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

[Hyeflyer]

To Sen-VahnSome day I hope you will learn the catagories are all artificial.It is quite simple to surive and keep your identity out side of your homeland.First your parents and grandparents tell you repeatedly you identity and your name carries your identity.Then your children ask where did we come from so you repeat the cycle and tell them repeatedly like your forebearers.The cycle continuesas long as there is a will to teach and a question to be asked.

[Hyeflyer]

To AraSorry to have caused so much fuss about nothing.Keep dreaming of a better world.

[ara baliozian]

ISLAM

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

John Selden (1650): "The Turks tell their People of a Heaven where there

is a sensible Pleasure, but of a Hell where they shall suffer they don't

know what. The Christians quite invert this order; they tell us of a Hell

where we shall feel sensible Pain, but of a Heaven where we shall enjoy

we can't tell what."

TRANSLATION

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

Islam promises good food and sex. Christianity, inconceivable bliss on

invisible clouds to the accompaniment of unheard of music – no, not even

the final movement of Brahms’s 4th conducted by Furtwaengler or the first

movement of Mahler’s 5th conducted by Bruno Walter, perhaps even (and why

not?) by Mahler himself.

GOOD FOOD AND SEX

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

There you have the explanation why Islam today produces many more heroes

and martyrs than Christianity.

HEROES AND MARTYRS

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

Mostly horny young buggers. Shakespeare is right to say that youth should

be outlawed because all it’s good for is impregnating wenches.

BLISS

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

My definition: The awareness that one is no longer dependent on the

charity of swine and on the approval of fools.

FAITH

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

Samuel Butler (NOTEBOOKS): "What is faith but a kind of betting or

speculation after all? It should be: ‘I bet my Redeemer liveth.’"

IMPREGNATING WENCHES

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

Shakespeare (THE WINTER’S TALE): "I would there were no age between

sixteen and three-and-twenty; for there is nothing the between but

getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting,

drinking."

[ara baliozian]

REPLY

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

A reader writes:

"How can you say or imply that Turks and Armenians are 99% alike

simply because scientists say all men are 99% alike?

Compare their contributions to culture to ours!"

Empires don't emphasize individual contributions,

only contributions to its administration

or, at best, to its entertainment.

This is true of the Ottoman Empire as well as

of the Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Soviet, and American empires.

In their Golden Age (5th century BC) the Greeks,

or rather, the Athenian Empire,

executed Socrates and forced Plato as well as Aristotle into exile.

Some of Rome’s ablest men

were either assassinated or ordered to commit suicide,

among them Cicero, Petronius, and Seneca the Philosopher.

The Byzantine Empire produced more famous generals

(most of them Armenian or half-Armenian)

than poets and philosophers.

We all know what happened to Soviet literature under Stalin.

In the United States today, basketball players and Hollywood stars

are more highly appreciated than intellectuals.

(Clark Gable on first meeting William Faulkner:

"What’s your line of work, Mr. Faulkner?")

And what about our own Mikoyan, Gulbenkian, and Deukmejian?

What is their contribution to Armenian or any other culture?

And yet, the average Armenian knows more about them

than about Arthur Adamov and Nina Berberova.

[sen_Vahan]

Dear highflyer,

Do all Armenians outside Armenina know their own language (read,write,speak)? Maybe 50 % know or 30 % ? So, it turns out not to be so simple as you think to survive.

As Russians say: "Pobegdaet seredina i posredstvennost'." (about your model Armenians)

Vahan

[ara baliozian]

BROTHERS

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

Why is it that highly sophisticated writers

like Krikor Zohrab and Rouben Sevak

(a lawyer and doctor respectively)

trusted in the ultimate goodness of the Turks

even after the massacres of 1894-96 and 1909?

Were they taken in by Turkish cunning?

Did they underestimate the evil that we say is inborn in all Turks?

Why is it that even a sensitive observer like Zabel Yessayan

(born and raised in Istanbul but educated in Paris)

believed that not all Turks are alike and there are good and bad Turks?

During and after World War II

it was fashionable to divide Germans into good and bad Germans.

Thomas Mann disagreed.

He said the good and bad German was one and the same.

He went further and published an essay about Hitler

whom he called "A Brother" (the title of the essay).

I suppose we, all of us, have something

of the good and bad German (or Turk) in us.

Why else so many of our own writers would say that

our worst enemy is us?

On the day we learn to speak of Turks as our brothers

or at least as our half-brothers

(some of whom may well qualify as such)

we may have a far better chance to settle our differences with them.

