as i see it - Pt. IV

[ara baliozian]

Thursday, June 09, 2005

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VARIATIONS ON A FAMILIAR THEME

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Since the most abominable crimes have been justified in the name of God and Country, whenever common sense and decency stand in direct contradiction with the message of sermonizers and speechifiers, I go with common sense. But try to explain this to a charlatan who has been brainwashed to believe he is morally superior.

*

In the end crooks are caught because when they get away with something, they invariably come back to get away with more…and more…until they are exposed. Something similar happens to charlatanism and many other human aberrations: if not exposed at an early stage, they get progressively worse until they legitimize torture, war and massacre.

*

How can murder and massacre be morally superior? Why is it that the very same people who oppose abortion support war? How can love of God and Country legitimize hate of fellow men, including fellow countrymen? I don’t know, but if you want these questions answered, ask any one of our dime-a-dozen charlatans.

*

You read a critic to know what’s wrong with you, not what’s right. You already know what’s right and if you are an Armenian, even that which is wrong is right, which may explain why we silence and starve our critics.

*

Whenever I say Armenian writers have been misunderstood and rejected, sometimes even silenced and starved, I am informed by our defenders of the faith, “So have all writers throughout history.” True. But whereas some Soviet dissidents enjoyed international support, our own dissidents didn’t even enjoy our support. I remember one of our elder statesmen saying: “Parajanov? The man is a syphilitic homosexual and a black marketeer. They should lock him up and throw away the key!”

#

[ara baliozian]

Friday, June 10, 2005

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OF POLITICIANS, LAWYERS, AND LAYMEN

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The problem with Turks is that they believe what they are told by their politicians. Our problem? Ditto.

*

Turks as well as Armenians trust their own politicians even though it is a universally acknowledge fact that politicians and honesty are incompatible, not to say, mutually exclusive concepts.

*

Truth is not the province of politicians, power or propaganda is. In that sense politicians are like defense lawyers whose job consists in emphasizing the evidence in their favor and ignoring or denigrating the evidence presented by the prosecution. As for justice: they leave it up to the judge and jury.

*

Politicians operate like lawyers too, future historians and the people being their judge and jury – provided of course historians are not nationalist hacks and hirelings of the regime, and the people are not brainwashed dupes.

*

History it has been said is the propaganda of the victor. What has not been said is that it can also be the consolation of the loser. The victor feels the need to explain and justify his strength and its abuses (or crimes against humanity); and the loser feels a corresponding need to explain and justify his weakness and incompetence, which he can do only by asserting moral superiority.

*

As an Armenian I have been called all kinds of nasty names by my fellow Armenians. Which may suggest that not all Armenians are alike. And, if our propagandists are to be believed, there are Armenians (like myself) who are scumbags, and there are Armenians (like themselves) who are noble specimens of humanity. It follows Armenian politicians are as white as the driven snow, and anyone who disagrees with them is an enemy of the people. It is therefore the patriotic duty of all decent Armenians to insult, silence, and whenever possible, to starve all critics and dissidents, or anyone else who refuses to parrot the propaganda line of our bosses and their dupes.

*

Sometimes I am accused of making wild generalizations and ignoring the diversity of individuals and groups. The only time I generalize is when I speak of our past and future. That’s because as a nation we have only one history and one destiny. We cannot divide our history into chapters that apply only to a fraction of the nation. If we did that, we would cease being a nation and become a collection of tribes, each with its own specific collective experience, ethos, character, and culture.

*

To commit an injustice in the name of justice, and to lie in the name of truth may be contradictions but they are also routine occurrences. They happen every day. Hence the old saying, “Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.”

*

We are neither politicians nor lawyers. We are laymen. And if we want to understand reality we must learn to think against ourselves. To trust our politicians means to be willing to kill or die in the name of a Big Lie.

#

[ara baliozian]

Saturday, June 11, 2005

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ON FANATICS

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You can't argue with a fanatic, especially if you are yourself a fanatic. We tried it with the Turks a hundred years ago and it didn't work. And we have been trying it ever since with the same results. We say they are fanatics and they return the compliment. Who is right?

