415 replies to this topic

[ara baliozian]

THE MEDITATIONS OF AN IDIOT
************************************
Only idiots declare wars in order to lose them.
*
To speak of moral victory is to imply:
"If I win, I win. If I lose, I win too!"
*
To speak of moral victory is also to imply:
"How can I learn from my blunders
if I have committed none?"
*
A bad military victory is better
than a good moral victory.
*
A genocide is a tragedy (for the victims)
a crime against humanity (for the perpetrators)
and a colossal blunder (for the leadership).
*
We emphasize the tragedy and the crime
but cover up the blunder.
*
What could be more idiotic than placing a nation
at the mercy of bloodthirsty criminals?
*
If we are smart,
why is it that we have idiots as leaders?
*
Idiots as leaders:
hence the myth of "smart" Armenians.
*
To cover up a big lie, invent a bigger lie.
Or, as Hitler once put it: "The bigger the lie the better!"
*
If massacres are crimes against humanity,
what about assimilation and exodus?
(also known as "white massacres")
*
To paraphrase the Bible:
"If any man among you seems to be smart in this world,
let him become an idiot that he may be smart."

[ara baliozian]

we are Armenians.
this is a fact we cannot change.
an authentic human being does not reject or deny his ancestry.
an Armenian pretending to be an Italian or Russian cannot be an authentic human
being.
to be authentic!
this may not be a good enough reason for some but it is good enough for me. Hope
it will be good enough for others but if it isn't, no matter. we must all choose
our own path!

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, July 14, 2002
*****************************
An honest man is a charlatan’s worst nightmare.
#
Show me a man who is an expert on any given subject
and I will show you an Armenian.
#
Charles Peguy: "Out of ignorance and a sense of duty
most decent people are liable to turn into criminals."
#
You can't talk ethics with a bishop:
he thinks he has a monopoly on the subject.
You can't talk sharing power with a boss:
he thinks he is the best qualified man for the job.
You can't talk money with a benefactor:
he won't listen to anyone who makes less than he does.
#
A man who is his own worst enemy
cannot be anyone’s friend.
#
Scottish proverb: "The devil’s boots don't creak."

[ara baliozian]

LATER
********************
What is the penalty for being wrong?
If nothing, anyone can say anything he wants.
*
Sometimes I am urged by readers
to prove my usefulness by joining one of our institutions,
the implication being that words are cheap,
writing an exercise in futility,
and literature a waste of time:
views worthy of killer commissars.
*
All persecuted minorities and victims
tend to view freedom as
the freedom to persecute and victimize.
*
Communism has been defined as state capitalism,
and capitalism as socialism for the rich.
Private enterprise promotes greed, and
government programs legitimize waste.
All systems are designed by elites to favor elites.
As for revolutions:
they only replace one set of rascals with another.
Which is why, during the final years of his life,
Arthur Koestler (one of the most politically astute writers
of the 20th century) refused to discuss politics.
*
La Rochefoucauld: "No man is clever enough
to know all the evil he does."

[nairi]

Dear Ara,

But because so far we have failed to develop a consensus on this,

This: Assuming that 'this' refers to 'that which is best in our culture', then what do you think is best in our culture?

We lost not because we did the wrong thing

What was the right thing we did/were doing?

to be authentic!
Hope it will be good enough for others but if it isn't, no matter. we must all choose our own path!

I think the whole problem with part of today's youth is that "being an authentic human being" is not a good enough reason anymore.

Show me a man who is an expert on any given subject and I will show you an Armenian.

Does this mean "there's an Armenian expert on any given subject" or "there are no Armenian experts; there are only Armenian charlatans"?

Charles Peguy: "Out of ignorance and a sense of duty most decent people are liable to turn into criminals."

But what knowledge and sense of duty should we young, decent, lost Armenians have? How can a coherent Armenia convince its youth that its culture/inheritance is worth evolving and keeping alive?

Scottish proverb: "The devil’s boots don't creak."

What does this mean?

