la creme

Sunday, March 18, 2012
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LA CRÈME DE LA CRÈME
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First, they lead us to massacre
after which they have trouble convincing the world
that the massacre took place and is not
a figment of our collective imagination;
after which they violate the human right of anyone
who dares to say anything remotely critical about them;
after which they expect us to believe
we never had it so good
because we are in the best of hands;
after which they enjoy the support of the community –
or at least a fraction of it.
*
When our “aghber”s in the Homeland call us aghber,
they expect us to believe they,
and by extension their own leadership,
subscribe to a superior brand of Armenianism
and butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths
or anywhere else for that matter.
*
If any one of our writers had survived
Talaat’s and Stalin’s bloodbath,
what would he have said about this gigantic hoax
perpetrated against the nation?
No need to use our imagination.
We already have the testimony of a witness for the prosecution –
an intellectual giant and a man of unimpeachable integrity:
Gostan Zarian – and I quote:
“Our political parties have been of no political use to us.
Their greatest enemy is free speech.”
#
Monday, March 19, 2012
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THE ARMENIAN WAY
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The very same individuals who so far have succeeded only
in dividing the community now say
“Armenians are ungovernable.”
If you can blame others, why assume responsibility?
That’s the Armenian way.
The scandal is not that some Armenians,
who ought to know better,
make absurd assertions but that they are believed.
*
If I were to say for every truth
there are ten thousand lies,
there will always be a reader who will say
the right number is not 10,000 but 9,999 or 10,001.
I know this to be a fact because once upon a time
I was such a reader.
*
Some of my readers remind me of sharks
circling and waiting for traces of blood to appear in the water.
#
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
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REFLECTIONS
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What I write may be described as a faint echo
of what for better men than I have said.
(For more on this subject
see my DICTIONARY OF ARMENIAN QUOTATIONS.)
*
A self-righteous Armenians can be as ruthless
as a bloodthirsty Turk.
(After writing this line I am reminded of Zarian’s dictum:
“An Armenian’s tongue can be sharper
than a Turk’s yataghan.”)
*
A smart Armenian?
I would like to meet one even if it means
revising all my favorite arguments.
*
If I appear as a perennial loser
it may be because I challenge those in authority
only with my reason,
whereas they can retaliate with the might
of Almighty God and capital --
make it Almighty Capital and god.
#
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
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IN PRAISE OF DOUBT
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When a man says he has fathered eleven sons
and he is proud of all ten of them,
the question you want to ask is,
“What’s wrong with the eleventh?”
Likewise, when a man asserts his certainties,
you want to know more about his doubts.
The chances are such a man will pretend to have none.
Sultans, emperors, dictators, popes, imams, rabbis:
they are all men with certainties.
Reason is powerless against them.
Only time can prove them wrong.
Sometimes not even that.
The blunders and crimes of the papacy are endless.
And yet, it has lost none of its popularity and prestige
in the eyes of millions.
*
What an Armenian finds inconceivable
is the possibility of another Armenian
knowing something he doesn’t.
*
Friends tell me to block or delete annoying messages
posted by individuals who contribute nothing to a discussion.
If so far I have rejected their advice
it’s because I believe in free speech
which gives everyone an equal chance
to make an ass of himself in public.
*
One way to win an argument
is by being incomprehensible.
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