Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts)

by Serj Tankian

The US government had secured oil concessions from Turkey through secret deals after World War I in return for ignoring the Armenian Genocide, which was perpetrated by the Turks.

I was an activist long before I was an artist and I have never wanted to be one of those vacant souls who speaks to millions but talks to no one.

If only more celebrities were like this 😭👑

My bandmate John, who is also my brother-in-law, says I’m a stubborn bastard who will always do what I think is right regardless of what anyone else thinks. I’ve always taken that as a compliment—whether John means it that way or not.

I apologized and told him I didn’t mean to be disrespectful but that, as Armenians, to hear the word “massacre” applied to the killing of five people when the killing of 1.5 million Armenians was being largely ignored by the same country that used this so-called massacre as a pretext for the revolution that led to the country’s founding—it was just hard to do anything but laugh.

“many Armenians have become convinced that, if it had not been for the use of violence, no one would be aware of Armenian grievances.” That old phrase, “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” feels particularly apt here.

Essentially, the more I meditated, the easier it was for me to see the inherent good in people. Everyone is born pure, and it’s the very act of living—fighting for our survival—that beats the purity and goodness out of us. We’re all on the same journey together, different parts of a greater organism. So, if I’m out honking at some guy who just cut me off on the 405, that guy who just cut me off is also me. I’ve been there, I’ve done the same thing, so why heap my scorn on him? How is that serving either of us?

Meditation became a daily routine as important to me as eating and sleeping. It became so vital that I could really tell the difference if I hadn’t had time to meditate. I wouldn’t be as focused, as aware, as settled. It created this unique space for growth, change, and acceptance of whatever came my way. It gave me the tools to deal with the incredible metamorphosis that was going on in my life at the time. Every interaction was appreciated, every experience was accepted.

For the song “Aerials,” those lines, “Life is a waterfall, we’re one in the river and one again after the fall / Swimming through the void we hear the word, we lose ourselves, but we find it all,” are not something I would’ve conceived of before I’d started transcendental meditation.

The destruction itself is in fact part of the artwork, a symbol that our time here on Earth is temporary, and its transience is what makes it so beautiful. It’s the process of making the art, the process of living itself, from which meaning, truth, and beauty are derived, not the product of that process.

Meditation is really the search for a feeling. If you’ve ever had a moment—maybe you’ve got headphones on, you’re listening to music, you’re staring out the window, or maybe your eyes are closed but you’re not asleep—and for just that moment there is nothing but that moment. There are no bills you’re worried about paying, there are no fraught conversations you’re replaying in your mind, there are no concerns of what came before or what comes next; that’s the feeling I’m aiming to conjure when I meditate. I’ve always thought of it as a portal to the most comfortable room in the house, the one I’m trying to get my being into.

The greatest act of love is the opening of a door to a complete stranger. Acts of kindness are inspirational and often create a ripple multiplier effect that render a high quotient of positive productivity.

It’s lived experience that becomes your spiritual North Star. In other words, you often need to do things wrong to learn how to do them right.

We ended up hiring one of their friends to work security for us, an ex-wrestler known as Herman the German. Herman was a sweet guy with an almost impenetrably thick German accent. One day, Daron couldn’t find the black leather pants that he liked to wear onstage, so Herman was running around the backstage area in a frenzy, going room to room, yelling “Whegh argh Daron’s lazer pants?!”

Symbolism is powerful, and it’s imperative to try to make positive change where possible. If we can’t even envision the peaceful world we hope to live in, we have no chance of achieving it. If we fail at making small gestures, we won’t have the courage to try big ones.

And if you’re not using your microphone, your stage, and all the clout that comes with it to try to make some sort of real impact in this world, then what the fuck are you doing and who are you?

The record label, on the other hand, was predictably unenthusiastic about the idea of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a video to protest a military action that roughly 70 percent of Americans supported at that point—all while not even having a single on the radio to help sell more records. A couple of days after that meeting, I got a call from Beno informing me that Sony had rejected the idea. I didn’t get angry. I didn’t curse anyone out. But in a matter-of-fact voice, I told our manager to inform the label that I was out of the band.

This was no rock-star diva move. “If we can’t make a creative decision on something as important as a war and have the support of a company that we’ve made millions of dollars for, then I don’t see any point in being a part of this,” I explained. It was a stark threat, but it wasn’t a bluff. I was ready to walk over this. Beno relayed my ultimatum, and Sony backed down. In the end, we made the video exactly as we wanted to.

I found this all extremely frustrating and discouraging, but I really wasn’t in the emotional headspace to put up a fight about it. Instead, I thought about the things I’d learned through meditation. I didn’t want to get so tied up in what’s mine and what’s not mine, so I took a deep breath—literally and figuratively—and just let it go.

When it comes to any sort of project, idea, or proposal, a quick and decisive “no” is almost always preferable to an insincere or wishy-washy “yes.” Of course, while I find non-answers aggravating, I fully understand the impulse. Telling someone you disagree or don’t like something they’ve done is hard. But it’s as important as just about anything you’ll ever do, both as an artist and as a person.

This discussion went round and round, getting more and more heated. Finally, John stood up and slammed his meaty hand against the table in his typical Tarzan fashion.

Lmfao he was roasting them at points

The US is turning into its own mortal enemy. It’s a country that doesn’t need external enemies because the obfuscation of personal relationships, coupled with the abomination of partisan politics, has caused unparalleled fear and paranoia of one another. All this breaks down the cohesive cement of national unity. So, even though I technically reside here, I wouldn’t necessarily call the US my one true “home” either.

“To follow the path of injustice would be spiritually disconcerting.”

We cannot harm others without causing harm to ourselves. We cannot love others without loving ourselves. As such, those of us who fight for justice do so because we can’t live with ourselves if we don’t. Injustice is spiritually disconcerting because it is an attack on ourselves and everything else around us, all at the same time.