as i see it

Sunday, April 27, 2008
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ONE-LINERS
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Knowledge is for the wise, bliss for the ignorant.
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Ideas have heads but no bodies. Propaganda has body but no head - that's why it appeals to the brainless.
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If the kingdom of god is within us, so is the empire of the devil.
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After Socrates was tried, found guilty, and condemned to death, a mother was heard saying to her son: "This is what happens to disobedient boys."
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Memo to a Turkish denialist: "Not every Armenian born and raised on Ottoman soil is a compulsive and habitual liar."
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Monday, April 28, 2008
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BETWEEN POLARIZATION AND CONSENSUS
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The Turkey will not accede to Armenian demands even if it means never qualifying as a member of the EU for the simple reason that they stand to lose much more to the Armenians than profit from the Europeans; and the Armenians will never accept a simple apology for the even simpler reason that they consider it a worthless exercise in empty verbiage, and who can blame them? The obvious answer to this impasse is compromise, and the first step is a moratorium on all talk surrounding the controversy.
Before you say or write anything therefore ask yourself: will my words contribute to polarization or consensus?
Polarization is not an option because it depletes valuable resources and benefits neither side. This is true not only of Turks and Armenians but of all divisions and controversies in general regardless of race, color, and creed.
One does not have to be a prophet to predict that sometime in the near or distant future all the nations and tribes of the Middle East will realize that it is to their advantage to follow the example of the U.S. and the EU and live in peace and prosperity in a United States of the Middle East. This may happen around the same time that hell freezes over but it is bound to happen. Establishing who did what do whom is therefore not as important as what's the course of action that will benefit both sides.
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Thomas Fuller (17th-century English clergyman): "He that has no fools, knaves nor beggars in his family was begot by a flash of lightning."
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Ralph Waldo Emerson (19th-century American essayist): "All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
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A convincing explanation is one that flatters our vanity.
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A dogma is an assertion in search of its contradiction.
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The more intolerant a man is, the more tolerant of humbug he will be.
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In a letter to the editor in our local paper I read the following: “The essence of democracy is the lone individual, protected and defended by law, against all injustice perpetrated by another individual, group, or government.” I should like to see such a sentence written by an Armenian.
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One of the worst calamities that has befallen on Armenians after the Genocide is the Turcocentric ghazetaji who has conspired with his counterpart,the Turkish denialist, to reduce our Tragedy to a game of political football.
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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WHAT WE NEED
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We need editorials and commentaries that will remind us there is no such thing as freedom without freedom of speech, and that fear of free speech is the worst kind of cowardice.
We need psychologists who will analyze our phobias, expose the roots of our internecine conflicts, and the effects of long centuries of political oppression.
We need historians who will explain without nationalist or ideological bias what happened and why.
We need philosophers who will expose our contradictions and the gulf that exists between our propaganda and reality.
We need sociologists who will tell us the difference between a functional and a dysfunctional social order.
We need political scientists who will explain the difference between authoritarian and democratic power structures.
We need dissidents who will inform us that our speechifiers, sermonizers, and Turcocentric pundits are not in the business of solving problems but in perpetuating them.
We need literary critics who will tell us the central theme of our literature from Khorenatsi and Naregatsi to Raffi and Zarian has been our problems and their solutions.To say therefore “We need solutions,” is to admit total ignorance of our literature.
Most important of all, we need gentlemen who will say, “Gentlemen, let us behave more like gentlemen!”
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