But if we keep on calling them killers, murderers,

butchers, and bloodthirsty Asiatic barbarians,

even the good Turks (if they exist)

may be justified in saying

"We cannot negotiate with people who hate us" --

in the same way that I myself

find it extremely difficult to reason with readers

who call me an ass, a moron, a jerk, an idiot, a shithead,

and a son of a whore.

[sen_Vahan]

my uncle's best friend in Russia is Turkish.Actually, it is strange for me to hear or read that Armenians consider Turks to be killers. As for me, that is something not real. Armenians like Turkish music,the kitchen,....Moreover, Armenians in Russia work a lot with Azeri people in commerce, business. Armenia needs good relations with Turkey, but the problem of Genocide should also be solved anyhow. The problem is not only in Armenians.

Vahan

[ara baliozian]

ON RACISM

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

In a French dictionary of philosophy

I read the following definition of racism:

"A belief that

(1) there are definable human races;

(2) the races are unequal; and (3) superior races have an inherent right

to control the destiny of inferior races."

The article goes on to say that

biology does not recognize clearly definable races

and that such things as skin-color and cranial shapes

are morphologically discernible but biologically imprecise tools.

As for IQ criteria: they do not reveal any systematic inequalities.

Whites may have a weaker physical constitution than Blacks,

and Blacks may not be as intellectually endowed as Whites,

but these do not in any way affect their potential for development.

Racism that discriminates is a universally condemned moral aberration.

As a rule, racism is a byproduct of authoritarian societies

that impose on their citizens

rigid definitions of what is right and wrong;

and that when positively seen human differences

may enhance our understanding of ourselves and our fellow men.

Which may explain why

as I view my fellow Armenians more objectively,

I begin to understand Turks better.

[Twilight Bark]

I will not address the middle-school level discussion about races. I will also try to restrain myself from smirking when I clearly remember Mr. Baliozian's essentially racist views of Arabs and Middle Easterners in general. However, I will say that Mr. Baliozian's pedestrian monologues, which are as trivial as his ancient books of cheap propaganda, might go some way in explaining why Armenians don't trust or value their "intellectual"s. If Mr. Baliozian is anywhere near the best that the Armenian diaspora offers in the way of "intellectual/writer", we are in big trouble. And we probably are.

[ February 22, 2002: Message edited by: Twilight Bark ]

[ara baliozian]

TRANSFORMATIONS

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

1.

When an Armenian assesses himself,

he is as a rule the soul of understanding, compassion, and generosity.

When he assesses another

(and it makes no difference if the other is a Turk or an Armenian)

he turns into Jack the Ripper.

2.

After praying to a "compassionate and merciful Allah,"

a fanatic Muslim feels fully justified to murder innocent civilians.

3.

Giambattista Vico:

"Crowded city life produces men who are unbelievers,

who regard money as the measure of all things,

and who lack moral qualities, particularly modesty….

Emancipated from ethics generally,

they live by mutual spying and deceit."

4.

Why is it that man hungers to assert superiority over his fellow man

even when in the process he runs the risk of making an ass of himself?

I once met an Armenian who,

when he ran out of things to brag about,

he started bragging about his grandmother.

He went further.

To emphasize his grandmother’s superiority,

he felt the need to degrade my own grandmother

about whom, it must be noted,

he knew nothing.

5.

I repeat: Why would anyone volunteer to make an ass of himself?

The answer must be:

When you assess yourself as morally and intellectually superior,

it follows, as night follows day,

that you can do no wrong.

You might as well be more Catholic than the Pope,

more Bolshevik than Stalin,

and more Magnificent than Suleiman.

[Hyeflyer]

To T.B.You have siad we feed from the crumbs of Aras intelectual table.I see you are still at the table.

To Ara please seve up the next course.

[Guest Fadi]

TB, you should lets Ara write whatever he want.

 

Do he answer you ? Why do you need to write ? Everyone is "habituated" of his writings right now, and many Armenians do need that slap in the face.

[ara baliozian]

MEMO TO A YOUNG ARMENIAN WRITER

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

1.

If you play it safe and write about birds serenading the moon

or the eternal snows of Mt. Ararat,

be prepared to be called a vodanavorji and ignored.

If, on the other hand,

you decide to live dangerously and analyze our present situation

with some degree of objectivity,

be prepared to be reviled by readers

who cannot chew gum and fart at the same time.

2.

And remember, if an Armenian doesn't like what you write,

he will insult not only you but also your grandmother.

A wounded beast will attack anyone that goes near him;

and what are we if not open wounds in search of victims?

And who could be a safer victim than a dead grandmother?

