notes

[Guest arabaliozian]

Tuesday, December 10, 2002***************************In the Ottoman Empire and in the USSR we were brought up to fear authority, to be subservient. Perhaps one of the most important functions of an Armenian writer today is to remind his readers that they no longer live in the Ottoman Empire and the USSR, and their leaders are neither sultans nor commissars but public servants.*The Armenian bully who insults, intimidates and threatens in defense of Armenianism (whatever that may mean) is a typical symptom of Ottomanism or Sovietism. And if you were to say, "You too do your own share of insulting," I will say (a) I have at no time asserted to being an exception to any rule, and I am in the business of exposing contradictions. Those who feel exposed will inevitably also feel insulted, perhaps even threatened, not by my words but by reality – the reality of being unmasked as loud-mouth charlatans and Turkish gypsies.*From the Turks we have learned the art of massacre – if not real than verbal.*The two most popular solutions to all our problems: emigration and assimilation.*It makes no sense to say that the Turks massacred our women and children because they were a threat to their security or territorial integrity. I suggest they massacred out of pure hatred – 600 years of silent, accumulated hatred.*The best revenge against someone who calls you an idiot is not to call him an idiot – that would be repetitive, redundant, infantile and predictable – but to wait until someone else calls him an inbred moron, white trash, a lowlife and a scumbag…and if he happens to be an Armenian you may not have to wait too long._________Sunday, December 08, 2002*****************************To trust the future of the Homeland into the hands of Diasporan Armenians amounts to saying a bordello madam is qualified to run a nunnery. What have we in the Diaspora done to prevent the gradual fragmentation, disintegration and prostitution of the Diaspora? And if the Homeland and the Diaspora are interdependent, what makes us think that our leaders here are more concerned about the future of the Homeland than their leaders there?*He who is engaged in digging his own grave should not brag about his genius for survival.*If the Turks are ever coerced into admitting responsibility for the Genocide, they will never forgive us for coercing them.*If you are toothless, don't try to eat nuts. This piece of advice has many applications and variations. Examples: If you are a fool, don't pretend to understand the thoughts of wise men. If you are a sheep among wolves, don't pretend to be a lion.*By systematically exterminating our ablest men, our enemies allowed the riffraff to fill the void. Some Armenians know this. Others pretend not to know it. And then there are the dupes whose unspoken slogan is: "Our riffraff, right or wrong."*Let’s speak about the East and West. Subtract British influence from India and you end up with a bordello of maharajas. Subtract Marxism from China and you have a hornet’s nest of warlords. Subtract American influence from Japan and you have a totalitarian power structure with a nonentity at the top pretending to be god. Subtract Kemal’s infatuation with the West from Turkey and you end up with a dung heap of sultans, pashas and mullahs.East minus West equals an anachronistic nightmare.*The advantages of rewriting history are many and all of them consist in flattering the egos of liars and charlatans.Monday, December 09, 2002********************************If you question the authority of old men, you will be accused of corrupting the young.*I have yet to meet an honest Armenian who was not alienated and a holier-than-thou patriot who was not a charlatan.*He who looks up to men of action will look down at men of thought even if they think the right thoughts and will look up at men of action even when they perform the wrong deeds.*No one wants advice – only corroboration. No one wants corroboration – only collaboration. No one wants collaboration – only subservience.*Everyone has his way of judging nations. I judge them by the manner in which they treat their writers. A nation that kills its dissidents is a nation of executioners, and a nation that silences its critics is no better.*Every Armenian is either a traitor or an enemy in the eyes of another Armenian, and when I say enemy I mean one who does not deserve to live.*A good Armenian is as good as gold but a bad Armenian is horrid. The trouble is, with most Armenians it’s not always easy to tell the good from the bad and sometimes on closer inspection the good turn out to be horrid.*Why is it that those who preach love, prefer to practice hate?Tuesday, December 10, 2002***************************In the Ottoman Empire and in the USSR we were brought up to fear authority, to be subservient. Perhaps one of the most important functions of an Armenian writer today is to remind his readers that they no longer live in the Ottoman Empire and the USSR, and their leaders are neither sultans nor commissars but public servants.*The Armenian bully who insults, intimidates and threatens in defense of Armenianism (whatever that may mean) is a typical symptom of Ottomanism or Sovietism. And if you were to say, "You too do your own share of insulting," I will say (a) I have at no time asserted to being an exception to any rule, and (b) I am in the business of exposing contradictions. Those who feel exposed will inevitably also feel insulted, perhaps even threatened, not by my words but by reality – the reality of being unmasked as loud-mouth charlatans and Turkish gypsies.*From the Turks we have learned the art of massacre – if not real than verbal.*The two most popular solutions to all our problems: emigration and assimilation.*It makes no sense to say that the Turks massacred our women and children because they were a threat to their security or territorial integrity. I suggest they massacred out of pure hatred – 600 years of silent, accumulated hatred.*The best revenge against someone who calls you an idiot is not to call him an idiot – that would be repetitive, redundant, infantile and predictable – but to wait until someone else calls him an inbred moron, white trash, a lowlife and a scumbag…and if he happens to be an Armenian you may not have to wait too long.