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#1 ara baliozian

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Posted 18 June 2001 - 06:16 AM

OBSERVATIONS
***************************
American politics glorifies mediocrity; Armenian politics legitimizes charlatanism.

I remember once when I said to a fellow writer (much older and experienced than myself): "There is a conspiracy out there to silence and bury us," he replied: "You flatter yourself, my friend; they don’t even know you exist."

As long as I am read by critics who think they know better (because they are better),
I have nothing to worry about.

To those who demand proof for every statement I make,
I say, I will be more than happy to document every word
provided you prove to me that you really care to know, you have an open mind
and even more important, you have the skill of reading and understanding simple sentences in the English language.

To a reader who called me a dinosaur:
You are dead wrong to call me a dinosaur
just because I promote free speech,
dialogue, compromise, consensus, solidarity,
common sense and decency,
and respect for fundamental human rights.
And to oppose bigotry and intolerance
will never go out of fashion, my friend,
NEVER!

#2 MJ

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Posted 01 September 2001 - 04:57 AM

ara baliozian
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Member # 271
posted June 18, 2001 11:22 AM
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LATER, THE SAME DAY
*********************************
According to a recent sociological study, you can tell how progressive a society is by its numbers of bohemians (poets, artists, actors, etc.) and sexual deviants (homosexuals and lesbians): the first are an index of creativity, the second of openness.
An Armenian-American poet, after a meeting with one of our national benefactors, wrote me a letter in which he said: "He (the benefactor) told me we Armenians have no use for poetry and that poetry was for desert people like the Arabs."
And I remember to have thought: There goes half of Armenian literature down the tube!

Saroyan knew what he was talking about when he rejected the Pulitzer Prize with the words: "Business has no business in literature."

Literature reminds us that some of our most cherished and daring thoughts are nothing but faintly audible echoes of distant thunder.

"Nothing will change," I am reminded again and again as if I needed to be reminded. But I also know that, after suffering in silence for centuries, people have decided to act. Revolutions don’t happen every day but they do happen once in a while. History is clear on this point and life unpredictable. We cannot go on ignoring the laws of nature, the dictates of history, the demands of common decency, and the voice of the people forever.

When one of our chauvinists praises Armenia and Armenians to the skies but prefers to live among odars in the Diaspora, I have every right to suspect that he speaks with a forked tongue. Call me a cynic, but whenever I have a choice between the words and actions of a baloney artist, you may depend on my making the right choice.

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ara baliozian

#3 MJ

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Posted 01 September 2001 - 04:58 AM

ara baliozian
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posted May 27, 2001 11:58 AM
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OF VEGETARIANS AND CARNIVORES
*************************************
Our victims, we are brought up to believe, are an irrefutable proof of the fact that we are morally superior, and every other odar is either a bloodthirsty barbarian or a hypocrite with a forked tongue. In the words of a reader: "We Armenians were never taught to lie, cheat, and kill."
It follows, it must be in our DNA to be compassionate and honest.
It never occurs to us that this line of thought may well be dangerous nonsense because (in addition to being a big lie) it may certify our status as perennial victims, for the simple reason that, if we are like sheep among wolves, then it is our destiny to be devoured by carnivores.
This may well be one reason why the overwhelming majority of Armenians reject their identity and opt for assimilation. Why would any sane person willingly accept to play the sheep in a world of wolves?
"There is only one way to live in this world," Raffi warned us in the 19th century, "to be a wolf among wolves. If you lower your neck someone is sure to step on it." And: "If you want to live, you must struggle. Assuming a passive stance amounts to committing slow suicide."
One could also add: Confusing subservience with moral superiority is bad enough; what is infinitely worse is accepting our subservience as a permanent condition or jagadakir (destiny – literally, a sentence written on our forehead).
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ara baliozian

#4 MJ

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Posted 01 September 2001 - 05:33 AM

ara baliozian
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Member # 271
posted June 25, 2001 11:05 AM
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OBSERVATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*****************************************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SICK AND TIRED
*******************************
Whenever an Armenian uses that expression
(as in "I am sick and tired of critics!)
I cannot help reflecting:
Looks like we are going places.
With a little more effort,
we may even drive them insane….

THREE ARMENIAN DEFINITIONS OF DIALOGUE
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
--An exchange of insults.
--Two monologues that never cross.
--A form of verbal contest whose aim is
to eviscerate and dismember the opponent.

IMPOSTORS
*************************
There are Armenians who are Armenians
and there are Armenians who impersonate being one;
but since the authentic Armenians are too busy
being what they are and have no time for clear definitions
of what it means being Armenian,
the impersonators make a better job of it:
all they have to do is select and adopt
a few obvious symbols and clichés
(Mt. Ararat, the massacres, Saroyan…
and above all,
the defense of everything and anything that is Armenian,
including corruption, incompetence, prostitution, graft, larceny, intolerance,
and fascism).

