Sunday, June 03, 2007
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MEMO TO OUR PUNDITS
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You will never write a single decent line as long as you think your readers are lesser men, perhaps even naïve dupes like yourself.
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Since we don’t know everything there is to know – no one does – let us agree to listen to one another on the grounds that we may become aware of facts that so far have escaped our perception; and by one another I don’t just mean Armenians and Turks, but also Armenians and Armenians, or rather, Ottomanized Armenians and human beings, who place their humanity above their tribal or partisan loyalties. It is therefore to our advantage to treat our adversaries not as mortal enemies but as future friends.
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Changing our perception of the past is as good as changing the past.
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My writings are perceived by some as anti-Armenian. I reject the label. I am critical of certain Armenians because I see them not as Armenians but as by-products of Ottoman culture.
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What we learn from defeats and failures we may unlearn from victories and successes.
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If the atomic structure of the universe proves the existence of God, the atomic bomb proves the existence of the devil, or the other face of God, the one we pray to every day with the words, “Do no lead us into temptation.”
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Monday, June 04, 2007
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WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE
CANNOT BE DESIRABLE
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Tolstoy: “Aren’t we all of us flung onto this earth to hate and torment each other?”
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You cannot reason with someone who is infatuated with his own infallibility.
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Since dead-end controversies that are destined to remain unresolved to the end of time have become an integral part of our collective existence and mindset, the chances that we will ever reach a consensus with the Turks are “as dark as the prospects of an honest politician” (Chandler).
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If we assume consensus to be to our mutual advantage, willingness to compromise becomes not only inevitable but also necessary, because the alternative – negotiating without compromise – is not negotiating but imposing one’s will on others. Only the mighty may impose their will on the weak. To those who say, “If we have truth and the world on our side, we might as well have God on our side, and who could be mightier than the Almighty?” May I remind them that the world was on our side in 1915 too, and that what motivates the world is not truth but self-interest. As for God: unlike our pundits, I am more than willing to admit that not being an authority on the subject, I am in no position to make any pronouncements in His name.
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If on the other hand the Turks compromise and make concessions, our side will simply escalate their demands. It follows, our self-righteous and dogmatic defenders of the faith will do their utmost to never resolve our differences with the Turks. Because, if they are ever resolved, they may run out of their favorite subject and may even be condemned to irrelevance — not a pleasant prospect for monomaniacal megalomaniacs.
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Tuesday, June 05, 2007
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ON NATIONALISM
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As far as I can see, the only reason nationalism is popular with some Armenians is that it allows them to divide the nation into nationalists (the good guys) and anti-nationalists (the lowest form of animal life).
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If nationalism is a good thing, was it good for the Germans, the Turks, and in general all fascist regimes that claimed to be nationalist? Can anything that divides us be good? If Armenian nationalism is good, can we say then all non-Armenian nationalists are bad? If that which divides us is good, does it mean, that which unites us is bad? There is only one thing that unites us, the Genocide. Does that mean by killing us the Turks did us a favor?
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We hate to be deceived, and yet, self-deception is the most widely practiced form of deception. Nationalism teaches us to brag by asserting our uniqueness and superiority to all other nations. If we are unique, that’s because all nations are unique. To confuse uniqueness with superiority is the height of self-deception.
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The flattery of brown-nosers: what is it worth?
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Wednesday, June 06, 2007
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PAST INJUSTICES & FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES
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The deepest wounds are self-inflicted.
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A man obsessed with past injustices will be blind to future opportunities.
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A less than perfect settlement, even a bad settlement, is better than no settlement.
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During the last century, we have failed to reach a consensus with the Turks. Things may change in the next century and we may do better, but hope is not a policy.
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If we have failed it may be because we have allowed the wrong people to represent us. Who should represent us? Not politicians, ideologues, or for that matter, nationalist historians, but lawyers, preferably odar lawyers, not because they are better or smarter, but rather because they care less about the truth (a metaphysical concept) and more about the evidence.
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To negotiate and compromise is better than not to negotiate, if only because to compromise for the uncompromising is a step in the right direction. If we compromise and reach a consensus with the Turks, some day we may even compromise and reach a consensus with our fellow Armenians. If that happens, future historians may open a new chapter in our history subtitled “The Birth of a Nation.”
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