Monday, October 18, 2004
***********************************
The human brain is designed to think, but more often than not, thinking is the last thing it does.
*
You cannot argue with City Hall, they say; neither can you argue with a bishop, or, for that matter, with a dogmatist, a fanatic, a monomaniac, a partisan, and in general, anyone with an axe to grind or has more power than you do.
*
You cannot argue with Turks either. Not that I have ever argued with one. But I have argued with Armenians. As a matter of fact, I have had many arguments with Armenians and I have lost all of them. Not only have I lost the arguments but also quite a few friends, not to say a fraction of my dignity.
*
Sometimes I ask myself: Why do I go on? And the only answer I can come with is that I don’t know. I have no idea why I continue to argue with my fellow Armenians. It must be the Turk in me.
*
But I know something today that I didn’t know before. Our side of the story is not the whole story. To think that it is, is to make the same mistake that Turks make when they think their side of the story is the whole story. I am a not implying truth is located somewhere in the middle. What I am trying to say is that, it is a mistake to think in any argument or conflict, one side is 100% right and the other 100% wrong.
*
You cannot have consensus without compromise, and consensus does not mean agreement but cooperation. This applies not only to Armeno-Turkish relations but also to Armeno-Armenian relations.
*
Our choice is between compromise and consensus on the one hand, and on the other, disagreement and feud to the end of time.
*
And now, let us pray: Our Father who art in heaven….
*
And, if you are not big on prayer, let us reason together. Let us, for a change, use our brain for the purpose it was designed.
#
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
**********************************
Whenever I read a favorable comment on Turks by a Western observer, I think: “What the hell does he know?” But more and more frequently now, the question I ask next is: “What the hell do I know?”
*
Is there a single imperial nation on the face of the earth and in the history of mankind that can plead not guilty to the charge of massacre?
*
When we think in terms of right and wrong, good and evil, lies and truth, love and hate, we, in a way, assume to live in a black-and-white world. But what if the colors of reality are closer to shades of gray?
*
So far we have concentrated our efforts on exposing Turkish crimes and Western lies to such an extent that we have ignored our own. Which is where I come in…. But what if I too have been so busy exposing our own prejudices and misconceptions that I have had no time to see my own? As a matter of fact, it is by observing my own prejudices that I began to see our collective lies.
*
Born and raised in a Tashnak neighborhood, educated in a chezok (Catholic) school, now living in a predominantly Protestant country among Ramgavar relatives, I have been exposed to a veritable supermarket of conflicting ideologies, religions, propaganda and lies.
*
We may agree on the number of our victims, but we agree on nothing else. What the hell do we know? That is our question.
#
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
***********************************
In one of our weeklies I read today that an Orthodox Jew spat on an Armenian archbishop in Jerusalem, and the archbishop reacted by slapping the Jew. This minor incident epitomizes all the aberrations that at one time or another have been committed in the name of god or religion.
*
God may be good, but his role in the history of mankind has been ambiguous. If god were accountable to a separate set of superior gods, he would need a dream-team of lawyers. Either that or plead insanity.
*
Socrates was condemned to death because he was accused of not respecting the gods of Athens. Jesus was crucified because he claimed to be the Messiah. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on religious grounds. Gandhi was assassinated by a fanatic Hindu. I could go on…
*
During the Soviet era, Ramgavars supported the regime in Yerevan and the Tashnaks opposed it. The regime is no longer with us but we continue to have two sets of churches, schools, community centers, weeklies, bosses and bishops where one would be more than enough. Our unspoken slogan: Bad blood first, solidarity last.
*
If our political bosses are ever impeached, they too will need a dream team.
*
Readers, who have programmed themselves to disagree with me, also program themselves to misunderstand everything I say, and when it comes to misunderstanding, the average Armenian can be as creative as a genius.
*
According to the boomerang school of Armenian criticism, if you are against something, you will be accused of that very same something. Because I have been critical of intolerance and dogmatism, I have been accused of both aberrations.
*
Religious faith is sometimes confused with religious insanity, which, unlike other forms of insanity, may raise an entire civilization against another. It is no exaggeration to say that religious insanity has claimed more victims than all other forms of insanity combined.
*
As for nationalism and idealism (two other forms of collective insanity): they too may lead to war and massacre, but only when they acquire religious fervor. Is not the fascist slogan “Mussolini ha sempre ragione” (Mussolini is always right) an echo of divine infallibility?
#