Nairi

[ara baliozian]

WARNING
************************
Please note that I don't write for bishops
and sons of bishops.
Neither do I write for commissars and hooligans.
I write for readers with an open mind.
I write for Armenians who define homeland as
anywhere on earth they are allowed to work
and provide for their families.
Speaking for myself and as things stand,
I define Armenia as a good place to die.
I don't mind admitting that
I don't have a single chauvinist bone in my body.
To those who assert it is my duty as an Armenian
to love Armenia, I ask:
What have you done to make Armenia
more lovable or, for that matter, livable? --
besides uttering nonsense and
making unreasonable demands on your fellow Armenians?
As for those Armenians who praise Armenia
but prefer to live in exile, I say:
An Armenian’s feet speak louder than his words.
So what if I repeat myself?
If liars can repeat their lies three times,
why shouldn't I repeat my truths thirty-three times?
I repeat: I don't write for bosses, bishops and benefactors.
I write against them.
And if you are a partisan of charlatans,
I warn you again, you may find my words
hazardous to your charlatanism.
But if you insist on reading me,
I thank you for allowing me
to annoy the hell out of you.

[sen_Vahan]

we are Armenians.
this is a fact we cannot change.
an authentic human being does not reject or deny his ancestry.
an Armenian pretending to be an Italian or Russian cannot be an authentic huma being. to be authentic! this may not be a good enough reason for some but it is good enough for me. Hopeit will be good enough for others but if it isn't, no matter. we must all choose our own path!

--------------------
ara baliozian

Dear Ara,

How can we be authentic if the majority lives outside the homeland. Many armenian children born each year in various countries and what is sad - most of them do not speak the language, do not know much about the history and at the same time speak the language of the host country and follow the laws and traditions of that country. When I first came to the US a year ago I was surprised that almost all the armenian guys born in America I met did not know the language, have never been in Armenia,etc. This is sad.
Vahan

[khodja]

Sen_Vahan,

I am one of the few Armenian-Americans of my generation who speaks Armenian. I have also visited Armenia. I find myself, however, alienated from the Armenian community. I agree with almost every lampoon that Ara Baliozian swings at the Armenian power structure.

Case in point is a eulogy for Alice Bilezikjian printed in the Armenian Reporter. Even though she graduated top in her high school class, her mother discouraged her from going to college, stating that she would be standing in front of a hot stove, so who needs college. I am glad that my late mother did not listen to such stupid talk from her traditional Armenian family.

[sen_Vahan]

Traditions are changing, Hagarag, so do armenians. i am not talking about the traditionalism but about keeping the culture. And as you know culture may not be kept without the language. How do you think armenians in diasporas could preserve the language and not forget it?

[khodja]

I learned Armenian at my grandmother's knee. Both my parents spoke Armenian at home. When I entered kindergarten I spoke Armenian and another language better than English, even though I was born in an English-speaking country. My parents also sent me to Armenian language school. I did not research my Armenian roots until I was well out of college, and refused to go to Armenia until it was a free nation. I refuse to accept the negative traits of Armenian culture. I take to positive feastures and discard the rest. Many of my contemporaries became so disgusted with the traditional BS that they ran away from their culture "lock, stock and barrel." I respect Armenian history, speak the language and concern myself with contemporary Armenian affairs, but one marriage to an Armenian was enough. It will be an odar second time around.

Bottom line is to speak Armenain at home and send your children to Armenian languaage school. Socondly, if you ram traditional Armenian viewpoints down their throats, it will cause the opposite effect in the diaspora where other cultural viewpoints prevail.

[ara baliozian]

Monday, July 15, 2002
****************************
In history, losers and underdogs are almost always
morally superior; either that or their sole consolation
appears to be portraying themselves as such.
If only history were a morality play!
Or, if only history were a play and we the playwrights….
*
If I can't say it as I see it,
who am I? What am I?
No better than a politician’s echo
or a charlatan’s ditto.
*
I don't trust a writer who belongs to a political party.
I don't trust political parties and politics.
I trust politicians even less.
I will go further and say that I see them as my natural enemies.
Politicians place power above truth and honesty.
They may pretend to be honest and
to speak in the name of truth,
but I question every word they utter.
I question even their commas
and the spaces between their words and lines
*
Yiddish proverb: "A fool is his own informer."
*
Emerson: "Take egotism out,
and you would castrate the benefactors."
*
Charles Peguy: "The man who doesn't bawl out the truth
when he knows the truth becomes the accomplice of liars."

[ara baliozian]

> But because so far we have failed to develop a consensus on this,
>
> This: Assuming that 'this' refers to 'that which is best in our
> culture',

RIGHT!

> then what do you think is best in our culture?

