Posted by pancho from pool0217.cvx24-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.210.217) on Saturday, November 23, 2002 at 10:25AM :
In Reply to: Alphonse Odishoo posted by pancho from pool0111.cvx20-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.250.111) on Saturday, November 23, 2002 at 9:24AM :
Alphonse and Alladin Khamis, vice-president of the AANF, were the ones who came down the hall to present me with their bogus contract at the San Hosed convention. The one sentence inserted into my copy of the contract said that in order to remain at the convention I would have to agree not to discuss the Shumirum Monument or the Federation. That was Jackie's doing...didn't want people to find out what she'd done...just like they removed all my literature and petitions at Chicago...same reason. These people treat you like children...children yet in their National Diapers.
After I left the hotel...I was told Alphonse stood in the lobby saying to anyone who asked for an explanation..."there is no Shumirum Monument...or else where is it...why didn't Fred bring a picture to show us". Their "contract" wouldn't allow me to tell the truth...but the runt who brought it to me was free to spread this ridiculous lie, in my absence.
These are punks and amateurs who hope to lead Assyria in their spare time. They have absolutely no class or undertanding when it comes to what it takes to get things done. That's why Jackie got you guys three pots by that great Assyrian artist, Menchavez. So long as you all have pots to look at...Jackie can be knowledgeable...she can "shine"...because the standard is so damn low she doesn't have to be any better than she can be in her spare time.
That's the key to why we are here...why in America, with all the institutions and means at our disposal, we yet have managed to do very little to nothing. Because the people who insist on leading us...are really holding us back...and they'll kick the legs out from under you and stab you in the back if they have to...anything to keep you from upgrading the requirements for being "leaders"...even stop you from upgrading yourselves to the point where you wouldn't any longer settle for their style of leadership.
Then, to show how decent they are, they'll take pity on you and offer you a handout. Is it any wonder that anyone who is serious about what he or she does runs as far away from us as they can? It isn't the people that are the problem, except insofar as they are easily fooled by these leaders from hell.
I brought a whole new level of professionalism into the community and they hated me for it...hated me because I showed how incompetant and incapapble they were...and yet they felt they HAD to interfere, HAD to assert control...demand they be allowed to maintain standards even at the dismal level they are at because it makes it easier for THEM!
You really think these people are interested, let alone capapble of leading you anywhere? read a letter from Atour again...if you know the language any better than he does...AHA! There you have it....Atour needs the kinds of Assyrians who don't know the language, or protocol, or how to get things done, any better than he does. A wiser following would demand a better leader. same with Jackie...so long as we remain impressed by inconsequential things...like, "how did she EVER get THAT... into THIS"? ...Jackie will be "outstanding". Their desire to rule over us "easily", because they are in truth lazy...is what propels them...and to maintain themselves at the top they would cripple anyone who shows the promise of refining us and lifting us higher. They don't mean it when they say..."come let us work together to improve our lot". Not a bit of it.
It is undoubtedly true that after a hard day making disposable cars at the factory, Atour comes home beat. And it is certainly to be believed that it takes some effort to then drive across town and work for Assyria. But that doesn't mean it is effective or usefull work,,,,just exhausting. So what? A persons willingness to run himself ragged for Assyria is admirable in its own way...but it determines nothing about the competance or ability of that person. We make far too much of "heart" and almost none at all of "mind".
Sam is true for Jackie...I have no doubt it's stressful to drive her children to school in two Benzes...no doubt the hair dresser takes longer and longer to maintain her looks...I well believe that picking out knit suits can be draining...that having lunch takes precious time away from the office...so that by nighfall when her husband is feeding the kids...she can barely drag herself out to attend a meeting at her club and plan their next picnic...or appear on television. But she couldn't make the excuse, "Oh I am so tired" on the job. Neither would she pick suppliers because they are "nice". At what reallly counts...the place she earns the money for all those suits, she knows exactly what needs doing...and she knows they have to maintain the highest standards or her company will go under.
That's the way I approach my work as well...do what makes me my "living" as well. And that's where i clashed with these people...they are all amateur Assyrians...they don't like Pros.
When people would try to nickel and dime me...barter and bargain, I refused...even though I was told to just inflate my price in order to bring it down to what I wanted anyway. I wouldn't do it...because it demeans US to behave like we're buying onions all the time...wherever we are. Jackie went on about how I had the gall to charge $500 for a teeny weenie bitty sculpture...as if you buy Art be its size or gross weight...onions and potatoes again.
I was often arrogant, according to them, because I wanted us to learn to behave better in the face of the better things in life...not act like we are forever consigned to backrooms and alleys. I fought with Sapper Sapper over this same thing...long distance no less, because I wanted these guys to GET BURNED if they didn't have the sense to treat our artists with consideration and respect. Like the goons of ours who make a spectacle of themselves harrassing and aggravating waitresses at coffee shops and restaurants at conventions because they PAY HER.
We have extremely classy and knowledgeable and worldly Assyrians...but they aren't going to come into a madhouse...they aren't going to tolerate an Alphonse, ruining the very essence of the subject he was extolling adnauseum by joining the act, as if to say, "I can do it too, what's the big deal".
People will be more readily fooled by Jackie because they WANT TO BE, because it flatters THEM to be hoodwinked by a ladt with three cars. She has more polish than most...but it's skin deep. You'd have to have gotten as "down" with her as I did to know this. She wont let most of you in that close. Not unless she felt pretty sure she "had" you. She paid so much "for me" that she thought I was surely hers...that I operate from the same ideals of self-interest that she does...that I would NEVER risk losing the "income she provided me"...that's her way of seeing Art...and her way of seeing all of you is a means by which she can easily shine...because you are SUCH slobs, you'll be impressed, and easily too....are EAGER to have someone to be impressed BY!
People now wish I would drop the suit and go away. I know how the kid who reports abuse against a priest must feel...in the way adults respond. Our first concern is that this revelation has shattered US. These allegations made against the very people who are supposed to intercede with god for us...destroys our silly illusions. People wont come out and say it, but they would have far preferred to never have known,...and at some point, for however brief a moment, the thought must come to them that if the kid had just kept quiet...perhaps not done "something"...something provocative like worn shorts or had such cute buns...none of this would have happened and things could have gone on as before.
That's the reaction from Assyrians towards me. I'm the one at fault for inspiring the ill treatment I received...without my provocation Jackie could have remained the Homecoming Quean of Assyria and John the "elder Statesman". For ruining their cotton candy notions of these people or our condition in the world...I am held accountable...instead of those who do these things.
It's an old story...but it will always be better that we go through it and have our illusuions destroyed...especially as in this case when what we are left with as a consolation prize are three pots to piss in.
-- pancho
-- signature .