as i see it - Pt. IV

[nairi]

Why not write from time to time about our good as well as our achievements and mixing them with some constructive criticizms. Or put some originality in his writings so that perhaps we can learn from them.

 

You may write as you wish. You may also hope that someone else may write as you would wish for them to write. Ara writes his own way. You either like it or you don't.

 

As for the rest: I'd advise you to first try and understand what Ara is saying before you put words in his mouth. One could give the same advice to those Turks who misquote him for their so-called benefit.

[Takoush]

You may write as you wish. You may also hope that someone else may write as you would wish for them to write. Ara writes his own way. You either like it or you don't.

 

As for the rest: I'd advise you to first try and understand what Ara is saying before you put words in his mouth. One could give the same advice to those Turks who misquote him for their so-called benefit.

Oh I understand it very well; but as I said before, it is far better to give some constructive criticizm and also see the bright and the good side of our people too.

 

 

[nairi]

Oh I understand it very well; but as I said before, it is far better to give some constructive criticizm and also see the bright and the good side of our people too.

 

You are clearly very far from understanding a single word he writes.

 

Have a nice day.

[ara baliozian]

Ara only talked about Raffi's criticizing various stratums and the rows of the Armenian people. He did not and does not believe in being a nationalist and that goes with thinking and writing about nationalistic objectives and pursuits. Raffi certainly was a great nationistic person and he wrote us the way to fight and go after our dreams of gaining back our freedom. He was that great cerebral man.

 

Though Ara talks about criticizing Armenians; but don't you get it? All he does is spew hatred and venum.

 

I don't agree with you that most of us feel that a Sultan still govern us; but we are disgusted and angry with their continued barbaric ways, for nearly a century have destroyed our sacred Churches, our cemeteries and any trace of our existence in our lands; a decade and a half now for blockading our RA and for their corrupted ways to put under the rug our Genocidal validity and our rights. Shall I go on and on?

 

Although we have a very small portion of our lands and freedom of our RA; but the majority of our lands is still under the turkish rule.

 

Sure Raffi was a writer; but he was very much a nationalistically derived writer who showed us the way and the path to fight fight fight to gain our freedom and our complete lands back. (Including our Western Armenian lands).

 

frankly, i see more hatred and venom in what you write.

as for your kind of nationalism: i see more hatred and venom there too directed not only towards turks but also towards your fellow armenians.

allow me to quote another great writer:

Gostan Zarian: "Armenians survive by cannibalizing one another."

When he said that, do you think Zarian was practicing cannibalism or speaking the truth, Your Highness!

 

[Takoush]

Your Highness:

 

my mediocrity and arrogance harm only myself.

but our collective subservience to our bosses, bishops, and benefactors, and more particularly your own kind of cowardice, harm the nation.

 

I call Your Highness a coward because you choose to attack me anonymously and from a very safe distance...and only after identifying me as a nonentity. Now then, pray tell me, what kind of courage does it take to do that, YOUR HIGHNESS?

I told you if you wish to address me then do so by addressing me as Anahid or Anahit.

 

We are not cowards because we bear nicknames in here. And you cannot call me a coward because I am a patriot and you happen to be choosing to remain a traitor by spewing only venom and dirt to our people.

 

If I was a coward I wouldn't have come here to speak my mind. And if there is anyone who harms the nation it is you and people like you who are selling their nation and their people to the enemy. YOU ARE HARMING THE NATION. You go to Jewish Forums to criticize about us. Do you see a Jewish writer coming in our Forums to criticize about them????? No. So speak about thou YOUR MEDIOCRACY!

Edited July 29, 2007 by Anahid Takouhi

[Takoush]

frankly, i see more hatred and venom in what you write.

as for your kind of nationalism: i see more hatred and venom there too directed not only towards turks but also towards your fellow armenians.

allow me to quote another great writer:

Gostan Zarian: "Armenians survive by cannibalizing one another."

