ara baliozian

OUR PROBLEMS ************************* We may be unique but our problems are not. According to Pirandello: "If you confront a man with his own image, there will arise a crisis." Stendhal tells us: "Tout bon raisonnement offense." And elsewhere he explains that, too often among the French, "conversation is the armed commerce of two vanities." It follows that, a conversation that does not conform to this condition may end up being insulting. And speaking about vanities, listen to Thomas Mann: "The intellectual man is almost as much interested in painful truths as the fool is in those which flatter him." And if I were to choose a motto for myself, what could be better than E.M. Cioran’s: "At any price, we must keep those who have too clear a conscience from living and dying in peace." Charmant, n’est-ce-pas?

AFTERNOON REFLECTIONS ********************************* After writing for Armenians for 25 years I have learned to discriminate honest disagreement from phony one-upmanship whose intent is not to make a contribution to the dialogue but to assert non-existent intellectual superiority. A reader writes: "If your intention is to unite all Armenians, you are going about it the wrong way." Unite all Armenians? What an absurd notion! All I want to do now is expose charlatans. Charlatans cannot be converted. Charlatans are our problem and as such they cannot be part of the solution. Asking them to become partisans of solidarity would amount to asking foxes to unite with chickens. Talk of unity with chickens to a fox and he will think you are talking about lunch. And I think of the pyramids of Egypt: what are they if not monuments to human degradation! -- products of ignorance and arrogance on the one hand, and on the other, subservience and fear. They should bring tears to our eyes, not awe and admiration. To anyone whose degree of self-objectivity is low, any honest assessment is bound to come as a shock.

MORNING MEDITATIONS *********************************** Ideologies have been of no use to us: they have done more harm than good. The best ideology is the ideology of consensus, which amounts to saying, the best ideology is no ideology. If you want to appear wiser, pretend to know better. If you want to appear established, pretend to be established. If you want to appear positive, raise your voice. The life of a deceiver is a constant struggle against reality, and it is an uneven struggle like that of a shadow against a mountain – an ant’s shadow against Mt. Everest. Ever since I began to understand what’s happening to us, I have been unable to think and write about anything else. One does not choose one’s obsessions. It’s the other way around. We are not the stroller but his dog. If anyone had predicted that I would spend twenty years of my life exposing Armenian charlatanism, I would have shrugged him off as a damn fool. To call a charlatan a charlatan is not bad manners but good semantics. You have to live in two different countries for a number of years to see the many illusions of patriotism. He is a defender of the faith and self-interest is his only credo. Scratch such a defender of the faith and expose a destroyer of the nation.

BETWEEN PROGRESS AND PARALYSIS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In every nation, even the most backward and authoritarian, there are progressive and pro-democracy forces that are for human rights, peace, cooperation, and coexistence. It is in our long-range interests to side with these forces, which is something we cannot do if we adopt a purely nationalist stance. We have friends among our enemies, including the Turks and the Azeris, if only because, after centuries of cohabitation and intermarriage, half of them are very probably half-Armenian. I was brought up to believe the Turks are bloodthirsty savages and to this day I cannot help hating them with every fiber in my being. But I have also come to realize that, when reason contradicts emotion, it is wiser to follow the dictates of reason. Understanding this means taking a step in the right direction. Refusing to understand it means wallowing in rage, self-pity, lamentation, and ultimately political paralysis. To write is an act of optimism. To hope that what you say will be read and understood is an act of faith. Some of our greatest writers (from Abovian to Zarian) committed suicide or fell silent exactly because they did not see any future in Armenia and Armenianism. I refuse to believe I am being pessimistic when I speak against lies, propaganda, intolerance, bigotry, arrogance, ignorance, and stupidity. I reject the notion that to oppose fascism is unpatriotic. The central message of our literature (from Movses Khorenatsi to Charents) has been solidarity. The central activity (repeat, activity) of all our organizations (especially political org/s) has been the exact opposite: divide and rule, which translated into practical terms also means: divide and alienate. Seen from that perspective, Zarian’s dictum is as true today as it was 60 years ago: "Our political parties have been of no political use to us!"

A TALE OF TWO CITIES ******************************* Cambridge is a small Canadian city about 6 miles from where I live. There is an Armenian community center there and next to it a Muslim community center. I have been there many times and I have never witnessed a single act of mutual hostility, perhaps because we have laws here that penalize anyone who decides not only to entertain intolerant sentiments but to act on them. After a visit to Buenos Aires, a friend of mine (a Canadian diplomat) informed me that that there are two Armenian community centers there built side by side and separated by a single wall; and it is not unusual for kids playing on each side of the wall to throw stones at one another. What this tells me is that these children have been indoctrinated by partisan activists or schoolteachers who are no better than Christian Turks -- but since Christianity stands for tolerance, compassion, mercy, and love – or rather, more Turk than Christian. Moral: The most important ingredient in a culture or that which defines a nation’s character is not music, literature, architecture, cuisine, traditions, folk dances, etc., but that ensemble of laws that shape and control human conduct. In that sense, in the Diaspora we are products of Ottoman laws, and in the Homeland products of Soviet laws. In us the Sultan and Stalin speak louder than Mashdots, Naregatsi or any other Armenian you care to mention.

