as i see it - Pt. I

[ara baliozian]

MEMO TO JACK S. AVANAKIAN

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

You say you are proud to be an Armenian.

The question is: Is Armenia proud of you?

 

You say we have no use for critics, and I say we have no use for jackasses. But since I cannot silence you and you cannot silence me, we are destined to be a source of irritation to one another…and may the best man (or jackass) win.

 

You say we have no use for men of thought, only for men of action.

A tentative definition of a jackass: anyone who acts without thinking.

 

I will not tell you who and what you are because I suspect you already know; but I will tell you what you appear to be…: and that, my friend, is not a very edifying spectacle.

 

When God created man He said unto him: ""Thou shalt not lie, because if you do, your nose will grow longer." When the devil heard this, he went up to the man and said: "Follow me and the size of your nose will remain constant." And since then, God worship has been replaced with devil-worship.

[ara baliozian]

POLITICS

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

Whenever in a political discussion one side assumes to have truth on his side, you can be sure of one thing: that discussion will inevitably degenerate to a tribal or partisan exchange of received ideas, slogans, clichés, insults and threats.

There is no such thing as truth in politics.

Politics is driven not by scientific theory or theological dogma but by self-interest, loyalty, rhetoric, prejudice, ignorance, and anecdotal evidence. Forgetting this amounts to surrendering reason to emotion.

 

Between a bad reconciliation and eternal conflict, reconciliation – even one that may be detrimental to our long-range interests – is to be preferred.

 

Leon-Paul Fargue: "One cannot argue unless one is in agreement, and then only on points of detail."

 

The nobler the idea or ideology, the more crooks it will attract.

 

War is declared by optimists. It is the same with all human confrontations: at the beginning, ignorance and optimism; at the end, tragedy but not always wisdom.

[ara baliozian]

NOTES / COMMENTS

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

It is true that I don’t always practice what I preach. That’s because I think in high altitudes and live in valleys.

 

The aim of discussion is compromise, and the aim of compromise is consensus. But this only in a civilized environment. Among barbarians and Armenians, the aim of discussion is disagreement, and the aim of disagreement is insults, threats, feud and eternal conflict.

 

So what if Armenian writers have been ignored, starved and silenced? Who after all cares how a scribbler is treated? But a power structure that has no use for critics and dissidents, very much like starving dog by the gate of a palace, means a kingdom in deep merde.

 

Bertrand Russell: "When people are mistaken as to what is to their own interest, the course that they believe to be wise is more harmful to others than the course that really is wise."

 

When I was young I entertained many ambitions. But old age has taught me humility and acceptance of my own limitations. My main goal in life now is to puncture the swollen egos of our self-satisfied swine. As for changing things: I leave that to our megalomaniacal morons with messianic ambitions.

 

Being Armenian looks easy only in Saroyan’s fiction. In reality it is such a demanding enterprise that most Armenians give up the effort and assimilate.

[ara baliozian]

OBSERVATIONS

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

So what if I repeat myself? Who doesn’t? My question is: when was the last time you went up to one of our speechifiers, sermonizers, panchoonies, partisans and charlatans and told him he is recycling the same old crap?

 

Crap is crap no matter how you slice it. Turkish propaganda is to me as bad as Armenian propaganda. I will go further and say, Armenian propaganda is worse because we have fewer reasons to lie than they. Our lies are the lies of bunglers; their lies are the lies of killers. But what motivates them to lie is the same: fear of truth and fear of exposure.

 

All eternal conflicts are extensions of lies. Honest men tend to reach an agreement sooner or later. It is charlatans who wallow in eternal conflict and controversy. In crime, cherchez la femme. In controversy, cherchez la merde.

[ara baliozian]

THE HARD PART

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

To search for the truth,

to find it,

to understand its ramifications and implications,

to put it into words with some degree of accuracy,

to find someone willing to publish or broadcast it:

these things require commitment, honesty,

perseverance, dedication, and courage,

all of which are, relatively speaking, easy.

What’s hard is convincing others.

What’s harder is convincing crooks and liars.

What’s unheard of is convincing charlatans

who have been brainwashed to believe

God is on their side.

But what is impossible is convincing an Armenian

who has made up his mind.

[ara baliozian]

NOTES / COMMENTS

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

To believe in a false god is worse than atheism.

 

To those who accuse me of anti-Armenianism, I say: I am critical of Armenians only when I compare what we could have been with what we have become.

