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Thursday, September 30, 2010
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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
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Social aberrations like racism, fascism, and more recently, political correctness, are as a rule so gradual that the average dupe and conformist (but I repeat myself) submits to them the way he submits to winter cold and summer heat.
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Why is it that religions are against conflict between classes and for warfare between states?
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Whenever they tell you “We had no choice,” they lie. Subservient subjects may not have a choice but decision-makers do.
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There is a core of truth in all religions, but instead of emphasizing the core, religious leaders emphasize such aberrations as intimidation, mumbo jumbo, and the collection plate. In Brecht's words: “Grub first, then ethics.”
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Where truths are covered up, lies rush in; and where lies become the common currency, wars and massacres are sure to follow.
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Sooner or later all our organizations turn into fund-raising agencies.
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If both sides are to blame, why feel the need to support one side against the other? If in judgment impartiality matters, why assume the role of a pro-bono lawyer?
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God and the Devil are man-made classifications. So are heaven hell. As they say of hallucinations: “It's all in your head.”
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There are people out there whose sole aim in life is to exploit, deceive, and mislead their fellow men, and most of them are not crooks but pillars of society.
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Nationalism is good in so far as it stands in opposition to the many abuses of imperialism. Nationalism is bad in so far as it legitimizes fascism, whose abuses and crimes outnumber those of imperial powers. Compare the Hamidian massacres (committed in the name of Ottoman imperialism) with the Genocide (whose perpetrators where Turkish nationalists).
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Don't be taken in by our own nationalists. If they appear harmless today it's because they are without power.
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Friday, October 1, 2010
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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
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Toynbee's definition of God: “Absolute Reality approached anthropomorphically.”
My translation: The Unknowable and Inomprhensible as a bearded grandfatherly type.
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As a boy I could not imagine anyone taking a dislike at me. As an old man I live in solitude because I have no desire to foist my unclean presence on others.
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Violations of human rights, crimes against humanity, oppression, and lies are universal aberrations and none of us can plead not guilty – none except brainwashed nationalists who have 20/20 vision when they judge others and are blind when they assess themselves.
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He who worships his ego can worship nothing else.
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One reason Marie Antoinette was beheaded is that she thought bread could be easily replaced with brioche. A similar fate awaits those who think propaganda can replace free speech.
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You want to do the right thing? Follow the example of Socrates and Jesus as opposed to that of their executioners.
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In CASSELL'S FOREIGN WORDS AND PHRASES (London, 2000) I read the following: “Cantaloupe: a small, round, ribbed musk melon, from Cantaluppi, a papal estate near Rome, where it was first introduced from Armenia.”
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Saturday, October 2, 2010
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STICKS AND STONES
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“What have you got against the Armenian people?”
“Wrong question. Ask instead what have the Armenian people got against writers?”
“The Armenian people worship their writers. If you go to Armenia, you will see monuments, museums, and libraries dedicated to them.”
“That's only after they were dead and buried.”
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Yesterday on the radio when asked “How would you like to be remembered after you die?” David Suzuki replied: “I don't give a sh*t what they say about me after I am dead and buried.”
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“What you write annoys the hell out of me.”
“Use your delete button. To be read by the likes of you is as pleasant an experience as falling in the crapper.”
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Nobody is ever duped for his own good.
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Where there is power there will also be mumbo jumbo.
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If you want to have an idea of infinity, think of human ignorance.
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If my critics were pennies, I would be a wealthy man.
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A definition of government: “A disease masquerading as its own cure.”
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“Be more constructive!”
“You want constructive? What you need is standup comedians.”
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