Many of my journalist colleagues, after successfully completing tests, were included in the pre-election lists of many political parties. I would like to wish them good luck again. One of my colleagues did not pass the test, was not placed on one of the lists and expressed dissatisfaction as a result. If you have decided to be a part of a certain political party list, you need to be ready to stand in front of an investigative committee. You either simply don’t get involved in politics, or you have to agree with all the party’s demands.
By the way, I would suggest to political parties’ leadership to conduct this exam on paper in order to save time and to exclude human agents. For example, the question “who is the biggest enemy of the Armenian people?” There are different answers to this question: Enver Pasha, Ilham Aliyev, Serzh Sargsyan, and Jewish Masons. Since the right answer is already included in dictionaries, what remains is for a computer to decide the results of the test. I think it will be more objective that way.
You may say that this is a primitive approach. But politics in and of itself, as well as the pre-election fight, are primitive according to nature: “black-white,” “for the people-against the people,” “thieves-not thieves,” “you drank our blood-you didn’t” and more. The one who wins that fight is the one whose accusations leave the biggest emotional impression. If in response to any accusation, the one being accused decides to bring forth reasonable arguments and justify themselves, it will mean that they do not understand anything about politics. Any accusation needs to be met with even more bitter accusations. This does not mean that every politician participating in the elections has a low mental capacity. There are many educated and knowledgeable people on the lists, but the ones addressed in the campaign’s “target audience” are a wide array of people, their voices are the ones necessary now.
And once again about taking a test. In 1974, I was to join the Young Communist League. We had to prepare for the test and particularly what medals the All-Union Lenin Young Communist League received, when, and why. I successfully answered those questions, but then they asked another question: “who is your favorite author?” They likely expected me to say someone like Paruyr Sevak or Hovhannes Shiraz, who were both filled with a nationalistic spirit. But I said, Somerset Maugham. The members of the YCL leadership all look at each other whispered in each other’s ears, and then came to the conclusion that there is nothing anti-communist in liking Somerset Maugham.
Aram Abrahamyan
