readers

THREE KINDS OF READERS
************************************
Some of my readers read only to contradict and thus assert their intellectual superiority. I have no use for them.
Others read me only to remind me that I have become a predictable fool. They should have no use for me.
There are also readers who know who and what they are but they think no one else does, and they read me to find out how much I know in order to improve their strategies of deception.

Outstanding, Ara!

What about those that read you out of curiosity and to learn something along the way???

Usually I read you writings because they're intersting. But now, in this posting, I want to contradict you and assert my intellectual superiority (is it something bad?).

You're very predictable, because you produce only smart thoughts, the number of which in our universe is limited.

I know what and who I am. And I know that you know it too. Yes, I was silent until now, to find out the levels of your brain power. You have a 1-st class brain. I have it too.

I used the trick of false sarcasmic agreement to undermine your entry above. It was not ment to silence you, it was ment to win over you. If I'll not win this time I'll try again (if you have enough time for that).

P.S. Why do you write? If you do not unswer this, I'll think that you write only for money (which is not a bad thing to do). Do you want to help Armenians (please, answer this question?). I know it sounds trivial, but answer it, please, for us (the forum) to know the goal of your career.

OK, sorry, I found your answer in your reply to Raffi:

"There is corruption, lies, and incompetence in the most advanced democracies. There are also critics, dissidents, and investigative reporters.
Where are ours? / ara"

But why are you trying to change the Diaspora's thinking. Do it in Armenia. It is the center of Armenians, isn't it. Criticise our politicians naming them and their specific wrongdoings. Why do you generalise so much?

well, I will definatley second that. I think you have a very original style and some of your points mark what some people think and cannot put into words, and also some ideas most people have not even thought about. I find this interesting and that's why I read some of your posts. But with others I just skim through because I feel that in all honesty you dont think much of armenian people for whatever reasons. But considering your apparent diasdain, you like to spend a lot of time writing and posting on this armenian forum! It cant be for the money because it doesnt give you any financial incentive.

I'm not trying to be funny or anything, but don't you ever smile? If you don't , try it, it might make you feel better.

Also: talk about twisting things: asserting intellectual superiority, to learn strategies of deception or whatever! Nobody has anything like that in their MINDS! We are just exchanging ideas on a forum about common interests. It would be useful if you used you work to interact with us members instead fighting against us. Otherwise you are just talking at us, we will stop reading the posts, and then your work will be taken no notice of which is a shame. That kind of defeats the objective of your time, don't you think?

I do not have to assert anything, or do any of the above you mentioned because I don't need to prove anything to ANYBODY. At the end of the day myself is the only person I can be to everybody.

dear friends and readers:
it's wonderful to know that i have so many friends and readers!
i feel like celebrating.
Care to join me? / ara

REACTIONS
******************************
Once upon a time I cared about readers’ reactions and sought their approval by writings things that would flatter their vanity. I did not call it prostitution but that’s what it was: providing pleasure by massaging bruised egos.
Not any more. Approval means nothing to me now. As for disapproval: I welcome it because it can only mean that I have been successful in exposing the prejudices of a fanatic, the lies of a charlatan, and the greed of a blood****er.
Sometimes I notice that, after recognizing themselves in my writings, some of these gentlemen redouble their efforts to deceive and mislead their audience. I consider that an accomplishment of sorts too because it can only mean that I am making them work twice as hard. The image of them sweating is enough for me to say "Mission accomplished!"
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ara baliozian

NOTES / COMMENTS
*****************************
To those who accuse me of being undiplomatic, I say:
No one is paying me to lie.
The smaller the brain, the bigger the mouth.

You become a success when you no longer care
if others see you as a failure.

"You are a fool!" These are painful words to hear
even when spoken by a fool;
how much more so when spoken by someone with average,
or even less than average, intelligence?

Anyone who has any power over another will use it;
and anyone who uses power will abuse it.
If there are any rules without exceptions,
this must surely be one of them.

Like most Armenians,
I have followed many controversies in our media,
and I have witnessed many more,
but I have at no time heard an Armenian say:
"I was wrong!" or, even better,
"I was dead wrong because I placed
my own ego, interests, family, political party,
church, or tribe above the interests of the nation."

