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#1 ara baliozian

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Posted 08 August 2001 - 05:45 AM

ON UNDERSTANDING
*****************************
To those who hate the Turks, I say: to understand our enemies has as much survival value as to love our friends; but we cannot understand that which we hate, and we hate only that which we fear; and fear, it has been said, is bad policy.
Perhaps one reason we have acquired the status of perennial losers is that we hate our enemies, we hate one another even more, and we pretend to understand everything, when it would be more accurate to say that we understand nothing; and we compound the felony by ignoring and silencing anyone who attempts to share his understanding of something, anything, including ourselves, our fellow men, and the world in which we live. We feel much more comfortable in the presence of sermonizers and speechifiers who do nothing but recycle chauvinist crapola, such as, we are the first nation to accept Christianity and the first nation to suffer a genocide in the 20th century…and to think that I am accused of repeating myself.

#2 abenlian

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Posted 08 August 2001 - 06:46 AM

A victim hates an attacker because the latter threatens the survival of a value the former has achieved or preserved. An attacker hates because he thinks he can have his cake and eat it too. It's frustrating when he finds out that it can't be done.

Ara, if we were to claim that we understand nothing, the occupation of a writer would be obsolete.

#3 ara baliozian

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Posted 08 August 2001 - 10:15 AM

Bingo!!!!!!!!!!

#4 timucin

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Posted 08 August 2001 - 11:28 PM

I am not so sure about the survival of the value part. The argument is still about the survival of a value that is inherent and non-changing. We are still basically reducing the thing whatever that may be between the perpetrators and victims to a clash between inherent, to some degree, so-called ethnic/cultural values, disregarding another component in the whole thing,the context in which the clash that may be emerging may be emerging with something entirely new, but not in the spirit of the continuation of some old values. Being unable to recognize the new and analyze it accordingly, I think it is us who come up with some survivalist ideologies about the new thing.

t.

#5 timucin

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Posted 08 August 2001 - 11:35 PM

If this argument is about the Turks and Armenians, and looks like it is, I think we should start thinking in terms of those values that actually started emerging as new values for both groups at the end of the 18th century. The actual clash, the one that is releveant for us, actually starts with the emerging of these new valuse and their different treatment and assimilation of them by various groups, and most importantly our respective groups. The attacker and vicitm roles are created in the network of the multiplicity of the action-reaction sets in these in the interactions that emerged afterwards. I do not think there were very clear attacker and victim roles that could be associated with Turks and Armenians, respectively. I think both groups unknowingly took turns for these roles, perhaps not physically in some cases, but certainly in the sense these roles were perceived from the other side.

t.

#6 MJ

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Posted 08 August 2001 - 04:14 PM

Piggeti,

Could you be more explicite, please?

#7 THOTH

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Posted 08 August 2001 - 04:19 PM

Timucin -

In some micro-local sense this might be true - but in a national sense or overall cultural sense I don't think one can adeqately make the argument that the Turks (as a group/people etc) were ever "victims" of Armenians (even in the Caucuses per se). Armenians never had this kind of power over the Turks for such (for one thing). But the opposite was certainly true - primarily in the 1915 era - but also (to a much more limited, but real sense in the prior period - as most any conquored people are - though certainly much credit should be given to the Ottomans for the Millyet system - in many ways very progressive for the times - at least in comparrison to some of the alternatives - such as practiced by the Europeans on native/conquored peoples).

Having said that I do agree that we must move beyond this type of narrowly focused perpetrator-victim argument as it has limited utility (and while I do not ever advocate Armenians gving up genocide recognition or beleive that the perpetrators [CUP & minions) should be let off the hook) I think there perhaps are more useful (accurate) constructs for developing understanding of Turkish-Armenian relationships (then & now) and we must strive to understand the dynamics of this relationship as it evolved over time...and the reasons for it resulting in Genocide and the non presence (essentially) of Armenians in Anatolia today. And hopefully both peoples can one day show the good sense to not see the other as any this thing or that thing - but just as fellow human beings.

[ August 08, 2001: Message edited by: THOTH ]

#8 Guest__*

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Posted 08 August 2001 - 06:44 PM

Fear is good policy when the danger is real. I understand that people who live in Canada and the US don't fear anything as they already have shelter and don't need a homeland anymore. Basically they became gypsies. Gypsies don't fear to lose their homeland. Simply because they don't have any.

