On Sunday, multi-crowded protests “for human values” were held in France and several other European countries. And are there any of such? Values that unite Muslims and Christians, Mozart and admirers for Tatul, Chekhov and the person who attacks the newborn child with a bayonet-knife. I think that there are no such values. Every culture has its own values, which can be identical with different religions and nations and greatly different inside the same religion and nation.
The aforementioned protesters in Paris are supporters of “a kind of” universal values, but the crowd gathered around the idea of “jihad” in any eastern town also believe that they are supporters of universal values, because the “unbelievers” whom they are going to kill, from the prospective of Jihad activists, “are not people.” Now, you would probably say that the first ones are hypocrites, and the second ones are at least sincere. Hence, you are a supporter other “universal values” different from these two.
Becoming united and general under all kinds of “rubrics” assumes some “anti-values”, which unites your “opponents”. If the values are universal, then there are “non-people” who do not adhere to these values. If the movement of “popular” or “national”, consequently, there are “traitors of the nation” who need to be morally or physically destroyed. It’s easy to get under an “umbrella” and not to be displayed as an individual, as well as not to seek for this personality in others.
It seems to me that instead of “universality” pretention values, it is much more important to be consistent in your chosen value system. It is much more complex than “choosing an umbrella”; you can become a target of many attacks. For example, if you are against the death penalty, or the Lynch law, then you should be against it in all cases, even during the most terrific crime, even during a crime about which we are talking in these days. If you are against a revolution or a coup, then you should not do any exception, even if it will satisfy your passions and instincts, or your team will win. If you’re in favor of freedom of expression, then you must be ready that you and all that you believe will be ridiculed and found fault with.
Read also
If you support “some exceptions”, then you are a barrier of other values. They are also not “universal”. They are individually yours.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
