i believe

Sunday, December 12, 2010
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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
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When Socrates was mentioned in a discussion, a Soviet agent is reported to have said: “I regret to say, I am not acquainted with the gentleman.”
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Brainwash a decent man to believe that the fellow on the other side of an imaginary line, who may well be as decent as he, is a mortal enemy, and he will turn into a killer. Unlike Dr. Jekyll, you don't have to drink a potion to turn into Mr. Hyde. All you have to do is expose yourself to state propaganda.
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Some day, when mankind is civilized, there will be a law that says, brainwashing children (sometimes also identified as education) is a crime against humanity.
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To confuse ideology with theology: that’s another function of brainwashing. Theology legitimizes and promotes intolerance and hatred in the name of God or Truth. Odium theologicum is a well-known Latin expression that means: “The bitter hatred of rival theologians. There are no wars so sanguinary as holy wars, no persecution so relentless as religious persecution, no hatred so bitter as theological hatred.” (BREWER’S DICTIONARY OF PHRASE & FABLE, 16th edition, revised by Adrian Room, London: Cassell, 1999, page 841.)
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Perhaps I should warn my readers that I don't write as a writer, or as an Armenian, or for that matter, as that most contemptible of all beings: an Armenian writer.
Once upon a time I did write as an Armenian writer -- a nightmarish experience I wouldn't wish on a Turk. I write instead as a human being who happens to be an Armenian – an identity imposed on me by circumstances beyond my control.
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Monday, December 13, 2010
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WORDS
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In his CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Dostoevsky quotes a long letter – a polite and courteous letter – and tears it to shreds by exposing the venom that is hidden between the lines.
Reading between the lines is an art.
Diplomacy sometimes consists in saying the opposite of what one means or thinks.
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A study of TV commercials has found that 95% of them are either false or misleading.
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The Chinese don't have a word for “no” -- “perhaps” is as far as they will go – neither do they have a word for “husband.” When a Chinese woman wants to say “my husband,” she says “my good for nothing.”
True or false?
I don't know. I am only paraphrasing what I remember to have read somewhere.
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Writes Saroyan's wife in her memoirs: “When I say la, you must understand lalabloo.”
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One reason I am thought of as anti-Armenian or even pro-Turkish is that when I say chick I don't mean chickpeas.
I mean what I say because I speak only for myself.
I represent no one and I work for no one.
I can't be fired or demoted.
And I can afford a paycut in my salary because I work for nothing.
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Tuesday, December 14, 2010
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FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
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If you have the power and the money,
you can go on with the deception indefinitely.
That's the only way to explain the continued existence
of rabbis, imams, and popes.
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Faith can remove only those mountains
that were raised by our own fears, ignorance, and prejudices.
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Identity is revealed not only in what we say,
but also in what we choose not to say.
To the discerning ear
silence can speak louder than a thousand speeches
delivered by a thousand stentorian speechifiers.
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The ambition of every Armenian dunghill is to be Mt. Ararat.
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The torch of truth burns many asses.
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From nature’s point of view,
chastity is a far more dangerous sexual perversion
than all the others put together.
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Wednesday, December15, 2010
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WHAT I BELIEVE
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The aim of civilization is to civilize,
and the aim of religion is to make you a better person.
That's the positive view of reality.
To have a more balanced view however,
it is necessary to see the negative in the positive,
and vice versa.
Or to separate propaganda from fact.
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Civilization is a jungle and religion has ruined many lives,
and i don't mean just the lives of heretics, infidels, and victims of religious wars (one of which lasted a hundred years), I mean...: see below.
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If you are weak or defenseless,
you will be victimized by the strong (our history in a nutshell).
If you are young, you will be brainwashed by the old.
If you are innocent and inexperienced, you will be duped by the cunning.
If you are poor, you will be exploited by the rich.
And there will always be a rabbi, bishop, or imam
who will legitimize these aberrations in the name of the Almighty.
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Benefactors and I share one important thing in common: generosity.
They are generous with money,
I am generous with unsolicited advice –
a kibitzer who doesn't know when to shut up.
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“A man with an idea is my enemy,” said Napoleon.
A man with a thousand ideas must be a nightmare
to anyone with a Napoleonic complex.
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I repeat myself because my aim is less to explain and educate
and more to deprogram the brainwashed.
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A decent man will never murder another decent man.
But brainwash him to believe the other is his mortal enemy
and you will have a cold-blooded killer in your hands.
That's politics for you.
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In our environment, selfless intellectual labor is so unpopular
that it might as well be some kind of self-inflicted insanity.
That may explain why I am a majority of one.
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