opinions

Sunday, July 27, 2008
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WHO LOVES ARMENIANS?
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Not even Armenians.
Am I saying something you don't know?
Is it conceivable to say anything to an Armenian that he doesn't already know?
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There is no cure for stupidity and patriotism, surely, the most lethal combination in the history of mankind.
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Whenever there is talk of literature and Armenians, I am reminded of the Turkish saying: “Eshek khoshavdan ne annar?” (freely translated: “What the hell does a jackass know about stewed raisins?”)
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Called “Asshole” by a farmer, Chirac is said to have extended his hand and replied: “Pleased to meet you. My name is Chirac.”
Compare this story to what happened in a Yerevan nightclub when a probably tipsy Armenian greeted Kocharian in a too friendly manner: he was dragged out by Kocharian's bodyguards and beaten to death in the washroom.
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In our Soviet phase, our commissars said, “If we can shoot them, by bother sending them to Siberia?” In the Diaspora today they say: “If we can silence or insult them, why bother saying we disagree with them.”
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A house divided is not a home.
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Next time someone tells you we need solutions, ask him: “If I give you one, what will you do with it?”
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Never speak in the name of God or patriotism if you can speak in the name of common sense and decency.
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The most widespread fallacy among Armenians, “Those in authority know better.”
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A question an Armenian never asks: “What if I am wrong?”
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Monday, July 28m 2008
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DO I SPEAK THE TRUTH?
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No, of course not.
Truth is God's territory, not ours.
We, poor mortals, can speak only of what we have experienced, seen, and understood, which means only a tiny fraction of reality, and tiny to the point of being almost invisible to the naked eye.
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If we disagree, it may be because our experiences are different. I could never say I will ignore my own experiences and adopt yours.
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If what you have experienced, seen, and understood is different from mine, so much the better. It is by assembling as many eyewitness accounts as we can that we may have an approximate version of our collective experience. But if you say only the positive should be accepted and the negative rejected, then the result is bound to be not an objective and balanced version of the story but one that is more akin to fiction and propaganda.
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If you say, “Armenians are not as bad as you paint them,” then I am fully justified in saying “Neither are they as good as they claim to be.” After all, who in his right mind lends any credence to the self-assessment of a self-satisfied jackass or to the boasts of a megalomaniac?
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One way to judge a nation is by the manner in which it treats its writers, which also means, ideas in general, and free speech, that is to say, human rights. To understand a nation, read the history of its literature.
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Every Armenian pretends to be a better Armenian. As for the alienated and assimilated: they pretend to be better human beings, and who can blame them?
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They tell me, as a writer I should inspire rather than denigrate. A writer? Me? No! I am only a witness among many. A witness who thinks we either seek wisdom or wallow in our ignorance. That may not be the truth. But neither is it a lie. Let us agree to call it an approximation.
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
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OPINIONS
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An opinion is just an opinion. It is not and it should not be treated like a paragraph in a belief-system.
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To contradict an opinion with a belief system is like trying to kill a butterfly with a sledgehammer.
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To me, our genocide is less about Turkish barbarism and more about Armenian weakness. To emphasize the first and ti ignore the second is to miss the point.
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With some Armenians, patriotism is a word that allows them to either insult their fellow Armenians or to get their money.
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There are times when writing for Armenians feels like engaging in mortal combat.
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We ask for a solution to our problems, and when someone gives it to us, we ignore it. Case in point: In the 19th century Raffi said, “the Ottoman Empire is no place for Armenians.” Had we acted on his advice, there would have been no genocide. Whenever I mention this fact, outraged readers tell me: “Are you suggesting we should have abandoned our 'babenagan' (ancestral) homes and emigrated en masse? That's crazy!”
Well, was it sane being driven out forcefully into the desert and dying of thirst and starvation by the million?
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Long before Raffi, Yeghishé (5th century AD) said: “Solidarity is the mother of good deeds, divisiveness of evil ones.”
You may now draw your own conclusions.
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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ARMENIANS AND ARMENIANS
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I keep writing in the full knowledge that on the day I die I will look back and think it has all been a waste and that I could have been of more use to my fellow men had I been a plumber or carpenter.
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Jesus was a carpenter. I wonder why more Christians are not encouraged to go into carpentry. An Armenian friend of mine, a born-again in his eighties, who knows the Bible inside out, is an amateur carpenter. He hates Turks not because they tried to exterminate us but because they didn't finish the job. Judging by the kind of e-mails I get and comments on Armenian discussion forums, this born-again friend of mine is not a rare case among us.
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It is easy to sermonize about love and patriotism (which is also love – love of country and countrymen) but much more difficult to practice what one preaches.
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If two Armenians cannot share their Armenianism, neither it seems can they share their humanity. Why this should be so is beyond me. If you have an answer, please let me have it.
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To be fair, not all Armenians hate Armenians. Armenians can be excellent friends provided they live on different continents, share the same belief system, and their grand-grandparents were born and raised in the same obscure little village in Anatolia.
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What if the so-called superior brand of Armenianism of Ottomanized Armenians is nothing but an inferior brand of Ottomanism?
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Armenian and Armenian is like cat and dog, or cobra and mongoose, or chicken and fox, or Armenian and Turk.
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