3.

To the next reader who plans to insult my grandmother,

please be informed that the one on my father’s side

died 70 years ago;

and the other, on my mother’s side, 39 years ago.

4.

So far I mentioned the negatives.

For the sake of balance let me mention one of the fringe benefits

you may look forward to: namely, the remote

– make it, the extremely remote –

possibility of posthumous immortality,

which in our context means

that one or two eccentrics may remember your name

after you drop dead or at best

quote one of your lines which may not even be yours.

[ara baliozian]

PROFESSIONAL SECRETS

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

If a Jew wants to succeed in opera,

he acquires an Italian name –

or so I was told by a Jew once.

If he wants to succeed in ballet

s/he acquires a Russian name.

If he wants to succeed as a Flamenco dancer,

he adopts a Spanish name.

In Hollywood, he is given an Anglo-Saxon name.

If an Armenian wants to succeed,

I was told by an Armenian,

s/he marries a Jew.

If these friends are right, it follows that,

when an ambitious Armenian marries another Armenian,

the organist should play not the Wedding March but a dirge.

TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK

(IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING)

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

To all those who at one time or another

have attacked or insulted me, I say:

"Thank you for being a source of inspiration to me.

Next time you see a reference to your person in one of my essays,

please rest assured that you are not an incipient paranoiac."

FOR THE SUGGESTION BOX

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

One of our dime-a-dozen experts on any given subject

with particular emphasis on Turkish-Armenian relations

informs me:

"The reason why you are a failure as a writer is that

you lack the diplomatic touch."

Aha! I thought.

That may well be why so far we have failed to convince

the Turks, among others, that our genocide

is not a figment of our morbid imagination but a historic fact.

What we need is more diplomacy.

Next time we raise the issue,

let’s remember to say "Please!"

or "Pretty lease!!"

or even "Please with sugar on it!!!"

[sen_Vahan]

Dear Ara Baliozian,

If it was not a joke then what a Jew does when he wants to become a King? Or a philosopher?

Comparing Jews and Armenians in that sense doesn't seem to be reasonable - Armenians is a nation, Jews a superethnos(see the differences by Gumilev L.N.). It is hard to define who is the Jew today. If a Russian Jew

wants to become a Flamenko dancer he/she will look like.... He/she can be a opera singer because of some Russian origin.

Oh, some people in this page again will think I am making differences between peoples. But what can you do, they ARE different.

Thank you,

Vahan

[Hyeflyer]

To VahanThe catagories that you view people in are Real To You.But that does not make them a reality to others.It also makes them neither right or wrong .It only shows how You persieve things to be. It is nothing to be ashamed of by showing how you persieve things.

[sen_Vahan]

To highflyer/ That's right.But it is also important how these people think of themselves. Don't you think so?

Vahan

[Twilight Bark]

Consider me a consumer rights advocate . On the other hand, we get what we pay for. I somehow get the feeling that you are implying "If you don't like it, then get out of here". Same could be said to Mr. Baliozian. But I wouldn't say it. I'm trying to encourage him to be a better writer and a better thinker. I realize it is futile. So I hereby give up.

If you do enjoy his writings, by all means keep on gobbling them up. If he provides justification for your choices, and makes you feel comfortable, all the better. However, I have no interest in easy solutions and intellectual slumber.

[Twilight Bark]

Dear Domino,

Who am I to "let" him write or not write? He needs no permission from me. Every now and then I critique what he writes, that is all.

Does he answer me? No. He has never addressed the inconsistencies and logical fallacies in his writings that I exposed earlier. Does that somehow make him immune to criticism?

I don't "need" to write. He doesn't "need" to write. You don't "need" to write. We "need" to eat, breathe, sleep, and go to the bathroom. The rest, we choose to do. What is your point?

It is true that Mr. Baliozian is part of the background noise, and largely ignored. I usually write when someone posts something to the effect of suggesting that what he writes has a profoundness of some sort.

It is also true that many chauvinist Armenians do need a slap on the face. However, they are exactly the audience he does not reach, because of their mutual loathing and hatred. What Mr. Baliozian offers is not "tough love", because he utterly lacks it. What he accomplishes is to provide self-justification and comfort to the assimilated/alienated, and a lot of misinformation to the gullible. That bothers me.

However, I do have a life, and very limited time and resources. You are probably corect that these are better invested elsewhere.

Bon nuit,
Twilight Bark

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: Twilight Bark ]

[Guest Fadi]

I think you misundertoud me a little.

 

What I mean by this is.

