Most likely, the time has come for us to objectively evaluate without emotions how the Armenian government turned out to be absolutely incompetent and brought upon failed and incalculable losses to the state government, but they still manage to enjoy the trust of a portion of Armenian citizens (although I have a difficult time saying what portion of society that is, and they, unfortunately, will not view snap elections led by Nikol Pashinyan in an objective light).
I would divide those citizens into three groups.
1The revolution of 2018, which is our state religion, became the personal religion of several individuals. The facts and gaining knowledge does not interest those people; they have faith and trust. If we were able to travel back in time to Ancient Egypt and start talking about the theory of relativity and quantum physics, the Egyptians would not understand us because they believed in the divine nature of the pharaohs and crocodile gods. “The savior Nikol came and created the new Armenia, but, unfortunately, he was not able to take the wealth away from thieves, and that is why we lost the war.” That is a religion that has objective grounds (see point 3), but it does not accept any information that contradicts it. In 1995 in New Delhi, thousands of people “saw” how statues of the gods drank milk, and those thousands of people stood in lines outside of temples with jugs in order to “serve” the gods. Mass hallucinations are studied by psychologists, and one of the foundations for this is the so-called ‘majority opinion.’ And the Internet and social networking sites are powerful tools for creating illusions.
2.Another group of people is able to realize that Pashinyan is the one to blame for the disaster that took place in Armenia, but they were excited to vote for him in 2018. Perhaps they even participated in the protests. Therefore, it is difficult for them mentally to be able to reject that revolutionary romanticism and accept their personal responsibility. Those people are looking for excuses for the defeat, and in some ways, they are paying respects to the mythology outlined in the first point.
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3.Finally, there are business circles in Armenia that perhaps did not get wealthier over the past 2.5 years, but their lives became much better. The thing is that tax officers, customs officers, and other oppressors constantly bothered them during the former regime, and they were demanding that these business owners share the wealth in order to receive high and illegal income. Now, that high income does not exist, and neither do the oppressors, and that satisfies the business owners. They (and many of their employees) are well aware of the dishonesty and destructive failures of the current regime. But that realization is triumphed by the fear that the economic regime that degraded them will be reinstated after the regime change.
The entire issue is that this problem misrepresented; it’s either the immature amateurs or the thieves. The issue is much deeper than that; will we have a state or not? If we are to depend on arrogant amateurs, then we won’t.
Aram Abrahamyan
