as i see it - Pt. IV

[ara baliozian]

Takouhi:

 

there is some truth in what you say. but there may be a simpler explanation.

 

when we are young we are naive and gullible fools.

as we grow older we become more skeptical, especially of simplifications by simpletons..../ara

[Takoush]

Saturday, January 28, 2006

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Once upon a time there was an Armenian discussion forum that instead of welcoming new members removed anyone on more or less flimsy and arbitrary grounds. Inevitably its membership dwindled to a handful…and then there was none. Moral of the story: a policy of exclusion might as well be a death warrant.

*

On more than one occasion I have been informed by Armenian writers and academics that I do not qualify as an Armenian writer because I write in English. Whether I am an Armenian or a Guatemalan or Hottentot writer is of no concern to me. Why should it be of concern to anyone else? - unless of course it's meant to satisfy an instinctive need to exclude, expel, and excommunicate.

*

There are in contemporary French literature many writers who are not French but Romanian, Jewish, Algerian, Irish, Czech, and even Armenian. Some of the greatest and most popular writers in America today are Jewish. That's because both France and the United States have adopted a policy of inclusion. I challenge anyone to name a single Armenian writer of foreign extraction. In a few years my question may well be: I challenge anyone to mention a single Armenian writer.

*

To those who say you can't compare big France and America to little Armenia, I say, at a time when we had a golden age neither France nor the United States existed. What made them what they are today is a policy of inclusion. And what has reduced us to irrelevance is a policy of exclusion.

*

It is our policy of exclusion that has reduced us to the status of perennial victims and underdogs dependent on the goodwill of others and forever subservient to them. It is our intolerance, which is at the root of our instinct to exclude, that continues to justify our tribalism. And to be tribal in a world dominated by imperial powers is to condemn ourselves to irrelevance.

#

 

Ara:

 

This is so true. How often I have known Armenians in authority speaking rudely and almost like excluding or practically throwing out other members or just 'hamagirs', and most of the time people that are much more worthier than them. And yet I have seen the 'exclusion' you're talking about time and time again. And no doubt it has happened from earlier times, during our nakhararoutyan times when we were not subservient to others, when we had practically everything as you say. I am saddened to say that it is unfortunately all very true. Should it be that way? Who's to say, how can we change a negative mentality like that throughout centuries into a positive one; I don't know, but perhaps we should employ plyschologists to do the work for at least a great many of them, I'm afraid.

[Takoush]

Takouhi:

 

there is some truth in what you say. but there may be a simpler explanation.

 

when we are young we are naive and gullible fools.

as we grow older we become more skeptical, especially of simplifications by simpletons..../ara

Ara:

 

Yes, you're right. I also agree with this statement.

 

Anahid

[phantom22]

Ara,

 

This is why we get smaller and smaller. How many millions of proto-Pochcagan Armenians (Paulicians and Tondraketsi) were annihilated by our Armenian nobles (including my short-sighted direct ancestors) in earlier centuries. Today, we banish almost all ges-Hyes and also full-blooded Armenians who do not "toe the official line."

 

Saturday, January 28, 2006

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

Once upon a time there was an Armenian discussion forum that instead of welcoming new members removed anyone on more or less flimsy and arbitrary grounds. Inevitably its membership dwindled to a handful…and then there was none. Moral of the story: a policy of exclusion might as well be a death warrant.

*

On more than one occasion I have been informed by Armenian writers and academics that I do not qualify as an Armenian writer because I write in English. Whether I am an Armenian or a Guatemalan or Hottentot writer is of no concern to me. Why should it be of concern to anyone else? - unless of course it's meant to satisfy an instinctive need to exclude, expel, and excommunicate.

*

There are in contemporary French literature many writers who are not French but Romanian, Jewish, Algerian, Irish, Czech, and even Armenian. Some of the greatest and most popular writers in America today are Jewish. That's because both France and the United States have adopted a policy of inclusion. I challenge anyone to name a single Armenian writer of foreign extraction. In a few years my question may well be: I challenge anyone to mention a single Armenian writer.

*

To those who say you can't compare big France and America to little Armenia, I say, at a time when we had a golden age neither France nor the United States existed. What made them what they are today is a policy of inclusion. And what has reduced us to irrelevance is a policy of exclusion.

