Hell Freezes Over: Kim Kardashian & a Serious Topic

[Dr. Cheese]

Kim Kardashian Upset at Cosmo for Turkish Cover | TMZ.com

The cynic in me says she still manages to keep her name in the public, but I'm sure the Turkish perpetration of the Armenian Genocide is something that she takes seriously.

[Absentia]

I pretty much guarantee that not only can she not spell genocide but she also does not know the definition.

[DwaynieAD]

doubt she honestly cares, she complains about going to her own parties

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by Absentia

I pretty much guarantee that not only can she not spell genocide but she also does not know the definition.

The woman is shallow, but she is not dumb. Nobody makes that much money and holds on to it by being dumb. She grew up around sports and entertainment, and she has managed to make money off of both without being athletically or dramatically gifted (although having an awesome body certainly doesn't hurt.)

She is Armenian, and I imagine that Armenians keep the knowledge of atrocities alive like other groups do, so I suspect there is at least some sincerity in what she says.

[sloasdaylight]

Originally Posted by Absentia

I pretty much guarantee that not only can she not spell genocide but she also does not know the definition.

Support the Armenian Genocide Resolution and Make a Difference! - Kim Kardashian videos, photos and blog: Official website
Reflecting on the Armenian Genocide - Kim Kardashian videos, photos and blog: Official website
Let’s recognize what really happened - Kim Kardashian videos, photos and blog: Official website

She's got posts related to that on this blog alone going back to 2008 which can be found with a very brief google search. Now you can say what you want, but to me, it seems this is actually something she cares about, and probably was spreading awareness of it before some members of this board even it happened. I doubt she's a scholar on Armenian History, but I'm pretty sure she knows at least the gist of what happened there.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

The woman is shallow, but she is not dumb. Nobody makes that much money and holds on to it by being dumb. She grew up around sports and entertainment, and she has managed to make money off of both without being athletically or dramatically gifted (although having an awesome body certainly doesn't hurt.)

She is Armenian, and I imagine that Armenians keep the knowledge of atrocities alive like other groups do, so I suspect there is at least some sincerity in what she says.

I have a few Armenian friends and like many Jewish or Polish folks, the memories of a horrible past history will always be a part of the culture of a people. The difficult part however is remembering that your enemy of times past may not be your enemy of the here and now and to hang on to hatred, even if it's seemingly justified, is doing no one any good. The Turks and Armenians may have a difference of opinion on what happened and to the extent of what happened, but nearly anyone who was involved in that is now long gone.. you should never ever forget, but you need to move on. I understand her point of view - I grew up with similar stories of my own ethnicity - but she needs to chill out and let it go in this instance, IMO

[sloasdaylight]

Originally Posted by Relic

I have a few Armenian friends and like many Jewish or Polish folks, the memories of a horrible past history will always be a part of the culture of a people. The difficult part however is remembering that your enemy of times past may not be your enemy of the here and now and to hang on to hatred, even if it's seemingly justified, is doing no one any good. The Turks and Armenians may have a difference of opinion on what happened and to the extent of what happened, but nearly anyone who was involved in that is now long gone.. you should never ever forget, but you need to move on. I understand her point of view - I grew up with similar stories of my own ethnicity - but she needs to chill out and let it go in this instance, IMO

I dunno, frankly I think she's got a right to be pissed off about it if Cosmo didn't let her know she'd appear on the Turkish version. Turkey has still not been great as far as the history of the genocide is concerned. It'd be akin to a German woman appearing on the Israeli version of Cosmo if the German Government never said the Holocaust was a genocide. The Turkish government has been accused of trying to suppress information of the genocide in Turkey as well, so frankly, I never really thought I'd be saying this, but I'm with Kardashian on this one.

[arbitrary]

Most Armenians I know are extremely informed re: the genocide as it significantly affected them & their diaspora. They are generally an extremely close community. There is a lot politically that goes into this, but a lot of it centers around it being labeled and accepted as an actual genocide. It wasn't until recently that America came out and called it as such (2009). But in speeches, U.S. politicians still don't use the world genocide. Turkey still denies it as a genocide. Imagine if Germany still denied the holocaust.

As apathetic as I feel about her, this isn't something that I'd feel comfortable questioning her motivations about.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by sloasdaylight

I dunno, frankly I think she's got a right to be pissed off about it if Cosmo didn't let her know she'd appear on the Turkish version. Turkey has still not been great as far as the history of the genocide is concerned. It'd be akin to a German woman appearing on the Israeli version of Cosmo if the German Government never said the Holocaust was a genocide. The Turkish government has been accused of trying to suppress information of the genocide in Turkey as well, so frankly, I never really thought I'd be saying this, but I'm with Kardashian on this one.

I hear you, but there's comes a point where you need to draw the line. The Cosmo is a public magazine and has little to do with the Turkish government. Japan for instance also whitewashes it's history - you wont hear much about Nanking there. Russia is the same - it took many years for them to even admit what happened at Katyn, let alone even release the numbers of the people starved to death in Ukraine in the 1920's. Then, there's also the example of we ourselves who (arguably so) committed our own genocide against the native American population..
ALL of these things are horrible and should never ever ever be forgotten. Not even for a second, but there also comes a time when we need to move on otherwise we 'aint never going to progress beyond what we were when these things happened.
Not sure if that makes sense the way I wrote it..

