ara baliozian

AND VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU *********************************** There will come a time when you will be targeted by people who will demand that you share their hatred, and if you react by trying to share your understanding, they will hate you too. That’s because hatred and understanding are mutually exclusive concepts. Hatred, my good friends, is a transgression whose in-built or self-inflicted punishment is a maimed brain, a damaged understanding, and a severely mangled view of reality. # Israel is a creation not of Jews but of anti-Semites; and what makes it attractive to Jews today is anti-Semitism. The more they are hated, the more they want to cling to Israel as their last refuge, because Israel is the only place on earth where, if hated, they can hate right back, and when massacred, they can retaliate. There are those who say this is not fair, this is not just, this is not human, to which I can only say: life is neither fair nor just, and as the old axiom goes, "After all, none of us is human!" # Anti-Semites hate Jews the way we hate Turks. But what has a century of Armenian hatred accomplished? If anything, it has enhanced Turkish prestige in the world. That’s because hatred has prevented us from understanding not only Turks but also the world; and it is difficult to confront an adversary with an injured brain and a mutilated view of reality.

PARALLELS *********************** Is Sharon a war criminal? Is Arafat a terrorist? The very same people who assert Sharon is a war criminal also express surprise and outrage when he lives up to his reputation. If he is a war criminal, why provoke him with more crimes against humanity? I am reminded of our situation at the turn of the century, and more particularly of our revolutionaries challenging the Sultan to massacre, because if he massacres the world will be on our side. History repeats itself. The world is now on the side of the Palestinians but the Palestinians, very much like the Armenians before them, keep dying, and the politicians keep speechifying in the name of the dead, and the dead are no longer in a position to tell us what they really think. But that’s the way it always is with the dead. They become absent factors and the charlatans continue to speak in their name. They exploit the living by exploiting the dead. I see something cynical, even sinister, in this macabre game played by politicians and I am surprised, shocked, outraged at the spectacle of intelligent, well-informed people who allow themselves to be manipulated by empty verbiage. What could be more naпve, and yes, stupid – what could be more stupid than to say all politicians are cynical operators except our own? And yet, this is exactly what members of the Communist Party said about Stalin, the Nazis said about Hitler, the fascists said about Mussolini, and our own members of political parties say about their own leadership.

FANATICS ********************* # All fanatics are potential killers. So are moderates, but with one significant difference: fanatics kill the innocent, moderates only the killers of the innocent. # To a fanatic, he who is innocent today will be guilty tomorrow. Which is what Talaat said about Armenians: "All Armenians must die, even the innocent, because they will be guilty when they find out what we have done to them." And sure enough, he was himself gunned down by the kind of Armenian he described: innocent today but made guilty by his (Talaat’s) actions tomorrow. # Fanatics are born not made. It is not ideologies or religions that create fanatics. Rather, fanatics infiltrate and exploit movements, all kinds of movements, to satisfy their killer instincts. Christians during the Inquisition and Bolsheviks under Stalin might as well be interchangeable units. # Because I expose fanatics, I am accused of fanaticism by our fanatics. They want to silence me because they sense my aim is to expose, ridicule, and silence them. They use concepts like patriotism and compassion the way Bolsheviks used Marxism and the Inquisition used Christianity.

THE MIDDLE EAST ****************************** # Colin Powel has as much chance to solve the Middle East problem as Mickey Mouse. Bugs Bunny: now that’s different! # The situation in the Middle East today reminds me of Europe on the eve of World War II; but in addition to territorial claims and past grudges, you have religious differences, which make it a vipers’ nest of feuds that can be resolved only after both sides have exhausted each other and there is no more blood to be shed. Then and only then they may kiss and make up. # I said "they may…" because I think of Voltaire’s dictum: "Since it was a religious war, there were no survivors." # During lunch today I followed several pundits (French, American, Canadian) on the radio arguing about the Middle East. At one point I heard one of them say: "I can't believe my ears – we are having this idiotic argument! How can anyone say?…" # When the American said to his French counterpart, "What is your solution to this problem?" The French replied: "We French are better with abstract arguments than practical solutions." [Laughter.] # When the French pundit said: "America is the only superpower that can afford to spend a billion dollars a day on the military and is thus in a far better position to get involved in places like the Balkans and the Middle East," I could not help thinking: Europe can afford to fight two World Wars within the space of thirty years, wars during which millions died and billions wasted, but can't take care of its own problems without American intervention? # You want to understand the Arabs? Read T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who was infatuated with them (and they reciprocated his sentiments); but as an Englishman he could afford being objective in his analysis of their character. And the picture that emerges is far from pretty.

