as i see it - Pt. IV

[ara baliozian]

Friday, January 26, 2007

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CRITICS AND MAD DOGS

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Stand long enough at the edge of an abyss and someone is sure to push you.

*

Whenever a faceless anonymous hooligan on the Internet verbally abuses me, my first reaction is to believe everything he says. Paul Valéry is right: when a mad dog bites, it hurts.

*

There is nothing wrong in saying “I believe in god.” But there is something horribly wrong in saying “My god is the only true god.”

*

To those who tell me I go about my criticism the wrong way, I say: Name an Armenian critic, or any critic, who went about it the right way and I will be more than happy to adopt him as my role model.

*

Has anyone ever written a treatise on critical etiquette and, having done so, has not been torn to shreds by critics?

*

Speaking of a Sorbonne-educated avant-garde poet, a friend tells me: “When I told him I didn’t understand his poetry, he said you will, in 25 years. I met him again last week and told him the 25 years were up and I still can’t make heads or tails of it…”

“

Nothing comes easier to a charlatan than to assume everyone else is a charlatan.

*

Three of our most abundant national products: bragging, backbiting, and bullshitting.

*

My favorite 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt not aim at perfection in an imperfect world.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

 

Saturday, January 27, 2007

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WHAT I UNDERSTAND ABOUT

POWER STRUCTURES

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You may not understand power structures but power structures understand you; and they understand you because they have only one criterion: “You are either with me or against me.” You may have the IQ of a genius but if you are not with the power structure body and soul, you might as well be an idiot, and worse, a nuisance. That’s why some of the best men in the history of mankind were persecuted and sometimes even condemned to death. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying those in power are all vicious fools. No. Most of them may even be highly able men – smart, sophisticated, cunning. What they lack is not smarts but moral compass. And they are moral morons because they place their own powers and privileges above all other considerations. This is true of all power regardless of race, color, and creed. Which is why sentences like “Their politicians are crooks, but ours are honest men” make sense only to the naïve and brainwashed dupe.

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, January 28, 2007

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SHUT UP! HE EXPLAINED

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I don’t apportion and adapt what I know and understand; I share all of it. I respect my readers too much to tell them there are things they will understand only when they grow up.

*

A LETHAL COMBINATION

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Where there is war and massacre you will also find charlatans and dupes. As for just wars: that’s another way of saying my god is better than yours.

*

THE SEARCH

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Since the beginning of time man has searched for god the way a blind man in a dark room searches for a black hat that isn’t there. It may be elsewhere, but not there.

*

CONFESSION

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By the time a dupe figures out he has been one all his life, the chances are he is either dead or senile. I speak from experience.

*

DEAD-END JOBS

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Messiahs, prophets, and philosophers: they will never be as much in demand as plumbers, pimps, and lawyers.

*

PLEASURES

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The pleasures of preaching to the converted: I know all about them. I too have published several hundred commentaries and book reviews in which the Genocide is mentioned. The question that haunts me today is: What’s the use of being right if you end up as a pillar of salt?

*

MEMO

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Propaganda is taken for granted and thought of as an inevitable fact of life, but in reality it is as dangerous as a loaded gun in the hands of a child.

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Monday, January 29, 2007

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If you say something kind about Jews, an Armenian is sure to accuse you of being a paid agent of the Mossad. I speak from experience. And if you say something kind about Americans, don’t be surprised if you are accused of being an agent of the CIA. This has happened to me on more than one occasion. Once I was even accused of being a hireling of the Vatican, not because I had said anything remotely kind about the Pope but because I was brought up as a Catholic. Disagree with an Armenian and run the risk of being fingered as a traitor.

*

I have heard it said that Judas did not hang himself. He went to Armenia. Raffi expressed an awareness of this when he said, “Treason and betrayal are in our blood.”

*

In another version of the story, Judas went to America, became a stockbroker on Wall Street, invested his silver, made a killing in the market, and became a benefactor. Not being a historian I am in no position to testify on the accuracy of either version.