*

Has an Armenian ever admitted to being a fanatic? An Armenian is brought up to believe whatever he says and does is motivated by love, justice, truth, and moderation. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth or anywhere else for that matter.

*

I first learned the meaning of tolerance and moderation, not to say good manners, when I heard an Englishman say, "You may be right," when I was dead wrong. If an Armenian thinks you are wrong, he will call you names, he will rub your nose in it, and if he has the power, he will muzzle you, all in the name of justice, moderation, truth, objectivity, patriotism, Christian compassion, and a whole bunch of other good things.

*

Because the Zartarian brothers thought Shahnour was wrong in his interpretation of one of their father's short stories, they beat the hell out of him in public. You want more examples of Armenian fanaticism? Visit any Armenian discussion forum, or even better, read a history of Armenian literature.

*

Because Raffi was critical of our merchant class, a wealthy merchant hired the services of a Kurdish assassin. And because I have adopted a critical stance I have become an enemy of the people and a non-person.

This sort of thing happens all the time, everywhere, of course. Our failings are human failings. They are universal failings. Does that mean we should ignore them? Cover them up? Even better, legitimize them by accepting them as inevitable facts of life? Isn't this what we have done? And because I say this is wrong, am I an enemy?

*

I am an enemy in the eyes of Armenians who think of themselves as beyond criticism. No sane man with the minimum of common sense and decency would ever dare to think of himself as beyond criticism, except an Armenian who has brainwashed himself to believe he is a role model with leadership qualities. There you have it: a definition of an Armenian fanatic.

*

I speak from experience. I too was a fanatic once upon a time. Perhaps I still am. If I haven't silenced anyone it may be because I don't have the power. If I have never gone as far as hiring an assassin it may be because hitmen are luxuries beyond my means. Think whatever you like of me, so long as you don't think of me as that loathsome of all creatures: a role model with leadership qualities.

#

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, June 12, 2005

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WHAT IF?

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When, on his first official visit to Ankara, Raffi Hovannisian raised the question of the Genocide, the Turks reacted by saying, “This man hates us – we can’t deal with him.” And sure enough, our president agreed with them and dismissed Raffi from his post.

*

There are Armenians to day who say they don’t hate Turks, they only ask for justice. But I for one find it extremely difficult to believe that it is possible to accuse someone of rape, plunder, and murder, and not hate him.

*

Do we hate Turks? An irrelevant question. If the Turks think we hate them, it is up to us to find a way of convincing them otherwise. How? -- you may well ask. We could begin by accusing them not of murder one (premeditated) but two (manslaughter). There is a big difference.

*

If all talk of genocide is taboo in Turkey, all talk of their side of the story is taboo among us. But if we say we don’t hate them, we are obliged to treat them not as dehumanized killing machines but as fellow human beings who were as much dupes of their own incompetent and corrupt leadership as we were.

*

They behaved like dupes when their leaders spread the word that the giaours (Greeks, Russians, the Great Powers, and Armenians) were out to exterminate them and that many innocent Turkish civilians were being massacred in the Balkans, in Van, and a number of villages near the Russo-Turkish border.

*

It is common knowledge that in time of war rumors of false atrocities provoke real atrocities. Politicians are fully aware of this and they exploit it whenever they want to unleash the dogs of war. During World War I rumors of German atrocities in Belgium and, more recently, during the Gulf War, rumors of Iraqi atrocities in Kuwait (later proved to be fabrications) made headlines in the international media.

*

What if isolated, false, and exaggerated rumors of Christian atrocities together with the prospect of annihilation drove the Turks to commit counter-atrocities?

*

An explanation is not a justification. I do not justify atrocities; but neither do I cover up or ignore or justify the lies of propaganda. Our leaders promised to lead us to the Promised Land. Instead they led us to the slaughterhouse. What if the two million were double victims? What if our own leadership bears part of the responsibility?

