good / bad

Sunday, February 6, 2011
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TO BE A GOOD ARMENIAN
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To be a good Armenian it is not necessary to hate all Turks
including the dead and the unborn.
Likewise, patriotism does not mean to love all Armenians,
including crooks, liars, bloodsuckers,
and fornicators who preach chastity.
*
In politics and human affairs in general,
words are used to cover up the true intent of actions.
Under capitalism and communism,
to cover up exploitation and abuses of power respectively.
*
In Egypt today there is talk of an orderly transition
following thirty years of disorderly conduct.
*
I have been deceived and misled so many times by my “betters”
that I no longer trust anyone, including the trustworthy.
*
Divided we were defeated and massacred,
and divided we stand today.
Who says experience is a good teacher?
*
Germans were a disappointment to Thomas Mann
as Armenians were to Zarian,
as the French were to Sartre,
and as Greeks were to Kazantzakis –
the very same Greeks who shat on his grave.
Sartre loathed his fellow Frenchmen (including De Gaulle)
to such a degree that he embraced Stalin, Mao, and Castro.
In his diary of the 1930s Mann quotes a German bishop
who looked up to Hitler as a messianic figure.
*
I have been awarded several Canadian literary prizes and grants
but not a single Armenian one.
If I am ever awarded an Armenian prize I will say,
“I accept the cash but I reject the honor.”
#
Monday, February 7, 2011
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TO BE A BAD ARMENIAN
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As long as I wrote what was expected of me,
I was published in over a dozen Armenian newspapers
in Canada, United States, and the Middle East.
Sometimes I was even compensated for my work –
always less then minimum wage, of course,
but enough to cover a fraction of my expenses
such as stationery, postage stamps, and typewriter ribbons.
But on the day I decided to write what I wanted to write
and say what needed to be said,
I became an abominable no-man.
Newspapers sponsored by political parties
turned against me because I was against them.
Non-partisan papers turned against me
because their owners are capitalists
in whose eyes I am a Bolshevik.
And Bolsheviks in the Homeland classified me
as a reactionary hyena with a fountain pen.
*
Recently when asked
how much I would charge for reviewing a book,
I said “a million dollars.”
No one laughed. No one even smiled.
Money is a deadly serious subjects with us,
especially with those who have a great deal of it.
*
I write a page a day with my morning coffee in the kitchen
when I am alone and it is dark outside.
*
For many years I thought I was the only Ara Baliozian on the continent
until another Ara Baliozian in California made headlines in the papers
by murdering his wife.
Ever since then whenever my name comes up in some circles,
I am told, I am identified with the murderer.
When asked by a woman where I live,
I said I live in Ontario, Canada
(there is another Ontario in the United States)
and informed her that I was not related to the wife-killer.
I never heard from her again.
This woman knew instinctively what took me years to find out:
Never trust another Armenian,
especially when he assesses himself;
and if you think the worst of him,
you will be closer to the truth.
*
If Adam and Eve had been Armenian,
it would be said of Eve that she was a nymphomaniac,
of Adam that he was an adulterer,
and of the Serpent that he was
a writer who wrote not what was expected of him
but what he thought needed to be said.
#
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
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A DEFINITION OF TREASON
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“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
It follows: a patriotism that divides is treason.
*
When exposed, traitors identify themselves
as patriots of a superior brand.
*
Our dividers never say it is a good thing to divide the nation.
What they say is:
“We are for unity; it’s the other side that divides.”
And to think that these are the kind of people
who accuse me of repeating myself.
*
The spirit of contradiction in some Armenians
is so highly developed that
if you were to agree with them
they would disagree with you.
*
May I confess that I don’t always read my critics.
It is painful to the extreme reading thoughts
that I entertained as a child but rejected as an adult.
*
A religion that emphasizes dogma
at the expense of love, is an invention of the devil.
#
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
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DEMOCRACY
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“Egypt is not ready for democracy,” some say.
I have heard the same thing said about us:
“We (Armenians) are not ready for democracy.”
A nation with a long history of subservience
to ruthless and bloodthirsty tyrants
has no use for freedom and human rights?
*
The difference between a schoolyard bully
and someone like Mubarak is that
the bully is too smart to say,
“I do what I do as a favor to my victims.
They enjoy being bullied.
They love it.
It enhances their self-esteem.
It is the best solution to all their problems.”
*
When asked if it's true that Mubarak has amassed
a fortune of 70 billion dollars,
a Middle-East Pundit in Canada said:
“Much more than that. Much, much more!”
*
Hegel is right: “No one gives up power without a bloody fight.”
*
Armenians are not ready for democracy?
If they have brainwashed us to believe
we never had it so good
because we are in the best of hands,
they have a good chance to brainwash us to believe
freedom and human rights are inventions
of the corrupt and degenerate West
and anyone who speaks of democracy and free speech
is an enemy of the people.
This is what Ottoman sultans believed.
This is what Soviet commissars believed.
And this is what our bosses, bishops, and benefactor believe today.
“Armenians are not ready for democracy.”
*
If we are not ready for democracy,
why don't they educate us?
Why waste their time and our money
by trying to convince us they will get even with the Turks?
If you have answers to these questions,
I would like to have them.
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