PROPAGANDA ********************** Propaganda speaks in the name of truth, but truth (if it exists) is know only to God (if He exists). The rest of us poor folk can only hope to move in its direction by shedding half-truths, prejudices, fallacies, misconceptions, and lies. The only way to do that is to engage in dialogue: if there is one idea on which most philosophers (from Plato to Marx) agree, this is it. # The central concern of power is to legitimize itself and whenever possible to maintain and enhance its position and prestige even if it means to mislead, lie, cheat and kill. # The central concern of all thinkers and prophets has been to expose the evil in power and the lies that are spoken in its name. # As a child I was brought up to believe Armenians are the good guys. The rest of the world, I was given to understand, was corrupt and evil. I know now that to be not just nationalist, or chauvinist or racist propaganda but a Big Lie. I also know that the world is ruled by Big Lies.

WHY I LOATHE WHAT I LOATHE ************************************* I loathe despotism because I was myself a victim of despots. I loathe fanaticism because it is a creation of despotism. I loathe lies and propaganda because they are instruments of despotism. I loathe tribalism because it divides, demoralizes, and weakens the nation. I loathe dupes because they are taken in by despots and cannot decipher the writing on the wall. I loathe people who speak in the name of God but do the devil’s work. I loathe murderers, rapists, and child molesters because they victimize the defenseless, the weak, and the innocent. I loathe racism because to be an Armenian means to have been a victim of racism. I loathe chauvinists who define patriotism as hatred of the enemy and they define enemy as anyone who does not share their fanaticism. I loathe intolerance because I experience it every day. I loathe loud-mouth megalomaniacal fools who parade as pundits. I loathe bloodsuckers and exploiters (but I repeat myself) regardless of national origin and religious denomination…. And if you were to ask me to make a list of all those things that I love, admire, cherish, and enjoy, I would have to begin by saying that I love exposing bastards. I love the Dialogues of Plato and the short stories of Chekhov. I love music – from Gregorian Chant to Verdi’s REQUIEM. I love Elgar’s ENIGMA VARIATIONS, the Tone Poems of Delius and the Symphonies of Sibelius. I love Bach’s Organ Passacaglia in C Minor, the E-minor Prelude and Fugue ("the Cathedral") and the Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor ("the Great’). I love Fra Angelico, Vermeer, and Paul Klee. I love star-gazing. I love Jimmy Cagney in THE ROARING TWENTIES, ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, and WHITE HEAT. I love Sir Laurence Olivier’s HAMLET and RICHARD III…. as for actresses: I am reminded of the following dialogue between two teenage boys many years ago in Greece: "Who is your favorite actor?" "Gregory Peck, John Wayne, and Gary Cooper." "And your favorite actress?" After a long pause: "All of them!"

THE MAN WHO WANTED TO KNOW HIS FUTURE: A VERY SHORT STORY WITH TWO ENDINGS AND FIVE MORALS, OR, A STORY WHOSE TITLE IS LONGER THAN ITSELF ****************************************************** Once upon a time there was a man who wanted to know what his future held for him. So he went to a fortune-teller. The fortune-teller told him: "You will live to be a hundred." And the man was happy. Next he went to a doctor who told him: "You have cancer which, if left untreated, may kill you within six months." And the man was very sad. ***************************************** FIRST ENDING: The man believed the fortune-teller, ignored the doctor, and was dead within five months. SECOND ENDING: The man believed his doctor and sure enough he lived to be a hundred and one. ***************************************** MORAL I: If you do the right thing, the sky is the limit. MORAL II: Not everyone who kisses your ass is your friend. MORAL III: To ignore reality is to dig your own grave. MORAL IV: Illusions are luxuries even the richest man cannot afford. MORAL V: You can't survive an hour if you bury your head in the sand.