A GREAT DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ABOVIAN, RAFFI, BARONIAN, VOSKANIAN, BAKOUNTS,
ZARIAN, MASSIKIAN...AND MANY, MANY OTHERS
AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR.
>
> We lost not because we did the wrong thing
>
> What was the right thing we did/were doing?

IN HISTORY WHAT COUNTS MOST IS PRESENTING A UNITED FRONT; OR DIALOGUE, COMPROMISE AND CONSENSUS.
ANYTHING THAT IS DONE WITH UNANIMITY OR UNITY OR CONSENSUS HAS A BETTER CHANCE OF SUCCESS.
A REVOLUTION WITHOUT POPULAR SUPPORT IS BOUND TO FAIL.
THE AMERICAN, FRENCH, AND RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS SUCCEEDED BECAUSE THEY HAD POPULAR SUPPORT.
WE FAILED BECAUSE OUR REVOLUTIONARIES DID NOT HAVE POPULAR SUPPORT.
>
>
> Show me a man who is an expert on any given subject and I will show
> you an
> Armenian.
>
> Does this mean "there's an Armenian expert on any given subject" or
> "there
> are no Armenian experts; there are only Armenian charlatans"?

YES, TOO MANY CHARLATANS EAGER TO OBSTRUCT THE PATH
OF THE HONEST.
>
> Charles Peguy: "Out of ignorance and a sense of duty most decent
> people are
> liable to turn into criminals."
>
> But what knowledge and sense of duty should we young, decent, lost
> Armenians
> have? How can a coherent Armenia convince its youth that its
> culture/inheritance is worth evolving and keeping alive?

THERE ARE NO EASY SOLUTIONS. THE HONEST ARMENIANS MUST UNITE AND EXPOSE THE CHARLATANS.
THAT'S STEP ONE.
STEP TWO WILL BECOME CLEAR AFTER STEP ONE IS ACCOMPLISHED.
>
> Scottish proverb: "The devil’s boots don't creak."
>
> What does this mean?

THE DEVIL MOVES SILENTLY.
THERE ARE NO WARNING SIRENS AT HIS APPROACH.
WE MAY THINK WE ARE ALONE BUT HE MAYBE RIGHT BEHIND US OR EVEN WITHIN US.

[ara baliozian]

WHAT IT MEANS
***************************
To be an Armenian writer
means to conduct an endless war
on several fronts:
the establishment (bosses, bishops, benefactors
and their flunkies),
the philistines,
the Ottomanized and Sovietized fraction of the community
(those who think intellectuals spell trouble
and authority should not be challenged),
the alienated, the assimilated, and the living dead
for whom the world of ideas and
Armenian literature in general
is a foreign country devoid of all interest and cash value.
Surviving all these hostile elements
is much more difficult that surviving a Turk’s yataghan.
Which may explain why
millions survived the massacres
but you can count the writers on the fingers of a leper.

[ara baliozian]

GENIUSES ANONYMOUS
********************************
Whenever I scan our weeklies
I come across a minimum of a dozen headlines
about as many writers, poets, artists, and musicians
who have either achieved or are about to achieve
greatness and immortality.
I once met a young fellow in his early twenties
who introduced himself with the words:
"I have written a musical for Aznavour."
"Has he seen it yet?" I wanted to know.
"Not yet," he replied.
"What if he doesn't like it?" I asked next.
"That’s not an option!" was his reply.
That was forty years ago.
More recently (about fifteen years ago)
I met a versifier who bragged about the fact that
he could write a long poem about anything,
including writer’s block.
This poet was too infatuated with his own genius
to even consider the possibility that
what he was producing
may not have been great literature but verbal diarrhea.
I suspect if I were to mention his name today,
only his relatives would recognize it.
I don't mention his friends because
I have every reason to suspect
he was too arrogant and loud to have any;
and my guess is,
he goes on writing today armed
with the unshakable conviction that
he will be appreciated by future generations.
Perhaps what we need is an institution
called Geniuses Anonymous
(modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous)
whose aim will be to convince its members
to make themselves useful to society
by choosing to be decent human beings
and honest servants of the community
as opposed to ambitious loud-mouth megalomaniacs.

[nairi]

Dear Ara,

Speaking for myself and as things stand,
I define Armenia as a good place to die.