*

What does it take to be a historian? The first thing to know about writing history is that it is not a science but an art. A historian orchestrates data (facts, documents, witnesses). He is as much of an artist as a composer.

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS

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Partisans have called me “vicious” for my remarks on their bosses. But the truth is, I respect our political parties and their leaders as much as they respect one another.

*

Those in power at one time or another have legitimized every kind of injustice and perversion – from incest and slavery to war and massacre. Next time you decide to place your trust in your pharaoh, fuehrer, Pope, boss or bishop, think about that.

*

To speak the truth means attacking liars, who will counterattack by speaking more lies.

*

If I were to compose an Armenian Credo, it would begin with the lines: “I believe monologue is better than dialogue,” and “I believe I am right and all those who disagree with me are in cahoots with the devil.”

*

Montaigne: “The difference between one man and another is greater than the difference between man and beast.”

*

Henry James: “It’s a complex fate, being an American.” He should try being an Armenian.

*

Maurice Merleau-Ponty: “Philosophy is not an illusion. It is the algebra of history.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

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TELL ME!

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Jean-Paul Sartre: “We need the light of two suns to see the depths of human stupidity.”

*

Tell me, has anyone ever succeeded in reasoning with Armenians?

*

It never pays to generalize: I know Turks who couldn’t hurt a fly, and I know Armenians who would kick a man when he is down just for the pleasure of it.

*

To those who hate Turks, I ask: Would you still hate them if you knew or suspected half of them to be half Armenian?

*

If you say you don’t hate Turks, but you love justice, I ask: Is it just to accuse all Turks of genocide if the perpetrators numbered no more than 1% of the population? And if you say, with very few exceptions all Turks are denialists, I ask: Is it their fault if they have been brainwashed?

*

One of the most frightening things about Armenians is that they are so obsessed with their hatred, so self-righteous and devoid of all doubt, that they think it is a positive, a virtue, something that makes them better patriots and morally superior human beings; and armed with that article of faith, they give themselves the license to verbally abuse others who refuse to share their neurosis.

*

What it takes to be a commissar of culture: (a) not to have published a single line worth reading? ( to believe “culture” to be a dirty word; © to use the word “intellectual” as if it were an insult; and (d) to confuse ideology with idology. There you have it: portrait of an average Armenian partisan.

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Thursday, February 01, 2007

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GOD AND MUSIC

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Hector Berlioz: “Bach is Bach as God is God.”

*

If music ennobles the soul, why is it that it failed to ennoble Nero and Hitler – both great lovers of music? What if music only enhances the inherent qualities of a man – makes the good better and the bad worse? Either that or the evil spell of power is mightier than the delicate charms of music. Even religious faith (or God), it seems, cannot resist the evil spell of power. Think of the Crusades, the vicious conduct of Renaissance Popes, the Inquisition, religious wars, and more recently, the epidemic of priests molesting children. I won't even bother mentioning the daily atrocities committed in the name of Allah.

*

God and music, faith and beauty: in their absence man would have found substitutes in whose name he would have spoken with a forked tongue and proceeded to follow his gut and ignore his brain.

*

E.M. Cioran: “”Only one thing matters: learning to be the loser.” (As opposed to pretending to be the morally superior winner.)

*

Alain-Fournier: “Getting there is better than being there.”

*

Asked how he writes his plays, Tennessee Williams is quoted as having said, “I start with a sentence.”

#

 

[Indra]

Not all Turks are born killers or denialists. There is no doubt about that

anymore. Likewise, not all Armenians bear a racist grudge against all Turks.

 

With one difference. No Armenian of Pamuk's or Akjam's stature has produced

a work to point out that fact. If he did, he would be ostracized and

silenced as a traitor to the Cause. In that sense, Turks are ahead of us.

 

 

 

 

 

Turks are not ahead of us but Armenians are much more afraid. We are so

terrified and fearful. We don't dare to speak out. Is it passed from

generation to generation or are we simply the way we are? I don't know.

