Thursday, June 20, 2013 ************************************** DEMOCRACY ***************************** In my formative years I don’t remember anyone remotely interested in explaining to me the difference between democracy and fascism; and I am no longer surprised when a reader demands to know what’s so great about democracy. * When those in power forget they are servants of the people, abuse of power and fascism become inevitable. * Knowledge is power, we are told. What we are not told is that individual knowledge is powerless against collective ignorance. * I don’t hate my enemies as much as I hate myself for allowing them to intimidate me. * Not to be able to read between the lines is also a symptom of illiteracy. # EASIER SAID THAN DONE *************************************** We are a nation of dreamers – make it daydreamers. We brag about being survivors even as we are experiencing two “white” genocides (exodus and assimilation). * “The Jews survived,” an elder statesman once informed me, “because of their Book. We need such a book and I am writing it.” He sent me a few fragments which I could not finish reading. * To explain their financial bankruptcy a Mekhitarist monk once said to me: “We were deceived.” They were deceiver because they were promised great wealth. All they had to do, they were told, was liquidate their assets and invest the cash in the stock market. Blinded by greed it never even occurred to them to suspect their financial advisers were a criminal gang. * I once wrote a short story that began with the words: “When I first read a Sherlock Holmes story, I wanted to be a detective. When I first heard a Rossini overture I decided to be a composer. When I saw Marlon Brando in ON THE WATERFRONT I wanted to be an actor. When I read Casanova’s MEMOIRS….” * What happened to my daydreams? Who and what am I today? The answer: Not just a scribbler but an Armenian scribbler, that is to say, the lowest form of animal life. # THINGS TO REMEMBER *********************************** Mankind: a collection of nobodies at the mercy of misguided fools. * Learn to read between the lines – that’s where the money is. * Success is a trap. Failure a challenge. Treat a success story as you would treat a warning. * Decisions are based on what is known and predictable; but it is the unknown, the unknowable and the unpredictable that conspire to bite your ass. * To be lucky means to knock on the wrong door and to have the right man answer it. To be unlucky means to rely on luck. * A Turkish scholar once informed me that as an Armenian I was in no position to be objective about a great man like Talaat. * The central function of politics is to brainwash fools to believe they are smart. #