UNDERSTANDING REALITY ******************************** The future is a no man’s land. History and reality are complex entities. No one has all the answers. Just because someone – be he a pundit or a fortune-teller (but I repeat myself) – tells us what we like to hear, it doesn't make him right. At the turn of the century, our pundits (make it, fortune-tellers) told us: History was on our side. The truth was on our side. Russia and the Great Powers of Europe were on our side. God in his heaven and his army of angels were on our side. No way we could lose. And yet…(whoever said these two words are the saddest words in the English language sure knew what he was talking about). If our aim is to understand reality, we must be prepared to be dispassionate, objective, and if necessary, to think against ourselves, or at least to consider all those factors that may not be in our favor. Even then we may end up doing the wrong thing. That’s because when it comes to reality all we can hope to have is tentative answers. The God of Reality and the God of Christians are not one and the same. The God of Reality sometimes favors the dumb Turk and turns his back on the smart Armenian. The God of History recognizes no angels and devils, no philosophical systems and religious denominations, no laws, conventions, and etiquette, and least of all the predictions of pundits and fortune-tellers. You want to be right? Introduce your assertions with the words, "I am probably wrong." And if you believe passionately in what you are saying, "I must be wrong!"

DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE ************************************* Once in a while I am reminded that our problems are universal and I have no right to speak of them as if they were exclusively Armenian. I have never done so. I have at no time denied that our problems – from tribalism and intolerance to fanaticism and corruption – are not universal. They are. But so is the struggle against them. Rape and murder are also universal. Does that mean we should condone them or accept them as inevitable facts of life? Massacre is universal too. Does that mean we should forgive the Turks on grounds of universality? (Please, note that even the Turks have so far not used that argument.) Now let’s consider tribalism as a case in point. Countries like the United States and Canada are divided and subdivided into all kinds of races, religions, colors, ideologies, cults, economic classes, sexual orientations, and so on. And yet they coexist more or less peacefully and harmoniously because there are checks and balances, laws and amendments that guarantee the civil rights of every citizen to the same degree that they limit the power of those in authority. The difference between democracies and authoritarian power structures (such as our own) is that by using the universality argument we cover up our problems and thus admit our reluctance or inability to combat them. As a result, things go from bad to worse. Only the blind refuse to see this, and only the deaf cannot hear the cries of our doubly-oppressed and victimized masses. Hence the two "white" massacres in progress: exodus from the Homeland and assimilation in the Diaspora.

THE MESSAGE OF THE LAND ********************************* After a lifetime of Nasreddin Hodja stories, it’s always a pleasure to come across a new one. Here is the one I heard this morning on Canadian radio: Two peasants are quarreling over the ownership of a piece of land. Both have valid arguments for claiming it as their own. When they fail to reach an agreement, they send for the Hodja. The Hodja arrives, listens to both peasants, then goes down on his hands and knees and puts an ear to the ground. When the peasants demand to know what he is doing, the Hodja replies: "I heard your side of the story, now I want to hear the land’s side." When he finally stands up, the peasants ask what he heard, and the Hodja answers: "The land says: ‘These two are saying I belong to them; but in reality they belong to me.’" If our historians had been as honest as the Hodja they would have given us a similar message. Instead, they have been putting the blame for all our defeats, disasters, problems and misfortunes on others – bloodthirsty neighbors, bad geographic position, the hypocritical West, and so on. To do that, they have been covering up our tribalism; thus reinforcing our image of ourselves as perennial victims. And now, from the general to the specific: consider this forum as a microcosm of Armenia. What have we accomplished so far beside trashing one another and going to sleep with the knowledge that we have discharged our patriotic duty by kicking ass?