*

It is our policy of exclusion that has reduced us to the status of perennial victims and underdogs dependent on the goodwill of others and forever subservient to them. It is our intolerance, which is at the root of our instinct to exclude, that continues to justify our tribalism. And to be tribal in a world dominated by imperial powers is to condemn ourselves to irrelevance.

#

[ED]

pesamism has been, or became way of life among us Armenians, skeptics, pesemists, it amazies me how easy it is for an Armenian to find something wrong among Armenians yet so difficult to say something positive,

why? perhaps to justify there shortcommings in life

 

its a cancer which eats us alive and maybe will some day distroy

[Takoush]

pesamism has been, or became way of life among us Armenians, skeptics, pesemists, it amazies me how easy it is for an Armenian to find something wrong among Armenians yet so difficult to say something positive,

why? perhaps to justify there shortcommings in life

 

its a cancer which eats us alive and maybe will some day distroy

 

 

I apologize Ed jan if you're disagreeing with me; but the reason as to why I agree with Ara here, it is because every now and then Ara touches a sore point that I can relate to and have seen it happen amongst Armenians and the vast Armenian community, especially around here in Jersey. It is easy for them to banish at times educated and young blood that are the essence of our future, but it is not so easy to win them back again. I have also seen how people so called in authority were rude to others; members or non members. It's unbelievable yet it's true. And then when they finally lose a lot of members they wonder why? Well, it's because they didn't act just or in a civil manner in the first place. I have heard many cases in here and have seen these things happening too. I would like it very much to see the positive myself; but when it's not there, what to do? You can't create it to happen. If the people in authority were more organized and acted more intelligently, rather than to vote anyone who simply fights for authority; regardless of the fact that they don't deserve to be there; perhaps then things could be better.

 

You know there's an Armenian saying "Tsouge qeloukhen ge hodi". That's exactly it. The head of the organizations should be chosen and voted with extreme caution and care. That's how I see it; at least for around here anyway. Then the remainder (the majority of people) will have to follow the good leadership. That is the solution in my opinion.

Edited January 28, 2006 by Anahid Takouhi

[ED]

Anahid being critical is vital and essential to any society; I have no problem with that,

My thoughts were….. There is got to be a healthy balance and there are many positives which we can look into and envy encourage, nurse it and be happy about;

Yet some choose to ignore this fact for various reasons

[Takoush]

Anahid being critical is vital and essential to any society; I have no problem with that,

My thoughts were….. There is got to be a healthy balance and there are many positives which we can look into and envy encourage, nurse it and be happy about;

Yet some choose to ignore this fact for various reasons

Ed:

 

I see what you are saying now. Understood. Yes, as much as we can be critical about certain facts; at the same time we can appreciate and encourage other good behaviours and deeds. That would be a more balanced and a healthy outlook on our part.

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, January 29, 2006

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CONVERSATIONS

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My fascination with books of conversation began with Jean-Jacques Brousson’s CONVERSATIONS WITH ANATOLE FRANCE, followed by CONVERSATIONS WITH CLEMENCEAU (I forget the author’s name). What I liked about both books was their informality and accessibility.

*

Two of the most insightful books about music that I have read are Joseph Corredor’s CONVERSATIONS WITH CASALS and Robert Craft’s CONVERSATIONS WITH IGOR STRAVINSKY.

*

May I confess that the only book by Goethe that I have enjoyed is his CONVERSATIONS WITH ECKERMANN.

*

It is such a pity that none of the great 19th-century Russians had a Boswell. The nearest to one was Maxim Gorky who left a slim volume of REMINISCENCES OF TOLSTOY, CHEKHOV AND ANDREYEV, which according to Thomas Mann is his best book, but in my view, too short to be satisfying.

*

If I were to name one of the most deliciously malicious and gossipy books it would have to be Lawrence Grobel’s CONVERSATIONS WITH TRUMAN CAPOTE. Grobel has also published a shorter book of CONVERSATIONS WITH MARLON BRANDO, about whom Capote has written one of the most devastating portraits ever penned titled THE DUKE IN HIS DOMAIN. After reading it, Brando is said to have vowed to kill him.