But we are much more afraid to speak out than Serbs, Albanians, Turks,

Ukrainians.

 

 

Why is it that nearly 200 Jews have been awarded the Nobel Prize but not a

single Armenian?

 

 

It is not necessary to think about farfetched conspiracy theories.

 

Numbers and values count as well! To get quality (Nobel Prizes) you have to

have some quantity (considerable set of outstanding scientists).

Definitely there are more Jews on earth than Armenians. In matters of values

it is hard to prove something with hard facts.

 

But numbers count much more than we Armenians would like to see.

 

I strongly recommend a book about Sons and World Power (Söhne und Weltmacht,

Gunnar Heinsohn, 2003). Sloterdijk loves it. And I can't resist it. It's

very simple: Wars, conflicts, genocidal massacres, holocausts arise

necessarily if the percentage of 0-15 years old surpasses 30 % or 15-25

years olds surpasses 20 % of the total population.

 

The more (male) youngsters there are (="youth bulge") who can't find a

decent positon for a living in society the more conflicts will arise. This

Turkish youth bulge grew with the Muslim refugees in the 1910s after the

Balkan wars. I'd like to research how this youth bulge changed during the

1800s in the Ottoman Empire. Why have oppressive policies become genocidal

policies?

 

Your thoughts are very, very, very inspiring!!!

And I really enjoy reading all of your entries!

Please, never think about stopping to write!

Indra

Edited February 2, 2007 by Indra

[ara baliozian]

Friday, February 02, 2007

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Both the massacre of innocent civilians and the violation of someone’s human right of free speech have the same root: the arrogance of power. Now then, tell me, what’s the difference between them and us?

*

Whenever I get emotionally involved in an argument I know I have lost it, because emotion betrays more ego and less reason.

*

There are as many versions of a historic occurrence as there are paintings of Fuji-Yama and Ararat.

*

When I was dead wrong it never even occurred to me to consider the possibility of not being right. Another way of saying, I too was a believer and a fanatic.

*

Are we perennial victims or morally superior victors? Can lamentation be reconciled with bragging? Tell me, do you have an answer?

*

Why should love of homeland stand in opposition to love of truth?

*

Paul Klee: “Art does not reproduce what we see. Rather, it makes us see.” (Or, it exposes our blindness.)

*

George Orwell: “We are living in a world in which it is almost impossible to be honest and to remain alive.”

*

What’s the difference between racism based on blood, and a racism based on ideas? Do you see any difference between “My blood is better than yours,” and “My ideas are better than yours”?

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Indra:

if you are a woman, i would like to marry you.

if you are a man...

i would like to marry you too. / ara

 

 

[ara baliozian]

Saturday, February 03, 2007

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MEMOIRS

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In the memoirs of two contemporary English novelists there is endless talk of several troubled marriages, lovers by the dozen, substance abuse (both alcohol and pills), psychiatrists, and attempted suicides, among other problems. So far I have relied only on alcohol. Couldn’t afford the rest. Sometimes it pays to be poor. During the war years and after our breakfast consisted of tea, bread, and olives. My cousin in America by contrast breakfasted on eggs, bacon, and buttered toast. Result? Open-heart surgery, pacemaker, and a dozen pills a day, among other problems.

*

Speaking of lovers: in the final page of her memoirs, a filthy rich American celebrity in her eighties describes her latest gigolo as “the Nijinsky of cunnilingus.”

*

“The pleasures of love last no more than a moment, its regrets a lifetime.” Has this old proverbial saying stopped anyone from resisting the temptations of the flesh? Instinct rules even the lives of reasonable men, perhaps because reason only whispers, more often than not inaudibly, where instinct is as loud as thunder. As for writers and philosophers: they may think they are in the business of dispensing wisdom, but all they can hope to do is provide a few moments of harmless entertainment.

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, February 04, 2007

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REFLECTIONS

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An Armenian bears two crosses, and the heavier of the two is not his own.

*

If talk is cheap and if “he who speaks does not know,” when, O when shall I acquire the wisdom of silence?

