Talk:Serj Tankian

Gay?

Is he gay? I'm not bashing him or the band, SOAD Rocks! But one of my best friends hangs out with Serj several times a year, and says that Serj implies that he's gay pretty often. Has Serj been joking? Have there been any confirmed serious girlfriends?

Notice

Please follow proper Wikipedia discussion page format when adding to this page. Avengerx 14:18, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

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Serj supporting D.A.R.E.? Source please, i saw him smoking marijuana on stage :) I also saw pics of him smoking a bong with fellow bandmates.

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just removed fanboy ravings... Hurkummer

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Realy? it was a shock to me he was promoting D.A.R.E, after hearing songs like "she's like heroin"

and "peephole" SOAD ROCKS!!! ; )

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Actually she's like heroin does not support drug use, it is about how SOAD thinks its bad that people sell their bodies for drugs. -- SOADJPenator

If you listen to the lyrics of a lot of the songs that it may seem likepromote drugs, it's actually saying the opposite. SOAD in no way supports drug use. At least, Serj doesn't. bob rulz 05:51, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

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It should be added that Serj appears on the (hed) PE cd "Broke" singing on the track "Feel Good", as well as the Tony Iommi cd "Iommi" on the track "Patterns"

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The trivia section is trivial even by the standards of trivia. It's stuff like this that makes me step back and say, "Gee, Wikipedia is full of crap." I mean, really -- he has an herb garden? How about: "as a practicing driver, he owns a car." And then: "He has a set of keys and a wallet." Or: "Sometimes he takes a shower. Sometimes, a bath."

Good point. I've changed it, I've also added a after the statement. Has anyone else heard if he's a vegetarian? -- Vladimir Lenin 16:49, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

DARE

I highly doubt he supports DARE, but I'm not a 100% sure. So I stuck a after it.

i dont think he supports it either i found a picture of him on soadfans.com of him smokin weeed!

Even if he is against drugs I don't think he'd support an organization that has shown repeated failures. Until someone sources it I'm deleting it. -- Vladimir Lenin 16:46, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

This keeps getting reposted, maybe the article can be locked from further editing so that this vandilism can be prevented.--70.230.27.179 17:09, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

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I couln't find him on the D.A.R.E web site.

College

"While in college, Serj maintained a 4.0 grade average." Does anyone have any more information about this? As in, where did he go, when did he graduate, etc.? I've looked for it online but can't find it.. --DanielNuyu 00:12, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Religion

Since when is Serj Tankian a Muslim???--KingVegeta2000 03:48 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Until This can be properly cited I am removing any reference to his mother being a muslim or him being a muslim this is how rumors get started--KingVegeta2000 18:59 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Very well, I have allied myself with KingVegeta2000 and we will take out facts of his religion, whether thats Islam, Christianity or whatever religion until it is proplerly sourced since someones religion is personal and its not nice to spread rumours about it. WHATCH OUT RUMOUR SPREADERS--Enter the chicken

HEY THE SOURCE OF HIM BEING A MUSLIM HAS BEEN FOUND. Enter the chicken

Where, if you can cite it, I'd be interested in seeing it.--KingVegeta2000 08:07, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Most Armenians are Christian. It'd be very unlikely that Serj Tankian is a Muslim, unless he converted to Islam. -- Augustgrahl 14:17, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

He was born in Lebanon; a good percentage of that country is Muslim; but around 40 percent is Christian. I have never seen him affiliate himself with either religion...or any religion for that matter... -- NBAwire:syxx 00:39, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Serj Tankian is Armenian. A good percentage of Armenians in the world, especially in Lebanon, are Christian. Chances of him being Muslim are very dismal. He has never affiliated himself with any religion, true. But he was most probably baptised Christian, as it is Armenian tradition to do so. He would have also announced in an interview or his own website if he had converted to Islam anyway. Fedayee 00:43, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Good points there; I wonder if "Enter the Chicken" was actually serious when he posted that since he hasn't returned since. NBAwire:syxx 00:49, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

i think heard that he converted to islam somewhere on the net it was backed up with a interview? any ideas? but there are armenian atheists, christans and muslims? there are some fans of Serj believe that he's an atheist... I guess THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE! Even if he's a muslim? What will you do? protest? :-D Stop listening to SoAD?

Serj has stated in an interview [1] that he believes in the spirituality of pre-civilized cultures. However, he doesn't name any particular religion, so it's probably best not to label him as anything for the purposes of the article. Now, there's nothing wrong with him being a Muslim, or atheist, or anything else. However, it would be at best adding unverified information to the article to say that he is a Muslim, and any potentially contentious statements in the biographies of living people are in special need of credible sources. -- Augustgrahl 04:33, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

HEY THE SITE SAYING HE WAS A MUSLIM WASFAKE. BUT KEEP SEARCHING EVERYBODY THEIRS BOUND TO BE A LINK TO HIS RELIGION SOMEWHERE Enter the chicken

Q: What are your views on religion and what effect do you think it has on American culture? What are your beliefs on God or organized religion? Do you believe in a "cosmic mutual mind connection"?

