GAH

The Jewish community is exactly what we should model after. Jews are perfect example of how a people can stick together without living in Israel. But they have the advantage over us in that there religion is what sets them apart.

Sev-mard, I singled out black men, because that was along the lines of the orginal post, but in general, my views really apply to all odars. I'll admit there are exceptions to all generalizations, but living in the US all my life, I've witnessed too many Armenians marrying odars and what happens. Odars promise to stay involved in the armenian community, learn the culture, learn the language, name their kids armenian names, promise to make their kids go to armenian school. They make all these promises, honorable or not, but reality sets in as their life goes on. You can't make an odar Armenian. You can't make an odar fall in love and feel a sense of belonging to a culture. I've seen it time and time again where the couple continues to go to events/church, but after they marry, slowly but surely they come less and less to events, they don't speak armenian in the house, their kids don't learn the language because of it, the kids don't feel armenian and belonging to the community, and that's that. Finished. Oh, and I'm sorry to say, if they're half-black, they're certainly going to have a harder time with identity issues as I've witnessed a couple of half-black guys in our community.

To Justme. I don't see the correlation between someone identifying with the Armenian people and identifying with a black man. Firstly, if you consider the consequences of the Armenian Genocide, you should realize that what was started in 1915 is still in progress. The act of rooting our people from the homeland was the first step. The next, is to let the people dissipate thru assimilation. Our grandparents and parents feared this and therefore built communities in the diaspora to make sure we maintain our religion, our culture, and our language. Why after so much work, does the new generation of Armenians ignore this? Going out with odars and blacks. How can an Armenian that claims to recognize and mourn the loss of our martyrs, rationalize going out with an odar? with a black man? It's a contradiction in terms. If you want to raise odar or black children, that's your perogative. Just don't identify yourself as Armenian, as an Armenian would want to perpetuate being Armenian to her children. I might be labelled a racist....I don't care. We're all racists and anybody that tells you otherwise is only fooling themselves. I'm willing to take the chance of being chastized when I say that I'm ASHAMEd at our new generation. They'd rather identify with hip-hop, basketball, cheap thrills, hooliganism and generally unrefined, uneducated, and uncultured pasttimes rather than cherish something that was pasted down to us through hundreds of generations. If you truly cherished being Armenian, mourned what happened to our people, appreciated the things our forefathers did to make sure we call ourselves Armenian, than you'd want to pass that to your children.... !!!!!!! .And the ONLY way to do that is to marry Armenian. !!!!!!!!

What does it all mean, Basil - Austin Powers

You know I see this, not only with Armenians, but with all "white" women. So why does that happen? Why don't Armenian women want to be with an Armenian in general? 1) Most women, when they get turned off by something, are quick to generalize (not rationalize). If they had an abusive or dictatorial father OR they had a bad relationship, they get turned off and they say, "all *** men are this, ALL **** men are that". Surely, we've all seen how a lot of Armenian men treat their women like crap, and I don't blame our women from getting turned off from Armenian men. This is especially true of the men from the homeland. 2) TV and Pop Culture have brainwashed our new generation. There's a lot of black entertainers in sports, music, film. Girls get attracted to them, see that it is less taboo to go out with blacks, and they themselves go out with them. 3) Girls get naughty, rebel against their parents wishes, and go after the most forbidden fruit. 4) Finally, Armenians don't do enough to promote patriatism and the benefits of marrying another Armenian. The new generation sees no benefit to marrying an Armenian. Even if they did consider themselves "hayaser" they don't see the linkage between being Armenian and perpetuating the feeling to their children. Let's face it. Armenian women will go out with odars in general, and unfortunately for our armenian communities, this will happen. Yes it's their choice to decide if they want to marry Armenian, black, white, chinese, but the choice is damaging to the diaspora. In two or three generations, this whole point will be moot.

Throughout it's history, Artsakh has always been Armenian. Let's face, despite Azeri revisionists. To prove it's been Armenian, there's ancient Armenian churches, fortresses, monestaries, and a population that's always been predominantly Armenian. Now, looking forward, what needs to be done to guarranty peace and stability between these two countries. Realizations, Concessions, and Facts must be observed. * Azeris must admit historical truths and give up historical claims to Artsax. Throughout it's history, Artsakh has always been Armenian. There are ancient Armenian churches, fortresses, monestaries, and a population that's always been predominantly Armenian to prove this. * Land must be given back to Azerbaijan. Armenians must give back land to Azerbaijan. Things that need to be considered are to what extent and who will monitor the militarily strategic areas to guarantee no arms are allowed. * Artsax Armenians should be given sovereignty either by uniting with Armenia, or to become an independant state. As was done in Yugoslavia, regions of ethnic majorities should be allowed to control their own fate. It is their God given right and the humane solution to the problem. * Trust. I'm certain that this will not be reached in short period of time, but after a peaceful settlement, it will likely take two or three generations to make amends. I'd like to know if anyone has any idea of REALISTIC and PRAGMATIC solutions to the Artsax settlement. What is the likely outcome?

I was wondering if there was a short but simple explanation of what is "Apostalic" and what is" Orthodox." Are they the same? if not, what Are the differences.