A few days ago, young director Hovhannes Ishkhanyan was kidnapped. 10-15 people in black, without uniforms, took him to the police. The “official” reason was Hovhannes’ Facebook post, in which he allegedly wanted to “seize power” (such statements were made by Pashinyan, as an oppositionist, every day). The unofficial reason is his recent film “Be Human.”
Not that I like all the director’s notes and views, but it certainly does not matter in this case. In this case, I do not want to talk about the government’s repression, which is used against those who oppose the “official” opinion, and it will not surprise anyone in Armenia in 30 years. I am talking about a serious illness of my compatriots, which, unfortunately, is manifested by the majority of our population during those same decades. This disease is the lack of empathy, and there is an inability to understand the pain of others.
The dozens of comments on the news of Hovhannes’ abduction are simply astonishing. They are not about kidnapping and repression. They are about “pizza,” “robbery,” “casinos,” “palaces,” and “millions.” I do not believe that it is the “media terror” of the government. People have formed the framework of their mythology and do not want to see anything beyond it. They do not want to see losses and casualties. They do not notice the refugees (yes, I forgot, those refugees are “Karabakh people,”they should not be pitied). They do not notice that we are still losing territories, and the residents of several besieged villages in Syunik are now in a dire situation. Even now, when the object of their worship says that some of the captives are to blame for being taken prisoner, they will start talking about the captives and their relatives without compassion.
Until we are filled with trust and compassion for each other, we will not have a state, even if angels sit in power. We had moments of “having each other’s backs” in 1988-90. But that was probably our peak, and we hit our heads and went down again. By and large, this “descent” is a process of not rediscovering identity.
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… “After all, our nation, which is left poor, is on fire, the reason for everyone is this, that no one tells us who we are, what our faith is, or why we came to the world,” said one of the anonymous heroes of Khachatur Abovyan’s novel “Wounds of Armenia.”
Aram Abrahamyan
