democracy

Thursday, September 3, 2009
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AUTOCRACY VERSUS DEMOCRACY
(Parental guidance is advised)
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If nothing else, our Ottoman and Soviet experiences should have taught us the dangers of autocratic rule and the values of free speech, an independent press, and respect for human rights. Instead it seems to have done the exact opposite. In other words, it has reinforced and legitimized our Ottomanism and Sovietism.
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It is not the function of a writer to serve the interests of a political leader and his supporters. Neither is it his responsibility to encourage or exploit the animal instinct of the unthinking or traumatized masses. Rather, his role is to share what he has learned not only from life but also from the experiences and ideas of the best intellects in world literature.
Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that a writer decides to give up his freedom and support the leadership. The question that must be raised at this point is: Which leader? When was the last time our leaders agreed on anything? If he supports one side against the other, he will be labeled an enemy by the opposition. And if the opposition assumes power, he may end up as an exile at best, and at worst, arrested, tried, and in the absence of an independent judiciary, found guilty.
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Don't call me a writer or even a scribbler. Call me – if you insist on calling me anything – a face in the crowd who has been doing his utmost to be an honest witness. Prone to error? Certainly! But honest. (Such a pity that we don't have a word for honesty in Armenian.)
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Friday, September 4, 2009
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IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME
(Parental guidance is advised)
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When Comrade Panchoonie dies it is not Odian who pens the obituary but a faithful member of the Party. And when Jack S. Avanakian, Panchoonie's Armenian-American counterpart, dies the eulogy is delivered by -- who else -- but a fellow avanak. And when one avanak eulogizes another, every other sentence will contain such expressions as “a dedicated patriot,” “a role model to our youth,” “a man of vision,” “a Renaissance man,” “a source of inspiration to all of us,” “a man of contemplation as well as action,” “under his leadership our community life experienced a golden age,” and “we shall not see his like again!”
If only that were true!
Odian couldn't have been more wrong. Had he known the truth, he would have written a lamentation rather than a satirical novel, or a tragedy rather than a farce.
Did you know that all of Odian's works were published in the Homeland during the Soviet era, except COMRADE PANCHOONIE? That to me is as clear an admission of guilt as a signed confession that says “We are all Panchoonies.”
Who would have thought a hundred years ago that our Panchoonies and Jack S. Avanakians would conspire and successfully exterminate our Odians on the grounds that they (our avanaks) are builders and our Odians are destroyers?
Sartre is right. Literature saves nothing and no one. We are all condemned to be at the mercy of meddlers who are at it 24/7 speechifying, proselytizing, brainwashing, organizing, fund-raising, starving and silencing. They may speechify about life but their real business is death.
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Saturday, September 5, 2009
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PONZI SCHEMES
(Parental guidance is advised)
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Because they cannot convince the opposition,
they brainwash children.
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Some of the worst liars I have met
were honest men who believed they were speaking the truth.
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I believe in doubt,
therefore I am not easily taken in
by popes, presidents, kings
and their assorted hirelings and flunkies,
especially when they contradict one another
in defense of what's mine is mine.
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What's mine is mine
is a bad argument because sooner or later
it morphs into what's yours is mine too.
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To speak louder,
to have more money,
or to carry a bigger stick
are not arguments that prove anything.
And yet mankind has always been at the mercy
of philistines, frauds, and bullies
who use them as self-evident and irrefutable truths
and they are believed.
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Millions have killed and died for a belief system
that has as much merit as
the shadow of a non-existent black hat in a dark room.
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A belief system is a Ponzi scheme.
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