*

My critical remarks may damage our prestige in the eyes of the world; I am reminded once in a while. To which I can only say, what prestige? Most people are not even aware of our existence or, if they are, they tend to confuse us with Romanians and Arameans. To the rest we might as well be an open book and a political cliché. If they flatter us it may be because we can be of some use to them. Which means their opinions of us is so low that they think they can manipulate us with phony sentiments. I don’t call that prestige, I call that an insult.

*

When does hatred of the enemy end and self-hatred begin? Muslims in the Middle East today hate one another more than they hate the West, and judging by the venom in our discussions forums, letters to the editor, and our recent history, how different are we?

*

Honorat de Bueil: “Nature is jealous of our prosperity. She allots a longer lifespan to thorns than to roses.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Monday, February 05, 2007

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GUESSING GOD

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If God exists, He wants us to go about our business as though He didn’t. Gone are the days of the Old Testament when He micromanaged human affairs. No more Burning Bushes, Ave-Maria archangels, angels, and prophets. His message to mankind seems to be: If you don’t make use of the brain I have given you, don’t bother me with your problems.

*

What if our ancestors were smarter than we are? Mention if you can a modern figure comparable to Confucius, Buddha, Socrates, and Jesus. What if the writers of the Old Testament were smart enough to know they were writing science fiction? What if a thousand years from now mankind will study the Old Testament the way we study books on Greek mythology today?

*

When speaking of God, it is wiser to ask questions than to answer them. Or, like Buddha, treat Him as though He did not exist.

*

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.” Buddha may be said to have been the only major religious leader who took this commandment so literally that Buddhism is the only major belief systems that is atheist.

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

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CANADIAN ENCOUNTERS

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The first time I said something remotely critical about an unimportant aspect of Canadian life, an elegantly dressed and attractive lady said: “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go back where you came from?”

*

When I asked her if she had a favorite painter, a local artist replied: “Eengrass.” It took me a while to realize she had meant Ingres.

*

When after a long interval I met an old friend in the street and asked about his mother, whom I had met on several occasions, he replied: “We don’t know where she is. She ran away with a younger man and we haven’t heard from her since.”

*

A CANADIAN IN ITALY

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“How do you say pizza in Italian?”

*

PATRIOTS

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Our partisans don’t like my kind of writing. They think I insult Armenishness. And what’s even more absurd, they consider themselves competent judges, even though they have more skeletons in their closet than breathing specimens with brains in their living room. Only utter despair can lead a man to believe in his own lies.

*

I’VE BEEN READING

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Barby d’Aurevilly: “The crimes of the most advanced civilizations are greater than those committed by the most backward barbarians.”

*

Blaise Cendrars: “It is in the very things that they share that people differ the most from one another.”

*

Sartre: “Half victim, half accomplice, like the rest of mankind.”

*

Paul Valéry: “To believe that one understands is a very dangerous state of mind.”

*

Balzac: “All power is a permanent conspiracy.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

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Mention an unsolved mystery and someone is sure to spin a conspiracy theory.

*

Ask an unanswerable question and someone is sure to come up with the wrong answer.

*

People who hate fiction don’t see any contradiction in the fiction that is at the base of their belief system.

*

When it comes to understanding, man seems to operate on the verge of starvation: any answer, no matter how untenable and absurd, is better than none.

*

A priest once slapped me because I asked the wrong question. I no longer remember the question, but I remember the slap, which was no answer.

*

MEN AND WOMEN

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To women, men are the most universal sources of disappointment. Did you know that the Chinese word for husband is “good for nothing”?

*

The dumbest woman is smarter about men than the smartest man is about women.

*

The most mysterious thing about women is not women themselves but man’s sudden, unpredictable, and incomprehensible transformation of red-hot passion to arctic indifference.

*

AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

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There is only one way for the moderate to survive in a world of fanatics, and that’s by converting them to moderation. What could be more megalomaniacal to think that one has a chance to succeed where Socrates, Jesus, and Gandhi failed?

