Sunday, February 12, 2012
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SOMETIME THINGS
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The ambition of every regime is to last a thousand years. They never make it. Their premature death is as certain as taxes. That’s because not matter how hard they try they can’t be successful in brainwashing everybody. This is as true of Turks as it is of Armenians.
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Dissidents are silenced because they expose the incompetence of the power structure and its so-called educational system, which is in reality a brainwashing apparatus.
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When the USSR collapsed, its lies were exposed. The Civil Rights movement in the U.S. exposed the lies of racism. In our own days the lies of capitalism and the free enterprise (“greed is good”) are being exposed by the 99%. As for the lies of organized religions: they are in a sense one another’s most important dissenting voices and as such one another’s judge, jury, and hangman.
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Diamonds may be forever, but regimes are only a sometime thing.
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Monday, February 13, 2012
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UNWARRANTED ASSUMPTIONS &
OUTRAGEOUS IMPLICAATIONS
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To say God is on our side is to imply our enemies are in cahoots with the Devil.
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To say the actions of our revolutionaries in the Ottoman Empire were justified reactions to unbearable conditions is to imply for 600 years we behaved like “faithful servants” because we didn’t know any better or, under certain conditions, cowardice and ignorance can be morally justified.
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To say that the exodus of 1,5000,000 Armenians from the Homeland is an inevitable consequence of unfortunate circumstances is to imply, under certain conditions, genocide is not a crime against humanity but an inevitable fact of life.
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To say we are unique or better is to imply we have a license to invent a thousand little lies that will prove our Big Lie to be the truth, the only truth, and nothing but the truth.
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PORTRAIT OF AN ARMENIAN PATRIOT
AS A YOUNG MAN
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First and foremost he is an apologist of the status quo. He has a seemingly reasonable explanation for every blunder and failing, which means he is an expert player of the blame-game. It follows, we never had it so good because we are in the best of hands and anyone who dares to say otherwise is a pro-Turkish s.o.b. who should be silenced and whenever possible squashed like a bug. He is so convinced that he is smart that even when he utters asinine inanities he does so with the conviction that he is delivering gems of wisdom worthy of a Socrates. He may never say he is infallible in his judgments but every fiber in his Armenian body tells a different story. He believes the so-called civilized and democratic West speaks with a forked tongue. We don’t! That’s because we are as pure as the driven snow, as innocent as an egg, and butter wouldn’t melt in our mouth…or anywhere else for that matter. Contradict him and make yourself vulnerable to a torrent of abuse worthy of a pirate. If you think I am exaggerating, think again. Because so far I have been describing myself as a young man. I do hope you were not as thoroughly brainwashed as I was.
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Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012

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BULLIES
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There is a lot of talk about bullies in schoolyards these days.
What about bullies in politics, diplomacy, organized religions, bureaucracy, justice system, workplace...
If a man kills in the name of God,
who is the guilty party?
In the Old Testament God order a father to butcher his son.
And when His own son was being crucified,
did He lift a finger?
If bullying is cancer, power is its sole carcinogenic agent.
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A headline in my morning paper today:
“Baseball bat a hit in China – as defensive weapon.”
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Overheard: “How do you say pizza in Italian?”
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