#

[ara baliozian]

Anahid being critical is vital and essential to any society; I have no problem with that,

My thoughts were….. There is got to be a healthy balance and there are many positives which we can look into and envy encourage, nurse it and be happy about;

Yet some choose to ignore this fact for various reasons

 

our press stresses the positive and silences dissenters.

just like the soviet press did.

is that you want?

should our critics join the chorous of our propagandists and sing in unison?

who would be the beneficiary if this came to pass?

the people or those in authority?

[ED]

According what you say, everything positive is a propaganda and we have absolutely nothing to cherish about

I don’t know Ara, just like I don’t know about lots,

but I know there are positives we can nurture, and someone like your self might make a difference not by being critical in all times but perhaps........

I ask my self this question always since I was reading you.....and now I ask you

what is it you want to accomplish?

Please, tell me for god’s sake, "in a layman terms"

Edited January 30, 2006 by Edward

[phantom22]

Edward,

 

Ara brings balance. I was raised to believe that Armenians could do no wrong and are a gift to humanity. As long as the only other Armenians that I knew were my distantly-located relatives I went on believing it. Now I know that Armenians are like every other nationality in that there are good and bad amongst us. With so many claiming that we are an absolute perfection, Ara is a necessity to bring balance.

 

According what you say, everything positive is a propaganda and we have absolutely nothing to cherish about

I don’t know Ara, just like I don’t know about lots,

but I know there are positives we can nurture, and someone like your self might make a difference not by being critical in all times but perhaps........

I ask my self this question always since I was reading you.....and now I ask you

what is it you want to accomplish?

Please, tell me for god’s sake, "in a layman terms"

[ara baliozian]

Monday, January 30, 2006

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

The less you know the more easily you can convince yourself to know better.

*

A gentleman does not insult someone anonymously and from a safe distance because to do so would make him vulnerable to the charge of cowardice.

*

Once upon a time I too was a teenager and behaved like a hoodlum. I understand hoodlums. That doesn’t mean I forgive them, especially when they happen to be adults.

*

When on the eve of the Genocide Zohrab warned of the coming catastrophe nobody believed him. “Zohrab effendi is exaggerating,” they said. Which may suggest that our belief systems are not dependent on their credibility. A man will believe the absurd and reject the reasonable.

*

Socrates and Christ were condemned to death because most of their contemporaries believed them to be dangerous charlatans. More recently millions believed in Hitler and Stalin as if they were messianic figures.

#

[ara baliozian]

According what you say, everything positive is a propaganda and we have absolutely nothing to cherish about

I don’t know Ara, just like I don’t know about lots,

but I know there are positives we can nurture, and someone like your self might make a difference not by being critical in all times but perhaps........

I ask my self this question always since I was reading you.....and now I ask you

what is it you want to accomplish?

Please, tell me for god’s sake, "in a layman terms"

 

i have published 30 books and half of them emphasize the positive.

zarian began by emphasizing the positive too and ended by saying armenians survive by cannibalizing one another. if you want to undersand armenians read armenian literature and not the press.

begin with Khorenatsi's LAMENTATION which was written 1500 years ago and it emphasizes the negative.

[phantom22]

Ara,

 

Zohrab effendi was not alone. When my great-grandfather, a close friend of Zohrab, told a gathering of Armenians in the Armenian hinterland that a cataclysm was coming and "not to wake the sleeping lion" he was shouted down by the young attendees, who told him to "shut-up old man."

 

 

ar

Monday, January 30, 2006

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

The less you know the more easily you can convince yourself to know better.

*

A gentleman does not insult someone anonymously and from a safe distance because to do so would make him vulnerable to the charge of cowardice.

*

Once upon a time I too was a teenager and behaved like a hoodlum. I understand hoodlums. That doesn’t mean I forgive them, especially when they happen to be adults.

*

When on the eve of the Genocide Zohrab warned of the coming catastrophe nobody believed him. “Zohrab effendi is exaggerating,” they said. Which may suggest that our belief systems are not dependent on their credibility. A man will believe the absurd and reject the reasonable.

*

Socrates and Christ were condemned to death because most of their contemporaries believed them to be dangerous charlatans. More recently millions believed in Hitler and Stalin as if they were messianic figures.