Not to sound morbid, but have you ever thought about where you want to be buried? Does it matter to you in which country/city you're buried? (Unless you don't want to be buried, then where do you want your ashes thrown, etc.?)

WE FAILED BECAUSE OUR REVOLUTIONARIES DID NOT HAVE POPULAR SUPPORT.

So how do we go about gaining popular support? What do you think is the most effective way to do this?

British proverb: "The devil sometimes speaks the truth."

Nairi

[Garo]

This thread file got corrupted and we've lost some of the posts. I'm closing this thread.
Please use new 'as i see it' thread for new discussions.

Garo
-----------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 07, 2002 10:56 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, October 07, 2002
******************************
According to an old English law
known as Gresham’s law,
"Bad money drives out good money."
The same applies to ideas.
Consider what happened to Marxism
(driven out by Stalinism)
and before that to Christianity
(driven out by countless phony orthodoxies
and phonier heresies, all of which
legitimized intolerance,
and sometimes even torture, war
-- one of which lasted a hundred years --
and massacres.)
It is no exaggeration to say therefore,
where there is a good idea
it will be inevitably corrupted and perverted
by charlatans and hoodlums
parading as charismatic leaders,
and an abundance of dupes.

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 07, 2002 10:56 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECOND THOUGHTS
*************************
The worst punishment that God can inflict on a man
is to make him confront with his double.
*
Creative is not a favorite word of creative people.
I doubt if Mozart, Beethoven, or Dostoevsky ever used it;
and if they did it was very probably
in reference to the Creator.
Creative is a philistine word.
*
What makes warlike people bloodthirsty
is the knowledge that somebody else will do the bleeding.
*
If mullahs believed in their own lies,
they would be the first to blow themselves up.
*
One reads to be better informed.
But there are also those who read to feed their hatred.
That’s one thing I have learned as an Armenian writer.

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

nairi
Member # 865

posted October 07, 2002 11:05 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by ara baliozian:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is no demand for translated Armenian literature.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, there is. Me for one.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's nice but hardely enough!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And all my non-Armenian speaking/reading friends.

Have you ever thought about international publishers? There's a great demand for minority Literature translated into an "international" language (e.g. Penguin, and even Oxford).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 10, 2002 09:25 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARMENIAN TOLERANCE: AN OXYMORON?
*********************************************
How can anyone trust the judgment of a historian
who accuses fellow historians of treason
and appears to be totally unaware of our recent past
during which our commissars
systematically exterminated some of our ablest men
in successive waves of purges?
*
When Raffi said "Treason and betrayal are in our blood,"
he sure knew what he was talking about – judging
by the ease with which we accuse one another of treason.
*
No one can be as nasty as a self-righteous Armenian,
and when I say nasty I mean
Ottoman-ruthless,
commissar-cruel,
killer-bloodthirsty.
*
If sometimes I too sound nasty
it may be because
I have not yet mastered the technique
of being sweet or diplomatic
when describing a nasty reality.
*
Another reason why I am grateful
to my country of adoption:
no commissars

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 10, 2002 09:28 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, October 09, 2002
*******************************
It’s not easy reading someone else’s mind
but one thing I find easy to guess:
if I were to add all my major problems
from the day I was born to the present,
the total would be less than
someone else’s single minor problem of a single day.
Or, as the old saying goes:
"You want to make your friend happy?
Tell him your problems."
So much for human compassion, sympathy,
understanding and altruism.
*
Propaganda finds dupes without looking for them.
*
No one understands Turks as well as we do,
Oshagan says somewhere.
What if the other way around is also true? --
no one understands us as well as Turks do.
But the question we should ask is:
Does Armenian understand Armenian?
*
One of my books is titled
DICTIONARY OF ARMENIAN QUOTATIONS.
If I were to compile a dictionary of un-Armenian quotations
I shall have to include the following,
which I heard this morning on Canadian radio:
"Being kind is addictive."
*
He who speaks of treason harbors an executioner in his heart.
*
Silence is better than the braying of an ass,
especially if the ass is human
and his name is Jack S. Avanakian.