A: That's a hell of a question (smirk).. All modern religions were born out of this 10,000 year old civilization. None have any direct lineage to our indigenous past. The indigenous life had intuition, understanding and respect for why we're here as an element of nature, equal by definition. Modern civilization has instead nurtured the mind versus the heart and has gotten us all lost in the process. All modern organized religions have parts of the truth embedded in them, though none present the full answer. Every time I'm asked about my religion or spiritual practices, I tell journalists to go ask the tree outside, cause it's the same one.

This is excellent its from the serjical strike myspace site...would this lead to him being an animist i believe someone made that comment, he probably doesn't believe in any organized modern religion or any religion at all KingVegeta2000 08:31, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Maybe we could quote him about his religious views, but I wouldn't do anything more than that. -- Augustgrahl 12:48, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

What is the factual inaccuracy?

Please explain or I will remove the tag. Andries 18:10, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

I am sorry about the tag I put about the vandalism I wasnt sure which is the correct tag. I am assuming the factual innacuracy that the tag is about is about Tankians religion, because this is the part of the article that has been edited the most as of late. I only assume because I wasnt the user who put up the tag about factual innacuracy. The editing that has been going on lately has been bordering on vandalism because sources cannot be cited and i have had to repeatedly edit this article for essentially the same thing and that is Tankians religion.--

Engaged??

i keep seing different explanation on google that serj is engaged to an armenian woman, is it true??

no its not don't worry. Delete anything about it if it comes up, he is not engaged.

Overweekend portrait

This weekend I'll put some time aside and make a Serj portrait.

As wikifreaks keep deleting his photos, unless any of you have actually had a chance to meet him and took a photo with him or something, PLEASE upload your photo , this way you give permission for it to be on wikipedia and i does not get deleted, it's either that or wait for me to make one, since we'll probably never find one that fits the overprecise copyright paranoied wikipedia standards. >=( --Mudel 21:09, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Sorry I got work over the holidays, gotta wait, untill then feel free to go [here] for a picture of Serj! --Mudel 11:33, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Any update on this? You did a nice job with the Shavo, I am sure you can do it here as well. NBAwire:syxx 18:15, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

serj is too engaged. to an armenian girl. its like all over.

Angeleno?

I just wanna make sure: Does the mention of Sako Shahinian supposed to say "Fellow Armenian" or does it mean what it says? 65.100.147.48 02:16, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I think those are interchangeable words. (In this situation) While they both share Armenian ancestry, they also both were raised in Los Angeles, thus I doubt it makes a difference. NBAwire:syxx 08:08, December 7 2006 (UTC)

Hearsay

Passages in this article like this "Serj hates celebrity gossip. He believes it is a waste of time and due to the spreading of rumors, can destroy close relationships" are purely hearsay without a source. - Gilliam 17:21, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Believe it or not I think those statements actually did have a source which must have been edited out but they could be written in a better way, I will see if I can find that source. -KingVegeta2000 07:17, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

I believe the interview where he stated this has recently been taken down. It used to be located at www.marpop.com/serj KingVegeta2000 07:28, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

However he is a site that infers his disdain for gossip http://soadfans.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=301&theme=Printer KingVegeta2000 07:32, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Another interview source about paparazzi and serj http://www.168.am/en/articles/816 KingVegeta2000 07:52, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Serj's Essay

"Sony's reason was that Tankian had tried to justify the terrorist attacks and his claims were unfounded."

The essay said no such thing. I'm not saying that stupid fans and Sony execs, in the post-9/11 hysteria, didn't claim that it justified or condoned the attacks, but this is simply not a truthful claim. I've qualified it with an "(allegedly)"; feel free to reword if you want, but the sentence needs to make it crystal clear that this is/was the opinion of Sony, not a "reason" based on a reasonable, objective reading of the essay. -Lode Runner 09:48, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Need Pictures

Kornfan71 22:26, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree, but where can we find royalty free pictures that won't get us into trouble? NBAwire:syxx 18:16, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Pardon, but what do you mean by "royalty free?" Kornfan71 01:41, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Anything without copyright issues, so that we can actually keep it up, Wiki has a strict policy dealing with images... ☭ moizkhan 22:58, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Alright, I'll see if I can find any. ---Signed By:Kornfan71(My Talk ۩ Contribs) 01:04, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Well, I put a picture up and it seems to fit just fine. (Burly red sheep 16:14, 1 March 2007 (UTC))

Serj and his band were featured prominently in a recent documentary Screamers http://www.screamersmovie.com/ I would like to see this mentioned as well as his political stance discussed therein.

