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[Guest arabaliozian]

Thursday, September 19, 2002*******************************The easiest thing in the world: to reconcile self-interest with the interests of the nation.*At the turn of the century a Turk decided that it was in the interest of the nation to exterminate the Armenians within the Ottoman Empire and many other Turks agreed with him. A hundred years later another Turks decides that it is in the interest of the nation to cover up the crime and many others – Turks as well as others in whose interest it is to adopt a friendly foreign policy towards Turkey – agree with him.*A minor academic in Armenia decides that the best way to advance his career and to defend the interests of the nation is to crap on fellow academics five thousand miles away – as opposed to exposing the corrupt power structure within which he functions and whose unbearable stench he choose to ignore.*Bertrand Russell: "It may be laid down as a general rule to which there are few exceptions that, when people are mistaken as to what is to their own interest, the course that they believe to be wise is more harmful to others than the course that really is wise."*There is a word that describes the act of placing self-interest above principle and it is not a nice word: opportunism.*The hardest thing in the world: to determine what is in the long-range interest of the nation. Life is infinitely more complex than chess and very often a move that looks good now may lead to defeat and catastrophe later.*Muslim terrorists or freedom fighters or martyrs assert Americans deserve to die because they are too arrogant, greedy, and rich, thus implying that their own princes, sheiks and assorted riffraff have taken vows of poverty and humility.Friday, September 20, 2002*****************************What has been the role of Armenian-American academics in the destiny of the nation? Next question: What has been the role of our bosses and bishops in the defeats, disasters, tragedies, and catastrophes of our people? Another question: What can happen to you if you adopt a critical stance towards our academics? Answer: At worst you may be excluded from one or two academic mafias and their assorted clubs of mutual admiration. And now suppose you were to choose to expose the blunders, the corruption and incompetence of our political and religious institutions. The chances are you may become an abominable no-man in our own version of the Gulag. Moral: Be therefore cunning in your choices of asses and never kick one that may be in a position to retaliate.Saturday, September 21, 2002*******************************There are times when I cannot help thinking of myself as someone who is in the business of raising consciousness but who succeeds only in lowering it. But then, in what way am I different from our political parties who profess to be in the business of saving the nation but succeed only in tribalizing, alienating and destroying it?*Gandhi believed no man is beyond redemption. What if this applies only to individuals and not to collective entities? Consider the history of empires that have fallen never to rise again or tribes that have vanished without a trace? What if the rule is, the more we identify ourselves with a tribe, nation, ideology or religion, the more we dehumanize ourselves?*An Armenian editor in Glendale once called the police and said he was receiving threatening calls. When asked to name those he suspected, he gave them a list of 87 names.*Only a self-assessed smart Armenian thinks by asserting "I hate no one!" he may project the image of someone who is compassionate, civilized, and full of love – as opposed to full of something else.*Racism is a quasi-religion and like all religions it derives its strength from a sphere that is beyond, not to say antagonistic to, reason. In other words: trying to reason with a racist amounts to trying to reason with a lunatic.*Sooner or later every moviegoer makes the unpleasant discovery that reality is different: reality not only smells but it also stinks.*Very often the choice is between pleasing others (and surviving) and being honest (and starving). In an environment where the obese outnumber the underfed, you may guess which of the two choices is more popular.