TURKS AND ARMENIANS ********************************* A gentle reader writes: "Why is it that you criticize Armenians but you never criticize Turks?" Because Turks have their own critics. Because I want to clean up the garbage in my own backyard before I start working on someone else’s. Because we have full-time professional assacrists (Genocide scholars) who specialize in kicking Turkish ass. Because my audience is Armenian not Turkish. Because we have already produced a mountain of criticism against the Turks without any discernible results. Come to think of it, we have produced a bigger mountain of criticism against our own bosses, bishops and benefactors without any results either, which may suggest that Armenian criticism, regardless of its targets, is an exercise in futility. And any day now I expect one of my readers to criticize me by saying: "If you are an Armenian, as you claim to be, why is it that you don't have a Cyrano de Bergerac nose?" And did you know that Cyrano de Bergerac’s real name was Giragos?… I forget his last name: Balderbajakhian…I think; I am not sure…can someone help me?

Monday, April 08, 2002 ***************************** # The very same people who believe the final solution to the Middle East problem is another Final Solution, also assert the Final Solution is Zionist propaganda. # If ignorance is bliss, give me misery. # Patriotism is the first refuge of our rascals. # From the cradle of civilizations, empires, and religions, the Middle East has become the garbage dump of internecine tribal feuds. # Reality is an equal opportunity nemesis: sooner or later we must all come face to face with it. To the ignorant, this confrontation will be their worst nightmare. # You can take an Armenian out of the Ottoman Empire and the USSR but you can't take the Sultan and Stalin out of him. # Democracies are the last refuge of fascists. # There are those who hate Hitler because his Final Solution wasn't final enough. Our killer-commissars have made it clear to me that they feel the same way about Talaat whenever they read me.

TIT FOR THAT ********************* Since I have written several hundred essays against hooliganism, Stalinism, racism, and fascism, I have been called a hooligan by hooligans, a Stalinist by Stalinists, a racist by racists and a fascist by fascists. # I am against all kinds of isms, including, and above all, tribalism, also capitalism, communism, nationalism, patriotism, and pacifism. I am against patriotism because I consider it an extension of nationalism, and to say my nationalism and patriotism are good, and my enemy’s nationalism and patriotism are bad, makes no sense. And because I make sense, fools call me a fool. # And now allow me to explain why I am against pacifism. Pacifists exist today because others have died in order to allow them to be pacifists. Because pacifists know that others will go on fighting for them to defend their right to be pacifists. Because to be surrounded by bloodthirsty warlike tribes and be a pacifist amounts to dropping your pants and bending over. Pacifists are pacifists because they have not yet found a cause in which they believe enough to kill and die. Because if pacifists have had their way, we would now be subjects of fascist regimes and would now be communicating in Russian, German, or perhaps even Japanese, and I find the idea of learning still another language unbearably burdensome…and I dream of the day when others will learn my mother tongue; and I dream of a heaven in which people will identify themselves as human beings and that will be the end of all isms.

************************ Saturday, April 06, 2002 ***************************** # Do you want to know how it feels to serve vegetarian dishes to a warlike tribe of starving cannibals? Be an Armenian writer. # I love this quote by John Milton. If I could I would place it at the beginning of everything I write and on the walls of all our editors and managers of book distribution centers: "Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself." # If I continue to be read it's not because I am original, brilliant, or deep, but because I say things publicly most of my readers say only privately for the simple reason that they have no desire to expose themselves to the venom of our bigots. I say this because with extremely minor exceptions, those who agree with me prefer to do so in private. If, among us, freedom of speech is easily confused with insults and threats, it's because decent Armenians are afraid to confront our killer-commissars and say: "You, my friend, are not what you claim to be but an impostor and there is no flag big enough to cover your nakedness." # Advice to a young writer: Even if you were to write with the wisdom of Socrates and the compassion of Jesus Christ, there is no guarantee that you shall escape the hemlock or the cross. But if you write as most writers do, don't be surprised if you are dismissed as an idiot by idiots, a jerk by jerks, and a Turcophile by Turkish gypsies parading as commissars of culture.