#

[phantom22]

Ara,

 

What do you expect from a people who collectively do not think for themselves?

 

A people whose perceptions arise from being:

 

ETCHMIADZININ PECHIN DAGE

Edited June 12, 2005 by phantom22

[ara baliozian]

Monday, June 13, 2005

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DIARY

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A former Arab jihadist in a radio interview this morning: “Our leaders sent teenage boys on suicide missions but they send their own sons to be educated in America.”

*

Last night on 60 MINUTES something very similar was said about Mourad Topalian, an Armenian political leader. Accused of aiding and abetting Armenian terrorists in the United States and elsewhere in Europe, he was arrested, tried, found guilty, and sent to prison for 35 months.

*

When conventional wisdom and propaganda line are one and the same, it is safe to assume they are both extensions of Big Lies.

*

There is a type of Armenian who thinks being civil is a symptom of weakness; and if he is morally superior he is allowed to go down into the gutter with impunity.

*

Doctors are exposed to cancer, divorce lawyers to adultery, policemen to crime, and Armenian writers to readers eager to share their superior brand of wisdom, expertise (on any given subject), and understanding of human affairs in general and Armenian history, culture, and politics in particular – carcinogenic agents for short.

*

I have no illusions about my fellow men. I have fewer illusions about my fellow Armenians. A good man is hard to find; a good Armenian is even harder. If I come across one once a year I feel privileged indeed. I have been writing now for 25 years and I can count my friends on the fingers of a one-armed leper; but my enemies are legion. Is it because I am a nasty sonofabitch? -- as my detractors like to say. Or is it because honesty is as popular among us today as it was among Greeks in the time of Diogenes?

#

[ara baliozian]

Ara,

 

What do you expect from a people who collectively do not think for themselves?

 

A people whose perceptions arise from being:

 

ETCHMIADZININ PECHIN DAGE

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

 

less and less, alas! / ara

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

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STRANGE BIRDS

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Whenever in my salad days I read a book favorable to Armenians, I thought of it as still another proof of the irrefutable fact that we are loveable. This illusion was unmasked when I discovered that favorable books have been written about all nations and tribes, including Turks, Kurds, Zulus, Gypsies, and Pygmies.

*

It is a sign of abysmal insecurity to see ourselves as our friends see us and to ignore the testimony of many others who may be less favorably disposed. For every Armenophile there are probably two or more writers (among them Armenians) who have made it abundantly clear that we are as good (or as bad) as the rest of mankind and worse than some. I have myself compiled a dictionary of quotations by Armenian as well odar writers who have been extremely critical of us. If you think this is a result of the controversy between Armenophile and Turcophile writers, consider the case of Byzantine emperors of Armenian descent none of whom was particularly fond of Armenians.

*

Here is Emperor Maurice (582-602) in a letter to the King of Persia: "Armenians are troublemakers of the worse kind. I am going to collect and drive them to Thrace. I don't care what happens to them there. If they kill, they will kill my enemies. If they die, they will die as enemies. In either case, I will live in peace. But if I allow them to go on living within the Empire, I shall have no peace."

*

If you think the case of Emperor Maurice is an aberration, consider our superpatriotic Armenians who believe Armenians to be loveable (beginning with themselves, of course). If you ever dare to disagree with this type of Armenian you will acquire an enemy for life who will hate you unto death.

*

After dealing with a good number of our superpatriots, I have reached the conclusion that their sole ambition in life is to reduce their fellow Armenians into a bunch of brown-nosing parrots. Strange birds, these Armenians.

#

[ara baliozian]

Thursday, June 16, 2005

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ON BRAINWASHING AND RELATED ATROCITIES

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Brainwashing provides two benefits to leaders and all power structures in general: (one) it creates a class of individuals willing to carry out orders without questioning them; and (two) it legitimizes a non-critical approach to life and politics. Hence the tendency of our partisans and superpatriots to silence intellectuals and to view dialogue and dissent as anti-Armenian.