#

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

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If I don’t understand myself, what can I possibility understand?

And if we don’t understand ourselves, what can we possibly understand?

*

What does it mean to be Armenian? If you ask yourself this question, don’t be surprised if you answer with a handful of mantras that have been repeated to you so many times that it doesn’t even occur to you to question their accuracy. And if you meet an Armenian who refuses to echo these mantras don’t be surprised if you suspect him to be an enemy of the people, perhaps even a crypto-Turcophile denialist, which in our context means the lower form of animal life.

*

One of these mantras says, “Armenians are smart, civilized, and peace-loving.” But according to a popular saying of anonymous provenance, “One Armenian eats one chicken, two Armenians eat two chickens, three Armenians eat each other.” What’s smart, civilized, and peace loving about that, may I ask? Whose judgment do we trust? The judgment of our speechifiers and sermonizers with an ax to grind or that of an anonymous witness?

*

Such a pity that nations, unlike individuals, can’t consult a psychiatrist whenever they experience conflicting emotions that they are unable to resolve on their own. They rely instead on their leaders and elites, or sermonizers and speechifiers, whose only solution is to deliver mantras whose intent is to convince us we don’t have any problems, it’s the rest of the world that does. As for objectivity: who has ever heard of an objective ideology, religion, regime, revolution, war, and massacre?

#

[ara baliozian]

Ara,

 

Zohrab effendi was not alone. When my great-grandfather, a close friend of Zohrab, told a gathering of Armenians in the Armenian hinterland that a cataclysm was coming and "not to wake the sleeping lion" he was shouted down by the young attendees, who told him to "shut-up old man."

ar

 

i should be surprised but i am not!

i too have been told to shut up...more than once. / ara

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

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

Both Bush and Bin Laden are convinced they are right. Or rather, both believe God is on their side - a God that is not only just but also merciful and compassionate. It follows, it is not Bush and Bin Laden who disagree but their Gods, or rather, their cultural environments and historic experiences.

*

Understanding men is not an easy task. The only time I come close to understanding them is when they think or believe what I thought or believed once upon a time when I was naïve and gullible. When, that is, I could not yet think for myself and trusted the judgment of my elders and those in places of authority - in other words, men like Bush and Bin Laden.

*

Man is not born a killer. He is educated (make it, brainwashed) to be one. Theologians tell us man cannot understand the mind of God. Politicians take advantage of this by ascribing to God their bloodthirsty disposition, and like "good Germans," dupes follow orders by killing innocent civilians with a clear conscience.

*

Any idiot can speak in the name of God. I should like to see the politician who can also act with His wisdom.

#

[ara baliozian]

Thursday, February 02, 2006

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

In a recent speech Iran’s president called for the destruction of Israel, and in the next he called his critics in the West “bullies.” Under Stalin those responsible for the destruction of the Soviet Empire called dissidents “enemies of the people.” Which may suggest that power also means the power to redefine and pervert the meaning of words and to be believed by millions of dupes.

*

The very same people whose misguided policies lead to “white massacre” (exodus from the Homeland, assimilation in the Diaspora) call me “negative,” and they too are believed by self-assessed smart, civilized, and patriotic Armenians.

*

Because I stress the importance of honesty and solidarity I am negative; and because they sermonize, speechify, and editorialize endlessly and ad nauseam about the massacres they assess themselves as positive. How does one go about educating a brainwashed generation that cannot tell the difference between positive and negative?

*

Religion has been defined as “the principal reason we have found to kill one another” (Sam Harris). Atheists kill too, of course, but only when atheism acquires the status of a religion under the leadership of a messianic figure, as it did in the USSR.

#

[ara baliozian]

Friday, February 03, 2006

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BOOKS THAT I HAVE READ MORE THAN ONCE

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“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.”

I doubt it.

“Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.”

Better.

“Tell me what books you have reread and I will tell you who you are.” Even better.