INTOLERANCE
***********************
History tells us intolerance is as old as mankind
and it has claimed millions of victims;
common sense tells us you cannot appease intolerance,
only expose it;
and common decency tells us
to silence those who expose intolerance
is to promote criminal conduct.

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ara baliozian

#5 MJ

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Posted 01 September 2001 - 05:44 AM

ara baliozian
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Member # 271
posted July 04, 2001 11:10 AM
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THE VIEW FROM MT. ARARAT
*************************************
There is a type of Armenian who defends his innocence
by taking care to remain ignorant.
If he is a partisan he will assume the partisan
version of our recent past is the only valid one and
when confronted with another version (which may well
be as valid) he will not even consider its merits.
If he is a chauvinist he will equate criticism and
dissent with treason and betrayal.
Such an Armenian will perch on a dunghill in his
backyard and when asked what he is doing there, he
will reply, "I am on top of Mt. Ararat and I am
enjoying the panorama."
There is an old Armenian saying: "There are 42 kinds
of insanity."
Make it 43.
AN ARMENIAN PARADOX EXPLAINED
**********************************************
An Armenian who insults you, will not forgive you; and
the more unjustified his insult is, the longer-lasting
his resentment against you will be.
Until very recently I couldn’t explain that, but I
think I can now, or at least I can give it a try.
By making him insult you, you reveal the fact that he
is an ordinary human being like yourself, and this is
an offense he cannot forgive.
He has been brought up to believe he knows better
because he is better.
There is more wisdom in his ignorance than in your
knowledge.
Even when he voices a prejudice he is more tolerant
than you.
That’s because he is not an ordinary joe to whom
ordinary criteria apply.
He is a member of a fraternity or elite from which the
unwashed are excluded.
Of course he himself knows all that not to be true,
but he doesn’t want anyone else to know.

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

ara baliozian

#6 MJ

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Posted 01 September 2001 - 05:50 AM

ara baliozian
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Member # 271
posted August 16, 2001 06:54 AM
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OBSERVATIONS
****************************
My critics may be divided into two sets: those who tell me I repeat myself and those accuse me of negativism. Perhaps henceforth I should have the following warning preceding each essay: "Since what follows is neither new nor positive, it may be a waste of your valuable time to read it."
One of the most widespread misconceptions of our time:
If you know how to use your computer, you also know how to use your brain.

Prejudice is like a knife that maims and castrates our thinking organ.

In odar environments nice guys may finish last, but in ours they are not even allowed to finish: somewhere along the line they are set upon, mugged, beaten to a pulp, kicked in the groin, shot, stoned to death, hanged, buried, and forgotten.

I have been exposed to too many patriotic speeches by bloodsuckers, fascists, and charlatans to have any respect for verbal professions of patriotism.

If you ever come across a fellow Armenian who agrees with you all the time and on all issues, you can be sure of one thing: you are in a dream.

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ara baliozian

#7 MJ

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Posted 01 September 2001 - 06:12 AM

ara baliozian
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Member # 271
posted August 22, 2001 12:18 PM
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OBSERVATIONS
*************************
A dishonest man cannot criticize an honest one; he can only express resentment, contempt, venom and rage.
Some readers demand solutions from me as if they were ordering pizza – with or without anchovies. They expect me to succeed where centuries of Armenian literature failed. To which I can only say: Thank you for your confidence in my abilities, but I assure you, I don’t deserve it.

It’s in the nature of mediocrity to want to drag the rest of mankind down to its own level.

Jewish proverb: "Men occasionally find a new truth, but never an old button."

Albert Einstein: "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."

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ara baliozian

#8 MJ

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Posted 01 September 2001 - 06:13 AM

ara baliozian
Member
Member # 271
posted August 28, 2001 11:45 AM
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OBSERVATIONS
****************************
Question: Why do Armenians read Armenian weeklies?
Answer: To see their names there or to have something to do while sitting on the hovannes (=john).
An imbecile is easy to brainwash and it is with the greatest ease that he brainwashes himself to believe he is just about the smartest fellow around.

If "education is the cheap defense of nations" (Edmund Burke),
brainwashing must be the surest symptom of moral bankruptcy.

Some people fail only after they achieve success.

When midgets are in charge, giants become outlaws.

Memoirs by survivors and novels inspired by the massacres:
I am beginning to see them as atrocities by other means.

The torch of truth burns many asses.

Someday a solution that creates more problems
will be known as "an Armenian solution."

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ara baliozian




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