Famous Russian writer Sergei Averintsev once, still in the mid-80s, expressed a thought, which is also relevant today: “We must learn to argue in a way that we do not replace the thoughts with applications addressed to the public passions.”
Easier said than done. Such “purely mental” analysis of the situation and the contrast of arguments in the framework of the intelligence is possible when the parties in debate have no interest. Moreover, under this term we should understand not only the “money” and “chair” aspirations, but also evil, vengeance, “offensiveness” and so on.
When the interest excites people, they definitely turn to other groups of people, who, in their opinion, can also be excited. This is how the thought is replaced with the public passion. I do not know, maybe it is possible to maintain “the principle of thought” in a purely academic debate, but in the public, politics, and internet interpretations it is not only unaccepted, moreover, not encouraged. This is, in part, the very reason when I try to find positive or negative phenomena in all stages of the history of the Third Republic of Armenia, both in Russia, the United States, European Union policy it causes resentment of interested people, from various prospects.
Anyway, I would like to bring another typical example. Opposition politicians are rightly criticizing the wrong economic policies of the authorities, corruption, all-permissiveness, inconsistent foreign policy. However, they are also working on a so-called “being close to the people.” And, for this purpose, they “saddle up” against speedometers and video recording devices, and using popular folklore (“everything goes into Sashik’s pocket”, stand next to disorderly or uninformed drivers.
This small, perhaps not so much important, example is the case when instead of suggesting a thought, an idea, or a principle, the figures apply to the public passions. The tactics is simple: “where there is a complaining, protesting man, we are there.” Whereas, it seems to me that any responsible figure and citizen should first advocate abiding to the law. Demand it from everyone, from the authorities, ordinary citizens, relatives, and himself.
Finally, one more citation from Averintsev’s words said in the same period: “The circumstances, of course, are changing for the better, but people, unfortunately, continue to change for the worse, by the way, faster, and radically. Or, decomposition of inertia will be erected with general moral efforts, or we are facing such intimidations that can not be compared with anything else.”
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
