as i see it - Pt. IV

[phantom22]

Take that one step further.

 

To survive many Armenians have to leave the Armenian nest, and I don't mean the ROA.

 

If one does not follow the "narrow road" in the diaspora, they can not survive in the community. And I am not speaking here of Armenian national interests or the veracity of the Genocide.

 

Why do we all have to be socially cut out of the same cloth? I was vilified by some in the community for working in Robert Kennedy's campaign.

 

Thank God that we have ANCA today reaching out across the US political spectrum. Enough of the harousts and the Church running the Armenian show.

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, July 17, 2005

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

Some readers tell me to be more diplomatic. They may be said to belong to the more honey and less vinegar school of thought. Others accuse me of going soft on them – they may be said to be partisans of less vinegar and more arsenic. Hard to please everyone. Impossible to please all Armenians. Not that it matters one way or another. In our environment a scribbler, even a thousand scribblers, are as nothing. Can a drop of rain, or a thousand drops, raise the level of the ocean? And if things ever change it will not be a result of what I or far better men than myself have said, but because subservience has its limits. There will come a time when it will erupt into riots and revolution. This final assertion is not mine but that of history. If after 600 years Armenians can rise against the wounded dragon of the Ottoman Empire, what will stop them from doing the same against our own jackals and jackasses?

*

I don’t see why I should even make the slightest effort to understand or sympathize with someone who parrots views that were mine twenty or thirty years ago. To do so would mean that I wasted a good fraction of my life learning nothing.

*

What we think of ourselves never coincides with what others think of us. This is where philosophy begins – to understand the incomprehensible or that which is comprehensible to others but not to us.

*

In a totalitarian or fascist environment commissars have the upper hand. In a democratic environment they try and they never give up trying but they don’t always succeed.

#

Monday, July 18, 2005

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PATRIOTISM: A MISCONCEPTION

There are those who think if a blunder is committed in the name of patriotism it is no longer a blunder because patriotism is a noble sentiment beyond criticism.

*

DECEIVERS AND DUPES

I cannot reform deceivers but I can try to enlighten dupes, except dupes whose ambition in life is to join the deceivers.

*

AN UNSPOKEN ARMENIAN MOTTO

If I can’t kill my enemy I will insult my brother.

*

AN ARMENIAN PRAYER

Dear God, as a poor sinner I may not deserve to have you on my side. But tell me, in what way is my enemy better than I am?

*

ON KARL MARX

Was Marx right or wrong? An irrelevant question. Marx was one of those thinkers who changed the political map of the world. He cannot be rejected, only understood. Because not to understand him means not to understand the world in which we live.

*

READERS AND WRITERS

As a reader, I hate reading a writer who is infallible, especially if he is in the business of exposing my prejudices and misconceptions; in the same way that as a writer I hate reading infallible critics who trash my work.

#

[ara baliozian]

our intolerance is rooted in our deep sense of insecurity

and fear of the unknown. perhaps what we need is not critics or philosophers, but shrinks. / ara

 

 

Take that one step further.

 

To survive many Armenians have to leave the Armenian nest, and I don't mean the ROA.

 

If one does not follow the "narrow road" in the diaspora, they can not survive in the community. And I am not speaking here of Armenian national interests or the veracity of the Genocide.

 

Why do we all have to be socially cut out of the same cloth? I was vilified by some in the community for working in Robert Kennedy's campaign.

 

Thank God that we have ANCA today reaching out across the US political spectrum. Enough of the harousts and the Church running the Armenian show.

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[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

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

National pride is an extension of propaganda. Self-esteem on the other hand is on firmer ground. We have pride but not self-esteem.

*

Whenever an Armenian decides he is more patriotic than I am, he automatically assumes my status to be that of an enemy.

*

I define a mortal sin as a lapse of moral judgment whose consequences you suffer to the end of your days. Confession, atonement, and closure are nothing but synthetic and transparent efforts to make the transgressor feel better about himself thus making him a more productive member of the community.

*

In his STUDY OF HISTORY Toynbee calls the Armenian Church “a fossil,” that is to say, brain-dead. He says nothing about Armenian political thinking, which, in my view, is derivative, cliché-ridden and slogan-infected, in short, also brain-dead.

*

Disagreement is not and cannot be a permanent condition, except in our environment, of course. It has happened to me more than once that readers, who have disagreed with me consistently for months and sometimes-even years, have apologized privately and after a brief hiatus have reverted to their old positions and ways driven not by conviction but by the spirit of contradiction.

