riffraff

Sunday, July 6, 2008
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THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
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We begin by lying to ourselves, after which we see nothing wrong in deceiving others. A jihadist believing he will spend eternity deflowering virgins; Hitler believing in the superiority of the Aryan race; the Pope believing in his own infallibility in matters of faith: all lies. One could go as far as saying that faith is the root of all evil. As for money: it too could be the root but only if you believe it can solve all your most important problems.
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No one can be as dumb as he who believes to be smart. I think of Armenians who believe Armenians like me are the source of all evil. So much so that if I were slightly older they would pin the Genocide on me or wish I had been one of the victims. When told I am a writer, this type of reader becomes even more abusive. If I were to ask these readers to name their favorite contemporary Armenian writer, I have every reason to suspect they would fail to come up with a single name. That's because they have been “educated” to believe by our bosses (believers in their ideology), bishops (believers in God and capital, make it Capital and god), and benefactors (believers in the Almighty $) that dissent or freedom of thought are anathema and anyone who dares to speak against their faith is an enemy of the people, a Turk in disguise, and a liar who is condemned to spend eternity burning in hell, as opposed to deflowering virgins or an equally ill-defined delightful activity. And if you believe that, you will believe anything!
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Monday, July 7, 2008
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MEMO
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Whenever two or more readers gang up on me, I feel it is my duty to remind them, if they lie down with dogs they are liable to get up with fleas.
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QUESTIONS
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Can there be progress where there is no respect for fundamental human rights? Can there be free speech in a totalitarian environment? Is dialogue possible with a fascist, a concrete wall, an Armenian?
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CONTRADICTION
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Why is it that the vocabulary of Armenians who preach constructive criticism and love seldom rises above the gutter?
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A NOTEWORTHY DISTINCTION
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A famous French actress who slept with Germans during the Occupation is quoted as having said: “My heart is French, but my ass is international.” A noteworthy distinction that. By contrast, when we sleep with the enemy, we surrender our body as well as soul. Hence such unfortunate phenomena as Armenians under Talaat and Stalin betraying their fellow Armenians.
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ON A RELATED TOPIC
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I wonder how many of my readers, dealers in chauvinist crapola, and holier-than-thou sanctimonious pricks are aware of the fact that until very recently the wealthiest woman in Turkey was an Armenian. When the Turkish government awarded her a prize for paying more taxes than anyone else, her line of work was not known to the bureaucrats. When the master of ceremonies was informed that she was a bordello madam, he wanted to recall the medal, but it was too late. She was no longer in the audience. An obvious case of “arav-pakhav” (grab-and-run).
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THE MORAL OF THE STORY
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To emphasize the positive and cover up the negative could be another definition of propaganda and I leave propaganda to our bureaucrats. I prefer to speak of reality in order to make the blind see. If so far I have failed, it may be because, like most of my predecessors, I am not a miracle worker.
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Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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RIFFRAFF
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“Bullying: Conduct designed to embarrass, humiliate or belittle someone.”
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“I don't read you because you are an idiot!” a reader (make it, a non-reader) writes. A clear-cut caste of a bully in action.
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The memory of all those I offended when I was young, brainwashed, and self-righteous has been a thorn in my conscience. But I have learned from our bullies to be more tolerant of my youthful self. Which proves that, if you are disposed to learn, you may learn even from riffraff.
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If you think for yourself, you can't be self-righteous because, in thinking, doubts always outnumber certainties. Only the brainwashed assert infallibility, and in doing so they compound problems instead of solving them.
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There is a type of Armenian who gages your patriotism by how much you hate Turks. “Who is your favorite Armenian writer?” I once asked such an Armenian who also happened to be one of our notorious Turcocentric ghazetajis. “I don't have any,” he replied. “How many have you read?” I asked next. “None!” was his answer. Armenians who are brainwashed to hate avoid ideas because they don't want the purity of their hatred to be contaminated.
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Knowledge can be a painful acquisition because it may expose our failings and blind spots. Hence the saying: “Ignorance is bliss.”
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We don't burn books or starve writers. We ignore them. It amounts to the same thing. If they are with us, writers are redundant. If they are against us, they should be silenced or ignored.
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Ideas are assaults against ignorance. Hence the favorite tactic of the ignorant: “Attack is the best defense.” But how does one go about defending an absence or a vacuum? It can't be done. That's when bullying comes in. When you can't defend your ignorance, attack, threaten, or bully. And if you are a coward -- and all bullies are – try to do so from a safe distance and anonymously. The greater the distance, the better.
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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ON TURCOCENTRIC GHAZETAJIS
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They are dangerous charlatans
who wallow in massacres and self-pity.
They appeal to our baser instincts
by creating a climate of resentment, hatred, and intolerance.
They refuse to engage in dialogue
with their own fellow countrymen,
let alone the opposition.
They have nothing but contempt for free speech
and fundamental human rights
and by extention, literature and culture.
They at no time admit that
it was a blunder to gamble
with the lives of innocent civilians
by relying on the assistance of the West and Russia –
nations that have themselves massacred their own kind
in the name of political expediency.
They portray themselves as defenders of our interests
and the fact that they are believed
proves only that we are a nation of dupes.
By thinking only in terms of victims and victimizers,
they cover up the fact that
we have been and continue to be
double victims of foreign oppression
as well as domestic corruption and incompetence.
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