Sunday, August 26, 2007
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ANTI-SEMITISM AND US
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Anti-Semites are everywhere, including Armenians, and yes, including Jews. Once in a while we are reminded that Talaat was part Jewish, the implication being that it is the Jew in him that must be held responsible for the Genocide (a theory that would be more than welcome to the perps). My own sources tell me Talaat was part Armenian. So was the Red Sultan. What does that prove? Only one thing, that all men are brothers, like Cain and Abel. They may preach brotherhood but they prefer to practice Cain-Abelism, sometimes even cannibalism; and what is cannibalism if not another form of assimilation and recycling? It is wrong to assign guilt to races and nations because it may alienate potential allies, supporters, and friends, who come in all sizes and shapes, also races, colors and creeds – including Jews, Turks, and fantastic as this may seem, Armenians.
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Monday, August 27, 2007
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A RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS
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The louder they speechify on patriotism the phonier they are. All rules have exceptions, except this one. You want proof? I’ll give you two: Adolf (Deutschland ueber alles) Hitler, Iosif (Patriotic War) Stalin, and King Kong.
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CURSES
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Do you want to curse an Armenian and you can’t come up with a good one that does justice to the situation? How about this? “May your son (or daughter) be a writer,” or “May s/he be educated enough to think for herself/himself.” Or “May s/he rate honesty as the queen of virtues and the king of assets!” These may not sound like curses, but take my word for it, they are the kind of beauties you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
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HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE?
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A guy gets splattered by a passing bird, looks up and says, “For the rich you sing.”
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SPEAKING OF DUMPING
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The easiest way to assert superiority is to dump on your betters. Only one drawback: it never works; it may even backfire.
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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
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HITLER AND I
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“Hitler was a Jew,” a reader writes; “his passport says so.” Maybe so am I. On more than one occasion I have stated that on a good day I can trace my ancestry all the way back to my father. I am told some Armenians are so eager to identify themselves as pure-blooded Armenians that they trace their ancestry all the way back to the Mamikonians (of Chinese descent) and Bagratunis (Jewish). No one chooses his nationality. You and I could just as easily have been born on the other side of the mountain or river. Not that I give a damn one way or the other. Races, colors, creeds, nations and tribes – I consider them all bad news. Identify yourself with one of them and you inherit nothing but grief, feuds, and enemies, some among your own kind. If you were to try settling scores with all of them, you would either end up as a serial killer or a victim – the quintessential “esh nahadag” (jackass martyr). In that sense, national identity is not an asset but a liability, a burden, and a curse. The pure-blooded Armenian is as much a myth as the pure-blooded Turk, Greek, American, or Gypsy. Anyone who says otherwise is out to manipulate you to do his dirty work for him – just like the neocons in Washington today. And speaking of jackasses and our own Jack S. Avanakians who speechify and editorialize on nationalism and unsettled scores: I read the following apposite quotation from Konrad Lorentz in our paper this morning: “The long sought missing link between animals and really humane beings is ourselves.” A final note on Hitler’s passport: I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be a fake, just like Lord Byron’s pen in the museum of San Lazzaro.
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007
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THE SECRET OF MY POPULARITY
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Peter de Vries: “Everybody hates me because I’m so universally liked.”
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“If you think you can do better, why don’t you get involved in community affairs?” I am told once in a while.
Because in an authoritarian environment yes-man have a better chance to be influential than critics. Stalin did not invite Solzhenitsyn to the Kremlin; he bundled him off to the Gulag.
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Deep down somewhere we all want to know what’s wrong with us. We may not like it when we are told, we may even hate those who take it upon themselves to tell us, but we want to know because our ego is our most valuable possession.
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Nothing can be as menacing to those who live in a world of illusions than talk of reality.
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We pretend to be against denialists but we engage in denialism when it comes to our failings, of which we have our share. To say otherwise is to speak as an idiot.
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An idiot holding forth on patriotism or any other noble-sounding ism is still an idiot.
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