When he said that, do you think Zarian was practicing cannibalism or speaking the truth, Your Highness!

Stop throwing more venom and attacking my person!!!! And stop your constant attacks toward my nation for many years now!!!!!

 

About my patriotism, what I have always stood for and for my deeds towards my Armenian people and the communities, I have always been told by numerous Armenian writers, the elite, the heads of organizations to the humblest Armenian individual that I am one of a few and a real patriot Armenian around.

 

Your view of seeing things is warped and I wish you stop your constant nonsense and attacks about our patriots, our nation, our constructive organizers and about our Armenia.

 

And if I told you a traitor (well if the shoe fits wear it)!!!!

Edited July 29, 2007 by Anahid Takouhi

[nairi]

And if I told you a traitor (well if the shoe fits wear it)!!!!

 

Honestly, who gives a crap about what you think?

[Takoush]

You are clearly very far from understanding a single word he writes.

 

Have a nice day.

I am dismayed but unfortunately it is you who doesn't understand or doesn't want to understand him.

 

 

[Takoush]

Honestly, who gives a crap about what you think?

 

Like I said your throwing stones is showing again!!!!!

 

People that are unlike you and that are more patriotic, have a higher self esteem about their people and about their nationality (those are the people who give credit to what I am saying and do not appreciate at all to what you and Ara who are constantly throwing stones on my people).

Edited July 29, 2007 by Anahid Takouhi

[ara baliozian]

Stop throwing more venom and attacking my person!!!! And stop your constant attacks toward my nation for many years now!!!!!

 

About my patriotism, what I have always stood for and for my deeds towards my Armenian people and the communities, I have always been told by numerous Armenian writers, the elite, the heads of organizations to the humblest Armenian individual that I am one of a few and a real patriot Armenian around.

 

Your view of seeing things is warped and I wish you stop your constant nonsense and attacks about our patriots, our nation, our constructive organizers and about our Armenia.

 

And if I told you a traitor (well if the shoe fits wear it)!!!!

 

You call Armenia "my nation."

Even Hitler did not go as far as saying "my Germany!"

and i will persist in calling you YOUR MEGALOMANIACAL FASCIST HIGHNESS so long as you prefer to hide behind a false name.

i have nothing against false names. but if you are going to attack, please do so under your real name, because to do otherwise is cowardly. Raffi would agree with me

 

You may call me YOUR EXCELLENCY! i assure you i won't mind.

Edited July 29, 2007 by ara baliozian

[nairi]

Like I said your throwing stones is showing again!!!!!

 

What can I say? I was raised by the same standards as you were. You know what they say: it's easier to learn than to unlearn.

[Takoush]

You call Armenia "my nation."

Even Hitler did not go as far as saying "my Germany!"

and i will persist in calling you YOUR MEGALOMANIACAL FASCIST HIGHNESS so long as you prefer to hide behind a false name.

i have nothing against false names. but if you are going to attack, please do so under your real name, because to do otherwise is cowardly. Raffi would agree with me

 

You may call me YOUR EXCELLENCY! i assure you i won't mind.

There is nothing wrong in any one person calling their nation or their nationality their own. FYI it is my way of saying my loving people, my loving nationality and my loving country. There is nothing wrong in what I said. You deliberately want to throw harmful stones at me; because of the person you are.

 

Compare Hitler with yourself!!!!!!! Hitler was in power and he over abused his power as history knows it. If anyone you should call yourself a Hitler; because you go around "odar" forums spewing garbabe and venom and hatred about us as well as you do it in here.

 

I don't see any positivity in what you do and the way you do it through your writings towards our nation and our people. And if I see it the way it is, well it is my responsibility to tell the traitor that he is acting like one. So stop doing it!!!

 

From my understanding you didn't succeed with some Armenian organizations and their heads and you come here to throw your hatred towards everyone. I don't see any benefit towards our people to do so; rather it is harmful, especially when you go around to other Forums as well to put us down.

