Thursday, May 09, 2013 *************************************** MEMO TO MY CRITICS *************************** If what you say is right, obviously I can’t be worth reading and you would be more justified in criticizing yourself for wasting your valuable time on me. * You want to know the difference between an honest and a dishonest writer? Easy! A dishonest writer flatters. An honest one is a thorn in the flesh. * Of how many potential dissidents we could say because they were bullied by idiots, they fell silent. * I understand my critics. Thirty ears ago I was one of them. * National historians: the intellectual equivalents of empty suits. * What makes our ruling classes so arrogantly and ruthlessly stupid? The answer must be: experience, reality, history, or the fact that they have been fooling us for centuries and no one ever said off with their heads. # THE WRITING LIFE ****************************** Literature: I leave that to our creative writers, scholars, and academics. * Love stories: I stopped writing them on the day I realized their true aim is to entertain the bourgeoisie. I now write to expose deceivers. * When in a letter to the editor many years ago a reader said he felt terrorized by my words, I was flattered rather than offended. * We are tired of being sheep in a world of wolves. That’s why an Armenian is another Armenian’s wolf. He has to start somewhere. * In the words of an American comedian: “I take my lion to church every Sunday. He has to eat.” * If you are not thirsty it makes no difference if the glass is half-empty or half-full. * Silence has no need for translators. # MEMOS TO MY TURKISH READERS *************************************** Do you want to understand Armenians? Think of them as a people that for 600 years had Turks as their role models. * There are no Armenians and there are no Turks: only people who speak Armenian and Turkish. * MEMOS TO MY FELLOW ARMENIANS ******************************************* To confuse patriotism with loyalty or subservience to liars and crooks: I can’t imagine anything more cowardly and idiotic. * Divisions are popular with us because we are not popular with one another. * We are not a work in progress; we are a dead end. * A common Armenian allergy: other Armenians. * Hatred of Turks is our opium. * A nation that hates together stays together. #