if i were a bishop i would say: God bless you, my child!

p.s. to poetry and you are not an armenian who lives in turkey, you are a notorious charlatan who lives in glendale!

i am inventing nothing; just giving documented facts... ara

greeks call armenians turkish gypsies, and in turkey armenians were known as christian turks. / ara

NOTES & COMMENTS +++++++++++++++++++++++= 1. Whenever I review our past I confess I can’t make any sense of it. So much suffering, so many defeats, tragedies, disasters, and victims. Also so many lessons unlearned, so many lies, so many blunders! 2. Who defines a blunder? Surely not those who committed them. If it were up to them, they have done nothing wrong, all our defeats are moral victories, and anyone who says otherwise cannot be a patriotic Armenian. 3. To how many of my young patriotic friends I could say: I am familiar with your line of reasoning because when I was your age I too was fed recycled crap. 4. The very same people who prostitute an ideology or religion are also its most vocal defenders. That’s because power and money are thicker than politics and theology. 5. The Armenian identity is such a vaguely defined and poorly understood concept that even Armenians who are no better than "Christian Turks" or "Turkish gypsies" feel qualified to brag about their superior brand of Armenianism.

Chekhov tells us hatred unites people more effectively than any other sentiment. Our leaders keep promoting hatred of the turks because they think if they stop doing that we may scatter away, get lost in the crowd, and they may end up with no one to lead. Lead where? That’s what I would like to know…. Maybe you can provide an answer…./ara

FROM MY DIARY +++++++++++++++++++++++++ An Armenian poetess calls to inform me she is donating the royalties of her next book to Etchmiadzin. I don’t have the heart to tell her I have been in this business for a quarter of a century and I have never heard of an Armenian writer who has made two cents from royalties. But I suspect she already knows. Armenians have an amazing gift for pretending not to know the obvious and to be an expert on any given subject. *** In a letter from a friend: "If, as you say, Armenian literature is a dead end, why not give up writing?" I write for two totally non-literary reasons: to fight boredom and to acquire friends; and with every book I have published, I have acquired a new friend; also (alas!) two enemies. *** Chekhov: "Love, friendship, respect do not unite people as much as common hatred for something." Our leadership has known this for some time; hence, their unspoken slogan: "There is no business like shoah business."

THE LESSONS OF HISTORY ************************************ At the turn of the century in the Ottoman Empire Armenian writers published under such pseudonyms as Indra, Siamanto, Oshagan, and Varoujan. One reason: fear of the Sultan’s secret police. (A useless precaution, because, as we all know by now, on April 24, 1915 they were all betrayed to the police by an Armenian informer and thus became the first victims of the Genocide.) Today many Armenians on the internet also write under false names, and why? Is it fear? Fear of what? When asked this question, a friend explained: "Fear of crazies – there are all kinds of them out there!" By crazies I suspect she meant irresponsible and cowardly riffraff who use the internet as a verbal garbage dump. Some of these Armenians, who pretend to be more patriotic than the rest of us, are not satisfied with a single alias but adopt as many a dozen, perhaps because deep inside somewhere they know what they are doing is so despicable that by ascribing it to several sources they hope to minimize their own responsibility. The Armenian writers of Istanbul were wrong in overestimating the loyalty of their fellow Armenians. Our riffraff today are wrong in underestimating our intelligence and in doing so they have redefined chauvinism as love of country and contempt of countrymen. We sometimes brag about our genius for survival. What we choose to ignore however is that it is not the best but the worst that may have survived.

i am touched! / ara

DEFINING CHARLATANISM ********************************* Several readers have complained that I use the words "charlatan" and "charlatanism" too often. "If what you say is right," one of them writes, "every other Armenian is a charlatan." I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if that were indeed true. Let me explain: When a partisan asserts only members of his own party qualify as authentic or good Armenians, I call that a typical instance of political charlatanism. When an Anteliassagan or an Etchmiadznagan Armenian says his church is the only true Armenian church, he engages in religious charlatanism. When an Armenian says or implies in any way that he knows best what’s good for the nation and anyone who disagrees with him is a fool, he wallows in fascist charlatanism. That’s because there is no such thing as a "true" church, an infallible political party, or an agenda that is beyond criticism. There is only consensus reached by means of dialogue and compromise. Anyone who says otherwise is a charlatan!