*

As an Armenian, I don’t believe everything an Armenian tells me, not because I am smart and I can see through him; rather, the exact contrary: because I was naïve, credulous, and foolish, especially when dealing with our “betters” – namely, bosses, bishops, benefactors, and their dupes and hirelings.

*

I remember once many years ago when I defended the integrity of a fellow Armenian on the grounds that he was a bishop, I heard one of our elder statesmen say: “They are the worse crooks!” I thought he was exaggerating (as some Armenians tend to do) to make a point. I know better now.

*

If as an Armenian I don’t believe everything an Armenian tells me, how can we expect odars or, for that matter, enemies to believe us even when we say the sun rises in the east or 2+2=4?

*

To those who say one may deceive isolated individuals or groups now and then, here and there, but not an entire people, may I remind them of the Fascists who were successful in brainwashing their people (Spaniards, Italians, Germans) and Communists entire continents.

*

All power structures rely on their educational system to divide mankind into friends and enemies. Even Christians and Muslims who believe in love and compassion divide mankind into believers and heretics or infidels, after which they have no trouble in brainwashing their dupes to believe that murdering innocent civilians is their patriotic and religious duty.

*

P.S.

Gentle reader, if you say, “I am not brainwashed because no one can brainwash me,” remember that only one class of individuals is in a position to make such an assertion: the brainless.

#

[ara baliozian]

Friday, June 17, 2005

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If you think today as you thought five years ago, and if you believe in the next five years you will not change your mind, it may be because you happen to be brain dead. Either that or you are convinced you already know everything you need to know and what you know is the truth, and anyone who dares to disagree with you must be either an ignoramus or a liar.

*

Once upon a time I wrote as an Armenian. I now do my utmost to write as a human being. What really matters about an idea is not its nationality but its universality. If I reject Armenian nationalism it’s because I reject all nationalism. We contradict ourselves when we say yes to Armenian nationalism and no to Turkish nationalism; and it makes little sense to say Armenian propaganda deals with facts and Turkish propaganda deals with fabrications.

*

When it comes to the study of history, there are an infinite number of facts and there is no merit in cataloguing them. Facts acquire a meaning only when selected and interpreted. Facts matter but what matters even more are the criteria of selection and interpretation.

*

None of us will ever know everything there is to know about the past, which is why historiography is not a science but an art.

*

As Armenians the challenge we confront today is not gaining the trust of our fellow Armenians but of our adversaries. We succeed only in compromising our commitment to justice by calling anyone who disagrees with us an ignoramus and a liar, or, for that matter, an Asiatic barbarian, even if deep down we believe Turks to be liars, ignoramuses, rapists, and cold-blooded murderers of two million innocent civilians.

#

[ara baliozian]

Saturday, June 18, 2005

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Reasonable men defend what in the eyes of other reasonable men is indefensible because they are convinced they base their defense on irrefutable facts. What they may not be aware of is that these facts may have been carefully selected by unconsciously acquired criteria determined by peer pressure, education, environment, culture, religion, self-interest and so on.

*

Throughout history man has hated in the name of love, committed injustices in the name of justice, and professed dedication to truth in the name of a Big Lie. Which is why after centuries and millennia Jews and Christians, Protestants and Catholics, supporters and opponents of capital punishment, abortion, and war, have failed to resolve their differences.

*

There are eminent Catholic theologians today who don't believe in the infallibility of the Pope and, my guess is, they have counterparts in all belief systems.

*

If some day man learns to live in peace with his fellow men, it will be because of the courage and integrity of dissidents. But until then these dissidents will be seen as renegades, pariahs, heretics, and enemies.

*

Having said this I will now be accused of being a denialist by Armenians who confuse explaining with justifying, and understanding with condoning.

#

[phantom22]

Ara, you are ahead of your time. You may die in poverty but one day your works will be widely read and acclaimed. In this regard you are not alone. Many now famous authors died without being recognized.

