Sunday, February 10, 2013 ****************************************** HOLY BOOKS ********************** We all have our own. To some it’s the Bible, To others the Koran, to still others the UPANISHAD. In my twenties my holy book was Thomas Mann’s THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN in which there are endless arguments about all the important issues in life. The two fictional characters who engage in these arguments are Naphta (authoritarian, mystical, fascist) and Settembrini (a liberal humanist). The arguments are so convincingly done that at the end you cannot tell who is right and who wrong. * In my thirties my other holy book was Toynbee’s RECONSIDERATIONS (volume xii of his STUDY OF HISTORY) in which ideas about the past, that is to say life, are carefully analyzed and discussed at considerable length. * It is to be noted that Mann’s character of Naphta is based on the famous communist critic and philosopher Lukacz with whom he was personally acquainted (Lukacz was later to write a book on Mann); and in RECONSIDERATIONS Toynbee quotes many of his critics except Hugh Trevor-Roper whose attack on him was so ruthless and rude that its intent was not to question Toynbee’s ideas but to destroy him personally. * Also to be noted, both Mann and Toynbee were great readers of the Bible. Mann even wrote his longest book, the tetralogy JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS, based on an episode in GENESIS. * When told the Bible was written by the Holy Ghost, Shaw is said to have replied, “All books are written by the Holy Ghost.” What about LOLITA, one is tempted to ask. LOLITA too, Shaw would have replied (the book was published after his death) because THE SONG OF SONGS in the Old Testament fully qualifies as an erotic rhapsody in which, Hebrew scholars tell us, there is even talk of oral sex – obviously lost in translation. # Monday, February 11, 2013 ************************************* SOUND BITES *************************** * COMMON KNOWLEDGE ********************************* “The small state, racked by internal dissension, invites the foreign conqueror.” This is a line that occurs in a short story by Mary McCarthy. I quote it to point out the fact that far from being the best and the brightest, we are a cliché known by all except us. That’s how cunningly and thoroughly we have been brainwashed. * SUICIDE **************** Instead of blabbering endlessly about murder, we should speak of suicide by a thousand self-inflicted cuts. * THE ENEMY *********************** He who is his own worst enemy does not need an enemy. * THE WAY OF THE COMMISSAR **************************************** You don’t like what he says? Shoot him. You can't shoot him? Silence him. You can’t silence him? Call him “son of a Turkish whore.” * TRANSLATION *********************** “A government by the people for the people.” Translation: “A government by the mafia for the mafia.” * WORDS ******************** Instead of analyzing my words teach yourself to analyze your actions. Unawareness, according to Freud and Jung, is the source of all evil * PROPAGANDA ************************** The real aim of propaganda is not to misrepresent lies as truths but to moronize the people, and the most effective way to moronize the people is to call them seven times smarter than Greeks and Jews. # Tuesday, February 12, 2013 *************************************** CONTROL FREAKS **************************** The Pope telling Galileo what to think and imams telling women how to dress spring from the same source: ignorance, arrogance, and greed for power. * Unmask religion and expose the primitive in man. * If you cannot deal with reality, invent your own fiction. * A man of faith believes his faith to be infallible and with God on his side he can do no wrong. This fallacy has claimed more innocent lives than any other. * There are as many paths to God or Truth as there are human beings. To say otherwise is to legitimize intolerance and ultimately war and massacre. This is not theory but reality, that is to say, history. * The same applies to patriotism. There are as many variants of patriotism as there are patriots. To say, suggest, or imply that your kind of patriotism is better than mine or anyone else’s is to justify all kinds of aberrations, including crimes against humanity. * To say my faith, my God, my Truth and no other is to be on a path that leads not to God but to the Devil. # Wednesday, February 13, 2013 ******************************************* NOTES & COMMENTS ********************************* The phoniest Armenians are those who never miss an opportunity to assert their superior brand of patriotism. * As children we are taught big lies and forbidden to speak little ones. * Because I expose contradictions I am told I hate myself. * The biggest lies are fractions of the truth. * In a trial by jury, the function of the jury is not to separate the guilty from the innocent but to decide which side has the more competent lawyer. * Nationalist historians are not liars; they only emphasize the positive and cover up the negative. I know how that’s done because I have done it myself. See my ARMENIANS: THEIR HISTORY & CULTURE. #