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 10, 2002 09:34 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, October 10, 2002
***************************
According to Robert Quillen,
"Discussion is an exchange of knowledge,
argument an exchange of ignorance."
And ignorance may be divided into two distinct categories:
garden variety and Armenian.
Armenian ignorance may be further subdivided into
loud, arrogant, fascist, racist, and Ottoman….
*
A routine occurrence:
in an essay about an Armenian writer we read:
"This writer fully deserves to be translated into English."
I wonder how many of these
phony promoters of Armenian literature
have taken the trouble to talk with one of our translators.
Shortly before he died,
Mischa Kudian (one of our ablest and most prolific translators)
came to see me. During our conversation
he made it abundantly clear that
translating Armenian literary works into English
was an exercise in degradation and masochism,
and he warned me against it.
It took me twenty years to see the light
and discover how right he had been.
I was a chauvinist then and ignorant,
and when I say ignorant
I speak of Armenian ignorance –
loud, arrogant, fascist, racist, Ottoman….

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 11, 2002 08:56 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, October 11, 2002
******************************
When Shahnour decided to be objective
in his judgment of fellow Armenian writers,
he was assaulted, beaten, and almost lost an eye.
This may well be one reason why
there is a natural tendency in all of us
to confuse literary criticism with literary philanthropy.
*
Symptoms of Armenianism:
An inability to see the difference
between intelligent and smart,
and between smart and smart-ass.
To overestimate the importance and value
of one’s knowledge.
To pretend to know more than one does.
To completely ignore the fact that
what one pretends to know may well be recycled crap.
The awareness that if one engages in charlatanism
one can always rely on the support
of fellow charlatans.
*
We are a traumatized people with a score to settle:
a score against the Turks and against the world.
But since both are beyond our reach,
we take it out on the nearest available target:
the more vulnerable the target the better.
Whenever I am misunderstood and insulted,
I know I am dealing not with an ideological adversary
whose interests or values clash with mine,
but with a damaged self, an injured ego,
and a bleeding wound whose origins
are buried deep in our past.

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 11, 2002 08:57 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by nairi:
Have you ever thought about international publishers? There's a great demand for minority Literature translated into an "international" language (e.g. Penguin, and even Oxford).[/QB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

yes i have and i have given up on them too!

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

nairi
Member # 865

posted October 13, 2002 03:23 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ara jan, after introducing "Retreat without Song", "The Honorable Beggars", "The Fool", "The Traveler and his Road", "The Island and a Man", and a few other translations to my odar friends, they were shocked and surprised that these books were not readily available in European bookstores.

Why do international publishers reject translations from Armenian?

Nairi
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 13, 2002 09:40 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, October 12, 2002
*****************************
The very same Oshagan who said,
"No one understands Turks as well as we do,"
also said: "They will never understand us!"
and by "they" he meant East Armenians.
In other words,
Armenians are divided into two
mutually incomprehensible parts.
That’s because labels define human beings
and not the other way around.
You are either one of us or one of them;
either a believer or a giaour;
either a friend or an enemy;
and if you are an enemy,
you are an enemy for life or unto death.
Question:
If Armenian cannot understand Armenian,
what can he understand?
He can understand Americans better than Americans,
Arabs better than Arabs,
Jews better than Jews,
Turks better than Turks,
and in general,
the world better than its Creator.
The lower we sink,
the louder we brag…
or is it bray?

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 13, 2002 09:41 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, October 13, 2002
****************************
The only time two human beings
cannot understand each other
is when one of them
has allowed himself to be dehumanized
by surrendering his mind and soul
to a religion, an ideology, a closed system of thought
or an unverifiable abstraction --
so that one can longer speak of two beings
who belong to the same species,
speak the same language,
or share anything in common.
*
I don't write for Armenians;
I write for human beings
and against bigots regardless of national identity.
I believe to blame others
for all our problems is
to allow the corrupt and the incompetent
to continue misleading and deceiving the people.
I believe those who uphold tribalism
in the name of this or that orthodoxy or ideology
are our gravediggers.
I don't believe in moral victories
in an amoral world;
I believe our so-called moral victories
are fabrications whose sole aim
is to justify the blunders of bunglers.
I believe in the rule that says:
"The larger the ego
the smaller the brain."
I believe if I were to live another hundred years and
publish a hundred more books
I would make no difference,
but I go on writing anyway.
Figure that one out if you can.