[ara baliozian]

Thursday, June 16, 2005

********************************

ON BRAINWASHING AND RELATED ATROCITIES

***********************************************************

Brainwashing provides two benefits to leaders and all power structures in general: (one) it creates a class of individuals willing to carry out orders without questioning them; and (two) it legitimizes a non-critical approach to life and politics. Hence the tendency of our partisans and superpatriots to silence intellectuals and to view dialogue and dissent as anti-Armenian.

*

As an Armenian, I don't believe everything an Armenian tells me, not because I am smart and I can see through him; rather, the exact contrary: because I was naïve, credulous, and foolish, especially when dealing with our "betters" - namely, bosses, bishops, benefactors, and their dupes and hirelings.

*

I remember once many years ago when I defended the integrity of a fellow Armenian on the grounds that he was a bishop, I heard one of our elder statesmen say: "They are the worse crooks!" I thought he was exaggerating (as some Armenians tend to do) to make a point. I know better now.

*

If as an Armenian I don't believe everything an Armenian tells me, how can we expect odars or, for that matter enemies, to believe us even when we say the sun rises in the east or 2+2=4?

*

To those who say one may deceive isolated individuals or groups now and then, here and there, but not an entire people, may I remind them of the Fascists who were successful in brainwashing their people (Spaniards, Italians, Germans) and Communists entire continents.

*

All power structures rely on their educational system to divide mankind into friends and enemies. Even Christians and Muslims who believe in love and compassion divide mankind into believers and heretics or infidels, after which they have no trouble in brainwashing their dupes to believe that murdering innocent civilians is their patriotic and religious duty.

*

P.S.

Gentle reader, if you say, "I am not brainwashed because no one can brainwash me," remember that only one class of individuals is in a position to make such an assertion: the brainless.

#

Friday, June 17, 2005

***********************************

If you think today as you thought five years ago, and if you believe in the next five years you will not change your mind, it may be because you happen to be brain dead. Either that or you are convinced you already know everything you need to know and what you know is the truth, and anyone who dares to disagree with you must be either an ignoramus or a liar.

*

Once upon a time I wrote as an Armenian. I now do my utmost to write as a human being. What really matters about an idea is not its nationality but its universality. If I reject Armenian nationalism it's because I reject all nationalism. We contradict ourselves when we say yes to Armenian nationalism and no to Turkish nationalism; and it makes little sense to say Armenian propaganda deals with facts and Turkish propaganda deals with fabrications.

*

When it comes to the study of history, there are an infinite number of facts and there is no merit in cataloguing them. Facts acquire a meaning only when selected and interpreted. Facts matter but what matters even more are the criteria of selection and interpretation.

*

None of us will ever know everything there is to know about the past, which is why historiography is not a science but an art.

*

As Armenians the challenge we confront today is not gaining the trust of our fellow Armenians but of our adversaries. We succeed only in compromising our commitment to justice by calling anyone who disagrees with us an ignoramus and a liar, or, for that matter, an Asiatic barbarian, even if deep down we believe Turks to be liars, ignoramuses, rapists, and cold-blooded murderers of two million innocent civilians.

#

Saturday, June 18, 2005

**************************************

Reasonable men defend what in the eyes of other reasonable men is indefensible because they are convinced they base their defense on irrefutable facts. What they may not be aware of is that these facts may have been carefully selected by unconsciously acquired criteria determined by peer pressure, education, environment, culture, religion, self-interest and so on.

*

Throughout history man has hated in the name of love, committed injustices in the name of justice, and professed dedication to truth in the name of a Big Lie. Which is why after centuries and millennia Jews and Christians, Protestants and Catholics, supporters and opponents of capital punishment, abortion, and war, have failed to resolve their differences.

*

There are eminent Catholic theologians today who don't believe in the infallibility of the Pope and, my guess is, they have counterparts in all belief systems.

*

If some day man learns to live in peace with his fellow men, it will be because of the courage and integrity of dissidents. But until then these dissidents will be seen as renegades, pariahs, heretics, and enemies.

*

Having said this I will now be accused of being a denialist by Armenians who confuse explaining with justifying, and understanding with condoning.