*

FANATICS

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It could be said of them that the only thing they succeed in doing is adding to the contents of the cesspool in which they stand up to their necks.

*

USEFUL QUOTATIONS

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Ernest Renan: “He who follows orders is almost always a better person than he who issues them.”

*

Marcel Proust: “Every social class has its pathology.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Thursday, February 08, 2007

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CONFESSIONS OF AN ABOMINABLE NO MAN

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It is not enough to have all the right arguments on your side, you must also adapt them to the occasion; and if you are dealing from a position of weakness, you are expected to flatter your adversary into thinking he is right and to apologize for making a nuisance of yourself. If diplomacy, etiquette, and brown-nosing are not your forte, avoid criticizing those in power, and their flunkies, hirelings, friends, and relatives.

*

SPIRIT OF CONTRADICTION

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If you make an obvious assertion, such as “the sun rises in the east,” or “two plus two make four,” someone is sure to contradict you. Anyone who has ever written for Armenians is familiar with this phenomenon.

*

CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION

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Once in a while a reader who has engaged in Internet hooliganism writes to apologize. This is not something that happens every day or year. As a matter of fact, they are such rare occurrences that I am tempted to mark them on my calendar so that I may celebrate their anniversaries.

*

LINES TO REMEMBER

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Henry de Montherlant: “Some people acquire a sense of justice only after they have suffered an injustice.”

*

Raymond Queneau: “There is deception in all action, as there is error in all thought.”

*

Henri Bosco: “Great decisions are not made, they make themselves.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Friday, February 09, 2007

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IRREFUTABLE ARGUMENTS

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Our partisans have three powerful arguments against their critics: (one) you are too young to know any better; (two) you are too old to be up to date with recent developments; and (three) you must be a member of the opposition.

*

UNDERSTANDING GOD

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God is too large a concept to fit into anyone’s pocket. If you think God is on your side, He is sure to abandon you.

*

ON FALLIBILITY

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Nothing can be as easy and natural as being wrong – wrong about God, wrong about oneself, wrong about the world, wrong about everything.

*

IQ

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Only idiots brag about how smart they are.

*

HEAVEN AND HELL

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Heaven is a place reserved only for those who have been through hell.

*

SAVING FACE

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If you are out to save face, the gutter is not the best place to do it from.

*

TURKISH PROVERB

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“Eshek khoshavnan ne annar?” (What does a jackass know about stewed raisins?)

*

LINES WORTH REMEMBERING

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Simone de Beauvoir: “If one lives long enough one sees all victories turn into defeats.”

*

Alphonse de Lamartine: “If you miss one person, the whole world seems empty.”

*

Jules Supervielle: “I am a perfectly honest man. I disgust myself completely.”

*

Francois de la Rochefoucauld: “We get so used to hiding our feelings from others that we end up hiding them from ourselves.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Saturday, February 10, 2007

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AFTER MY OWN HEART

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Francois de la Rochefoucauld: “Sometimes one is as different from oneself as from others.”

*

Alain: “An error by Descartes is better than a truth by a pedant.”

*

Pierre Mendes France: “Democracy is a state of mind.”

*

George Bataille: “I believe truth has only one visage: that of a violent contradiction.”

*

Gustave Le Bon: “Sooner or later a crime committed by all becomes a right.”

*

Alfred de Vigny: “Something of the student remains in all professors.”

*

Albert Camus: “If we fail to reconcile justice with liberty, we fail in all things.”

*

Flaubert: “We should get rid of all flags – they have been soiled with too much blood and merde.”

*

Paul Valéry: “I say this without any hesitation: a university degree is the mortal enemy of culture.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, February 11, 2007

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THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

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When it comes to our identity, the elephant in the room is the Genocide. Whenever Armenians are mention in the foreign press, it’s in connection with the elephant.