Friday, April 05, 2002 *************************** # I don't consider old age a privilege, except when I think of today’s youth. # It is always reassuring to have the disagreement of an imbecile. # If one is willing to learn, one can learn even from one’s enemies. # I am against capital punishment: if only murderers agreed with me. # In Greece, where I grew up Greeks called Armenians "Turkish gypsies." For a long time I couldn't understand why. But I do now. # The hidden message of an insult: I have nothing to contribute to this exchange but verbal pollution. # When two fools strike up a friendship, their first and most important priority is to convince each other they are smart.

ENFER DE MERDE ****************************** The Turks quote me? When a Jewish writer says anything remotely critical of Jews or Israel, his fellow Jews tell him: "If Hitler were alive today, he would love reading you!" And how do Turks react to their own critics? I don't know, but if I were to guess, I would say they call him an "Ermeni pij." But then, they call anyone they don't like an Armenian bastard. Perhaps one of these days Armenians, Turks and Jews should get together and declare themselves beyond criticism; either that or deal with their critics the way Stalin did with his. And judging by the depth of their hatred, I wouldn't be surprised if my Ottomanized and Sovietized critics dream of doing exactly that in a future Armenia – all in the name of patriotism, of course! When a mad dog bites, it hurts. The fact that it’s only a dog, and a mad one at that, is no consolation. If it were, we would dismiss the Genocide as the action of mad dogs and forget about it. Whenever I am asked if I plan to establish myself in my beloved homeland, I am reminded of the Irish writer who is quoted as having said: "Ireland is a good place to die." Writing for Armenians is a good way to starve, and while starving, to wallow in an enfer de merde.

Thursday, April 04, 2002 ******************************** No use trying to explain, amplify, annotate, enlighten and provide a bibliography to someone who has programmed himself to misunderstand not only your views and facts but also your commas, semicolons, and periods. # Fools are a universal phenomenon. Every nation, tribe, village and neighborhood has its share. But the Ottomanized and Sovietized Armenian is a species unto itself. # Why is it that some of my readers equate being a good Armenian with being a nasty human being? # In his memoirs titled MY TEACHERS, Moushegh Ishkhan discusses Oshagan, Zarian, Shant, and Adonts, among others. At one point he quotes Adonts to the effect that Siamanto was a far greater poet than Varoujan: "There will come a time," Adonts is quoted as having said, "when Varoujan may be forgotten but Siamanto’s worth will be enhanced." Poor Adonts and poor Ishkhan. It probably never even occurred to them that there may come a time when such controversies will be abandoned, forgotten, ignored and buried never to rise again.

DOES THAT RING A BELL? *************************************** Very early this morning I heard an African economist deliver the following lines on the radio: "The world owes nothing to Africa…Economic help should be coupled with reforms…African governments are corrupt…In the past, economic assistance has been extended even to leaders who commit atrocities against their own people…." # "Man cannot create a single worm, yet he has created ten thousand gods." Also a hundred thousand lies and for every lie millions have died: lies of ideology; lies of nationalism; lies of patriotism; "my killer is a freedom fighter, your killer is a terrorist." # My first reaction to critics of Armenia and Armenians is not to dismiss them as liars and hirelings of Turks (even when they happen to be felons like Weems) but to see how much truth there is in what they are saying. After all, even a broken down clock shows the right time at least once every twelve hours. # After many years of hard work you reach a certain position in life and you spend the rest of it trying to maintain it. One of the great things about being an Armenian writer is that you are very secure in your position because, as the lowest of the low, it is impossible to go anywhere else but up.

