Lakers star Kobe Bryant's two-year endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines has sparked protest among Armenian Americans in Los Angeles, which is fucking retarded. Basketball fans must be hoping Lamar Odom's wife, Ogre Kardashian, doesn't start turning the team against him!Turkish Airlines described Bryant as a "global brand ambassador", and will be using him to publicize the start of their nonstop flights in March from Istanbul to Los Angeles, and the onslaught of TV, billboard, print and online ads early next year hits too close to home to their inability to deal with onslaughts. You see, the one thing they're are stuck on is the 1915 genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by the former Ottoman Empire, which the Turkish government has strenuously rejected. How are they going to reconcile their love of the Lakers and their 100 year old complaint?
Concentrated inCalifornia Glendale and Pasadena are 600,000 to 700,000 Armenians, and they're cheesed off! Aram Hamparian (executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America) complained, "This is not a matter of a private company that Kobe has signed a deal with...It's a state carrier with a heavy government affiliation." Yes, like most countries outside the US, where the majority of industries are nationally affiliated...but why is it your hurt feelings should be taken to heart by Kobe more than a business decision?
Caspar Jivalagian (executive member of the Armenian Youth Federation's Western region) said, "There's a clear backlash already...People have been calling us, saying, 'I hate Kobe' and 'I won't watch the Lakers anymore.' " You mean other Armenians with their super-heritage hard-on, not actual people. Which is why there are parts of the Armenian community that want Bryant to use his fame to push House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to schedule a vote on House Resolution 252, which would recognize the Armenian deaths as genocide. Clearly, that is an issue our government needs to spend some time on instead of taxes, health care, the budget, our foreign wars, or, well, everything else!
It's great that Armenians have such a strong bond to their homeland and culture, though at the expense of being viewed as a narrow-minded. Their pride has become a caricature, and getting pissy about Kobe and his business deals is laughable. You don't see Jews outraged over anybody's dealings with the Germans, or Americans sweating the Japanese every December 7th - even with both events happening more recent that the Armenocide. It must be hard from them while System Of A Down is on hiatus, but please Armenians, chill out and worry more about how your culture and people come across to the rest of the world, and less about what athletes endorse.
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Caspar Jivalagian (executive member of the Armenian Youth Federation's Western region) said, "There's a clear backlash already...People have been calling us, saying, 'I hate Kobe' and 'I won't watch the Lakers anymore.' " You mean other Armenians with their super-heritage hard-on, not actual people. Which is why there are parts of the Armenian community that want Bryant to use his fame to push House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to schedule a vote on House Resolution 252, which would recognize the Armenian deaths as genocide. Clearly, that is an issue our government needs to spend some time on instead of taxes, health care, the budget, our foreign wars, or, well, everything else!
It's great that Armenians have such a strong bond to their homeland and culture, though at the expense of being viewed as a narrow-minded. Their pride has become a caricature, and getting pissy about Kobe and his business deals is laughable. You don't see Jews outraged over anybody's dealings with the Germans, or Americans sweating the Japanese every December 7th - even with both events happening more recent that the Armenocide. It must be hard from them while System Of A Down is on hiatus, but please Armenians, chill out and worry more about how your culture and people come across to the rest of the world, and less about what athletes endorse.
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