*

What follows is a short list of books that I have reread twice and sometimes three or four times:

Jane Austen, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE,

Lesley Blanch, SABERS OF PARADISE,

Raymond Chandler, FAREWELL, MY LOVELY,

Anton Chekhov, THE LADY WITH THE PET DOG,

Thomas Mann, THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN,

DOKTOR FAUSTUS,

THE STORY OF A NOVEL,

Vladimir Nabokov, LOLITA,

Jean-Paul Sartre, WORDS,

Georges Simenon, WHEN I WAS OLD,

Leo Tolstoy, HADJI MURAD,

Arnold J. Toynbee, RECONSIDERATIONS (volume 12 of his STUDY OF HISTORY).

*

I have not mentioned Gostan Zarian whose books I have translated because to translate a book is equivalent to rereading it ten times.

*

ON THE DA VINCI CODE

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

Several academics have written books refuting the theories in Dan Brown’s best-selling novel, THE DA VINCI CODE. These academics make the mistake of treating this cunningly plotted thriller with little or no claim to credibility as if it were non-fiction. And what’s even worse, some of their arguments in defense of the Scriptures are shallow, misleading, and false. Far more serious writers than Dan Brown have exposed the many inconsistencies and contradictions in both the Old and the New Testament, among them George Bernard Shaw in the Preface to his play ANDROCLES AND THE LION, and Bertrand Russell in his WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN. It is to be noted that Shaw’s book-length Preface is much longer than the play.

In his novel Dan Brown portrays Leonardo da Vince as a prankster. Dan Brown’s book too may be called a gigantic prank perpetrated at the expense of Catholic academics.

#

[ara baliozian]

Saturday, February 04, 2006

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Explanations are also adaptations. We adapt our explanations to our audience. We don't explain things to children the way we would explain to adults. By emphasizing some points and ignoring others, explanations are also incomplete and sometimes even biased arrangement of perspectives, values and judgments.

*

Our explanations are products of a thousand and one factors, experiences, and motivations some of which may escape our consciousness.

*

The only way to understand another is to relive his life. Hence the multiplicity of misunderstandings and disagreements.

*

In the kind of world we live in, truth has become an extension of power. It follows those in power enjoy more understanding and agreement than those without it.

*

Our role in history so far has been that of being a negotiating tool in the hands of others. If they agree with us it is because they want to weaken the position of their adversary, and not because truth is their central concern.

*

When power or self-interest speaks, truth is shunted aside. To say that France or Germany or Canada supports our cause and the United States doesn't is to misrepresent reality. No one is for or against us. Everyone is for his own self-interest.

#

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, February 05, 2006

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

Corrupt and incompetent regimes survive by creating an enemy, thus persuading the people to blame their problems on external factors and to ignore internal ones. The Nazis had the Jews, the Soviets the capitalist West, Americans the Communists (during the Cold War) and more recently, Al Qaida. And we have Turks.

*

We say we hate no one, we only want justice. But instead of cleaning our own backyard we concentrate our efforts on decontaminating someone else’s street. We say Turks and Americans do not recognize the reality of our Genocide because they are morally corrupt. But instead of teaching morality to our own leaders, we try to reform theirs.

*

What are our chances of success? If the past is an index, nil. And if you think I am sharing privileged or inside information, some kind of Da Vince code, think again. What I have said so far is known to every journalist, historian, politician and layman who has acquired the ability to use his common sense and the confidence to trust his own judgment.

*

To those who say what the Turks did to us was evil and to reject its reality is a crime, I say, yes, certainly, no doubt about that, I agree. But it is also true that neither Germans nor Russians, neither Yanks nor Turks are evil. They commit evil acts only when they behave like dupes and allow themselves to be taken in by corrupt, incompetent, and degenerate leaders who legitimize prejudice and promote hatred. I say therefore, instead of focusing our hatred on a specific enemy, let us oppose all corrupt power structures that commit crimes against humanity regardless of race, color and creed, beginning with our own, not because we are worse than others but because we are in a better position to reform ourselves.

#

[ara baliozian]

Monday, February 06, 2006

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

Faith, we are told, can move mountains. What we are not told is that more often than not it can also misleads us into biting more than we can chew. The Soviets believed they were going to change the world and they ended up destroying themselves. Something similar happened to the Nazis in Germany and the Fascists in Italy. While aiming at immortality they committed suicide.

