In one of American dramatist Arthur Miller’s plays, Incident at Vichy, different classes of people are held in Nazi detainment centers because they must prove to the police that they are not Jewish (if we were to compare this to the reality in present-day Armenia, people would have to prove that they are loyal to the “ideas of the revolution).
One of those who were arrested, German aristocrat Von Berg, was complaining of the commoners around him. “Everyone worships him. They were all fascists. My chef, my gardener, my foresters, and my chauffer are all fascists. I have seen how they worship him, and how they bow to that scoundrel. My maid sees him in her dreams, and she shouts his name as she sleeps.”
This is, obviously, in reference to Hitler. I do not think that anyone would think to call Beethoven’s and Hegel’s people ‘idiots.’
The ways in which people love are inscrutable because they are irrational. I do not see any purpose in fighting against that love. Of course, we must inform people about what happened to our nation and state, as well as what is currently happening. But if there are citizens who believe that nothing bad has happened, and even if it did, Pashinyan is not to blame, then, to be honest, I do not see any sense in dissuading them from continuing to live in that coma. It is not possible to see whether or not the majority of Armenian citizens believe in those visions. The institution of sociological surveys is looked down upon in Armenia, as well as fair elections.
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But a characteristic of dreams is that they cannot last forever. We will bear the consequences of our shameful defeat in the war over the coming years, but it will not be possible to talk about the former regime for too long. Sooner or later they will be forgotten, and they will go down in history.
Let’s imagine that there are thousands of people who do not understand that we lost a major portion of our self-government in the fall of 2020 or that our national dignity was attacked. They either don’t understand, or those issues do not interest them. But when they continue to remain unemployed over the next several months, they don’t receive salaries, or they aren’t able to do anything with their small businesses, perhaps then they will start to wake up and realize that Pashinyan is not the genius they believe he is now.
Yes, it is very possible that they will express their dissatisfaction by leaving Armenia. The signs of such behavior are already evident. In other words, people will wake up from their coma, but not in Armenia.
And those who understand what is happening should not stay silent in fear of the masses getting angry. Second, they should not think about leaving the country for any reason.
Aram Abrahamyan