*

A dishonest man cannot criticize an honest one; he can only express resentment, contempt, venom and rage.

*

Albert Einstein: “The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”

#

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

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

Ever since I read in Toynbee something to the effect that nations and civilizations are not killed, they commit suicide, I have been exposing and analyzing our suicidal tendencies. Hence, my doubts about our image as survivors.

*

What if we were meant to be a nation of 70 million instead of 7 million? What if we are in fact 70 million but most of us do not care to identify themselves as Armenians?

*

Propaganda is a lie because its aim is to compensate reality even if it means contradicting it. When Germans decided to behave like swine, they declared themselves to be a superior race. And because we have been dying the death of a thousand cuts (self-inflicted) we brag about our survival.

*

There are two theories about Khachatur Abovian's disappearance: the first says as an ardent nationalist he was probably assassinated by the czar's secret agents; the second says he committed suicide. What if he was pushed into committing suicide by our hidebound and cowardly religious leadership at whose mercy he operated?

*

What if Gomidas went mad only after grasping the role of our leadership in the massacres? Armenians had been massacred before without disturbing his inner balance.

*

Was Avedik Issahakian wrong when he ascribed our misfortunes to our geography, cannibalistic neighbors, and inept leadership?

*

Was Gostan Zarian wrong when he said we survive by cannibalizing one another?

*

I am willing to concede that what I write may be wrong. But what if what you think may also be wrong? One thing is certain: if we both admit fallibility we may learn to be less intolerant, and I see absolutely nothing wrong in that. But if we both assert infallibility, we succeed only in making fools of ourselves in public.

#

[phantom22]

Ara,

 

There are numerous Armenians who do not wish to be recognized as such. This is because to be considered Armenian in the community one must adhere to a narrow set of principles. This leads non-Armenians to consider all Armenians as having one "world view." The others drop-out.

 

The first step toward a better tomorrow is an honest appraisal of the community's shortcomings. When any attempt to honestly analyze our cultural underpinings is viewed as the ultimate treason, there can be no progress. When will the worldwide Armenian leadership come into the present age? It is not only the Armenian church that is a "fossil" but the approach of the leaders of the community. Without positive change, nations die.

 

The response I usually get to this type of statment is that our stubborness has kept the Armenians around while the Phrygians, Lydians, Cappadocians, etc. are in the dustbin of history.

 

We are in an age of globalization. The rules are changing fast. Either we adapt or we die.

Edited July 23, 2005 by phantom22

[ara baliozian]

Saturday, July 23, 2005

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

Armenians are a suspicious bunch, especially of one another. I have been accused of everything from abc to xyz - from being an agent of the Mossad and the CIA to being a half Turk and a capitalist. As far as I know, no Armenian writer has ever lived above the poverty line, unless of course he was also a competent lawyer, like Zohrab and Massikian, or the right-hand man of a national benefactor. I am neither a lawyer nor a brown-noser. As for being an agent: my only ambition in life is to be a carcinogenic agent to our charlatans and gravediggers.

*

More Armenians have died fighting for the sultans, Stalin, and Hitler, than in defense of the Homeland. To most Armenians homeland means their village. When Hagop Oshagan spoke of "our world" he meant Istanbul. In his memoirs, Yervant Odian writes that some exiled Armenians returned to Istanbul even when they knew they were wanted men there. They preferred to be in prison in Istanbul than free anywhere else.

*

Camille de Casabianca (French actress and author): when asked to name the main source of inspiration for her latest book titled THE ENCHANTED RABBIT: "Bugs Bunny and my cousin Vincent."

On her ideal reader: "God, if he exists."

*

When an odar says "Armenians are smart," not only we believe him but we also expect the whole world to believe him, and in doing so we expose ourselves as abysmally insecure beings who are dependent on flattery even when the flattery is a bare-faced lie or it applies only to a small and non-representative fraction of Levantines.

*

Baudelaire: "Genius is childhood rediscovered."

*

Leonardo: "Not to foresee is already to grieve."

#

[ara baliozian]

you are describing mein kampf.

i am glad there are armenians like you.

if only they were more active.

i have several good friends who after trying and receiving a nasty reception gave up the struggle. their attitude: who gives a damn about us? why should i?

result, the scum rise to the top. / ara

 

 

Ara,

 

There are numerous Armenians who do not wish to be recognized as such. This is because to be considered Armenian in the community one must adhere to a narrow set of principles. This leads non-Armenians to consider all Armenians as having one "world view."  The others drop-out.

