Something frustrating happened last week, which, along with other big and small events, “got lost” in the news feed. Two young men, who apparently were in a romantic relationship with each other, committed double suicide. The public reaction was predictable. There is no hope for the adults anymore, and the hateful judgments towards the suicides prove that. But we need to teach children from kindergarten that if a person differs from you or the majority in any way, it does not demonstrate your superiority or that you have to join the majority to chase them. This rule needs to be spread across every human aspect, from personal life to politics and religion.
Both in this case and others, people want to “substantiate” their viewpoint by swearing, mocking words, or labels, the meaning of which is only comprehensible to people who share their opinions but do not have a general, precise meaning. For instance, when a supporter of a prudent, stable policy is called a “slave of Russia”.
There is no point in debating afterward – what’s the point in a debate with a slave? But any notion in our society is perceived that way. What do we mean when saying “Armenian Cause” (as something positive, not a historical event)?
When we say “Armenian-causism” or “not-an-inch-of-landism” as negative phenomena, do we dive deeper into its meaning? Of course, it is easier to reject and mock.
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Who do we have in mind when saying “Diasporan Armenian”? Which country do they reside in? When did they move to that country? When we say “Russia”, who do we mean? Putin? Why not the great writers or composers? Why not the editor of the “Novaya Gazeta ” and a Nobel Prize laureate Muratov?
The governmental (and, subjectively, insane) decisions are made, of course, by Putin. But can the policy describe a country in which its authorities operate exclusively? From this perspective, we need to consider the words “pro-Russian” or “anti-Russian”, which, if not specified, acquire a status of a propagandistic label. The same thing happens when saying the word “Karabakhi”, people only mean Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan.
Intolerance, racism, and fanaticism are based on a primitive, one-sided, superficial comment on a certain phenomenon. A random feature is mostly taken, and that random feature is attributed to the meaning of the phenomena. That way, instead of complicated, versatie notions we get a label.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