#

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, June 19, 2005

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CONFESSIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

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Armenians are brought up to believe Turks are nasty folk and Armenians la crème de la crème. Then they meet an Armenian like me and they begin to have second thoughts about some Armenians, never about themselves and Turks.

*

An Armenian pundit projects the image of someone who understands all men, except his fellow Armenians.

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Between carbon copies of himself and human beings, an Armenian will invariably choose the carbon.

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I am willing to concede that all my observations on Armenians are also confessions.

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An Armenian has two sets of enemies, Turks and Armenians, and of the two, he hates Armenians more.

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Eventually all thinking Armenians will have to ask the question: What if it is not God at whose right hand we sit but the Devil?

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An Armenian would rather shoot the messenger than understand the message.

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When I was young I thought I had all the answers. But even after I realized not only the answers but also the questions were wrong, I went on pretending I had all the answers.

*

What if some of my readers hate me because they hate being unmasked even more?

*

When Zarian said, “An Armenian’s tongue can be sharper than a Turk’s yataghan,” what he meant was that an Armenian uses words as murder weapons.

#

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

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THE BIRTH OF DENIAL

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A Turk sees a corpse with a knife in his belly. He assumes the killer to be an Armenian and cries: “The giaours are out to exterminate us.” The rumor spreads like wildfire. Where there is prejudice and hatred, massacre becomes counter-massacre, retaliation, justifiable homicide, self-defense, tribal justice, and denial. All because, very much like Armenians, Turks too believe everything they read in their own papers.

*

I have a friend who reads books only to make a list of the misprints. That’s how he gets his kicks. Perversions come in all sizes and shapes.

*

American celebrities have stalkers. I have them too even though I am not a celebrity. That’s the problem with being an Armenian writer: you get all the disadvantages and none of the advantages.

*

Once upon a time we were subservient to their sultans. We are now subservient to our own mini-sultans. As the French say: “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme shit.”

*

Knowledge is like light: once you have seen it, you cannot be thrust back into ignorance.

*

Self-assessed good people make bad company because they expect everyone to be as phony as they are.

*

It has been scientifically proved that laughter is the best cure for whatever ails you, including constipation, hypertension, cancer, and Armenian venom.

#

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

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ON THE ORIGINS OF CONTROVERSIES

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For millions of years men thought the earth was flat until scientists came along and said otherwise. Even so, there are people today who continue to subscribe to the flat-earth theory because they rely more on their perception of reality and less on the gobbledygook of eggheads.

*

Even when propaganda deals in facts it is a Big Lie because it ignores other facts.

*

Understanding consists in becoming aware of a set of facts that until then had been invisible.

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To mystics, men of faith, and some philosophers (among them Plato and his followers) reality is an illusion, a shadow, and a mirage.

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"If the Turks believed they were carrying out the will of God, can they be said to be guilty?" Some years ago when I asked this question to one of our eminent genocide scholars, he refused to reply.

*

Behind the facts there are always other facts and, more often than not, disagreements arise not because one side supports the truth and the other supports a lie but because both sides support a different set of facts.

*

To men of faith God is the only reality.

*

When we say our victims are proof of our genocide, they say, their religion (which sanctions the killing of infidels) is proof of their innocence.

*

Again, I am not justifying anything. I am trying to understand and explain. If you have a better explanation, I am more than willing to consider it.

#

[ara baliozian]

Thursday, June 23, 2005

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If you want to understand Turks and Turkish history, read a Turkish or a Turcophile historian to get all the positive aspects, an Armenian historian to get all the negatives and, say, an English or French historian (provided neither is a Turcophile or Armenophile) to get a more balanced view. The same applies to the history of all nations, including Armenia. But if you really want to understand history, or why things happen as they do and when they do, read a metahistorian or a philosopher of history.

*

Metahistorians are to nationalist historians what Elvis and Madonna are to Mozart and Brahms. This much said, however, let me warn the reader that, like scientists, psychologists, economists, and cosmologists, metahistorians do not provide final answers. What they do is take a step in the right direction. They advance human understanding.