*

As a child I was told about our Golden Age in the 5th Century AD, but I was not given an opportunity to draw any sense of identity from it. When I read Dostoevsky at the age of thirteen, I immediately made contact with what it means to be Russian; for the duration I felt more like a Russian than Armenian. Something similar could be said about Philip Roth and Jewishness, Negro spirituals and Negritude, Thomas Mann and German identity.

*

At one time or another I have been fascinated and deeply touched by many cultures, but I am afraid I cannot say the same about Armenian culture notwithstanding the fact that I have written a great deal on the subject, including a textbook titled THE ARMENIANS: THEIR HISTORY AND CULTURE. Speaking of which, on reading the manuscript of this book, I remember my editor complaining: “I don’t get a sense of place.” He probably meant to say identity. In my defense I said that I was not writing a book about Armenia but about Armenians, some of whose most noteworthy achievements – from Byzantine governance to contemporary finance -- had been made outside Armenia.

*

The question of Armenian identity came up to me while reading a collection of brief essays and memoirs on Jewish identity titled MATZO BALLS FOR BREAKFAST & OTHER MEMORIES OF GROWNG UP JEWISH by Alan King and Friends (New York, 2004). What does it mean to be Armenian? I regret to say I can’t come with a clear answer. In Greece where I was born and raised, I knew I was not Greek. In Italy where I studied for five years I never came close to feeling Italian. In Canada where I have spent most of my life and where I also acquired Canadian citizenship (as opposed to being the offspring of stateless Nansen refugees) I know I am not a Canadian, which is neither here nor there because most Canadians don’t know it either. I ask again: What does it mean to be Armenian? What do I have in common with my fellow Armenians, except the awareness that I share a tragedy in our recent past? I grew up hating Turks, but I see that now not as a positive but a negative, something to get over with as opposed to something to be nursed and hoarded, which is what our Ottomanized Turcophile pundits encourage us to do. There is nothing Armenian about being victimized by an oppressive regime. Oppressed people -- from American Indians to Untouchable Indians -- are a dime a dozen. Massacres from the Golden Age of Greek history (5th Century BC) to the present, have been a constant in human history.

*

Perhaps being Armenian means, for me at least, to be open to all cultures and to reject all forms of tyranny and barbarism. And when I speak of barbarism I don’t mean the barbarism of our enemies, but the barbarism that is within all of us.

#

 

[Aubépine]

Friday, February 09, 2007

 

TURKISH PROVERB

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“Eshek khoshavnan ne annar?” (What does a jackass know about stewed raisins?)

 

My great-grandmother used it a lot: "Eşek hoşaftan ne anlar?" when I was picky with my meals and I've never heard this expression anywhere else. I never thought I would see it here.

[neko]

My great-grandmother used it a lot: "Eşek hoşaftan ne anlar?" when I was picky with my meals and I've never heard this expression anywhere else. I never thought I would see it here.

It's in my "dictionary of Turkish proverbs" - and it continues with suyunu içer tanesini bırakır (it would eat the juice and leave the fruit).

"Honey is not for the Ass's mouth" (Cervantes, Don Quixote)

[Arpa]

My great-grandmother used it a lot: "Eşek hoşaftan ne anlar?" when I was picky with my meals and I've never heard this expression anywhere else. I never thought I would see it here.

Why am I even here? Why is anyone responding to that misfit, misanthrope, misogynic, antisocial socoipath AB's fartings anyway? Don't get me wrong. I only open his garbage when I see someone responding as if he has said something new since his all time masterpiece- "Shithouses of Yerevan". One wonders when it was last he was in Yerevan, or he has ever been. Shithouses of Yerevan in his ugly face.

Aubie, did you say that you are "Turkish" in another post? Did you mean "Turkish" or "Turk"?

In any case, please learn Armenian and see the origin of that saying- "Eshn inch gite noush@, kerta koute bush@" The donkey has no taste for almonds,it will rather eat the thorn, and in your no-existence language= Tiken eshekin bademi.

BTW. Hoshaf is not a Turkish word, it is Armenian to mean "fruit stew", perhaps via the Persian "khosh-ab"/khosh ap/khosh af/pleasant/tasty water". Neither is "eshek" a Turkish word.