 

The first step toward a better tomorrow is an honest appraisal of the community's shortcomings. When any attempt to honestly analyze our cultural underpinings is viewed a the ultimate treason, there can be no progress. When will the worldwide Armenian leadership come into the present age? It is not only the Armenian church that is a "fossil" but the approach of the leaders of the community. Without positive change, nations die.

 

The response I usually get to this type of statment is that our stubborness has kept the Armenians around while the Phrygians, Lydians, Cappadocians, etc. are in the dustbin of history.

 

We are in an age of globalization. The rules are changing fast. Either we adapt or we die.

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[phantom22]

Ara,

 

We are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of Armenians who have "dropped out." These person's energies should be harnessed. This can occur by creating NGOs in Armenia and community organizations around the world that engender a more progressive approach. One recent success was the relocation of a road that was to be built through one of Armenia's most sacred national forests.

 

Too many Armenians solely associate with other Armenians, or never really get close with odars. This creates a community that only looks inward.

 

Broadening one's associations brings to light new revelations.

 

The Armenian nation and community can be preserved even if new approaches are considered. The "mind control" must cease. In fact, unless this broadening occurs, the community will not flourish.

Edited July 23, 2005 by phantom22

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, July 24, 2005

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

NICE GUYS

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

If I were to single out my greatest blunder, it would have be the fact that I trusted my judgment into the hands of people who did not deserve my trust. But is this not also the quintessential Armenian blunder and the blunder of all underdogs and slaves in general?

*

I feel bad whenever readers insult me, but I feel better when I think that even hoodlums find me compulsively readable. This may not be as good as the Nobel Prize but it may well qualify as a step in the right direction.

*

Once upon a time when I said and repeated Turks were nasty folk and Armenians nice guys, I was allowed regular space in a dozen publications in Canada, the United States, the Middle East, and sometimes even Australia and South America. Perhaps because flattery is like money, it speaks many languages and it has universal appeal. But when I decided to call a hoodlum a hoodlum, regardless of creed, rank, ideology, and financial status, I was given the kind of treatment reserved only for a skunk at a garden party.

*

I have said this before and it bears repeating, Armenians are hard to please. They will criticize you even when you flatter them. They will criticize you if only because you did not flatter them enough. After you call them nice guys, they will expect you to call them smart and generous as well.

*

Smart? How smart can a nation be whose best and brightest spent seven centuries kowtowing and brown-nosing sultans, *****s, padishas, and commissars – the very same hoodlums who deflowered their daughters and coerced their sons to fight and die for them?

*

Generous? Even when I worked for multimillionaires, or rather their flunkeys, I was never paid more than minimum wage, and if you were to subtract my expenses, I had to survive on a negative income.

*

Whenever I mention money in my writings, I am told an artist should be above such petty considerations. “Think of Beethoven,” I was reminded once. “Can you imagine him thinking about money while composing his divinely inspired sonatas, concertos, and symphonies?”

*

As a matter of fact, it is because I think of Beethoven that I write as I do. Most of his published letters deal with crooked publishers, royalties, and money. His contempt for the aristocracy (his potential patrons) knew no bounds. Once, during a walk in the park, he even rebuked Goethe for taking his hat off and bowing to a prince.

#

[ara baliozian]

i am afraid our bosses, bishops and benefactors have a solid grip on the community and a new organization or political party will not and cannot break them. reform must come from within. i have several friends who wanted to start new movements and parties but all their noble ideas and dreams aborted miserably.... / ara

 

 

 

Ara,

 

We are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of Armenians who have "dropped out." These person's energies should be harnessed. This can occur by creating NGOs in Armenia and community organizations around the world that engender a more progressive approach. One recent success was the relocation of a road that was to be built through one of Armenia's most sacred national forests.

 

Too many Armenians solely associate with other Armenians, or never really get close with odars. This creates a community that only looks inward.

 

Broadening one's associations brings to light new revelations.

 

The Armenian nation and community can be preserved even if new approaches are considered. The "mind control" must cease. In fact, unless this broadening occurs, the community will not flourish.

style_images/master/snapback.png

[phantom22]

Although one of my great-grandfathers personally financed the total reconstruction of an Armenian Apostolic Church, one of his daughters married a Hye Catholic and converted to her husband's religion. Her son, raised a Catholic, also married a Hye Catholic.

