Sunday, November 06, 2005
*************************************
All professions are conspiracies against the laity, Shaw said, and he wrote plays with long prefaces (longer than the plays themselves) to prove it. Americans say something very similar when they ask, “What’s your racket?”
*
Dialogue may lead to consensus but endless contradictions (Armenophile and Turcophile academics being cases in point) lead nowhere but to a dead end; and, as it is to be expected, laymen prefer to believe the side that’s to their own interest. But self-interest driven by chauvinist sentiments is an unreliable guide that leads not to truth but to lies.
*
Writes E.H. Gombrich in his LITTLE HISTORY OF THE WORLD: “Children must learn from history how easy it is for human beings to be transformed into inhuman beings.” If children learn that, they will know something adults to no.
*
I no longer ask myself if the enemy is a savage beast. I ask instead, “Does that make me a role model of compassion and understanding? And if I allow my enemy to dehumanize me, am I not a far more dangerous beast to myself than he is?”
#
Monday, November 07, 2005
*************************************
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY
******************************************
Until about a year ago I did not know and I did not care to know the other side of the story because I was brought up to believe savage beasts do not deserve a side. I know better now. But before I set out to present a brief sketch, please remember that truth is the first casualty of war.
The Great Powers and Russia were dismembering the Empire and had designs on the carcass. Only Germany was on their side and Germans had problems of their own.
It was at this very critical time when rumor spread that giaours in the Balkans were raping and crucifying Turkish girls. True or false? It makes no difference. As I said at the outset and it bears repeating, truth has always been the first casualty of all wars.
The rape and crucifixion of helpless and innocent Turkish girls by infidels, who also massacred indiscriminately all Turks in their midst, provoked and in their eyes justified retaliation of the worst kind.
Call it propaganda. Call it a Big Lie. Call it what you will, but while you are doing that remember that Big Lies and propaganda are not uniquely Turkish aberrations. Neither is genocide.
#
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
**************************************
To dehumanize Turks is subliminal genocide, or to do to them in the abstract what they did to us in the flesh.
*
In my encounters with Armenians in the public eye I have noticed that their public assertions seldom match with their private comments. One could say that double-talk is another attribute we share with the rest of mankind.
*
We are so unused to using our brains that anyone who dares to think for himself is branded as a dispenser of unmitigated b.s.
#
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
**************************************
Journalism identifies wolves and sheep. Investigative reporting exposes wolves in sheep’s clothing. Literature tries to understand and explain why wolves, sheep, and wolves in sheep’s clothing behave as they do. One could also say that the aim of literature is to make the incomprehensible comprehensible.
*
Whenever something goes wrong, I begin by analyzing my own motives and conduct. I ask myself, “Where did I go wrong?” That’s because I have a far better chance to change myself than the world or my enemy. It is different with politicians and killers, who begin by pleading not guilty, and when the evidence says otherwise they plead either extenuating circumstances or insanity. That’s because both politicians and killers belong to a different species. They are lesser homo sapiens. They may even be the missing link.
*
If I blame all the world’s problems on politicians and criminals, do I absolve the rest of mankind? I do, except for dupes who by surrendering their intelligence to someone that doesn’t have much of it himself, become co-conspirators.
*
Thursday, November 10, 2005
**********************************
If you want to see beauty you can see it everywhere. For thousands of years artists have been observing beauty in the most unlikely places and they have not run of places yet. And if you want to see ugliness, you can see it everywhere too, beginning with your own heart. I speak from experience.
*
Americans love to quote their critics, including foreign critics.
Quoting them has become part of their entertainment industry.
*
Writing for Armenians amounts to making yourself a target for their poison arrows. That’s why I keep it short – to present a smaller target. Were I better writer, I would keep it shorter.
*
The unspoken message of most comments: “I am smarter than you,” and not “I have something to add.”
#