 

To those who say I am critical of Armenian institutions, I say: Name a single Armenian institution that enjoys the respect (as opposed to the contempt and hostility) of all other Armenian institutions; or, name a single Armenian institution that enjoys more than 5% community support.

 

For a brainwashed person, it is impossible to tell the difference between what he really thinks and feels and what he thinks he should feel and think. De-program a brainwashed Armenian chauvinist charlatan and the chances are you will expose a Turkish cobra

[ara baliozian]

MESSAGE

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

The unspoken message in most arguments: "Be like me!"

 

WINDOWS

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

The eyes are the windows of the soul: which may explain why most people look better in dark glasses.

 

CHARITY

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

Charity is a symptom of injustice and very often it does nothing but legitimize corruption and contribute to the degradation of the oppressed.

 

HAIKU

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

I can singe better than Pavarotti

said the braying jackass

and the tone-deaf vipers

hissed their agreement.

 

Q

********

What could be more absurd than to say: "My patriotism is good but my enemy’s patriotism is bad."

 

Q/A

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

"Why don’t you say something nice about Armenians?"

"Why should I add my whisper to the loud chorus of a hundred hirelings singing the same tune?"

 

STAGES

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

Stage I: I understand Armenians. I don’t understand Turks.

Stage II: I don’t understand Armenians.

Stage III: I am beginning to understand Armenians and, through them, Turks.

[ara baliozian]

LABELS

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

Sometimes we tend to forget that to be a good Armenian one must first be a good human being; and to be a good human being one must first be a human being.

 

What does it take to be a good Armenian?

First and foremost, an undying hatred for all Turks.

But an Armenian hating a Turk is only a label hating another label.

 

How to create a serial killer?

Easy! Take an ordinary, law-abiding, decent citizen and give him a label, a uniform, and a machine gun. If it weren’t for such law-abiding citizens, we would have had neither Nazi Germany nor Soviet Russia.

 

Take an ordinary decent Armenian, give him a label (Tashnak, Ramgavar, Communist) and watch him divide, fragment, and ultimately destroy the nation.

 

Placing labels above humanity is the source of all evil.

Labels suppress our humanity and unleash our animal nature.

Labels dehumanize.

Massacres are committed not by human beings but dehumanized labels.

 

And now the solution.

Whenever you have to choose between what’s good for the Party and what’s good for the nation, choose the nation; and when you have to choose between what’s good for the nation and what’s good for mankind, choose mankind.

[ara baliozian]

SHISH-KEBAB WISDOM

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

Whenever, during a conversation with a fellow Armenian, I hear him quoting his grandmother, I know we have reached a dead and nothing of any use will be said after that.

Once, after reading the tenth or twentieth grandmother story in ARARAT Quarterly, I asked Leo Hamalian (the editor) why is it that we are being bombarded with so many old wives’ tales, he said: "Because Armenian grandmothers have played an important role in our lives."

What about the role that our writers have played? Why is it that we don’t quote Raffi, Baronian, Odian, Zohrab, Shahnour, Zarian, Massikian and many others who spent most of their lives thinking and writing about our problems and said some very insightful things that are as valid today as they were in their own time.

We brag about literature and culture but when it comes to solving our problems we quote our grandmothers.

Our grandmothers!

Not even our grandfathers.

And speaking of grandparents: I never knew my paternal ones; and all I remember of my maternal grandmother is that she spent most of her time in the kitchen. As for my grandfather: he was too busy trying to survive in a hostile environment to have any time to share his wisdom with us; either that or he was too honest to pontificate on the meaning of life and death or the ways of the wise man and the ways of the schmuck by delivering inane clichés as if they were pearls of wisdom.

[ara baliozian]

CONFESSION

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

When I was young I too was a loud-mouth know-it-all smart-aleck wise guy who felt fully qualified to contradict, criticize, attack and even insult far better men than myself. And now God is punishing me….

 

ENIGMA

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

I am hated most by Armenians who say "Armenians are a loving people."

Figure that one out if you can.

 

RULES / EXCEPTIONS

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

As soon as you make a rule you are confronted with an exception.

As soon as you make up your mind about an Armenian, be prepared to be surprised. I am now talking about exceptional Armenians. No such luck with Armenian institutions, which, throughout our millennial history, have remained consistent in their predictability and in their mutual intolerance, hostility, fragmentation, self-mutilation, and incompetence.

 

SMILE

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

And then there is the Armenian who speaks as if he were a representative of the nation; and though only self-appointed, he speaks as if he were elected by acclamation.

[elovna]

Don't be sad Thorny Rose.
Time for our period! Let's meet in a multi cultural bar and have it together.



Pachikner!

[ September 10, 2001: Message edited by: Aghtchik ]

[ThornyRose]

Damn if I don't have that feeling... (((:
/cgi-bin/forum/ultim...15&t=000061&p=2

[ara baliozian]

THUS SPAKE JACK S. AVANAKIAN

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

I love my fellow Armenians but when anyone of them starts speaking about politics, I can’t help thinking: "Behold an imbecile who thinks he is a statesman of vision!"

 

It is always advisable to introduce a nasty remark about Armenians (like the one above) with the declaration, "I love my fellow Armenians!" Armenians love to hear that they are loved and they are easily taken by empty verbiage so long as it’s in their favor.

 

Where everyone – pundits, semi-pundits, laymen with single-digit IQs – pontificate like statesmen, the result will be chaos and paralysis – present company suspected….

 

Almost every day I come across an Armenian who thinks he can solve all the problems of the world. One is justified to wonder: Why is it that with so many experts we have so far failed to shed our tribalism? The answer must be: Tribalism is the best -ism! Nations, empires and continents of the world, shed your nationalism, imperialism, and continental-unionism and tribalize, you have nothing to lose but your pervert preference for prosperity, peace and progress.

[ara baliozian]

REGARDLESS OF NATIONAL ORIGIN

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

I loathe people who use other people as a means to an end.

I loathe liars but what I loathe even more are dupes who are taken in by lies.

I loathe people who mix religion with politics and I consider them the most dangerous people on earth.

I loathe old men who teach their young to kill innocent women and children in the name of Truth, God, or Allah.

I loathe all talk of an afterlife.

I loathe people who are shameless and arrogant enough to speak in the name of God.

I loathe people who say "My lies are better than yours," as if to lie and to believe in lies – and ultimately to kill and die in the name of lies – were the only way to live.

When I think of such people, I love animals even more – including rats, scorpions and tarantulas.

[Harut]

you just could have said "i'm atheist and loathe all religious people".
as simple as that.

[ September 12, 2001: Message edited by: Harut ]

[ara baliozian]

MEMO

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

To those of my readers

who think I am an idiot

and continue to read and insult me

(why would anyone read an idiot?

What’s the merit in insulting an idiot?

Or asserting one’s intellectual superiority over one?)

I say:

You and your kind have been and continue to be

my main sources of inspiration

because you epitomize everything

that has gone wrong with our character and ethos.

Please keep reading and inspiring me

because – and here I would like to adopt

a plumber’s slogan:

YOUR CRAP IS MY BREAD AND BUTTER.

[ara baliozian]

AXIOMS

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

There is a lunatic in all of us.

 

Most of us behave sanely most of the time

not because we are 100% sane

but because we are capable of suppressing our lunatic fraction.

 

All nations, societies and organizations

generate their lunatic fringe

or individuals who cannot suppress their lunatic fraction.

 

Intolerance, prejudice, hatred, wars and massacres

are promoted and committed by the lunatic fringe.

 

To support one lunatic fringe against another

in the name of God, patriotism, or ideology is to legitimize lunacy.

 

Terrorists belong to the lunatic fringe of mankind.

 

Terrorists have more to fear from their counterparts

(terrorists in the opposite or enemy camp)

than by any lawfully elected power structure, regime, administration, or state.

 

Q/A

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

"Before the U.S. overreacts by bombing countries suspected of harboring terrorists, it should allow the truth to come out through the justice system, slow as it may be."

 

Yes, of course! But what if the truth never comes out? And what if inaction promotes more terrorism?

 

"The U.S. is guilty of imperialism and it deserves what it gets by the oppressed fraction of mankind."

 

Would the world be a more peaceful and civilized place if, instead of the U.S., the dominant power were Russia, China, Iraq or Syria?

In what way a self-appointed Middle-Eastern or African dictator is morally superior to a democratically elected American president?

 

[ September 13, 2001: Message edited by: Garo ]

[dragon]

INCH MNATS

***********

Hazaravor anmeghneru poshyatsumen ou miliaravor donalnerou hots tsntumen yedk inch mnats mer ashkharhin?

 

Mnats martu ir kazanoutiamp, mnats tsav ou darabank.

 

Mnats martun tserkov martun gordzanman norakouyn nmoushu, yerpek chhintsogh martgayin vayrakoutiunu...

 

Martu` kerin ir pnaztnerun.

Martu` badjaru ir gordzanumin.

 

...Dagavin chhashvadz kalik aghedneru.

[ara baliozian]

AXIOMS / #7

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

Extremists are at the root of all feuds, conflicts, wars and massacres.

 

Extremists come in all sizes and shapes; the most dangerous are the ones who consider themselves moderates.

 

To adopt an extremist position and to recycle propaganda might as well be synonymous.

 

To adopt a set of moral values is easy; what is impossible is to impose them on someone who has already adopted a different set of values.

 

To assert moral superiority and to sermonize is easy; what is infinitely more difficult is to understand reality.

 

When a man says God is on my side, what he really means is the Devil.

 

Sermonizers or those who speak in the name of God are a dime a dozen; those who see all aspects of a problem objectively can be counted on the fingers of a leper.

 

Extremists cannot come to terms with their counterparts because they will agree on only one thing: total war and extermination. Moderates make better negotiators. Dissidents the best.

 

To adopt an uncompromisingly pro- or anti- position is to legitimize the lunatic fringe and to contribute to war and massacre.

[ara baliozian]

MORE…

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

Since the good-guys and bad-guys view of life belongs to Hollywood and isthus of American origin, I find it especially ironic that anti-Americans have adopted it as their own.

 

All arguments that prove one side morally superior to another will convince no one but the morally and intellectually inferior.

 

The truly superior don’t brag.

 

To brag is a symptom of inferiority.

 

Man asserts moral superiority only when he behaves like swine.

 

I don’t believe in the moral superiority of Armenians. I don’t see why I should see moral superiority in anyone else.

 

No one has ever come up with a remotely plausible argument that tries to prove a Zulu, a Chechen, or a Saudi empire would be more humane than any other empire.

[ara baliozian]

THE LINE

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

It happens all the time. A serial killer is arrested and friends, neighbor and coworkers come forward to say he can’t be the one; the police made a mistake; they knew him; he was so kind and considerate….And, after the trial and conviction (or confession), as he waits on death row, women fall in love with him and propose marriage. I once saw such a woman being interviewed on television. At first I didn’t know who she was and took her for a lawyer or an investigative reporter: she was young, attractive, intelligent, articulate. But gradually it became clear she had fallen in love with a savage serial killer of women and had married him shortly before his execution.

We all have childhood traumas and grievances. Speaking for myself, I could make a long list of them, beginning with the Turks, the Germans, the Greeks, not to say our own political leadership for its incompetence, lies, and cynical re-writing of history from which they emerge as the only good guys in a world of bloodthirsty savages and ruthless manipulators.

All losers have grievances against the world: the Negroes, the Jews, the Gypsies, the Irish, the Untouchables of India, the French against the Germans and vice versa….The Balkans, the Middle East, the Caucasus and Africa may be said to be veritable vipers’ knots of ethnic, tribal and family grievances, feuds and vendettas. And then there are the homosexuals, the lesbians, the perverts, all of whom have been or consider themselves to have been misunderstood and rejected; and let’s not forget the poor and the exploited…. But not all of them become serial killers or terrorists; though some do and always with the support of a few who are probably as unbalanced as they but are also too cowardly or calculating to turn into killers because somewhere along the line they have decided they have a better chance to survive and prosper as law-abiding citizens as opposed to making an exit with a bang. And this is exactly the line that separates the overwhelming majority of mankind from its lunatic fringe: the awareness that life with grievances is better than death without them.

[ara baliozian]

DOUBLE TALK

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

"I don’t approve of what happened in New York!"

But if the U.S. is as bad as you say it is, why not?

 

 

"Let’s not retaliate. Let’s forgive. Because if we retaliate we will do to them what they have done to us, and then we will be as bad as they…."

But what if the terrorists stage another successful attack…and then another…. How much damage before these Christians convert to paganism and from paganism to barbarism? Because the number of genuine Christians is mighty few, and these few "may believe that they believe but they don’t believe" (Sartre).

 

 

"The American press is not objective."

Of course not. The American press is an expression of its ethos, interests, and power structure. The American press can never be as objective about American affairs as, say, the Patagonian or Hottentot press. But then, the same applies to any other press. We may have an objective press only on the day the Good Lord decides to venture into journalism, but even He will be accused of bias by the devil.

And the American press is free only in the sense that dissenting voices are allowed free expression.

 

DOUBLE TALK

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

"I don’t approve of what happened in New York!"

But if the U.S. is as bad as you say it is, why not?

 

 

"Let’s not retaliate. Let’s forgive. Because if we retaliate we will do to them what they have done to us, and then we will be as bad as they…."

But what if the terrorists stage another successful attack…and then another…. How much damage before these Christians convert to paganism and from paganism to barbarism? Because the number of genuine Christians is mighty few, and these few "may believe that they believe but they don’t believe" (Sartre).

 

 

"The American press is not objective."

Of course not. The American press is an expression of its ethos, interests, and power structure. The American press can never be as objective about American affairs as, say, the Patagonian or Hottentot press. But then, the same applies to any other press. We may have an objective press only on the day the Good Lord decides to venture into journalism, but even He will be accused of bias by the devil.

And the American press is free only in the sense that dissenting voices are allowed free expression.

[ara baliozian]

REFLECTIONS

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

It never pays to argue with an infallible person. It’s worst than a waste of time. You have a better chance to make a dent into a cement wall by butting your head against it. Of course no one asserts to be infallible, except perhaps the Pope of Rome. But I have yet to meet an ideologue, a self-appointed pundit, a phony expert on any given subject, or an ordinary kibitzer with a "philosophy" (meaning a collection of hackneyed slogans and clichés) willing to admit error. Error in insignificant and meaningless things, yes. Error in important matters, never!

 

It all begins with the introduction of morality, right and wrong, truth and God into a political argument. That’s a signal of infallibility. And when there are two sides unwilling to admit error because they have right, truth, morality or God on their side, you will have irreconcilable differences that will eventually erupt into open conflict, war, and the massacre of the innocent. Perhaps humility or the ability to admit error should be seen as the greatest cardinal virtue.

 

I never much cared for Americans and Arabs perhaps because I prefer to think of individuals rather than nations. I may be in a position to form a more or less clear view of a person or someone I know, but how can I judge a nation when most of them are no better than abstractions to me? This much said however, let me add that the more I read anti-American propaganda the more I like Americans. But I regret to say I cannot say the same about the pro-Arab drivel I have been exposed to recently. As for their mullahs with the beards, turbans, Korans and machine guns: I find them positively repellent.

 

An Afghan on American TV: "When you hear the word Taliban, think of Nazis. When you hear the name Bin Laden, think of Hitler."

[ara baliozian]

BLUNDERS

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

To ignore reality by adopting a set of moral or political values as infallible has been the source of some of the most catastrophic blunders in the history of mankind.

It is the easiest thing in the world to pronounce pro- and con- views on any given subject – everyone does it. What is infinitely more difficult is to understand the workings of reality.

Instead of asking who is right and who wrong, we should learn to ask: Which action will succeed and which is destined to fail? To stress the importance of a metaphysical system and to ignore reality’s matrix is to choose the easy way out leading to ignorance, fanaticism and hatred.

Two thousand years ago the Jews were wrong to challenge the might of the Roman Empire and to reject Christ. But human nature is such that the greater the blunder the louder the voices defending it. Which is why you will never hear an Orthodox Jew saying the Jews would have been better off as Christians.

What if the Armenian revolutionaries at the turn of the century in the Ottoman Empire had been more skeptical about the verbal commitments of the West? Our revolutionaries will never admit a blunder, of course. What they will do instead is take the easier option of assuming the stance of the morally superior by condemning the double-talk of the West and the savagery of the Turks thus condemning themselves to learn nothing from history.

Obviously, the Americans committed a serious blunder by underestimated the Arabs and the Arabs committed another blunder by underestimating American wrath. Will they learn from their blunders? The destiny of mankind may depend on the right answer to that question.

[ara baliozian]

VARIETIES OF ANTI-AMERICANISM

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

AMERICAN

Every American is critical of some aspect of America: the Conservatives because it’s too liberal; the Liberals because it’s not liberal enough; the Blacks because it’s racist; the skinheads because it’s not racist enough, and so on….

 

MARXIST

It consists in assembling all the negative aspects of American life and ignoring the positive.

 

PATHOLOGICAL

The kind that is rooted in America’s support of Israel and in that sense it might as well be a revival of Nazi-era anti-Semitism. Which is why I was not surprised in the least when I heard an Afghan say on American television: "If you hear the name Bin Laden, think of Hitler!"