Edited July 29, 2007 by Anahid Takouhi

[ara baliozian]

There is nothing in any one person calling their nation their own.

 

Compare Hitler with yourself!!!!!!! Hitler was in power and he over abused his power as history knows it. If anyone you should call yourself a Hitler; because you go around "odar" forums spewing garbabe and venom and hatred about us.

 

I don't see any positivity in what you do and the way you do it through your writings towards our nation and our people. And if I see it the way it is, well it is my responsibility to tell the traitor that he is acting like one. So stop doing it!!!

 

From my understanding you didn't succeed with some Armenian organizations and their heads and you come here to throw your hatred towards everyone. I don't see any benefit for our people to do so; rather it is harmful, especially when you go around to other Forums as well to put us down.

 

so your highness thinks i am the only armenian writer who has attacked armenian institutions, kings, princes, nakhararas, bishops, panchoonies, flunkeys, brown-nosers, and subservient dupes like you? i suggest you brush up on armenian writers from Movses Khorenatsi and Yeghishe, all the way to Zohrab, your beloved Raffi, Zarian, Massikian, Odian, Baronian...and i could go on.

[Takoush]

so your highness thinks i am the only armenian writer who has attacked armenian institutions, kings, princes, nakhararas, bishops, panchoonies, flunkeys, brown-nosers, and subservient dupes like you? i suggest you brush up on armenian writers from Movses Khorenatsi and Yeghishe, all the way to Zohrab, your beloved Raffi, Zarian, Massikian, Odian, Baronian...and i could go on.

You don't deserve to speak about especially Raffi with the same breath.

 

Calling me subservient dupe? You know what I think? I think you are craving for attention because no one reads your writings any more. And as far as my being subservient because I love and praise our people and my nationality, well you are not in a position to judge me nor call me a fool. I have had great Armenian people and patriots who praised me for who I am. I don't care what you think; but I wish you would stop under the title of criticizing us to constantly over criticize and throw all your venom at us.

 

Instead of throwing stones at me; try to change your ways and be more useful through your writings. It's never too late.

Edited July 29, 2007 by Anahid Takouhi

[nairi]

no one reads your writings any more.

 

Speak for yourself. I still read Ara.

 

As for Raffi: clearly he's another author that you have failed to understand. I say this, because if you had actually understood what Raffi was writing, you would have thrown the same tantrum at him as you are doing to Ara.

[Takoush]

Speak for yourself. I still read Ara.

 

As for Raffi: clearly he's another author that you have failed to understand. I say this, because if you had actually understood what Raffi was writing, you would have thrown the same tantrum at him as you are doing to Ara.

It seems as with Ara, it's no use speaking with you any further about this. And speak about yourself not understanding Raffi.

 

Not only I understand Raffi; but I totally agree with him when he criticizes constructively. But he is at the same time a great man and he produced great many solutions for us that you and Ara shouldn't talk about him with the same breath.

 

Now go and occupy yourself with reading Ara as you stated.

Edited July 29, 2007 by Anahid Takouhi

[Anush7]

Monday, November 15, 2004

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

SOME NOTES ON FEAR, DEATH,

AND IMMORTALITY

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

In almost every branch of knowledge or field of endeavor there will invariably be two schools of thought one of which will contradict the other. And where there are two schools of thought, the chances are, there will also be two sub-schools and so on...

*

Faced with two or more contradictory systems of thought, the layman will tend to choose that which comes easy or is not against his own interests. In that sense, all laymen are dupes of specialists, by they politicians, philosophers, theologians, lawyers, and elites in general.

*

What do we mean when we speak of immortality or resurrection? As a layman, I thought I knew, but then, when I read Karl Barth, one of the greatest Christian theologians of the 20th century, I realized that my understanding of the word had been based on a fallacy.

*

“Resurrection,” writes Barth, “means not the continuation of life, but life’s completion.” He goes on to explain: “The Christian hope is the conquest of death, not flight into the Beyond.”