Errorx666 02:09, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Blurry

The profile picture appears a little blurry or is it just me? ItsNotLupus 09:26, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Birth date

Is there a sourced info about Serj's birth date? Armatura 17:56, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Ethnicity in LEAD sentence

Please do not add ANY ethnicity labels to the LEAD sentence per WIKI policy WP:MOSBIO. Please feel free to incorporate that material into the article outside of the lead sentence, thanks!--Tom 13:31, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Have you carefully read the policy that you keep referring to? It says "Ethnicity should generally not be emphasized in the opening unless it is relevant to the subject's notability. The policy does not say that ethnicity should NEVER be added to the opening paragraph, just that it should only be included when relevant. Serj Tankian, an Armenian-American, is the lead singer of System of a Down, a band composed of all Armenian-American members that speaks out about many Armenian related issues. The band was recently featured in a documentary called Screamers about the Armenian Genocide. I do not see how one can argue that the fact that he is of Armenian ethnicity is not strongly related to what he is notable for. -- Augustgrahl 16:21, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Maybe your agenda pushing is getting in the way? If you want to say "of Armenian decent" or some other nonsense, fine, go for it. Jewish/Italian/Armenian/XXXX-American should NOT be used. This is about standardization, ect. There are VERY few bios that use the "hypenated American" correctly in the lead, and those should be reverted. I will revert as per my suggestion above. Cheers, --Tom 16:35, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Tom, what we have in the article top now (your latest version) is fine, IMHO. Thank you very much for excellent compromise. The only thing I'd like to ask you for is being a bit more careful when calling someone's edits "agenda" and the phrase "of ***** descent" - "nonsense"... Let's discus the subject in a friendly, polite manner. Thanks. --Armatura 18:17, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Armatura, you're welcome. Yes, you are right that i shouldn't have said nonsense in regards to ethnicity. I'm a pure mutt :) As far as agenda pushing, I know I am suppose to assume good faith, but I'm pretty jadded at this point. Anyways, thanks for your reply and I will try to take your sound, level headed advice. Cheers!--Tom 18:43, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

What agenda pushing? If I see somebody removing information from an article and justifying it by referring to a policy that clearly doesn't support their actions, I think I have every right to question it. Even if it's your opinion that people's ethnicities are "nonsense," you are not granted a right to impose that view on the articles here. Please read over WP:AGF. But, the way it's worded now is fine. -- Augustgrahl 23:16, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

No, clearly the policy I referred to supports removing ethnicity from the lead sentence of bios. The article reads like crap, imo, but its a compromise for people with an agenda, still. Also, please don't tell me to read any policies around here, I am sick of them, thanks. --Tom 13:05, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Please stop assuming that other editors working on the article have an agenda to push. Remarks like these can be taken as personal attacks, and are a negative way to contribute to Wikipedia. If you wish to improve the article, civil discussion will be more productive than saying that the article is crap, calling other people's ideas nonsense, and accusing them of having an agenda. -- Augustgrahl 14:32, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

<yawn> Are we done here? Can I go now? Thanks,--Tom 16:15, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

What is the problem with having Tankian's ethnicity in the lead? The guy had dedicated himself to the Armenian Genocide, some of the songs (for example, Holy Mountains and PLUCK) are about the Armenian Genocide, SOAD was featured Carla Garabedian's (another Armenian) Screamers, again about the Armenian Genocide and all other genocides, [2] here he is meeting with ANCA officials, [3] here he's campaigning in the States' capital..., [4] check the title of movie he is narrating... etc etc. His ethnicity is important. Do not accuse people of having an agenda while we can easily accuse you of having one of your own. - Fedayee 16:48, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

No need to accuse me of having an agenda since I freely admitt to having on and I have stated it on my user page. Anyways I'm just an odar(sp) so who cares what I think :) j/k --Tom 17:21, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Please do not try to turn this into a racial issue; it will not lead to anything good. -- Augustgrahl 18:13, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

ENOUGH! I added a smily face and also a just kidding j/k to my post. I am married to a nice Armenian woman. Also, my daughter is 100% Armenian even though I'm zero Armenian. Can anybody explain how that happens? And no, the postman is not Armenian either :) j/k. Cheers! --Tom 18:49, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Instrumental skills in LEAD sentences

Friends, do we really need to have all isntrumental skills of Serj described in the lead sentences? It's becoming too long... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Armatura (talk • contribs) 11:00, 13 April 2007 (UTC).

It seems to be what this individual is noted for so it seems ok. Do you have a suggested alternative? If so, post here and let the editors comment or BE BOLD and make the change yourself :) Cheers! --Tom 13:17, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Trivia

Here are some statemets from Tankian's article, which remain unsourced a long-time: If you have reliable references, you can re-add the into article with citing sources:

• Serj has lots of furniture from IKEA which he thinks is a great place with low prices
• He has a female Siberian Husky named Bowie after the artist, because its eyes have different colours.
• Serj is a vegetarian

Armatura 10:03, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Just an aside. Please only add sourced material that is relevant, notable, and flows in the article. What pets one has doesn't seem of encylopediatic. Anyways, thanks for moving that stuff to here Armatura. --Tom 15:06, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Surname in Armenian script

Hi. I noticed that someone repeatedly changes Serj's surname from Թանգյան with Թանգեան. Pls don't do this whithout citing a source. Unless you've got a reliable source which proves this version of his Armenian sripted name, I'm going to revert to Թանգյան (it corresponds to official Armenian orthography and is much more popular in internet then Թանգեան). Thanks for understanding. Armatura 10:03, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Drugs?

Just wondering, does anyone know whether Serj is a recreational drug user?