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Notes: Sunday, November 29, 2009
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ON SELF-ASSESSMENT
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Popes, imams, dupes, and fanatics – that is to say, the majority of mankind – are never wrong. They may say “man is a fallible creature,” but they believe it doesn't apply to them. To everyone else, yes. To them, hell no!
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If Mt. Ararat were allowed to assess its own height, it would say it is higher than Everest.
Mt. Ararat?
Make it, a hill of beans.
Even better, make it a pile of sh-t!
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The greater the number of doubts, the greater the number of aggressively asserted certainties.
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Power and propaganda are Siamese twins. Separate them and they both die.
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One reason why imperial powers like Russia and the United States oppose democratic reforms in other countries, including our own, is that they hate to be at the whim of the people. Another reason: corrupt regimes are more easily bribed, blackmailed, and manipulated.
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Why did Nobel Prize winners like Knut Hamsun and Sartre support Stalin and Hitler? My only answer: where emotions enter, common sense exits. Both Hamsun and Sartre saw only the positive in an alien system and the negative in their own.
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Monday, November 230, 2009
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REFLECTIONS OF A CYNIC
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To commemorate the massacre of 70,000 Protestants in 1572, Pope Gregory XIII had a medal struck. So much for religious tolerance, Christian charity, and Papal infallibility.
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When two men speak badly of each other, I am tempted to believe both . When they praise each other, I smell a conspiracy.
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Armenian anti-Semites say the Young Turks were Semites. Speaking for myself, I am less interested in knowing what others (be they Semites or goyim) did to us, and more interested in knowing what we, or rather our leadership, did for us.
If they did something, what exactly?
If nothing, what kind of leaders do nothing but pull their dick in time of crisis?
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Blaming our misfortunes on others is a dead end because it only reinforces our image as perennial losers and victims. Recognizing our blunders and learning from them however may teach us not to behave like idiots in the future.
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Hugo Grotius was a 17th-century Dutch philosopher whose famous last words were: “By understanding many things, I have accomplished nothing.”
Speaking of understanding, my favorite famous last words are Hegel's: “No one understood me except one, and even he didn't understand me.”
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Karl Marx understood Hegel, and those who read and understand Marx call themselves Marxists. But Marx himself said he was not a Marxist, probably because he knew where there is an -ism, or an ideology, or a belief system, there will also be swine like the above-mentioned pope, who not only did nothing to stop the massacres but celebrated the occasion as a victory.
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What does the papacy and our leadership share in common? The pope struck a medal, our leaders raise monuments and build museums.
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Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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WORTH REPEATING
& REMEMBERING
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“An Armenian's tongue is sharper than a Turk's yataghan.” (Zarian)
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“Soft words can break bones.” (Anonymous)
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“Where Armenian blood flows, look for an Armenian hatchet.” (Raffi)
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“You want to save your fellow men?
Prepare yourself to be crucified.” (Raffi)
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“A nation's history is an extension of its character.” (Nejdeh)
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“Armenian literature is a cemetery and
writing for Armenians as cheerful a prospect as going to a funeral.” (Massikian)
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“Once upon a time we shed our blood for freedom.
We are now afraid of free speech.” (Garabents)
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“Armenians survive by cannibalizing one another.” (Zarian)
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“Solidarity is the mother of good deeds,
divisiveness of evil ones.” (Yeghishé)
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“You must burn in order to enlighten.” (Toumanian)
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“Let us learn to be human by observing animals.” (Aramais Sahakian)
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“A hungry vegetarian can be as dangerous as a carnivore.” (Yeznig Palig)
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“Teaching consists in opening the mind.
The mouth will open by itself.” (Avedik Issahakian)
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Wednesday, December 2, 2009
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ALL IN A DAY'S WORK
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In an environment where no one thinks, thinking becomes a risky business. Socrates was not the only thinker who was condemned to death by a so-called enlightened and progressive democracy. You may be surprised to learn that the overwhelming majority of thinkers did not die a natural death but were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, burned alive, beheaded, committed suicide, and executed; or like Plato, Aristotle, and Voltaire, lived in fear of their life. For more on this subject see THE BOOK OF DEAD PHILOSOPHERS by Simon Critchley (London, 2008).
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The shortest list in the world? That of great Armenian statesmen.
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In judging others, I judge myself, or an aspect of myself that continues to reside within me even if only as a memory.
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I have many doubts about many things but about one thing I am certain: those I have insulted will neither forgive nor forget me.
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I condemn no one by calling them fools, dupes, and swine.
I have been called worse names and I feel just fine.
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