 

After the circumstances that transpired in my childhood, my parents decided to bolt the Catholic Church within which they were both raised. My brother and I were raised, from that point on, as mainline Protestants.

 

After many unsuccessful attempts to find a suitable mate among the Armenians, my brother married a Jewish girl and converted to Judaism. The upscale Armenians we associated with were hung up on outward displays of success. This Jewish daughter of a CEO knew value when she saw it.

 

I ended up marrying an Armenian. I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

My parents were immigrants from Western Armenia, but I was raised as an American. The full force of the community approach hit me between the eyes.

My mother and father had associated with odars and, while maintaining an Armenian identity, had become American in their viewpoints. My wife's parents held on to many of the cultural attributes of the community. Oil and water did not mix. Our marriage ended in divorce.

 

The sad alliance between our church leaders and the bosses and benefactors of the Armenian community does not generate a brighter future for our community. It banishes many to the odar world.

[ara baliozian]

Monday, July 25, 2005

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

On the radio this morning (abridged and paraphrased): “The madrassahs in which poor Muslim boys are taught to hate infidels were until recently subsidized by rich Muslims. But now that poor Muslims are slaughtering rich Muslims, rich Muslims have declared jihad on jihadists.”

*

Title of a novel: “The Last Two Armenians,” or “The Abelcainian Brothers.”

*

Whenever a reader insults me anonymously, I reflect that he is transferring his animus against Turks onto a more accessible and less threatening target.

*

More often than not I am criticized for writing about my own experiences as opposed to the experiences of my critics, the implication being that my experiences are counterfeit and theirs pure gold.

*

And then there are critics who believe the failings of other nations justify and legitimize our own. It follows, our failings are not failings but inevitable facts of the human condition. If they are inevitable, they should be covered up and ignored. This is the kind of reasoning not of smart people (which we claim to be) but of moral morons (which we accuse others of being.”

*

I see our high rate of alienation and assimilation as an extension of the old Armenian adage, “Mart bidi ch’ellank!” (We shall never acquire the status of human beings.)

#

[ara baliozian]

this alliance is nothing new. it's been exposed and criticized for centuries, beginning with Movses Khorenatsi 1500 years ago. more recently our leaders led us to the slaughterhouse. why should they give a damn now?/ara Edited July 25, 2005 by ara baliozian

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

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

A reader demands to know if I am for or against assimilation. My answer: I am for anything that will make one a better human being regardless of race, color, and creed.

*

The art of writing consists in being readable not only by readers who are for you but also those who are against you. Judging by the number of readers who are against me, I must be on the right path.

*

It has been observed that rubles play a central role in Dostoevsky’s fiction. One could say the same about the role of benefactors in our collective existence.

*

The trouble with being a proud Armenian is that every other Armenian you meet will be a source of embarrassment.

*

If you want to see an Armenian as he really is, pretend to be dependent on his goodwill. As a writer, I don’t have to pretend…

*

If you are a brown-noser, as I was once, there will come a time when you will wonder if it was worth it. I assure you, it never is. If you have any doubts, consider our 600 years of subservience: what did it get us?

*

Suppose you say the sun rises in the east and you are contradicted. What do you say? You say nothing because you realize you are dealing with someone with missing parts. Which may suggest that we argue only when we are in doubt, and we argue not to convince others but ourselves.

#

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

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

We tend to assert infallibility based not on our own ideas but on those of a schoolteacher or parish priest, which may suggest that we were taught many things except how to think for ourselves.

*

Theo Van Gogh's killer stated that he did what he did driven by his faith. He should have said, driven by what he was taught by an imam who was himself taught many things except how to think for himself.

*

We were as much victims of Turkish barbarism as our own miscalculations. We misunderstand the Genocide if we emphasize the first and cover up the second.

*

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), English novelist and essayist: "It takes two to make a murder."

*

Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Czech author: "My guiding principle is this: Guilt is never to be doubted."

*

Don King, the American boxing promoter once explained that he is a survivor because he has "wit, grit and bullshit." It's astonishing how many manage to survive with only the third item on the menu.

*

My most dogmatic critics are those who pretend to understand me but who don't even understand themselves.

