notes

[Guest arabaliozian]

ABOUT OTTOMANISMOnce, many years ago, during a conversation with Puzant Granian (a prominent writer, educator, and member of the ARF, now retired) he mentioned an Armenian teacher of his who used to say that there is a Turk in every Armenian.The best way to define Ottomanism is to say that it is an Armenian version of the Christian concept of original sin.*WORDS OF WISDOMKrikor Zohrab: "Oppression corrupts everything it touches, including the highest moral virtues." If Zohrab  is right, even the best among us has a dormant Turk within him…and I don’t mean a good Turk but a bad one.*THIS HAS BEEN SAID BEFORESome of us are pro- and others anti-establishment because the establishment has been good to some and bad to others.Speaking as a writer: the establishment has been bad not only to me but to all writers. This is true of all power structures: they support only those willing to recycle their propaganda line. Everyone else they kill; and when they cannot kill, they starve; and when they cannot starve, they silence. They love brown-nosers and hate critics.There is nothing new in that either. Literature and politics have been antagonists since time immemorial.The aim of politics is power; the aim of literature, truth; and power and truth happen to be incompatible concepts.This has been said before but it bears repeating.A REMINISCENCE*************************"Everything will change!" a friend of mine said after writing an article critical of our establishment. The article was published and nothing changed. This happened a few years ago. And I remember the little argument I had with him after his "everything will change!" prediction. "Nothing will change," I said. "I disagree. I know these people," he said. "I have been writing critical articles for years," I said, "and what has changed?" "That’s because you write in English," he said. "Ideas are ideas, the truth is the truth, and words are words," I said. "It makes no difference if they are in Armenian or English…." "It makes a big difference," he said. And speaking of words: It was in the Middle East where someone first said: "At the beginning was the word." But that was several thousand years ago. Since then the Middle East has been at the mercy of tyrants, warlords, sultans, shahs, padishas, pashas, dictators, and agha-babas, all of whom have shared two things in common: lust for power and contempt for ideas. This final line just about sums up our own leadership.GRAFFITIPlease, don’t tell my mother I am a lawyer. She thinks I manage a whorehouse.*The biggest mistake you may have made in your life was taking that first breath of air.*IF…If a messianic figure were to appear among us and if he were to discover the solution to all our problems, you can be sure of one thing: we would crucify him. And why?  Because his solution would make too many demands on us. Which is why I feel justifying in asserting that, when an Armenian says "What is your solution?" what he really means is: What is your magic formula, hocus pocus, or abracadabra?*PANCHOONIE’S PUNCH LINEHe who says "talk is cheap" cannot be in need of advice, or input, or suggestions, or, for that matter, positive or constructive criticism; and if he says he is, he is lying; he is after something else, and very probably "mi kich pogh."*WORDS OF WISDOMNietzsche: "What is evil? Whatever springs from weakness."

[Hamo]

I vse ?  

[Sench]

I vse ?  

Не утрудняйся, он по русски ни ни ;-)

[Hamo]

Не утрудняйся, он по русски ни ни ;-)

Ya mogu i po-anglicki No navernoe ne stoit

[Sench]

У меня такое впечатление, что у него бумага дома кончилась, или в редакциях книг ему отказали, вот и пишет свои шедеври тут...

[Hamo]

Svoi li ? Esli svoi, to eto eshe nichego, a esli citiruet - togda delo sovsem ploxo

[Sench]

Да я и сам не знаю, да и знать не хочу :confused: