as i see it (cont.) - Pt. II

[ara baliozian]

LEADERSHIP & ITS RESPONSIBILITIES

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

"A backward community

deserves a backward leadership,"

an angry reader writes, and goes on:

"Likewise, a divided nation

deserves a divided leadership.

What right do we have

to make unreasonable demands on our leaders

when we are ourselves

intolerant, petty, and narrow-minded?"

The answer is very simple:

We, all of us, have been assigned a role in society.

When I board a bus or a train or an airplane,

I trust my life into the hands of a total stranger

because I have every right to assume

he knows his business.

It is the same with leaders:

they too have their responsibilities.

They have no right to say:

"We are incompetent or backward

because the people don't deserve any better!"

If the people are corrupt,

it is the responsibility of the leadership

to combat corruption.

If the nation is divided,

it is the responsibility of the leadership

to enhance its solidarity

by inspiring the people with a common goal.

If we can make specific demands

on our bus drivers, nurses, janitors,

dentists, lawyers, doctors, and so on,

why not on our leaders

whose blunders may harm millions of innocent people?

[ara baliozian]

You have accused me of character assassination.

What utter nonsense!

Far worst things have been said about me

and i don't feel in the least harmed or assassinated.

You insult Egoyan's status as a critically acclaimed film director

by implying that a minor scribbler like myself

can harm his reputation in any way.

[Guest Fadi]

Ara, I always was against caracter assissinations, and this is why I stoped to attack you and even supported you. Yes worst things have been said against you, but thise does not justify your attack against him, yes he is an acclaimed director, and your critic will not harm him. It is for the principes here, you ask for honesty, then you should be honest with yourself and admit you were unfair with him, and attacked him wrongly. If you do that you will show yourself more respectable.

[ara baliozian]

SHOCK THERAPY

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

There is an old Armenian saying:

"If you are the worrying kind,

you will never run out of worries."

Likewise, if you are an honest man,

you will never run out of dishonest enemies.

And if you are an Armenian writer

you will never run out of killer-commissars.

And if you are a paranoiac

you will never run out of enemies.

Speaking of paranoia:

It was probably paranoia

that led some Armenian writers to say

"Treason and betrayal are in our blood" (Raffi);

and "Armenians survive by cannibalizing one another" (Zarian);

and "Even as they lament and moan about their crucifixion

they keep nailing us to the cross" (Zaroukian);

and "The miracle is not that we survived our enemies;

the real miracle is that we survived our leadership"

(I don't remember the source of that one).

On a more personal note:

I may try to reason with a critic

but I don't know how to deal with someone

who has developed a personal grudge against me

and all he is after is blood,

except perhaps to suggest that he

de-Ottomanize or de-Stalinize himself.

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

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

Propaganda relies on repetition.

Why shouldn't anti-propaganda employ the same tactic?

#

When an educational system is made compatible

with a propaganda line,

the result will be another generation disposed

to hate, kill, and die.

#

I grew up among survivors of massacres

who were not easily taken in by big words.

We had our share of speechifiers and sermonizers of course,

but as far as I can remember,

no one took them seriously.

Later, when I moved into a different circle,

I was shocked to discover that

my skepticism was offensive to some;

and now that I am old,

I am shocked to discover that

there is no limit to human credulity and naivetй.

#

I am now convinced a just cause

does not produce fanatics.

Rather, fanatics are born killers

in search of a cause that will legitimize their killer instincts.

Imperialism and nationalism,

as well as capitalism and communism,

have produced their share of killers.

Muslims have massacred giaours in the name of Allah,

as have Christians tortured and killed fellow Christians

in the name of Christ.

And then there are those who cannot kill a fly

without a twinge of guilt.

Figure that one out if you can.

[ara baliozian]

Wednesday, May 29, 2002

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

#

In a country of one-book readers,

he who has read two books

will think of himself as twice as smart

as his fellow countrymen.

#

Members of a lunatic fringe assume

(one) the silent majority is or will be on their side

and (two) their adversaries are misguided dupes:

two assumption impossible to disprove.

That’s how closed minds operate:

they rely on absurd notions impossible to refute.

#

A nation that produces many critics, quibblers,

kibitzers, and complainers,

will also produce leaders who ignore them.

#

A fanatic is one who thinks

if he screams loud enough

no one will notice the total absence of meaning

from what he says.

#

The greater the power or wealth

the more impenetrable the skull.

The deeper the Ottomanization

the more strident the patriotism.

[ara baliozian]

GOVGAS

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

CAUCASUS: IN THE WAKE OF WARRIORS.

By Nicholas Griffin

(London, 2001). 240 pages. Illustrated. Index. Bibliography.

This is a fascinating little book

with several chapters on Armenia and Karabagh

and many references to individual Armenians, among them

a sculptor called Sahak (spelled Saak)

"whose work of a great penis

riding a horse leaves Ilya [a friend of the author] agog."

The central character of the book is

Imam Shamil (1799-1871) a famous Caucasian warrior,

who, on first seeing monkeys,

is reported to have voiced the generally held Muslim view

that "they were Jews who had angered God."

In my view the most unforgettable book about

the Caucasus and Shamil is

Lesley Blanch’s SABRES OF PARADISE (New York, 1995)

which I have already read twice and plan to read again.

[ara baliozian]

may i remind you that all i said was:

"I am not surprised if he (Atom) too was brought up to believe that Turks were monsters."

or words to that effect. i see nothing wrong in that.

by the way, i have seen several of Egoyan's films

and i could never finish any of them...that's only one man's opinion.

so what? if i were to apologize to anyone whom i don't like, my life would be an endless series of apologies. What a waste!

[ara baliozian]

Thursday, May 30, 2002

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

#

I cling to my objectivity

the way others cling to their prejudices.

#

"The heart has its reasons

which reason cannot know," Pascal tells us;

and Sir Izaak Walton: "The stomach has no ears:

it cannot be persuaded."

The same could be said of other organs.

#

You cannot persuade a man that

what he believes in is wrong.

The very best you can hope to accomplish is

to seduce him into considering

the possibility of alternative beliefs,

and that only after assuring him

that his own brand of inbred moronism

is the greatest wisdom between heaven and earth.

#

The nobler the idea or ideology,

the more crooks it will attract.

#

To our Levantine philistines,

book-wise means life-foolish.

[ara baliozian]

LATER [30 May, 2002]

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

#

The difference between a critic and a killer-commissar is that

a critic relies on words and a commissar on bullets,

and in the absence of bullets, verbal abuse.

#

If what you say makes sense,

let your words speak louder than your emotions.

#

The more unwavering a man’s commitment

to his own self-interest,

the more altruistic the principles he pretends to espouse.

#

The words of an honest man don't need definitions;

but the commas of a crook should be carefully examined

under a microscope.

#

Even when our predictions come true

they do so in such an unexpected manner or context

that their accuracy becomes irrelevant.

[Sip]

Well, maybe with the exception of the ears themselves? Can ears have ears? ... and if so, can ears be persuaded?

[Sip]

But isn't it funny that those who read just 1 book think of themselves as infinitely as smart as those who didn't read any books?

 

Sorry, I have spent way too much time in the sun the past few days.

[ara baliozian]

Friday, May 31, 2002

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

#

It is widely known among citizens of a democracy

that politics is the second oldest profession

and that in many ways it resembles the first.

Fascists agree but they think this does not apply to fascism.

Which amounts to saying,

"Our bordello madams, unlike yours, are virgins."

#

The trouble with some of my critics is that

they don't consider me worthy of criticism.

Instead, they insist that I either give up writing

or change my views in such a manner as to jibe with theirs.

In short, they demand that I become a disciple and an echo.

Their disciple and their echo!

My critics are not literary critics in the usual sense of these words,

but messianic figures whose message is

"Abandon your ways and follow me,

for I am the only path to wisdom and salvation."

To such an Armenian to say anything but "Yes, master!"

would be apostasy leading to eternal damnation and hellfire.

#

Albert Memmi: "Every colonial nation

carries the seeds of fascist temptation in its bosom."

[ara baliozian]

LATER

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

A noted French philosopher (Merleau-Ponty)

once described the German occupation of France

during World War II, as being "raped by history."

How are we to describe our own experience?

After being gang-raped for 600 years

we were eviscerated?

Are we dead or alive?

A great many of us,

perhaps the best and the brightest, are dead.

As for the survivors:

it is not the best in them that survived,

but the worst.

I now speak from my own personal experience

based on my numerous encounters

with our bosses, bishops, benefactors

and their yes-men, flunkies, hirelings and dupes.

[ara baliozian]

Saturday, June 01, 2002

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

#

I once heard one of our notorious bloodsuckers say,

if he were to work for an odar organization,

he would make twice as much.

In nature, parasites do their work in silence;

among us, they demand our gratitude.

#

Literature: Art irritating life.

#

Among my readers,

I have critics (which is understandable),

enemies (which is less so),

and mortal enemies

(whose hatred of me is so visceral that

it might as well be Ottoman).

#

No one is infallible but some

love to wallow in their own fallibility

[ara baliozian]

Sunday, June 02, 2002

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

Where there is oppression,

there will be dissent.

Where there are lies,

there will also be love of truth.

And where there is propaganda,

there will also be anti-propaganda.

But propaganda will always be more popular

because it relies on prejudice, lies, fear,

self-interest, opportunism, ignorance,

simplification, flattery, conformism,

and a host of other human failings.

Which is why anti-propaganda

or love of truth

will at no time be as decisive a factor

in human affairs.

Which is also why history,

including our own – I should say, especially our own –

has been an endless catalogue of worst case scenarios:

Ottoman oppression, massacres, genocide,

dispersion, exodus, and assimilation.

[ara baliozian]

LATER [2 June, 2002]

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

Like most Armenians,

I have followed many controversies in our media,

and I have witnessed many more,

but I have at no time heard an Armenian say:

"I was wrong!" or, even better,

"I was dead wrong because I placed

my own ego, interests, family, political party,

church, or tribe above the interests of the nation."

[ara baliozian]

Monday, June 03, 2002

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

"Hatred," Gandhi said, "injures the haters,

never the hated."

Marx said something very similar when he asserted

capital dehumanizes not only the worker

but also the capitalist himself.

And now listen to Pope Pius XI:

"Dead matter leaves the factory ennobled and transformed,

whereas men are corrupted and degraded."

It is safe to assume that by "men" the Pope

didn't think of the workers only but also

their exploiters and society as a whole.

All this to suggest that we dehumanize the Turk

at the cost of dehumanizing not only ourselves,

and our communities,

but also our relationships with one another.

To see evidence of this

all one has to do is follow any intramural controversy

in our press or discussion forum on the internet,

including this one.

[ara baliozian]

p.m. / 3 June, 2002

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

#

Life is a harsh taskmaster and being a fool

is a luxury no one,

not even the most powerful man on earth,

can afford.

#

Dealing with fools is hard enough;

infinitely harder is dealing with a fool

who has been taken in by another fool,

especially if both fools have assessed themselves as

cunning operators with a triple-digit IQ.

#

A man who speaks in the name of patriotism

will invariably think of himself as infallible

as the Pope – a self-elected Pope.

#

The fascist mind comes in two parts:

the ideological and the criminal;

and the function of the ideological

is to camouflage the criminal.

#

Assessing oneself as infallible

may well be the surest symptom of terminal cretinism.

[ara baliozian]

ARMENIAN CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

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

#

All Turks, including the unborn, are bloodthirsty barbarians.

#

Jews are Nazis and Arabs their Jews.

#

Americans are the source of all evil.

#

The serpent in the Garden of Eden was a CIA agent.

#

Armenian dialogue: an exchange between two compatible monologues.

#

Love: hating the same enemy.

#

Underdogs are moral top dogs, and vice versa:

top dogs are moral underdogs.

#

All politicians are corrupt except our own.

#

Armenians are smart, including those

who are the useless idiots of a lunatic fringe.

#

Armenians are nice except those who disagree with me.

#

An Armenian who disagrees with me is worse than a Turk.

[ara baliozian]

Tuesday, June 04, 2002

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

#

In Shakespeare, we have the confident voice of a rising empire;

in Milton, one of the most eloquent defenders of free speech;

in Narekatsi, the ululations of a disintegrating kingdom;

in Sylva Kaputikian, a political opportunist and dupe

who operated on the assumption that

Sovietism was the universal religion of the future;

in Gostan Zarian, the whole gamut of Armenianism:

from intense nationalism bordering on chauvinism

to disenchantment, resignation, rage,

and the silence of despair and disgust.

#

Reason unites.

Emotion divides.

Reason unites because it is predictable

and it obeys laws of universal application.

We all agree that 2+2=4.

Emotion divides because it is unpredictable and inconsistent.

We all do not and cannot agree on matters

of taste, faith, or anything else that is outside reason’s orbit.

Even when we disagree,

reason tells us to agree to disagree,

because consensus

(which means working together rather than thinking alike)

is better than conflict.

I say therefore, Let us reason together.

[Sip]

Page 6, about 1/2 way down ... leave it to the Armenians to even argue about that one, eh?

[sen_Vahan]

"All Turks, including the unborn, are bloodthirsty barbarians."

 

Sorry, but it seems that you talk in the name of all the Armenians. Armenians thinking in that way are in minority.

 

"Jews are Nazis and Arabs their Jews."

 

???

 

"Americans are the source of all evil."

 

???

 

"The serpent in the Garden of Eden was a CIA agent."

 

Interesting... We are very progressive in our thoughts...

 

"All politicians are corrupt except our own."

 

Oh, no. Is that Canadian Armenian's opinion?

 

Vahan

[ara baliozian]

CONFESSIONS OF AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Left to his own devices,

a man is capable of learning, developing, and progressing.

But at the mercy of a ruthless master,

he will be gradually reduced to the level of a beast of burden.

The same applies to nations.

Which is exactly where we stand today.

Who is to blame?

Two possible answers:

(one) others;

(two) ourselves.

By "others" I mean factors beyond our control

(Turks, Russians, the West, conditions in America and so on…);

by "ourselves" I mean our own blunders, ignorance, and stupidity.

About the "others" we can do nothing except

talk, speculate, disagree, argue, shout, scream,

protest, plead, beg, make demands, demonstrate, march,

publish books, articles, and letters to the editor,

present petitions, buy influence by wasting millions on politicians,

and so on ad infinitum,

thus perpetuating our Ottoman and Soviet status

as subservient subjects forever dependent

on the goodwill of outsiders who may

or may not give a damn about us.

One reason I am against this

and in favor of accepting full responsibility

for our present state of disarray is that it gives us an out.

If we admit we made mistakes,

we can at least learn not to repeat them.

And because I have been saying this,

I have become an enemy of the people.

If, as they say, experiences teaches,

why is it that we have learned nothing?

[ara baliozian]

GETTING WISDOM

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

 

"If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise." St. Paul

 

 

 

Understanding reality is an endless process.

After millennia of thinking and research

some of the most important questions

in science and philosophy remain unanswered.

A partisan (and it makes no difference

if he is a religious or a political partisan)

is one who operates on the assumption

that he knows all he needs to know;

he has understood reality

or its most important aspects,

and all that remains to be done

is to gather more evidence

in order to strengthen his case.

He confuses a fraction of reality with reality,

his nation with mankind,

and one side of an issue with all of it.

He is a dogmatist and like all dogmatists

he is intolerant, narrow-minded,

self-righteous and prone to violence.

Even when he speaks for peace

and the brotherhood of all men

he is prepared to kill and die.

He is more of a preacher and propagandist

than an observer and a student.

Which is why arguing with a partisan

might as well be synonymous with making an enemy.