*

By “conquest of death,” I assume he means the fear of death. That’s because one resists, defeats, and conquers only an adversary one fears.

*

“The Kingdom of God is within you,” also means, all knowledge and understanding begin and end in the convolutions of our cortex.

*

Paul Valery: “Our most important thoughts are those which contradict our emotions.”

*

Lichtenberg: “One can live in this world on soothsaying but not on truth-saying.”

*

Martin Luther: “God uses fear to impel men to faith.”

#

NOONE CAN BE FAITHFUL TO ANYONE HAVING ANY FEAR TO THE ONE!!!IVE FELT IT BY MYSELF!!!plz don't try to explain the things the God does!

[Louise]

Sunday, July 29, 2007

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

A PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTION

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

What to do in the meantime? Easy. No sweat. Send an email to our editors and moderators and keep sending it until you get a reply, an explanation, a promise, or a change in editorial policy. Miracles happen. I don’t believe in them but statistics suggest that if they happened two thousand years ago, they may happen again.

*

What to say in your email to our editors? Make it short, sweet, and to the point. Sample #1: “Dear Sir” or even better, “Your Excellency: When I read an Armenian weekly, I prefer to read more about Armenians and less about Turks. I do hope you don’t consider my request extravagant, unArmenian or unpatriotic.”

*

Sample #2:

“Since you write more about Turks than Armenians I suggest you call yourself THE TURKISH REPORTER, or THE TURKISH OBSERVER, or THE TURKISH WEEKLY, or THE ISTANBUL COURIER.”

*

Sample #3:

“Is your readership going up or down? If down, it may be because there is too much prejudice and hate in it. Please consider a radical change in your editorial policy. Thank you.”

#

---------------------------------------

 

 

Editors do not publish for themselves but for the the greatest number of readers. If the public is more interested by what happens in Turkey, they publish the articles about Turks and Turkey. The majority of Armenians of diaspora and Turkey are less interested by what happens in Armenia than what happens in Turkey. Unless we know somebody in Armenia or have friends or family over there, we are only interested in Armenia as tourists are. My parents had never been there, they did not speak quite the same armenian language, may be they would not get on the people over there (hamatsayn).

(Et moi encore moins) The Armenia I love is a country that does not exist, only in my mind.

 

[Shahan Araradian]

It seems as with Ara, it's no use speaking with you any further about this. And speak about yourself not understanding Raffi.

 

Not only I understand Raffi; but I totally agree with him when he criticizes constructively. But he is at the same time a great man and he produced great many solutions for us that you and Ara shouldn't talk about him with the same breath.

 

Now go and occupy yourself with reading Ara as you stated.

Անահիտ, չ'արժէր խենթերու հետ չափուիլ:

 

Instead of complaining 24/7, he should join the community in building it.

 

After all, the best way to teach is by EXAMPLE.

 

Ara is a confused man. He doesn't know what he wants neither for his own life nor for the Armenian community (nor for humanity, for that matter).

 

There are always people like this in the world: People for whom the sky is always falling every day of the year.

 

The reality is that NATIONALISM is what created Armenia. Armenia is not the U.S.A. Armenia is the homeland of a particular ETHNICITY, a particular RACE. Without nationalism, Armenia will disintegrate, as it is the basis of its founding.

 

70 years of Communist rule wreaked havoc on a fledgling nation. It's now our generation's turn to build the Armenian nation from scratch, and to continue and build upon the vision of its original founding.

 

The old saying goes "When seeking advice, choose your advisers wisely." Do you think I'd ask a man who's not involved in building the Armenian community advice on how to build an Armenian community? That's why Ara's not a good adviser if you seek this type of knowledge.

 

Ara lives in his own mind; and I'm not sure in which century...