 

When Ara post he dosn't care what others will right, he do even not answer the critics. Your posts to him will not change anything concerning what he think.

 

And more then this, do Ara believe what he write ? This is the billion dollar question that we will never have answer to, and since he is an artist I wonder if himself know the answer to that question.

 

I take Ara writing as artistic sarcastic works, that I read when I have nothing other to do, and want to have some fun, only the fact that you answer him prove that OR, you are interested to what he write.

 

Now about the fact that the Armenians that need a slap on the face don't read him, then any further need for him to scream more...

[sen_Vahan]

Critics may be pretty different. Agayan and Raffi were always critisizing each other like enemies. Maybe it is not my business but in my opinion Twilight Bark is very intellectual critic.It is interesting for me to read Ara as well as T.B.'s ideas about Ara's thoughts.

T.B., critisizm as you know is the best inspiration source for the writer as well as for the philosopher.

My respect,

Vahan

[ara baliozian]

Monday, February 25, 2002

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

The poor want to be rich.

The rich want to be richer.

Those who are resigned to their status

resent those who aren't.

The crooks resent the honest

and the honest itch to expose the crooks.

We all have an angle, an agenda, or a score to settle.

Some have a fire in their belly,

others only the flicker of a candle

in the dungeons of their cold subconscious.

All of us share a conviction that we are ahead of the game,

we know better because we are better.

We say "There by the grace of God go I,"

and assume a holier-than-thou stance.

We justify our greed by saying

God helps those who help themselves,

and after asserting the existence of God

we proceed to do the devil’s work.

We are told to love one another by preachers

who subscribe to different sets of dogmas

and view one another as infidels, heretics, and charlatans.

We drown in doubts but deal in certainties.

We search for something which we pretend to be in our grasp.

What is one to make of this pandemonium?

Don't ask me because I don't know.

But I know this:

To say we are smart and we know better

is to condemn ourselves to be unteachable.

That’s because every transgression and crime

comes with its own inbuilt penalty.

To say we are better than Jews or Blacks

is to condemn ourselves to learn nothing

from the Jewish or Black experience.

The poor may want to be rich and the rich richer,

but the ignoramus appears to be satisfied with his own ignorance

which he calls wisdom.

[THOTH]

quote:

---

Originally posted by sen_vahan:
Critics may be pretty different. Agayan and Raffi were always critisizing each other like enemies. Maybe it is not my business but in my opinion Twilight Bark is very intellectual critic.It is interesting for me to read Ara as well as T.B.'s ideas about Ara's thoughts.
T.B., critisizm as you know is the best inspiration source for the writer as well as for the philosopher.
My respect,
Vahan

---

Good comments - I second them...not sure where it leaves us however...

I think that TB's critique of ARA is valid - though perhaps overstated - IMO. (and its just that - my opinion)

I think that Ara has a great deal of very worthwhile things to say - things - it seems to me - that many Amrenians need to hear. (though sometimes he reminds me of my mother - shrilly stating much of the same over and over - and no matter how [sometimes]obvious and often oblivious to the receptivity of the audience). That the very Armenians (majority?) who need this sort of message mostly shut him out is understood - and this divide is unfourtunate - but understandable - much as Artur and I talk past each other when it comes to matters of religion. Perhaps Ara could state his message differently - be less strident or offensive...possibly - though then he would not be himself I think...and I think TB is correct that Ara perhaps is not the complete package - but nobody is perfect. I also understand TBs frustration that the Armenian community seems unable to produce decent leadership (in any realm)...but is at east part of the problem the Armenian community itself - patently unable/unwilling to follow good advice? I don't think we lack (very)intelligent people - we seem to prosper in the arts, sciences and in business....so just what is it (characteristically) that prevents (and has prevented) the emergence of leaders - politically, philosophically etc from/for the Armenian community? And is it now too late? are we too divided, too different from one another because of our diverse backgrounds in the Diaspora - perhaps having more in common with our "host" nations than with ourselves? Is this it 0or is it something different? (I really don't know)

[sen_Vahan]

Rozanov once said:"Ya vsegda slushal,nabludal,molchal i beskonechno dumal.Molchal i dumal."

That was his style of responding to ideas - not telling anything but just keeping thinking. Poeple however are different, some just analyze others in addition respond strongly. Everything is valuable.

"V spore rogdaetsya istina"

Vahan

[Hyeflyer]

To T.B. we all have things to say.Yours are as important as others comments.I sit and read ,agree with some and try to analize the rest.I feel we are intruding on Ara.I do like to read his words and have NO intention of attacking what he or you write.Tell me what board to go to so we might axchange ideas.