Dang-it Ani

GOD DAMNIT ANI!!!

Ani Amirkhanian is DEFINTELY NOT one of the sharpest tools in the shed. Either that or she intentionally likes to put very stupid articles in the glendale news press for the sake of garnering support from the non-Armenian community. Either way, she's on my bad side. And if you're related to her... or are friends with her... or whatever else... well, I DONT CARE. Look, when you can barely get a job as a reporter (sorta - i think she's part time) for the GNP, maybe you should turn to something else - like, say, MCDONALDS.

Goddamnit. For those who don't follow the GNP or don't remember from my previous posts, she has continuously pigeon-holed the Armenian community into narrow stereotypes. The readership of the GNP are already (for a large part) racist individuals who see the GNP as a forum to vent thier frustrations towards the Armenian community. Ani fuels the fire. Once, she put out a 3 part series in her column, "Writing the Right" aboud Parska Hyes, Beiruta Hyes, and Hyastancis. If you consider yourself one of the three - imagine every stereotype (good and bad) people could make about you being printed in the paper and taken as gospel by the ignorant. The editor of the GNP once told me, "We like Ani, she tells us about the Armenian community" - no, she f***in doesnt - when she goes around bad mouthing hayastancis and talks about how parska hyes are the very wealthy ones and everyone envies them - or whatever other BS she said, well, she's not the best mouthpiece.

So, recently she wrote a column (btw, her columns consist of 30 one-sentence paragraphs - because she can't write!) talking about how there was some stubborn kid in her Armenian saturday school who was "forced" to be there by his parents and he didn't like learning Armenian and refused to speak it in class.

Now, how many of you remember Armenian saturday school - how many of you LOVED being there on gorgeous Saturday mornings (and missing cartoons)? How many of you can't read and write and regret that you didn't pay more attention in class? Ya, because as we get older, we understand the value of keeping some of your heritage. Are there people who don't want to learn it/speak it... OF COURSE and thats their choice and I'm fine with that? And are there Armenians who speak Armenian in public - where its probably rude? Yes, just like people in law school speak German when I'm in the elevator with them - should i go around saying Germans are a-holes? Of course not.

So, the fallout of her column, as expected, was that a bunch of people gave her major kudos for pointing out the problems of the Armenian community. (Someone actually wrote that waiters should speak English to elderly people who don't speak english because it will help the elderly learn English - ya, well, i think its rude for someone to speak english to my grandma when they CAN speak to her in Armenian!!!)

Here was the most recent letter:
Pressures on child indicative of problem

The column written by Ani Amirkhanian ("Some opt out of culture," Writing the Right, Saturday) about the Armenian student who was chastised for wanting to speak English and wanting to integrate himself into the culture that he and his family have adopted was a telling sign of the times in Glendale.

I found the article spelled out exactly why the majority of Armenians who have fled Armenia and chosen to live in the U.S. and particularly Glendale was because their country could not provide them with the benefits that we appreciate and cherish as vital to our culture. To chastise, single out, and pressure a child to not speak the language of the country he has adopted exemplifies the reason why the Armenian community is having great difficulty being accepted by those of us who understand what there is to offer in this country.

If I had to flee my country and take up residence in another country I would fully expect that I would need to accept the culture and fit into the society of my new home.

TIM RAGUS

Glendale


I hate to break it to this moron, but knowing many languages is as great as playing the violin or piano - and similarly, no 8 year old wants to do it! Moreover, WE FUCKING CAME TO AMERICA TO KEEP OUR HERITAGE TO SOME DEGREE... thats why so many of our parents shyed away from Europe - because they were told that in Europe, people MUST assimiliate! goddman ignorant bastards make me furious... can you tell???