*

After reading metahistorians like Spengler and Toynbee, for instance, you may not understand everything there is to understand about the past but you may understand many things that you did not understand until then, the most important being the way in which propaganda motivates, influences, and shapes all nationalist historians.

#

[ara baliozian]

Friday, June 24, 2005

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The Germans have pleaded guilty to the charge of genocide. Why can’t the Turks do likewise? Two reasons: the Germans pleaded guilty under duress – they were defeated and they declared unconditional surrender. And it was not the perpetrators (the Nazis) who pleaded guilty but their opposition.

*

A biography of Homer? It would be less than a page long: He trudged from village to town and from town to city retelling stories he had heard as a boy.

*

I was an obedient son, a good student, a law-abiding citizen, and a hard-working employee. Only when I started writing for Armenians did I become a heretic, a renegade, an enemy, a traitor, a rat, and a scumbag.

*

Our weeklies publish such a steady and predictable stream of anti-Turkish commentaries that I suspect if our editors were to define Armenianism, they would say it consists in hating Turks. And to think that these are the very same people who criticize me on the grounds that I repeat myself and I am consistently negative.

#

[ara baliozian]

Saturday, June 25, 2005

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Once you know the truth, you cannot bury it and the more you try to bury it, the more it buries you.

*

I think it was Verdi who once observed that sometimes your enemies are a better source of publicity than your friends.

*

An Armenian controversy is massacre without bloodshed.

*

The message of all dissidents of all ages may be abridged thus:

The emperor has no duds, no dick, no balls, and no brains.

#

In Julien Green's diary I read that bullfights were popular in Spain because the people identified the bull with the government.

*

Victor Hugo once compared Notre-Dame de Paris to a donkey's ears.

*

During a theatrical intermission De Gaulle and his Minister of Culture (Andre Makraux) retire to the man's room, and while they are busy at the urinals, Malraux tries to make conversation by commenting on the play: "It's a great piece," he says. And de Gaulle replies: "Look elsewhere!"

*

There are atheists because there are believers who behave like swine.

#.

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, June 26, 2005

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Life is so complex, men so incomprehensible, and so many things remain half-said or unsaid that it is only the naïve and the brainwashed who think everything that needs to be said has been said and the only thing that remains to be done is to repeat and recycle.

*

In your efforts to justify your prejudices, take care not to expose your blind spots and limitations.

*

Mount Ararat is a bad choice of symbols. A filthy old harbor would have been much more useful to us than ten Ararats.

*

HAIKU

**************

After old man Noah

Ararat has been of use

To no one.

*

I am not suggesting we should forget the Genocide, but neither should we be reminded of it 24/7, to the point that Turks become carcinogenic agents and are thus allowed to commit genocide for the second time, and this time around with our full cooperation.

*

There is no such thing as a literary work that bears the seal of approval of a bureaucracy. Such a seal would be the kiss of death.

*

Decent Turks and Armenians both have so much to criticize about their own respective leaderships that they have every reason to leave one another alone.

#

[ara baliozian]

Monday, June 27, 2005

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I’VE BEEN READING

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“There is no lavatory here. You have to answer the call of nature in front of nature, in ravines and under bushes. My arse has been bitten all over by mosquitoes.” I am quoting from ANTON CHEKHOV: A LIFE IN LETTERS, edited and translated by Rosamund Bartlett (London, 2004). Until very recently all such passages were omitted from Chekhov’s published letters to preserve his image as a refined gentleman. We meet the real Chekhov here -- a man who enjoyed visiting whorehouses and writing about his observations and experiences there in some detail to his friends.

*

Chekhov on Aivazovsky: “If you suggest to him that he might like to read something, he replies, ‘Why should I read when I have opinions of my own?’” Such a typical Armenian reply!