*

Speaking of suicide: suicidal Muslim fanatics today believe they will be rewarded with 73 virgins.

*

All nations that declare war believe victory will be theirs, if not military victory than moral victory, because God or Right is on their side. The list of believers and losers could sketch to infinity.

*

Closer to home, our revolutionaries at the turn of the last century believed the Ottoman Empire was about to collapse and they were the rightful inheritors of our historic lands.

*

Another definition of faith: a faculty designed to lead Homo sapiens to the abyss of nothingness.

*

Whenever I am accused of being a pessimist I cannot help thinking: If only our revolutionaries had been more pessimistic!

*

Today we believe our cause is right but after countless demonstrations around the world, editorials, memoirs, monographs, speeches and sermons, what have we accomplished? Not a single red cent in reparations, not a single inch of historic soil annexed, not a single victim resurrected. And what are the chances that in the next century we shall achieve that which we failed to achieve in the last? The question of a pessimist or a realist? You decide.

*

Here is another question for you: Can an Armenian with a Turcocentric worldview be an authentic human being? Or, How much of his Armenianism or humanity must he sacrifice in order to acquire a Turcocentric worldview?

*

About faith, I will say this: Don’t believe everything you read in books or hear in sermons. Rely more on your own reason, common sense, and experience. To think the worst sometimes makes more sense than to believe in miracles. And remember, during the last five millennia Ararat has not moved an inch.

#

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

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

There are two kinds of words: words that are spoken at the right time and place and words that are spoken at the wrong time a place. Example of the second kind: when you shout “Fire!” in a crowded place and create panic. There are also two kinds of ideas: ideas that have been handed down like second-hand shoes, and ideas that are based on one’s own sweat and tears. A Turcocentric worldview belongs to the first category.

*

I grew up in a ghetto surrounded by survivors of the Genocide. They did not have a Turcocentric worldview not only because they were too busy trying to survive in an alien and hostile environment but also because they were too pragmatic to allow the past to define their future.

*

As a student in Italy I met a good number of Armenians from Istanbul and their attitude was very similar to that of survivors.

*

The French have an expression that speaks volumes: “C’est la guerre!” – meaning, in time of war, or in time of troubles (to use Toynbee’s terminology) things happen, all kinds of things, including unspeakable things. Sometimes unspeakable things happen even in time of peace.

*

When party bosses push their young editors to print dozens of Genocide stories in every issue of their weeklies, they do so to cover up the fact that they are lobotomizing Armenian culture.

*

I am not saying we should forgive and forget. What I am saying, there is a difference between dealing with today’s problems (whose solutions are within the realm of possibilities) and making the Genocide a collective obsession that paralyzes our will, poisons our worldview, and in the end may lead us to a dead end.

*

Speaking of dead ends: we sometimes forget that so-called historic Armenia happens to be historic Kurdistan too. So that if by some miracle we are successful in annexing our historic lands we may have to contemplate the very real possibility of a war on two fronts, which raises the question: How many of our sermonizers and speechifiers are prepared to die in defense of Mount Ararat?

##

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

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

When I was a child I believed everything I was told. I had no reason to question the authority of my elders. If they had told me to kill and die in the name of a cause I would have obeyed. Since I could not think for myself I confused subservience with wisdom. I suppose all fanatics could plead not guilty by reason of infantilism.

*

It is true that criminals don't respect authority either. But compared to the crimes legitimized by authority (slavery, terrorism, war, and massacre) criminals, even the worst of them, are only isolated petty amateurs.

*

We are told Islam forbids any illustrations of the prophet for fear they

could lead to idolatry. Does that mean Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism are idolatries? And is not to kill and die in the name of a cause whose legitimacy is questioned by the majority of mankind the surest symptom of idolatry?

*

Kofi Annan: "Aggression against life and property can only damage the image of a peaceful Islam." But is not "peaceful Islam" an oxymoron? Has not Islam been warlike from its inception? Did it not conquer a good fraction of three continents by fire and sword?

*

In a letter to the editor by a local Muslim praising religious tolerance in Canada and condemning the publication of cartoons of the prophet in Europe, I read: "Government is a guardian over all private and pubic (sic) sectors." I like to believe the misprint was intentional.

#