Armenians have a highly developed spirit of contradiction.
They will automatically disagree with everything you say,
and later, they will use your arguments
(with which they disagreed)
to disagree with someone else.

At this point in our career as a nation
we have a choice between two sets of leaders:
the bloodsuckers and the charlatans.
Let’s hope and pray we will make the right choice.

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

ara baliozian

MEMO: TO MY GENTLE READERS
************************************
To those who know better:
Why waste your valuable time reading a minor scribbler like me when there are so many literary masterpieces waiting to be read in your nearest public library? I don’t write for you, neither do I care to be read by you. I write only for readers willing to add someone else’s experiences and perspective on their own in order to develop a more balanced view of reality.
To my partisan and chauvinist readers whose secret ambition is to be a commissar of culture in a future fascist Armenia: You remind me of dung beetles to whom a herd of animals defecating is the most welcome sight: which reminds me of the Turkish saying (probably of Armenian origin): "What does a jackass know about rosejam?"
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ara baliozian

DANSE MACABRE
**********************

One must have the skin of a crocodile to write for Armeians.
The fools insult you
because they don’t understand you;
the smart ones insult you
because they consider it their patriotic duty
to inform you in no uncertain terms that
they are ahead of you;
the arrogant ones insult you
because they cannot conceive of anyone
(especially not a fellow Armenian)
who may know something they don’t know;
the partisans operate on the assumption that
if you refuse to recycle their crap
you must be an enemy of the people,
and so on.
As for the decent ones
(yes, yes, we have those too):
they prefer to keep their distance
because they don’t like the idea
of getting involved in Armenian controversies
(make it, verbal massacres)
and I for one do not blame them.
The only way to explain
the wealth and variety of our literature
is to say that most of our writers
didn’t have a chance to figure out what was happening
because if they didn’t die of tuberculosis in their twenties,
they were slaughtered by the Turks in their thirties,
or they were shot by the Bolsheviks in their forties.
Those who survived to be fifty
(like Shahnour, Zarian, Massikian)
eventually saw the light, gave up in disgust, and fell silent.
Compared to what it could have been,
our literature is nothing but shadow of itself,
make it, the shadow of its skeleton.
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ara baliozian

THE OTTOMANIZATION
OF CONTEMPORARY ARMENIAN LITERATURE
*********************************************
To those who say
I am too tough on our leaders,
I say,
they are even tougher on our writers.
No writer has ever been
in a position to excommunicate, expel, silence,
or starve a boss, bishop, or benefactor;
but where these gentlemen and
their assorted flunkies enter,
only brown-nosers survive and prosper.
--------------------

ara baliozian

posted June 13, 2001 06:54 AM
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QUESTIONS / ANSWERS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Q: You speak of our problems but you don't
provide solutions. Why?
A: Solutions don't come in the shape of verbal
formulas. Solutions demand hard work, struggle,
sacrifice, planning, dedication, concerted
action, and even more important, an awareness of
the problem itself.
Q: We all agree that divisions are a problem. How
do we go about solving it?
A: We don't all agree. I have heard many
Armenians say that we owe our survival to our
divisions, or what I prefer to call, our
tribalism.
Q: Suppose we succeed in convincing all
Armenians that tribalism is a problem. Then what?
A: The old saying, "Where there is a will there
is a way," applies here. History provides us with
many models. All we have to do is choose: the way
of the Kurds, Arabs, and gypsies, or the way of
the Italians, the British, and the Americans. No
nation ever achieved nationhood overnight. Even
the Americans had to fight one of the bloodiest
civil wars in the history of mankind.
Q: In one of your books you write: "Living among
Armenians or even in their proximity can be
hazardous to your health, unless you have the
constitution of a horse, the skin of a crocodile,
the strength of a water buffalo, and the aroma of
a skunk." My question is: Why do you dislike your
fellow Armenians?
A: I don't. But I do loathe racists, fascists,
and loud-mouth charlatans, and I refuse to view
their Armenian identity as a mitigating factor.
Ethnicity is not a form of insanity and it should
not be used as an extenuating circumstance.
Q: Why are you a cynic?
A: I am not, but I may react as one when
confronted with naïve souls, who, very much like
our activists at the turn of the century in the
Ottoman Empire, are convinced if they have God or
Truth on their side, they have nothing to fear
--------------------