Edited July 29, 2007 by Shahan Araradian

[Takoush]

Շահան ճան ես քու հայրենասիրութիւնդ սիրեմ: Սիրեմ քու շատ առողչ մտածելակերպերդ եւ սիրեմ քու ազգային բարձր ու նուիրական հոգիդ ու տեսակէտներդ:

 

Երանի թէ բոլոր մեր Հայ երիտասարդ բաղանգը քու նմանդ ըլլան: Թէեւ կան հոս որ մեզ նման կը խորհին բայց աբսոս որ ասանկներ ալ կան մեր մէչ որ հիւանդագինօրէն կը մտածեն ու կը գործեն:

 

Ես հազար շնորհակալ եմ Աստուծոյ որ քեզ նման խելացի եւ զգայուն երիտասարդներ ունինք մեր մէչ:

 

 

[phantom22]

Sunday, July 29, 2007

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

A PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTION

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

What to do in the meantime? Easy. No sweat. Send an email to our editors and moderators and keep sending it until you get a reply, an explanation, a promise, or a change in editorial policy. Miracles happen. I don’t believe in them but statistics suggest that if they happened two thousand years ago, they may happen again.

*

What to say in your email to our editors? Make it short, sweet, and to the point. Sample #1: “Dear Sir” or even better, “Your Excellency: When I read an Armenian weekly, I prefer to read more about Armenians and less about Turks. I do hope you don’t consider my request extravagant, unArmenian or unpatriotic.”

*

Sample #2:

“Since you write more about Turks than Armenians I suggest you call yourself THE TURKISH REPORTER, or THE TURKISH OBSERVER, or THE TURKISH WEEKLY, or THE ISTANBUL COURIER.”

*

Sample #3:

“Is your readership going up or down? If down, it may be because there is too much prejudice and hate in it. Please consider a radical change in your editorial policy. Thank you.”

#

---------------------------------------

Editors do not publish for themselves but for the the greatest number of readers. If the public is more interested by what happens in Turkey, they publish the articles about Turks and Turkey. The majority of Armenians of diaspora and Turkey are less interested by what happens in Armenia than what happens in Turkey. Unless we know somebody in Armenia or have friends or family over there, we are only interested in Armenia as tourists are. My parents had never been there, they did not speak quite the same armenian language, may be they would not get on the people over there (hamatsayn).

(Et moi encore moins) The Armenia I love is a country that does not exist, only in my mind.

 

The Armenia we desire to visit no longer exists. The Turkish government has obliterated almost all traces of the landmarks and culture we hold in our memory that was passed down through our parents and grandparents.

 

 

[ara baliozian]

Monday, July 30, 2007

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ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE

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

With their customary Ottoman tact, some of my gentle readers do not hesitate to call me, among other things, a mediocrity, a failure, and a traitor. Why would they, why would anyone for that matter, take the words of a mediocrity and a failure seriously enough to lure them into the gutter? If I recycle the ideas of our writers, does that mean the central ideas of our literature are products of mediocrities and failures? Two of our most revered historians of the 5th century, Khorenatsi and Yeghishe, lamented our divisions. And yet, we stand divided to this day. What has changed? If 600 years if Ottoman subservience, a series of massacres, and a genocide have taught us nothing, what are our chances of acquiring wisdom or being receptive to ideas – as opposed to the lies of propaganda? If we are a failure as a nation, who is to blame, our political leadership or our literature? Who are our real traitors – our dividers or our writers who promoted solidarity?

On a more personal level: I may be a mediocrity and a failure in the eyes of some, but it seems to me, I have every right to consider myself as one of the luckiest and most privileged Armenian writers that has ever lived. Think of the fate of some of our greatest writers in the last two centuries: if they did not die in their early twenties or thirties of tuberculosis, they were permanently silenced by the likes of Talaat and Stalin, both of whom enjoyed the support and cooperation of our dupes. The very few who survived, like Zarian and Massikian, were neglected, ignored, and eventually silenced. So much so that, in his deathbed in Yerevan, Zarian was convinced he had been the victim of an attempted assassination (he had had a bad fall; he said he was pushed); and Massikian, a successful lawyer in Egypt, when asked in his deathbed by community leaders to bequeath his considerable wealth to Armenian education institutions, replied by saying, in his view the inmates of a Cairo bordello would be more deserving recipients of his generosity.