#9 MJ

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Posted 09 August 2001 - 07:14 AM

It appears that Havik, as usual, enjoys the taste of his own droppings. Drip-drip-drip, yum-yum-yum he goes. And each time he drops, he goes "cock-a-doodle-doo."

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Posted 09 August 2001 - 08:15 AM

When you have no sensible reply you go on singing your stupid song MJ.

#11 MJ

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Posted 09 August 2001 - 08:29 AM

Havik,

Haven’t you had enough to go around like a skunk and spray everywhere?

Since your arrival to this forum, you have done nothing but have demonstrated being a skunk. You haven't contributed one normal material. All you have done is to attack other members on the subject of what they post. And not once you have expressed an intelligent opinion, or have made sense even when attempting so.

The Internet is a generous place. It gives the human failures like you an opportunity to feel important and to “sit around the same table” with the people who you would’ve not had the chance otherwise to receive an attention from. If you cannot behave around the “table,” don’t come out of your hen-coop. Or when you come out, try not to be noticed. Because when you cock-a-doodle-doo, people in the vicinity just want to run away so that to avoid the stench of your droppings and sprays.


P.S. MJ has one warning. Garo, please make a note of it.

[ August 09, 2001: Message edited by: MJ ]

#12 Guest__*

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Posted 09 August 2001 - 11:04 PM

MJ sect admirers like you aren't mainstream human beings so don't fancy yourself as such a person. As for the definition of a sect please refer to the definition given by mainstream human beings not yours.

On the other hand if you think that I come here to admire your bullshit you're wrong your droppings smell like dog shit. You belong to the past of Armenia because you buggered off from Armenia. So don't talk about Armenia's future but about it's past you don't belong to its future and keep serving your americans faithfully.

What I notice is that people like you are always from the strongest people's side. Your specie was kneeling down before communists when they were strong now wherever you go you serve your new masters. Americans in America israelis in Israel and canadians in Canada.
You think american policy will prevail and ryou rush to adopt it but you are wrong.

My purpose in coming here is to expose imposters like Baliozian and you who keep talking about things they don't know and they don't care about.

I don't give a shit to people like you. All I want is to expose your lies and ignorance.

#13 MJ

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Posted 09 August 2001 - 12:03 PM

Havik,
I admire sectants, catholics, protestants, orthodox, atheist, gnostics, socialists, capitalists, scientists, artists, etc, based on their merits. On that ground, I don’t see any quality in you which may invite my admiration. In fact, the odor of your presence makes me only to want to vomit. Skunks like you should not even try to position themselves on “mainstream human being grounds.” You have missed your opportunity in your childhood to qualify as mainstream human being.

As it concerns to Baliozian, one may agree with him or disagree. I happen to agree with him most of the time, though disagree sometimes. However, you are very unique in your reaction towards him. And I am sure because of one reason – you recognize yourself in his essays, and for whatever reason it hurts you. The strange thing is being who you are doesn’t heart you, and Baloizian’s characterizations do. The other thing is that if you think that by taking on Baloizian, you are going to elevate yourself in the eyes of the readers to the level of his intellectual dominance and prominence, and establish yourself as an equal, you are grossly miscalculating.

Many of us have left Armenia for professional purposes, others have done it for economic reasons. However, it is you who doesn’t belong to the future of Armenia, because sooner or later it is going to get on the track and the same way you don’t belong to its present, you wouldn’t belong to its future, too. You just stay in your hen-coop. As a matter of fact, skunks like you don’t even exist in Armenia. Armenia has many problems, but skunks are not part of it.

I am indeed faithful to America, since I am an American citizen. Who are you faithful too? I don’t want to make generalizations, since don’t want to insult the innocent Turks, since I prefer the Turks who are faithful to their country, then the Turkish gypsies like you who are not faithful to anyone, and no one may rely on them.

To the contrary of your “observations,” people like me are always on the side of the truth, justice and reason. If we think our nation is on the wrong track we wouldn’t hesitate to stand against it. If others are against it, let’s assume Turkey, and we were citizens of Turkey, we wouldn’t hesitate to stand against it (unlike some we know), much the same way we haven’t hesitated to stand against the Soviets.

And as to exposing someone here, the only thing you expose here is your stench.

This would be my last reply to you, since obviously, I am not an admirer of your stench.




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