Recently I found out that a media company forbids writing “Nikol Pashinyan” in capital letters and putting the word “prime minister” in front of it, just like they used to write “ltp”(Levon Ter-Petrosyan), “rk” (Robert Kocharyan) and “ss”(Serzh Sargsyan). It’s not like I’m very fond of the policy of our current prime minister. It is quite the opposite – the main characteristic of that policy is horrific, even destructive, dilettantism. But disagreeing with one’s policy is different from writing a person’s, city’s, country’s name in lowercase. As if to tell others “Look, we are humiliating, disregarding them, you shouldn’t treat them likewise”. When the phenomena is seen in semi-literate “commentators” on the Internet, it is certainly unpleasant, but when that cheap trick is pulled by journalists, whose mission should be educating, enlightening people, it shows the general degradation of the literate members of the public.
Sometimes people apply the following logic: illiterate and populistic authorities should be “overthrown” by using greater illiteracy and populism. But firstly, it is hard to compete with the current government in that category. Secondly, even if it was possible, I am certain that “winning” is less significant than being a member of the “enlightened” layer of society, even if most people consider you “defeated”.
You can fight a dragon if you do not let it inject poison in you. If it does, your struggle is pointless, you are infected with “dragonism”. To avoid that you need to realise that the dragon is a phenomena, not a person. Moreover, you must struggle against that phenomena inside of you in the first place.
Stealing from the “Bandit” rich and giving to the poor makes you a bandit. Being destructive in order to preserve peace creates war. Saying “if you do not share my liberal views, I am going to humiliate you”, makes you an anti-liberal. The “No democracy with people supporting anti-democracy” slogan is totalitarian.
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If these simple truths are not accepted, the situation created can be described using this quote from a soviet satirist: “my aim is to justify the resources”.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