In his memoirs (LES MOTS) Sartre himself is willing to concede that most of his early thought was misguided. His honesty was one of his most admirable qualities and I admire him for it. But again the central message of his philosophy (a combination of Husserl and Marx) has been bypassed. He is part of world literature, of course, and his name will never be forgotten; but compared to his position of eminence when he was alive, his stock has gone down considerably. By contrast, Camus’ has gone up – always comparatively speaking, of course…perhaps because Camus was smart enough not to be taken in by Soviet propaganda. Another writer who has been gaining in reputation is Marcel Proust. Still another whose stock has gone down is Kazantzakis… If we strayed too far from our original thread, please ignore this!

sorry again: i too must disagree.... sartre's marxism and rapprochement with stalin and support of cuba's castro have dimninished his stature as a thinker. his thinking was motivated not by objective analysis but by his hatred of the french bourgeoisie of which he was himself a member. i hate the bourgeoisie too, regardless of nationality, but i don't allow it to blind me to the dangers and crimes of fascism...

in that sense saroyan is also alive and well too... the critical fire that has been directed against sartre has been so strong and almost unanimous that he is no longer an influence...ditto for anatole france...their names are around yes, but their influence has plunged...by the way, i am a fan of both writers.../ara

many writers are popular when they are alive and forgotten... or almost... after they die... in france you have the example of Anatole France and to some extent even Sartre...who is far less popular today than when he was alive...literary fortunes and popularity are "sometime things..." / ara

about saroyan: in the 1950s saroyan was translated into all the major languages of the world: in greece i read him in greek, in italy i read him in italian; even the existentialists in france were his fans..../ ara

you introduce armenians to the world by giving them a human face; until saroyan, armenians were known as starving victims of turkish atrocities... as for introducing armenians to themselves: i have been trying to do that without much success, alas! / ara

OR: THAT WHICH SAROYAN REFUSED TO SEE ************************************************** Saroyan introduced Armenians to the world and he was smart enough to know that when you do the introductions in a social setting you are not under oath; you don’t need to say "This is my cousin, Jack S. Avanakian who happens to be a damn fool!" What you say instead is: "My cousin Jack." Saroyan himself was willing to concede that his Armenian characters in his books are "stylized" – a euphemism for distorted to fit a specific image or worldview. And to Saroyan the world was a wonderful place populated by wonderful people As for the dark side of life: he let others handle that aspect of reality. And others did, among them our own writers, among them the 5th century historian Yeghishe, who said: "If a nation is ruled by two kings, both the kings and their subjects will perish." Gentle reader, imagine if you can a nation ruled by five mini-sultans, fifty phony padishas and five hundred fat-bellied *****s. On second thought, no need to imagine anything: just take a look around yourself.

SAROYAN & ARMENIANS *********************************** After stating that we are a nation of losers but also survivors, in a famous and much-quoted passage Saroyan went on challenging the world to exterminate us implying it couldn’t be done. He himself never made an effort to understand and explain what is it exactly that makes us perennial losers. I wonder why. Did he think if he were to isolate and expose the reasons he would make more enemies than friends? Did he think the function of literature was to describe reality as opposed to trying to changing it? Finally, did he think history was made by forces beyond our control and no amount of effort on our part could change the line of our destiny?

OBSERVATIONS ****************************** Self-objectivity: such a quintessentially un-Armenian virtue! Hope makes us optimists, fear pessimists, and reason realists. The purpose of a counter-argument is not to satisfy yourself but to expose the lies or prejudices of the opposition. If I ever portray myself as smarter or morally superior in any way, please feel free to dismiss me as a charlatan. To those who say "You sound like a broken record," I can only reply: When my house is on fire I cannot serenade the moon. If an answer does not lead to another question it will lead to a dead end. Only a fool believes that the ambition of every verbal commitment is to become a fait accompli. If we were to define a police state as one in which everyone wants to emigrate except the police, then present-day Armenia fully qualifies as a police state.

FACTORS *************************** An Armenian who ascribes all our problems to outside factors beyond our control is an Armenian who also thinks there isn’t much we can do except wait until these factors take a turn in our favor, which may happen tomorrow or in a hundred years, or, if the past is an index, a thousand years…. No amount of big talk can alter the fact that we are small potatoes, and no amount of positive assessment can cover up the fact that our situation is negative. Whistling in the dark is not the same as courage. As I see it, our options are between fearless honesty on the one hand, and on the other, cowardly dishonesty parading under the banner of chauvinism. In the same way that shopkeepers sell a product to make a profit, political parties publish newspapers and books to maintain or enhance their popularity, power, and prestige; and in the same way that shopkeepers may price themselves out of the market, political parties may lose their credibility by lying too much. I have always been suspicious of people who brag about their own real or imaginary assets. He who says "I am smart," seldom is. He who says, "I am wealthy," never is. And he who says "I am an honorable man," or "I am a patriotic Armenian," is either a charlatan or a bloodsucker.