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 14, 2002 08:50 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PARALLELS
******************************
Zionism and Israel are as much reactions
against anti-semitism as
Armenian nationalism and terrorism are reactions
against Turkish oppression and crimes against humanity.
*
The world will never view Turks through Armenian eyes
in the same way that it will never view Americans
through Afro-American eyes,
Russians through Chechen eyes,
Indians through the eyes of Untouchables,
and so on….
*
Our tribalism is our responsibility,
our Genocide someone else’s.
Emphasizing the Genocide allows us
to assert moral superiority.
*
Let us expose Turkish crimes against humanity
by all means but let us not use that as a blanket
with which to cover up our own crimes against sanity.
*
Another detail which we prefer to de-emphasize.
The Armenian population of Armenia is going down
but the Armenian population of Turkey is going up.
*
The dream of every David is to slay Goliaths
and the dream of every sardine to swallow sharks.

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 14, 2002 08:51 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by nairi:
Ara jan, after introducing "Retreat without Song", "The Honorable Beggars", "The Fool", "The Traveler and his Road", "The Island and a Man", and a few other translations to my odar friends, they were shocked and surprised that these books were not readily available in European bookstores.

Why do international publishers reject translations from Armenian?

Nairi
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the standard reply is:
not enough interest in ethnic literature.
But maybe after MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
things may change....

[ October 14, 2002, 09:11 AM: Message edited by: ara baliozian ]

--------------------
ara baliozian

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ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 15, 2002 03:23 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 15, 2002
*****************************
There is garden variety crap,
and then there is mullah crap,
and then there is mullah crap recycled by dupes,
and I don't mean Arab dupes but Western dupes –
the lunatic fringe of the lunatic fringe.
*
There are many sayings about money
but my favorite is the one that says
money allows you the luxury
to tell some people to go to hell.
Needless to add,
this can be done only in a democracy.
The only way to have money in a totalitarian state
is by joining the establishment,
which means collaborating with oppressors,
criminals, and murderers.
*
One good thing about discussion forums
on the internet is that trees don't have to die
to allow some idiot to regurgitate
his favorite brand of recycled crap.
*
You may agree or disagree with a human being
but you can do neither with a jackass
especially if his name is Jack S. Avanakian.
That’s because a jackass cannot think for himself
and it is impossible to disagree with nothingness.
*
According to Françoise Sagan:
"All girls have one thing in common:
they are all liars."
And, according to Diogenes,
so are all men and women.
*
Peter Fraser: "The closer you get to your opponents
the smaller they look."
*
Plato: "Wise men talk because they have something to say.
Fools talk because they have to say something."
*
George Chapman: "Ignorance is the mother of admiration."

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 15, 2002 03:24 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP DOGS AND UNDERDOGS
**********************************
The ambition of every underdog
is to be a top dog.
Underdogs may identify with fellow underdogs
and they may even sympathize with them;
but when it comes to actions (as opposed to words)
their number one priority is to be top dogs.
Which is why the only thing revolutions accomplish is
to replace one gang of rascals with another.
What I have said so far refers to history and reality
and not to individual exceptions to this general rule.
When we think and we act
we base ourselves not on exceptions but on rules;
and as Italians are fond of saying:
the function of an exception is not
to refute a rule but to confirm it.

--------------------
ara baliozian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 15, 2002 03:24 PM
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CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER FASCIST
***************************************
Like most Armenians who had an Armenian education,
I was brought up to be a patriotic little fascist bastard.
Which is why I can recognize a fascist when I see one.
All I have to do is recall myself
when young and brainwashed.
I know now that all nations produce
their share of chauvinist fanatics because
all nations have at their disposal
vulnerable young minds
whose critical faculties have not yet been awakened;
and even when they grow up,
most of these poor benighted souls
remain so immersed in their own prejudices
that they are incapable of recognizing
reflections of themselves in the "enemy" camp.
These fascists are so sure
of the absolute validity of their beliefs that
they are willing to kill and die for them.
In that sense, an Armenian
and a Turkish or Azeri fascist
share more things in common with one another
than with their own fellow countrymen
who are convinced such things as
national superiority and ethnocentrism
are at the very root of wars and massacres,
and to promote them
in the name of this or that noble cause
is the quintessence of charlatanism.