*

Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), English novelist: "Failure makes people cruel and bitter."

*

If you are a failure and you consider yourself a success, you condemn yourself to remain a failure.

*

Two kinds of people cannot take criticism gracefully, the very insecure and the very arrogant.

#

[ara baliozian]

Thursday, July 28, 2005

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

TWO SCANDALS

A headline in one of our weeklies reads: “2000 Armenian Prostitutes Operate in United Arab Emirates.” My guess is we have a corresponding number of writers prostituting themselves by saying what others want them to say rather than what must be said.

*

WHAT MUST BE SAID

Why is it that so many women engage in prostitution? What is being done about it? If something is being done, why wasn’t it done before? And if nothing is being done, who should be held accountable?

*

It is understood that a corresponding list of questions could be asked about our writers – be they academics, journalists, and pundits. As a reader I should like to have answers to these questions as opposed to more commentaries, editorials, press releases, and articles on Turks, kefs, hantesses, food festivals, graduations, scholarships, exhibitions, and anniversary celebrations.

*

ZOHRAB SPEAKS

Speaking on prostitution and related topics, Krikor Zohrab had this to say a hundred years ago: “We all of us condemn prostitution; yet, how many of us engage in that line of work! Lawyers who perjure themselves for a few pieces of silver; journalists who sell their conscience to vested interests; doctors who prolong a useless treatment; young men who marry wealth. In what way are these individuals different from common prostitutes?”

*

Even more to the point: “A newspaper is not a chameleon. It should not change its colors to please readers. It is bound to make enemies. I would measure the moral success of a newspaper by its willingness to make enemies.”

*

Zohrab was assassinated by orders of Talaat in 1915. Armenian writers are no longer assassinated by foreign tyrants, only silenced and forced into prostitution by our “betters.”

#

[ara baliozian]

Friday, July 29, 2005

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

Writing consists in trying to make sense of the senseless to the brain dead.

*

I can give you reasons, I can’t give you the ability to understand them. That would be like trying to improve on god’s work.

*

Propaganda is a carefully planned and organized effort to prevent you from thinking for yourself.

*

Man has created ten thousand gods except a god of common sense and decency.

*

You cannot decapitate a man and expect him to sing an aria from “The Barber of Seville.”

*

The question we should ask every day: If we are smart, why do we allow ourselves to be led by donkeys?

*

Our partisans are brought up to believe we are sheep and they are our shepherds. What they don’t tell us is that as shepherds it is their duty to lead us to the slaughterhouse.

*

Turning the other cheek becomes a meaningless gesture if you are going to hate the man who slaps you.

*

In the bibliography of THE BLACK SEA: A HISTORY by Charles King (270 pages, Oxford University Press, 2004) I read the following line: “There is a great deal of poor-quality work on the Armenian genocide…”

*

An infallible man can do nothing right.

#

[ara baliozian]

Saturday, July 30, 2005

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

It is now time that we think of lamentation and hatred as experiments that failed and try another approach.

*

The problem with hatred is that it is no solution. Rather it is a problem that creates other problems. An Armenian who hates Turks will also hate a fellow Armenian who does not share his hatred.

*

Some values are anti-values and some values are worthless.

*

Saroyan once said that he felt sorry for the Turks. Simenon went further when he said it is the victim who creates his victimizer.

*

Writing for Armenians has been a learning experience. I have learned more about human nature than Freud learned by analyzing neurotics.

*

The spirit of contradiction in some Armenians is so highly developed that if you were to agree with them they would disagree with you.

*

By calling our military defeats moral victories we alter our status from perennial losers to perennial winners and can go to bed with the certainty that god is on our side and we never had it so good.

*

One way to define freedom of speech is by saying even the ablest statesman is not qualified to tell even the worst scribbler what to write and how to write it.

#

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, July 31, 2005

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

Whenever a writer is not admired by his readers, he feels misunderstood. With me, it’s the other way around. Whenever I am vilified and silenced I feel understood because I am perceived as a threat to those of my readers who have not yet learned to tell the difference between Armenianism and Ottomanism.

*

If I am not a popular writer it may be because I do not think of literature as a popularity contest. I have no political ambitions and I can truly state, if nominated I shall not run, and if elected I shall not serve.

*

It is a mistake to think that a writer ought to know more than his readers do. It is not a writer’s function or duty to know more. He may even know less, but that which he knows may be different, and as such, worthy of reflection, not condemnation or censorship.