quote:Originally posted by sen_vahan:A useful idiot, according to Lenin, is one who supports a regime because he is taken in by its propaganda. Let me guess: Did he mean Bol'shevik Propaganda? I think he did, and if not then he prooved to be a great idiot. A dangerous idiot is one who identifies a regime with the homeland without realizing that doing so amounts to identifying Russia with Stalin, Germany with Hitler, Italy with Mussolini, and Spain with Franco. If a regime is corrupt (and most regimes are because power corrupts) it becomes the patriotic duty of each citizen to oppose it, which is what Thomas Mann did in Germany, Alexander Solzhenitsyn in Russia, Antonio Gramsci in Italy, and Pablo Casals in Spain. Do I understand right that the opinions of Mann-s, Solgenitsin-s,...., are some kind of indicators about the regime? Solgenitsin is now living in Russia and it is not his patriotic duty to oppose today's regime there.(except some critics about social topics) So, what is that, he hopes or he is tired to oppose? Or maybe the regime in Russia today is not corrupt?? Thank you, Vahan You are right about Lenin but wrong about Mann and Solzhenitsyn. / ara

THE SINAN PHENOMENON *********************************** Most encyclopedias, including the French-language LAROUSSE, identify Sinan as a Turk, in the same way that they identify Saroyan as an American writer and Khachatourian as a Soviet composer. In their own biographies and reference works Turks themselves prefer to identify him as a Greek, but then the Turks will say anything to sever their ties with Armenians and to pretend they never existed. But to me, Sinan’s Armenian identify is as important as the ease with which he was Ottomanized and the loyalty with which he served his Ottoman masters. As a victim of the devshirme system of taxation (in which children replaced money) Sinan had little or no choice in the matter, of course. But what about so many others who had a choice and freely renounced their Armenianism? Cases in point: the Sovietized Mikoyan brothers, the Hollywoodized Mamoulian, the Frenchified Henri Troyat, and the Russified Nina Berberova. And let’s not forget Calouste Gulbenkian, only a tiny fraction of whose wealth (about 5% I think) has been earmarked for Armenians. It is as if to be somebody in this world and to realize one’s full potential, an Armenian had no choice but to extricate himself from the swamp of Armenianism and to be born again as an odar. What would have happened to Sinan if he had not been Ottomanized, or to Saroyan if he had written in Armenian? Who would have heard of them? Even more to the point: Why is it that in our environment one is not allowed to achieve excellence? Is it because we are at the mercy of cynical opportunists without vision whose greatest enemy is excellence because excellence may expose their nullity?

THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE / #2 ********************************************** If you take the bus to work every day or if you rely on regular mail delivery, you take bus drivers and mailmen for granted – until they go on strike. If you watch the telly every day, you take your TV set for granted – until it breaks down. It is the negative that makes us aware of the positive; which is why Socrates once defined pleasure as the absence of pain. Something similar happens with writers. Who would read me if I were to write about the eternal snows of Mount Ararat? Not even my friends. But even my enemies read me if I say anything remotely critical or negative. And that’s why our political, religious, and cultural institutions are now in the business of supporting literature, but only a literature that has been neutered and thoroughly sterilized. In the Soviet Union our ablest writers were shot; in the Diaspora they were silenced (they shoot only horses here). The result has been the same: the corruption of literature, the prostitution of writers, and the castration of free speech. A dead end.

Tuesday, April 02, 2002 **************************** # In one of our weeklies I read the following headline: "All-Armenia Fund Raises $5,4 Million in Diaspora Aid to Armenia in 2001." Someday I also hope to read a headline that announces how much of this aid reached its destination. # You want to love Turks? Try to reason with one of our killer-commissars. # The insults of an anonymous coward have as much effect on me as the venom of a cobra in India. # You cannot solve the problems of a nation that views its vices as virtues. To our partisans our political parties are destined to save the nation and not (as our critics have asserted) to reinforce and legitimize our tribalism and fragmentation. # Eric Hoffer: "Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many." # When asked what I do for a living, I am tempted to reply, "I am in the business of being misunderstood." "Any money in that?" "None whatever, but plenty of insults -- Turkish insults: because when an Armenian insults, he insults like a Turk!"

THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE *************************************** Whenever I am accused of being a negative or destructive critic, I am reminded of the African tribal chieftain who, when asked to define good and evil, is reported to have replied (according to C.G. Jung): "When I steal my enemy’s wives it’s good; but when he steals mine, it’s evil." When Gandhi called the British Empire "a satanic force," and Churchill returned the compliment by calling Gandhi "a naked fakir," were they being positive or negative? I suppose like so much else in life, positive and negative too are in the eye of the beholder. When at the turn of the century the Turks said the only good Armenian is a dead Armenian and our revolutionaries returned the compliment, did any one of them stop to reflect whether they were being positive or negative? When Raffi called our merchant class the scum of the earth, was he being positive or negative? And when Shahnour said, "The enemy is not the Turks but us," and Zarian echoed this sentiment by saying, "Armenian survive by cannibalizing one another," were they being positive or negative? There is effective criticism and ineffective criticism, and Armenian criticism from Khorenatsi in the Middle Ages to Massikian in our own days has been ineffective because our bosses, bishops, and benefactors have raised a thick wall between themselves and literature so that no idea has ever been successful in penetrating their thicker skulls. Voltaire’s, Rousseau’s and Marx’s criticism (of the Church, the Monarchy and capitalism) produced revolutions that changed the map of the world. By contrast, our criticism has produced only hooligans parading as commissars of culture. Am I being positive or negative now? If you support the status quo, you will call me negative, and worse, an enemy of the people – which is what Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco called anyone who dared to disagree with them, among them Solzhenitsyn, Mann, Gramsci, Lorca, Casals, Bunuel, Bakounts, Zabel Yessayan, Mahari, and I could go on and on…. I suspect if I were to ask one of our hooligans or commissars to define positive and negative or constructive and destructive criticism, and if he were as sincere as the African tribal chieftain quoted above, he would say: "If I crap on you, I am being positive; but if you refuse to kiss my ass, you are being negative."

DANGEROUS IDIOTS ***************************** A useful idiot, according to Lenin, is one who supports a regime because he is taken in by its propaganda. A dangerous idiot is one who identifies a regime with the homeland without realizing that doing so amounts to identifying Russia with Stalin, Germany with Hitler, Italy with Mussolini, and Spain with Franco. If a regime is corrupt (and most regimes are because power corrupts) it becomes the patriotic duty of each citizen to oppose it, which is what Thomas Mann did in Germany, Alexander Solzhenitsyn in Russia, Antonio Gramsci in Italy, and Pablo Casals in Spain. Regimes are ephemeral things here today, gone tomorrow; but the homeland (the people, the culture, the real estate) will continue to exist long after the regime has been cast into the dustbin of history. Listen to Axel Bakounts (1899-1937) on this very subject: "Revolution? Socialism? -- they are just passing phenomena, a period when history is suffering from the flu, so to speak, a temporary ailment, after which, all the dead cities will come to life again from under the ashes." If the Soviet flu has become the post-Soviet double pneumonia it may be because our dangerous diasporan idiots have been supporting the regime and they have done so because they have confused and continue to confuse the victims with their victimizers.

LATER [31 March, 2002] *********************************** # My 1992/LAROUSSE informs me, the French word "hermine" (ermine in English: meaning, a species of weasel whose winter white fur is highly valued) comes from the Latin Armenius mus = Armenian rat). # Any fool can contradict an argument, and most fools do, but even the wisest man cannot contradict reality without making a fool of himself. # Nigoghos Sarafian: "Our history is a litany of lamentation, anxiety, horror, and massacre. Also deception and abysmal naiveté mixed with the smoke of incense and the sound of sacred chants." # I have never heard an honest Armenian writer say he has made a single penny from the royalties of his books, but I have heard many baloney artists who have said they were donating their royalties to Etchmiadzin. # Lies and propaganda should be exposed not contradicted.