Once again. When someone shows me what the so caled Turkish language is then I will tell you that Armenian is a dialect of Chinese. Or, was it Zulu??

Do you think "anlar" is Turkish? Consider the Armenian word"ansal"= to hear, to listen.

If only AB were to know enough Armenian to match his Ottoman "ana lisan/mother tongue" we woud not be in this turkaka/turkey droppings.

[ara baliozian]

Monday, February 12, 2007

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ON FASCISM

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Georges Bernanos: “The strength and weakness of dictators is rooted in their pact with the despair of the people.”

*

Hitler relied on German defeat of World War I; Bush on 9/11; and our leadership on the Genocide. Hitler committed suicide; Bush is committing slow-motion political suicide; and our leadership…: why is it that whenever the subject of our leadership comes up, I feel an irresistible urge to go down on my knees and pray – pray not for them, but for the people…I almost said, for their victims.

*

Every day I make a list of my failings to remind myself that I have nothing to brag about.

*

He knows nothing but pretends to know better: portrait of an Armenian simpleton.

*

George Sand: “The way to the simple truth is through many complexities.”

#

 

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

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MORE ON FASCISM

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Francois René de Chateaubriand: “I make visible that which is hidden in history.”

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Some readers complain that I don’t always reply to my critics. In my defense I will say that I have at no time knowingly ignored anyone willing to reason with me. As for the others: please ascribe my silence not to arrogance or indifference but to my sense of inadequacy. I do not feel equipped to deal with anonymous and faceless readers who don’t simply state their disagreement, which would be their privilege to do, but engage in verbal abuse and Internet hooliganism; and they expect me to rise to the occasion by going down into the gutter with them where they obviously feel at home and will thus be at an advantage. I don’t know how to deal with the type of reader who pretends to be better but allows his conduct (vocabulary, style, body language) to prove the exact opposite. What does one say to a reader who pretends to know better but refuses to share his superior wisdom with the rest of us? And by superior wisdom I don’t mean recycled clichés and slogans that were instilled in all of us when we were children. What could be more infantile, not to say absurd, than to confuse these clichés and slogans with patriotism? I question the patriotism of anyone who pretends to love his country (its mountains, rivers, lakes, and valleys) but has no respect for the fundamental human rights of his fellow countrymen – rights such as free speech, dissent, and dialogue without which democracy becomes unthinkable. Annoyed with all my talk of democracy, an angry reader once demanded to know: “Democracy? What good is it? Do we really need it?” My answer: Do we have any alternatives, except perhaps Stalinism without Stalin, and Ottomanism without a sultan? What other forms of government have we known?

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[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

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THE UNSPEAKABLE AND THE UNEATABLE

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Asked by NEWSWEEK magazine what he wants to do with the rest of his life, playwright and actor Eric Bogosian replied: “Learn to speak Armenian.”

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I know some highly educated and smart Armenians who neither read nor speak Armenian; and what is even more to the point, they have no interest in learning the language.

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In his LIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE REALM OF VANISHING CULTURES, Wade Davis writes: “The ultimate tragedy is not that archaic societies are disappearing, but rather that vibrant, dynamic living cultures and languages are being forced out of existence.” He could have added: “…and this with the full consent and cooperation of their political and intellectual leadership.” And why? Because their central concern is not identity and culture but Turks. They remind me of Oscar Wilde’s definition of foxhunters: “The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.”

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When it comes to their mother tongue, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more Armenian functional illiterates than Turks.

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Ernest Renan: “Elections promote charlatanism.”

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Lautreamont: “An elephant allows itself to be caressed, but not a louse.”

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Blaise Cendrars: “I dip my pen not in ink but in life.”

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Victor Hugo: “Friend can be a word devoid of all meaning, enemy never!”

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Joseph Joubert: “To teach is to learn twice.”

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Simone de Beauvoir: “What is an adult if not a child swollen with age.”

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