*

Ever since I discovered Stuart Woods I have been reading a minimum of two of his mysteries every week and I am about to run out of them – a depressing prospect. His central characters are like 007 – Bond, James Bond -- who know all about wines, cars, planes, boats, guns, and women’s erogenous zones. His plots are suspenseful, implausible and believable at the same time. His gallery of rogues is colorful and expertly depicted. The dialogue is witty and street-smart.

*

Understanding is like science. As soon as a theory of relativity is established, someone else is bound to come along and refine it, amend it, and eventually reject it.

*

If, according to my critics, I am a bad Armenian, then use me as a warning or a negative role model. As for positive role models: we have such an abundance of bosses, bishops, benefactors, and superpatriots you can choose from.

*

There is no such thing as an ideology whose aim is to weaken the nation, especially a nation that has already been weakened by centuries of brutal oppression. And yet, by dividing us, what our ideologies have done is add a few more cuts to our death of a thousand.

#

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

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FRAGMENTS

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Like the Turks, we are a nation in denial. They deny the Genocide, we deny our shortcomings. We go further, we think our shortcomings are our virtues and our liabilities our assets.

*

We don’t understand ourselves because our psyche was shaped by suppressed experiences. When we think of our character and worldview, how many of us take into account 600 years of subservience?

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I don’t expect my readers to enjoy reading me. I am not in the entertainment business. Let them get angry. Let them even hate me as long as they recognize themselves in what I say.

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Since I have spent most of my life in the company of books, my memoirs – if I ever write them – will be a narrative of states of mind. In that sense, everything I write may be seen as an autobiographical fragment.

*

Solzhenitsyn once said: “No regime has ever loved great writers,

only minor ones.” He should have said: No regime has ever loved literature, only recycled crap. Or even better: No tyrant has ever loved honest men, only subservient brown-nosers.

#

[phantom22]

Ara,

 

Do Armenians realize that their intelligentsia has been wiped out thanks to the Ittihadists and the Stalinist regime? They are too oblivious to care. Our community is lead by merchants and religious figures. It is their world views that lead the community. No wonder so many Armenians continue to slavishly support Bush and Co. despite his back-tracking on his promises to us, and his administration targeting Armenians as terrorists. As an American-born Methodist with very middle-of-the-road political beliefs (I was a moderate Republican for awhile), I am incensed that his administration would denigrate Armenians as a group. If they want to go after individuals who have made trouble fine, but not to blanketly include Armenians as a group to be targeted!

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

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ON NATIONALISM

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On The radio this morning I heard Callas singing Puccini and Richter playing Rachmaninov: a Greek and a German Jew interpreting Italian opera and Russian music respectively. And I think of the three ablest interpreters of J.S. Bach: a Polish Jew (Wanda Landowska), a Spaniard (Pablo Casals) and a Canadian (Glenn Gould). In other fields, we have a Corsican (Napoleon), who inspired the word "chauvinism," and who spoke French with an Italian accent; a Georgian (Stalin) in whose version World War II became "the Patriotic War;" an Austrian (Hitler), the most notorious "nationalist" German leader. In literature we have an Irishman (Joyce) and a Russian (Nabokov), the two most brilliant English stylist of 20th century; and let's not forget the three founders of the Absurdist Theater in French literature: Adamov (an Armenian), Beckett (an Irishman), and Ionesco (a Romanian).

*

To be satisfied with easy explanations is a symptom of single-digit IQ. To be satisfied with explanations that are recycled propaganda is a symptom of no IQ. And to be satisfied with explanations that flatter one's vanity is a symptom of negative IQ.

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The longer I live the more doubts I have. I miss the good old days when I knew everything I needed to know and I had all the answers.

*

Speak the truth and all the liars of the world will unite and say: "How dare you, sir, utter such nonsense?"

#

[ara baliozian]

Ara,

 

Do Armenians realize that their intelligentsia has been wiped out thanks to the Ittihadists and the Stalinist regime? They are too oblivious to care. Our community is lead by merchants and religious figures.

 

i have always maintained that our bosses, bishops, and benefactors have been as ruthless in stifling selfless intellectual labor as Talaat and Stalin. / ara