law and disorder

Sunday, November 21, 2010
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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
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“You don't know how to develop ideas,” writes a reader. “You should take a course in writing.”
I have more critics than a dog has fleas.
You want developed ideas?
Read our Turcocentric ghazetajis and listen to our speechifiers: they have been developing their idea(s) since the turn of the last century.
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“After they walk past an elementary school (or is it a kindergarten?) they brag about their degrees from prestigious universities,” one of our elder statesmen (may he rest in peace) once told me.
If our elder statesmen spoke publicly as they speak privately, I would have fewer fleas.
That's politics for you: it makes liars out of honest men.
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“Why do you persevere if you know you can't win?”
Because I am an Armenian.
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We were subservient to our Turkish masters for six hundred years. Is that reason enough for us to be subservient to our own masters for six thousand years?
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I have been a dupe and I have engaged in charlatanism. That's why I have nothing but contempt for both charlatans and dupes.
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How many times were you wrong when you thought you were right?
Never? Brother, you are in deep sh*t!
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If you think oppression, injustice, and lies are alien concepts that apply only to others, i suggest you take a good look at yourself in the mirror.
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What we don't know far exceeds what we know. On the day we see the light we may also see that what we called knowledge was another word for darkness.
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Because I am Armenian, my former friends outnumber my present friends a hundred to one.
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The dupe who recycles crapola and the smart operator who deals in the same commodity because that's how he makes a comfortable living: the world is full of them.
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I have yet to meet a self-assessed “better” or “more patriotic” Armenian who was not certifiable.
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With age comes wisdom. But not in politics.
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Monday, November 22, 2010
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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
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If most Turks and Armenians think alike it's because they trust their “betters.”
Moral I: Trust no one's judgment but your own.
Moral II: Only the worst pretend to be better.
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If we judge men not by their words (speeches, sermons, dogmas) but by the number of their victims, we shall have no choice but to conclude that popes and imams are worse than serial killers.
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Popes pretend to be better than imams and vice versa, and they are believed by their followers and dupes. As for their Armenian counterparts: the less said about them the better.
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Speaking of George W. Bush's memoirs, a pundit in today's Op-Ed page writes: “Many presidents go a little loco.” So do many popes, imams, kings, emperors, czars, and chiefs.
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“What would you have done in their place?”
How should I know? I don't even know what my own place is. I am in a search mode. And I am so busy trying to be honest in a dishonest world that I have no interest in imagining myself as a crook.
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
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The difference between them and us is that they have several dissidents, among them an internationally known Nobel Prize winner...
Among us, dissidents are as popular as Talaat, Kemal, and the Sultan combined.
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They have one set of leaders.
With us it's more chiefs than Indians.
Some things are worth repeating – in case I have said this before.
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If you have nothing to lose, you speak the truth.
The greater the possession at risk, the bigger the lies.
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Whenever I am attacked or insulted anonymously
I add cowardice to our long list of failings.
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“Your call is important to us.”
Translation: “Why don't you shut the f*ck up!”
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The language of the poor is down to earth, simple, limited in vocabulary. Its sole aim is survival.
The language of the rich is subtle, rich, versatile. Its aim is deception.
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Seek for the hidden contradiction and you will find it.
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We either admit our failings or we cling to them by covering them up.
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Our heads may disagree but our feet take us to the same destination. No exceptions to this rule.
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We don't have a word for “gentleman” probably because we have so few of them.
What about "a man of honor"?
That's what mafiosi call their godfathers.
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In an environment where the official line is being positive, being negative becomes as irresistible as the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.
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In defense of his self-interest, a smart Armenian will go as far as pretending to be deaf, dumb, and stupid.
Americans have given freedom a bad name. Armenians have done the same to self-interest.
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Louis XIV once said: “I almost had to wait.”
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Wednesday, November 24, 2010
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LAW AND DISORDER
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In the same way that some chief executive officers on Wall Street make more money than the President of the United States, some Indian chiefs and councilors (82 of them to be exact) make more money than the Prime Minister's annual salary of $317,574, according to a published report today.
When asked by reporters how come, a spokesman for the chiefs is quoted as having said, “We don't discuss such matters with the media.”
I have had less diplomatic reactions by some of our own chiefs.
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There is a hyena in all top dogs.
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Abuse of power comes naturally to top dogs; and assuming a passive stances means allowing them to reinsert the knife and give it another twist.
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Dissent is a necessary ingredient if only because it introduces a touch of objectivity and balance. Suppression or absence of dissent is invariably followed by disaster.
Because the Catholic Church failed to assess its performance objectively it spawned Martin Luther and a succession of wars and massacres; and because the Reformation failed to do the same, it spawned televangelism.
Closer to home: ...but I will let you draw your own conclusions.
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