ON POWER ************************************** Men in a position of power need flattery as much as a starving man needs bread. Their intolerance and hatred of dissent is rooted in vanity and not in some kind of ideological opposition. They don’t give a damn about ideas and ideologies which they consider a waste of time. To them intellectuals are no better than children and ideas their invisible toys or verbal hallucinations or ghosts and they don’t believe in ghosts. Words are good only when they glorify and flatter their egos. In their own eyes power is a blessing from God. It follows, whatever they do bears God’s seal of approval. Hence degenerate rulers and moronic multimillionaires operating on the assumption they are the uncrowned kings of the community. * History is clear on this point. Power drives men mad. Power is not a blessing but a curse. At the turn of the last century in the Ottoman Empire the sultan had a thousand concubines and as many versifiers, among them Armenians, singing his praises. * Talaat was more enlightened. He counted among his friends several intellectuals among them our own Zohrab. But as soon as he acquired power he had Zohrab assassinated. Napoleon put it best when he said “A man with an idea is my enemy.” # MORE ON TURCOCENTRISM ********************************************* Turcocentrism may also be defined as an ideology that says we are not the architects of our destiny. It follows, the only logical explanation of our misfortunes is: “Shit happens.” * Consider earthquakes as a case in point. What we are not told is that according to experts “Earthquakes don’t kill people; buildings do.” * Nothing comes more naturally to a compulsive and habitual liar than to cover up and to lie. * The priority of all businessmen is profit. The more profit the better. Likewise, the priority of all politicians regardless of race, color and creed is power – the more power the merrier, even if it means the destruction of the nation. * Our dealers in chauvinist crapola expect us to believe what applies to all politicians does not apply to our own who rule and divide by the grace of God. # FOREIGNER *********************** To me, the ultimate odar (foreigner) is the Ottomanized and Sovietized Armenian. * ON SURVIVAL ******************** We have survived – no one denies that – but survived as what? * PARADOX ************************* Armenians who classify themselves as the best, sooner or later expose themselves as the worst. # “We are a people like any other people.” “Don’t flatter yourself.” # ZOHRAB & CHARENTS ********************************** “We are a people like any other people.” “Don’t flatter yourself. Even our greatest intellectuals and poets, like Zohrab and Charents, were dupes of enemy propaganda.” “What would you have done in their place?” “Probably what they did and having done so I would deserve universal ridicule and contempt.” * SAROYAN ********************* I will never forget the angry letter one of our elder statesmen sent me after reading one of my anti-Soviet tirades: “Saroyan loves the regime. You think you are smarter than Saroyan?” * GUILTY AS CHARGED ***************************** You say I simplify complexities? What does propaganda do? What is propaganda if not the mother tongue of self-satisfied idiots and their dupes? * GUILTY AS CHARGED II ************************************* “You repeat yourself.” “Not as often as our propagandists.” #