Recently I met a stranger trying to convince me to struggle against all kinds of soap operas, since they alter the “Armenian gene code, and generally can be considered a genocide”. I refused, first of all, because I have never fought against anything and anyone. And particularly, I do not think that one should fight against people’s preferences.
Let us take religion as an example. There are both atheists and agnostics among my friends. Atheists do not believe, agnostics doubt. Of course, doubters are closer to me than non-believers. While I do not doubt that Christianity, more specifically, the apostolic faith is the best opportunity to find inner harmony, but I cannot “sentence” people who do not believe or doubt.
I approach all human manifestations, which may not coincide with my preferences, with these criteria. Those are tolerable as far as they do not violate state laws. For example, our state does not forbid being a Stalin’s fan. I do not like Stalin, but if there is someone who does, it is his business. Well, if he wants to set up concentration camps where millions of people will be tortured to death, it will cease being his own business, and in this case following his idol’s ideals will become illegal. Abstractly admiring “a strong person”, I believe, is a personal matter.
I believe that people should be given freedom to be limited only by laws. But if one says, “you destroyed this nation with your democracy”, that is also an approach and needs to be respected. In this case, he must offer the extent to which a person’s freedom must be restricted illegally, and also who will the restrictor be.
People’s beliefs, ideas, religion, skin color, nationality, tastes, preferences are their own business, and they have the right to live the way they want to. One can also watch and listen to whatever he wants to. When someone offers me to forbid something in the name of “nation’s interest”, I start doubting that perhaps it is not the matter of “nation’s interests”, but personal, group, why not, even commercial interests. So, I explained to my interlocutor that I would not engage in any fight against soap operas and that it is not me to judge other’s taste.
By the way, we watch a soap opera in my family too. When there is some spare time (usually on weekends) we watch an old American soap opera about old Lieutenant Colombo. Peter Falk has created a character of a talented man, who teaches me, on the one hand, how to be modest, simple, and ordinary in life, on the other hand, always to be attentive to all details.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
