the same dream: to have more readers than commissars who issue instructions and demands, and when these are ignored, threats.*An Armenian’s ego is bigger than his brain: the first has the size of Mt. Ararat, the second that of a dung hill.*You cannot trust the solution to a problem to those who created the problem or to those who profit by the problem. The first will never admit the existence of the problem and the second will never do anything against their own interests.A READER WRITES / It’s an insult to call your fellow men "jackasses which you do often?" I agree. But an insult to whom? Compare man’s inhumanity to man with that of jackasses – a mountain versus a speck of dust./SOLUTIONS / If I or anyone else were to come up with a perfect verbal solution to all our problems (assuming of course such a formula exists and so far it has eluded our greatest intellects) it would convince no one and change nothing. Show me an Armenian who says "What is your solution?" and I will show you a bully out for blood./FREEDOM AND LARCENY / The challenge that the present regime confronts in Yerevan today is discriminating free enterprise from free larceny./CONSPIRACY / When two bad men strike up a friendship, their first and most important priority is to convince each other they are good men in order to proceed being twice as bad with an easy conscience./WHY CRITICS? / One of the functions of criticism is to remind usthat no matter how you slice it, propaganda is recycled crap, and just because two million, or for that matter, twenty or two hundred million people believe in it and are willing to die or kill for it, that doesn't make it true -- think of organized religions and the crimes that have been committed in their name. The reason why critics are not popular is that no one likes to be told what he believes in is crap./THERE IS MORE TO BEING AN ARMENIAN than proving you are a better Armenian;there is more to being an Armenian than how you feel about Mt. Ararat; what matters more than your feelings about Mt. Ararat is your feelings about your fellow Armenians -- and I don’t mean Armenians who agree with you, or are members of the same party, club or mafia; but Armenians who disagree with you. To love only Armenians who agree with you, who, that is, echo your sentiments and thoughts (make it, misconceptions and fallacies) , who are in effect carbon copies of yourself -- let’s call them ditto Armenians, has nothing to do with love and has everything to do with narcissism, which happens to be a neurosis, a disease of the mind, and a chemical imbalance in the brain.