Sunday, February 05, 2006
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Corrupt and incompetent regimes survive by creating an enemy, thus persuading the people to blame their problems on external factors and to ignore internal ones. The Nazis had the Jews, the Soviets the capitalist West, Americans the Communists (during the Cold War) and more recently, Al Qaida. And we have Turks.
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We say we hate no one, we only want justice. But instead of cleaning our own backyard we concentrate our efforts on decontaminating someone else’s street. We say Turks and Americans do not recognize the reality of our Genocide because they are morally corrupt. But instead of teaching morality to our own leaders, we try to reform theirs.
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What are our chances of success? If the past is an index, nil. And if you think I am sharing privileged or inside information, some kind of Da Vince code, think again. What I have said so far is known to every journalist, historian, politician and layman who has acquired the ability to use his common sense and the confidence to trust his own judgment.
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To those who say what the Turks did to us was evil and to reject its reality is a crime, I say, yes, certainly, no doubt about that, I agree. But it is also true that neither Germans nor Russians, neither Yanks nor Turks are evil. They commit evil acts only when they behave like dupes and allow themselves to be taken in by corrupt, incompetent, and degenerate leaders who legitimize prejudice and promote hatred. I say therefore, instead of focusing our hatred on a specific enemy, let us oppose all corrupt power structures that commit crimes against humanity regardless of race, color and creed, beginning with our own, not because we are worse than others but because we are in a better position to reform ourselves.
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Monday, February 06, 2006
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Faith, we are told, can move mountains. What we are not told is that more often than not it can also misleads us into biting more than we can chew. The Soviets believed they were going to change the world and they ended up destroying themselves. Something similar happened to the Nazis in Germany and the Fascists in Italy. While aiming at immortality they committed suicide.
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Speaking of suicide: suicidal Muslim fanatics today believe they will be rewarded with 73 virgins.
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All nations that declare war believe victory will be theirs, if not military victory than moral victory, because God or Right is on their side. The list of believers and losers could sketch to infinity.
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Closer to home, our revolutionaries at the turn of the last century believed the Ottoman Empire was about to collapse and they were the rightful inheritors of our historic lands.
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Another definition of faith: a faculty designed to lead Homo sapiens to the abyss of nothingness.
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Whenever I am accused of being a pessimist I cannot help thinking: If only our revolutionaries had been more pessimistic!
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Today we believe our cause is right but after countless demonstrations around the world, editorials, memoirs, monographs, speeches and sermons, what have we accomplished? Not a single red cent in reparations, not a single inch of historic soil annexed, not a single victim resurrected. And what are the chances that in the next century we shall achieve that which we failed to achieve in the last? The question of a pessimist or a realist? You decide.
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Here is another question for you: Can an Armenian with a Turcocentric worldview be an authentic human being? Or, How much of his Armenianism or humanity must he sacrifice in order to acquire a Turcocentric worldview?
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About faith, I will say this: Don’t believe everything you read in books or hear in sermons. Rely more on your own reason, common sense, and experience. To think the worst sometimes makes more sense than to believe in miracles. And remember, during the last five millennia Ararat has not moved an inch.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2006
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There are two kinds of words: words that are spoken at the right time and place and words that are spoken at the wrong time a place. Example of the second kind: when you shout “Fire!” in a crowded place and create panic. There are also two kinds of ideas: ideas that have been handed down like second-hand shoes, and ideas that are based on one’s own sweat and tears. A Turcocentric worldview belongs to the first category.
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I grew up in a ghetto surrounded by survivors of the Genocide. They did not have a Turcocentric worldview not only because they were too busy trying to survive in an alien and hostile environment but also because they were too pragmatic to allow the past to define their future.
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As a student in Italy I met a good number of Armenians from Istanbul and their attitude was very similar to that of survivors.
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The French have an expression that speaks volumes: “C’est la guerre!” – meaning, in time of war, or in time of troubles (to use Toynbee’s terminology) things happen, all kinds of things, including unspeakable things. Sometimes unspeakable things happen even in time of peace.
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When party bosses push their young editors to print dozens of Genocide stories in every issue of their weeklies, they do so to cover up the fact that they are lobotomizing Armenian culture.
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I am not saying we should forgive and forget. What I am saying, there is a difference between dealing with today’s problems (whose solutions are within the realm of possibilities) and making the Genocide a collective obsession that paralyzes our will, poisons our worldview, and in the end may lead us to a dead end.
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Speaking of dead ends: we sometimes forget that so-called historic Armenia happens to be historic Kurdistan too. So that if by some miracle we are successful in annexing our historic lands we may have to contemplate the very real possibility of a war on two fronts, which raises the question: How many of our sermonizers and speechifiers are prepared to die in defense of Mount Ararat?
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Wednesday, February 08, 2006
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When I was a child I believed everything I was told. I had no reason to question the authority of my elders. If they had told me to kill and die in the name of a cause I would have obeyed. Since I could not think for myself I confused subservience with wisdom. I suppose all fanatics could plead not guilty by reason of infantilism.
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It is true that criminals don’t respect authority either. But compared to the crimes legitimized by authority (slavery, terrorism, war, and massacre) criminals, even the worst of them, are only isolated petty amateurs.
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We are told Islam forbids any illustrations of the prophet for fear they
could lead to idolatry. Does that mean Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism are idolatries? And is not to kill and die in the name of a cause whose legitimacy is questioned by the majority of mankind the surest symptom of idolatry?
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Kofi Annan: “Aggression against life and property can only damage the image of a peaceful Islam.” But is not “peaceful Islam” an oxymoron? Has not Islam been warlike from its inception? Did it not conquer a good fraction of three continents by fire and sword?
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In a letter to the editor by a local Muslim praising religious tolerance in Canada and condemning the publication of cartoons of the prophet in Europe, I read: “Government is a guardian over all private and pubic (sic) sectors.” I like to believe the misprint was intentional.
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