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by Relic

I hear you, but there's comes a point where you need to draw the line. The Cosmo is a public magazine and has little to do with the Turkish government. Japan for instance also whitewashes it's history - you wont hear much about Nanking there. Russia is the same - it took many years for them to even admit what happened at Katyn, let alone even release the numbers of the people starved to death in Ukraine in the 1920's. Then, there's also the example of we ourselves who (arguably so) committed our own genocide against the native American population..
ALL of these things are horrible and should never ever ever be forgotten. Not even for a second, but there also comes a time when we need to move on otherwise we 'aint never going to progress beyond what we were when these things happened.
Not sure if that makes sense the way I wrote it..

As someone who has gotten a whole lot of heat on TB for mentioning past and present racism, I always get a chuckle when I hear Americans judging others for not confronting their past.


Back to Kim Kardashian, I do think there is a covergence here of genuine concern for a political issue, and self-serving publicity. One thing I suggest that is that it can be seen as positive for a Turkish woman's magazine to put an ethnic Armenian woman on the cover.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

As someone who has gotten a whole lot of heat on TB for mentioning past and present racism, I always get a chuckle when I hear Americans judging others for not confronting their past.


Back to Kim Kardashian, I do think there is a covergence here of genuine concern for a political issue, and self-serving publicity. One thing I suggest that is that it can be seen as positive for a Turkish woman's magazine to put an ethnic Armenian woman on the cover.

I thought the same thing. In some ways it's a big step in the right direction.
Kim Kardashian's a beautiful woman, an Armenian -descended woman on the cover of a Turkish language magazine that will be read by many Turkish women. This is kind of significant.
Who knows, it may start some dialogue or open some doors to reconciliation.. I know, I'm the hopeless naive optimist sometimes, but you really never know.

[kai_ski]

I lived in Armenia for a few years. I speak Armenian. I have read and learned firsthand from natives about the Genocide and I can assure you, every Armenian knows about it and reflects on it often.

Here is a blog entry that disagrees with the link above in every way possible. I'm guessing that in order to get Kim Kardashian a cover in Armenia, the only way to make it profitable for Cosmo was to bundle that together with the Turkish Cosmo. According to the other covers in the photo gallery, it looks like she's on international versions in English, Spanish, Turkish, Indonesian, and Armenian.

Regarding My ‘Cosmopolitan’ Turkey Cover… - Kim Kardashian videos, photos and blog: Official website

The Armenian cover:

[mpdd]

kim was also unaware that her sibling themed credit card had an insane interest rate, so maybe her handlers need to be a little more forthright with what is actually going on with the details related to products she puts her image on, they shouldn't have released her "songs" either without better writing and production

[Deluge Of Sound]

In other news:
Kim K Lines Up NEW Photo Shoot w/ Cosmo | TMZ.com

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

She is Armenian, and I imagine that Armenians keep the knowledge of atrocities alive like other groups do, so I suspect there is at least some sincerity in what she says.

^^^This. Every person of Armenian descent I have ever met was intimately familiar with the history of the Ottoman genocide. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to have strong memories and emotional ties to the stories your parents told you -- over & over, presumably in excrutiating detail -- when you were young.

[sarcastro83]

Seriously, good on her for knowing and understanding her cultural history, and especially good on her for having something to say about it. It isn't often that the vain and shallow (and in her case oh-so-wonderfully-caboosed... hot damn!) speak up about topics they don't understand and say things that don't make everyone around them cringe.

Hell, it's refreshing even to be reminded once in a while that people of her ilk have things resembling heart-felt and informed beliefs and opinions.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Hoover

^^^This. Every person of Armenian descent I have ever met was intimately familiar with the history of the Ottoman genocide. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to have strong memories and emotional ties to the stories your parents told you -- over & over, presumably in excrutiating detail -- when you were young.

check out canookistanian film maker atom egoyans's ararat.....i'm guessing his take on the armenian genocide might eclipse ms kardashian's.....

[blendermassacre]

Originally Posted by Deluge Of Sound

In other news:
Kim K Lines Up NEW Photo Shoot w/ Cosmo | TMZ.com

"I'm outraged...ish"

or

"I'm going to make a stink about this because it will get me face time, and then use it to get more face time. "

[hrodbert696]

Others have said it, but I'll just comment that from the handful of Armenians I've known, the Turkish genocide rates in their communal memory the way the Holocaust does for Jews. You don't need to be hyper-intellectual to be conscious of it in that community.

Actually, it was drawn to my attention by the one Armenian-American I knew for whom it HADN'T been a big issue, an old boss of mine. His ancestors had immigrated to the States late in the 19th century, before the genocide. When he went to college and met other Armenians - this would have been in the 70s - he was all confused about this "genocide" they were all talking about. He realized that he was very much the exception for not having been brought up with it as part of his family identity.