Wednesday, July 10, 2013 *************************************** CONFESSIONS ************************** Whenever I am told I am a disgrace to the nation, I think: what if it’s the other way around? * Only a patriot with the IQ of a jackass identifies the Homeland with the regime. * Writing has nothing to do with patriotism and everything to do with objectivity; in the same way that what a politician says has nothing to do with the truth and everything to do with propaganda. * Before making an assertion consider its contradiction, yoou may see more truth there. * Do not repeat what you were taught as a child: remember your schoolteacher had a family to support. * “A dog knows his master but not his master’s master.” * If you think I write as I do because I am some kind of daydreaming eccentric with illusions of grandeur, I say: ever since I came to terms with my own mediocrity, I write with greater freedom. That’s the only difference between me and other writers and me. # REALITY VERSUS FANTASY ***************************************** Sooner or later all belief systems and ideologies fall into the hands of cynical manipulators, opportunists, power-hungry mediocrities and their assorted dupes who at all times and everywhere outnumber decent human beings who can think for themselves. * The history of Christianity was written not by Christ and his Apostles but by Popes and Martin Luther (“a wild boar” in the words of a contemporary pope). * The history of nationalism was written not by Mazzini but by the likes of Mussolini, Franco, and Hitler. * The history of the British Empire was written not by “gentlemen” but by “shopkeepers” (Napoleon). * Had Marx foreseen the Gulag, my guess is he would have burned DAS KAPITAL. * To speak of religion and ideologies and to emphasize the role of their founders at the expense of their successors is to engage in high-altitude thinking, that is to say, to inhabit a world of abstractions, fantasy, and propaganda. # WINNERS AND LOSERS ************************************* In a jungle documentary on TV I saw nine lions attacking a buffalo and devouring it even as it was defending itself. It made me think of the medieval Armenian heresy – the Paulicians I think – who believed the world was created not by God but the Devil. If I am not mistaken, the foremost authority on this heresy is an Armenian who is quoted frequently in Toynbee big book, CONSTANTINE PORPHYROGENITUS. * If you speak the truth, liars will conspire against you. To remain silent when liars conspire against you amounts to joining their conspiracy. * Pirandello: “If you confront a man with his own image, there will arise a crisis.” It follows; understanding oneself cannot be a pleasant experience. Which is why most people are dupes who prefer to live in a world of lies; and if the lie is delivered by a king or pope, or for that matter, boss, bishop or benefactor, and contradicted by a scribbler who can’t make ends meet, guess who will be the winner or loser. # PROBLEMS (XXXII) *********************************** Our main problem is not “brainless leaders” (Avedik Issahakian) but brainless leaders who have been brainwashed to believe they are the brains of the people. * Happy is the man who believes he cannot be contradicted – also a damn fool. * Charles Peguy: “Fame potentially is the dictatorship of reputation and therefore always potentially impure.” Which is why I prefer to be just an honest witness with a name that has the double demerit of being difficult to remember and pronounce, and identified me as someone who (to quote a good friend) bears a Turkish “damgha” (seal). Or even better – as a reader from the Homeland once put it: “Baliozoghlu, you are no better than a piece of shit.” * You may gather by now that our Sovietized brothers and sisters don’t like to stand on ceremony. In their eyes we of the Diaspora might as well be white trash (“aghber”). * But then, nobody ever said to be an honest Armenian comes without a price. To console myself I remember an often repeated Hollywood phrase: “It may be shit but it has integrity.” #