--------------------
ara baliozian

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ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 17, 2002 01:33 PM
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Wednesday, October 16, 2002
******************************
I have at no time experienced Turkish ferocity
on my own skin – I have read about it
but never experienced it.
But I have come close – damn close:
I have experienced Armenian hostility.
And what has been my worst transgression?
Trying to share my understanding.
*
About convictions, certainties, and faith:
If the braying of an ass is louder
than the whisper of a wise man,
does that mean the ass knows better?
*
Fools and fanatics read not to learn
but to justify their hatred.
*
In 1915 we were massacred as a nation:
why can't we behave as one today?
*
We are so used to modifying history
with our own brand of nationalist propaganda that
any assessment that may be remotely objective
is branded as pro-Turkish.
*
To hate those who have injured us:
what could be easier?
To love them: what could be more difficult?
But what if both hate and love are,
in this context, irrelevant
and what matters is taking care of business
by doing what must be done?

--------------------
ara baliozian

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ara baliozian
Member # 271

posted October 17, 2002 01:34 PM
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MOUSETRAP
*********************
It is a mistake to use the mind
as if it were a disposable mousetrap
good for catching only one mouse
and in the process of catching it
to kill it.
An idea is not a dead end;
it is a living organism in an endless chain reaction
of assertion, contradiction and synthesis.
In saying this I am saying nothing new,
only paraphrasing the teachings of philosophers
from Socrates and Plato
to Hegel and Marx.
What killed Bolshevism was Bolsheviks
who appear to have forgotten or ignored
Marx’s dialectic and his assertion
"I am not a Marxist."
And what prevents us from solving our problems
and moving forward is our obsession
with received platitudes such as
first nation to accept Christianity and
first nation to suffer a genocide in the 20th century.

--------------------
ara baliozian

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564312
Junior Member # 853

posted October 18, 2002 02:58 PM
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This messege is to Ara regarding the Cause of Armenian assimilation. Nakh ev arach inchu ek sireli Ara mer terutyunner@ parz bacahaytum bolorin Anglerenov? inchkan el vat@ linenk.. ayo es hamazayn em zez het vor Hayer@ mek@ meki het chen karog patvov aprel bayc aynumenayniv don't shout to everyone..karog e patahi hreaner@ kam russner@ irenc masin haytararum en bolorin? Sa shat tipik e Hayeri bnavorutyan@ anyways.. not that you might think you done something wrong.
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sen_vahan
Member # 709

posted October 18, 2002 04:26 PM
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564312,

We are not a closed society (I hope) , why shouldn't we write about our problems,why shouldn't we be opened? And we are neither arabs nor jews to hide the problems we have. As for russians, yes, they do talk openly around their problems and about country's problems, just check the russian literature.
This was just my opinion.
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nairi
Member # 865

posted October 20, 2002 03:55 AM
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quote:
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Originally posted by ara baliozian:
the standard reply is:
not enough interest in ethnic literature.
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Yes, for those who read Princess Diana's biographies. But what about the rest that don't? As long as there is no supply, there will be no demand.

quote:
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But maybe after MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
things may change....
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What is this? Or are you being sarcastic?
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Sip
Member # 646

posted October 20, 2002 04:38 AM
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quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by nairi:

quote:
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But maybe after MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
things may change....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is this? Or are you being sarcastic?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think he is referring to the highly successful new movie MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING. Not sure about the sarcastic part...

--------------------
I am not young enough to know everything.

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nairi
Member # 865

posted October 20, 2002 04:44 AM
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quote:
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Originally posted by ara baliozian:
According to Françoise Sagan:
"All girls have one thing in common:
they are all liars."
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This is so true! But you know why we lie? Because it's the only way for us to defend ourselves against honest men.

Or am I being an idiot again?

[ October 20, 2002, 04:45 AM: Message edited by: nairi ]
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nairi
Member # 865

posted October 20, 2002 04:50 AM
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quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Sip:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by nairi:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But maybe after MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
things may change....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is this? Or are you being sarcastic?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think he is referring to the highly successful new movie MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING. Not sure about the sarcastic part...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh okay. It hasn't come out here yet. That's why.
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Sip
Member # 646

posted October 20, 2002 04:57 AM
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I heard it's a very funny movie. But, oh my GOD I just got this massive headache (I was stuck in a paradox loop for a while)...

So Sagan says all girls lie. Nairi says Sagan is telling the truth, but Nairi is a girl therefore she must be lying when she says Sagan was telling the truth ... but Sagan was also a girl (I think) so she couldn't have been telling the truth ... so not all girls lie ... which means that Nairi was lying when she said Sagan was telling the truth ... ah forget it. I am going to sleep.

--------------------
I am not young enough to know everything.