Who are the successful Armenian writers? Only those who wrote for odars – Arlen, Saroyan, Troyat, Berberova. The truth of the matter is, we, or rather our political leaders, have no use for writers. Brown-nosers, yes. Writers, no! In what way are we different from “bloodthirsty Asiatic barbarians” who have forced into exile their only Nobel Prize winner? And as our mafias in the Homeland prosper, our writers are forced into exile too. And what happens to them in the Diaspora? Can anyone on this forum name a single one of them? And when our self-assessed superpatriots speak of nationalism, they are too ignorant to see that what they really mean is tribalism.

*

In our local paper this morning I read a list of the four factors that go into the making of an opinion: the media, the double-talk of politicians, the lessons of history, and one’s personal value system. Which makes me wonder: what happens to a community whose press, schools, historians, and value system are shaped and controlled by the double-talk of politicians? Answer: critics are called traitors and politicians are looked up as statesmen of vision who fully deserve our unswerving subservience. The Sultan is not dead. He lives!

*

Barry Sonnenfeld: “Some people see the glass half empty. Some see it half-full. I see half a glass of poison.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Անահիտ, չ'արժէր խենթերու հետ չափուիլ:

 

Instead of complaining 24/7, he should join the community in building it.

 

After all, the best way to teach is by EXAMPLE.

 

Ara is a confused man. He doesn't know what he wants neither for his own life nor for the Armenian community (nor for humanity, for that matter).

 

There are always people like this in the world: People for whom the sky is always falling every day of the year.

 

The reality is that NATIONALISM is what created Armenia. Armenia is not the U.S.A. Armenia is the homeland of a particular ETHNICITY, a particular RACE. Without nationalism, Armenia will disintegrate, as it is the basis of its founding.

 

70 years of Communist rule wreaked havoc on a fledgling nation. It's now our generation's turn to build the Armenian nation from scratch, and to continue and build upon the vision of its original founding.

 

The old saying goes "When seeking advice, choose your advisers wisely." Do you think I'd ask a man who's not involved in building the Armenian community advice on how to build an Armenian community? That's why Ara's not a good adviser if you seek this type of knowledge.

 

Ara lives in his own mind; and I'm not sure in which century...

 

 

Shahan:

if i remember you correctly, you once claimed to have royal blood in your veins. i think if YOUR HIGHNESS were to propose to HER HIGHNESS, the nation is sure to enter a new Golden Age under your rule! you make a dream couple! a marriage made in heaven. if you accept my suggestion, i am sure to run out of business and fall silent because i will have nothing to criticize. a case of 2 birds with a single pebble!

 

[Takoush]

Shahan:

if i remember you correctly, you once claimed to have royal blood in your veins. i think if YOUR HIGHNESS were to propose to HER HIGHNESS, the nation is sure to enter a new Golden Age under your rule! you make a dream couple! a marriage made in heaven. if you accept my suggestion, i am sure to run out of business and fall silent because i will have nothing to criticize. a case of 2 birds with a single pebble!

Ara:

 

I have a better one for you. You go and propose to Nairi, she is probably about 35 years younger than you; but if Howard Hughes has done it, why couldn't you? She raves reading your writings and your books; you and her would agree with each other back and forth for the rest of your lives, and since you'll be content with each other then there will be no more criticizing and negativity coming from you.

 

You'll both live happily ever after, plus there would be a bonus to the cosmos. And that is; we'll all be saved from your madness.

 

 

[Yervant1]

Fellow forumers please it would be appreciated of you, if you all stick to the topic at hand and stop the personal insults and name callings.

After all we are all Armenians and everybody is entitled to their opinion without the insults.

Thanks.