*

Why label our intolerance as Ottomanism or Stalinism? Why can’t we recognize it as garden-variety intolerance, which happens to be a universal phenomenon? Simply because our brand of intolerance was legitimized, promoted, evolved, matured, and refined under the sultans and Stalin.

*

How to recognize an Ottomanized Armenian? As a writer I define an Ottomanized Armenian as one who violates my fundamental human right of free speech and pretends to this in the name of patriotism, which has nothing to do with patriotism and everything to do with Ottomanism and Stalinism.

*

Some Armenians don’t like reading me for the same reason that some Turks don’t like reading Turkish writers who refuse to recycle the party line.

#

[ara baliozian]

Monday, August 01, 2005

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

There are two kinds of readers: those who read to have their prejudices exposed, their fallacies corrected, and their ideas challenged, and those who read to be reassured that they already know and understand everything they need to know and understand. In short, some read to learn, and some read to remain infatuated with their own ignorance.

*

Some people are smart. I am not one of them. When I see something wrong, I don’t start wondering if it will be to my advantage to speak up or to behave like the three proverbial monkeys. I do not think emulating monkeys is smart. I do not calculate the pros and cons of a situation and decide to do what’s in my own best interest. Call me a fool who has taught himself to think against himself and to act against his own interests.

*

I am resigned to the fact that I will never know as much about our history and culture as a partisan who has been thoroughly brainwashed to recycle the party line.

*

Those whose lies I expose have every reason to overestimate the power of words and the influence a writer exercises on his readers. But anyone who knows anything about the history of our literature will also know that even our ablest writers have been solitary voices in the wilderness whose warnings have been ignored. Result? Centuries of subservience to tyrants, oppression, massacre, purges, dispersion, fragmentation, alienation, assimilation…

*

Every morning on waking up I remind myself that the sun does not rise to hear my crowing.

#

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

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

There is a type of writer (and I used to be one) who makes an a priori decision to be positive. Even before reading his first line you know he will say nothing to disturb you. Which also means he will not be objective and honest because his aim is not to expose contradictions (see below) but to flatter egos.

*

He who says Armenians are nice folk lies. Not all Armenians are nice, beginning with our dividers who divide in the name of a religion or an ideology whose aim is to unite.

*

Ask any one of our dividers and he will tell you his ultimate aim is to unite the nation. Ask him how successful he has been so far in achieving his goal and he will play the blame-game, which happens to be our national sport.

*

I remember as a child, whenever someone accused me of anything, I would deny it even when I was as guilty as hell.

Politicians have a name for this tactic: they call it deniability.

*

Armenians are brave, Armenians are fearless, Armenians are warlike, especially when they confront harmless solitary scribblers whose sole aim in life is to understand and explain our situation.

*

It is not that I no longer believe in what politicians say, I question the sanity of those who do.

#

[phantom22]

Ara,

 

It is called CONTROL. Our community has always been in the hands of a few.

 

My ancestors were powerful but benevolent. That is a rare quality among the powerful.

 

Just look at the situation in Armenia. A few nor harousts control everything while Phd's sell trinckets in the marketplace for a few drams.

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

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

Some of our patriots should be reminded once in a while that patriotism and civility are not mutually exclusive concepts.

*

To speak the truth means to be vulnerable to a minimum of one Big Lie, a hundred small lies, and a thousand liars.

*

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), political philosopher: "Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think."

*

Kingsley Amis (1922-1995), English novelist: "If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing."

*

What is censorship if not fear of being exposed as a fool, a dupe, and a liar?

*

Truth opens the doors of perception. Propaganda kicks the messenger in the butt and bangs all doors shut.

*

At the root of all intolerance there will be a Big Lie.

*

People don't kill in the name of truth. Christ killed no one. The same could not be said of Christians.

*

I don't believe in reincarnation, but if I did I would have to assume I must have been a serial killer in a previous life and I am now being punished by writing for Armenians.

#

[ara baliozian]

it has other names too --

mafia, oligarchy, fascism, dictatorship, authoritarianism.../ ara

 

Ara,

 

It is called CONTROL. Our community has always been in the hands of a few.

 

My ancestors were powerful but benevolent. That is a rare quality among the powerful.

 

Just look at the situation in Armenia. A few nor harousts control everything while  Phd's sell trinckets in the marketplace for a few drams.

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