ara baliozian

ara baliozian
Member
Member # 271
posted June 20, 2001 11:09 AM
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BEING USEFUL
+++++++++++++++++++
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.
First of all,
our institutions have no use for people like me.
In their eyes I am a fault-finder, a malcontent, and a whiner.
What they want are good soldiers,
yes-men, and above all contributors.
Men with fat bellies and fatter bank accounts.
Believers, yes.
Dupes? Certainly!
Skeptics, no.
Critics, even less.
As for literature being a waste of time:
this is not an Armenian or civilized concept
but one worthy of bloodthirsty barbarians and fascists.
Is it conceivable that
that’s all we have learned from our former lords and masters?
--------------------

ara baliozian

ara baliozian
Member
Member # 271
posted August 24, 2001 06:59 AM
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STATUS QUO
**************************
I don’t have readers; I have critics.
Strike that!
I don’t have critics; I have commissars who tell me to "Shut up!" "Die," and "Go to hell!" Please note that I am not quoting crazies and hooligans (of whom we have our share) but members of the educated classes, academics, ladies and gentlemen with university degrees.
About sixty years ago, when he found himself in a similar situation in Armenia, Zarian could only say and repeat: "Danger! Danger! Danger!" And what happened next?
No one paid any attention to his warning. No one gave a damn. And shortly thereafter the Soviets systematically exterminated our ablest men, including members of the Party.
We are better off today.
No risk of systematic extermination.
Who is there to exterminate?
Vahe Oshagan, the last intellectual, is dead and he summed up our situation when near the end of his life he declared:
"I am ashamed to identify myself as an Armenian."
And he too was a member of the Party.
--------------------

ara baliozian

Yes, like me for example, so that makes four.

ara baliozian
Member
Member # 271
posted June 09, 2001 06:05 AM
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THE DEATH OF AN ILLUSION
*************************************
What I say is so obvious and accessible
that my first reaction to criticism is disbelief;
and I cannot help suspecting that
those who express disagreement
must have ulterior motives:
they are defending their boss (or source of income),
or the memory of a schoolteacher
or some other father figure
who was successful in convincing them
we are beyond criticism;
or, since we are as good (or as bad) as the rest of mankind,
we have no use for critics,
only brown-nosers may apply.
I don’t mind admitting that
once upon a time
I too was taken in by these shameless lies,
until it became increasingly difficult to ignore
the evidence of my own eyes
and the experience on my own skin.
There is a passage in the Bible that says
and I will now paraphrase:
"When I was a child I played with toys,
but when I grew up I put my toys aside."
This may sound as the obvious thing to do,
but it is astonishing how many adults opt against it,
perhaps because, in the words of Arthur Koestler,
"Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion,"
and, it follows, more difficult to come to terms with.
--------------------

ara baliozian

ara baliozian
Member
Member # 271
posted June 27, 2001 07:04 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ON PRESTIGE /Wednesday, June 27, 2001
*********************************************
"Your kind of criticism harms our prestige as a nation," I am warned once in a while. Maybe so, but the harm done by silencing dissent could be much more dangerous, not to say lethal, to our survival as a nation.
The nation is a much larger concept
than those I criticize and a thousand like me put together.

Who would benefit if I were silenced? The people or those in power?

When a friendly reader quotes me he identifies me as a "prominent writer";
but when a detractor mentions me he calls me an "idiot," a "moron," a "jerk," and a "shithead." As far as I know, no one has ever bothered to call me "a concerned citizen."

A nation’s prestige cannot be so fragile as to be irreparably damaged by the words of a single…concerned citizen.

No one in his right mind would ever confuse those in power with the people or the nation.


Schopenhauer: "We pay an attention to the opinion of others
which is out of all proportion to its value."

Goethe: "The world goes forward only because of those who oppose it."

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ara baliozian