Following the well-known incident in parliament, a debate has emerged over whether the opposition should reach an agreement with the government on standards of civility or whether it should not. Many believe that this is a trap for the opposition that should be avoided.
The fact that the current government’s activities, by their nature and consequences, leave no room or desire for any kind of civility is perhaps indisputable. But the point is that politics should be guided not by emotions, but by calculation. And calculation requires, at the very least, understanding whether “incivility,” as a tactic of opposition activity, has sufficient prospects and potential for success. The fundamental question facing opposition forces is precisely this: how to achieve success, how to gain the maximum level of public trust, and how to expand their electoral base. More specifically, how to “include” as substantial a portion as possible of the so-called neutral electorate or segment of society, increasingly shifting the balance of forces in favor of the opposition.
In addressing this task, is it more useful to have “uncivil” rhetoric and behavior toward the opposition, or, on the contrary, to “forget Herostratus”—in this case, the government in that sense—and pursue political activity based on a civilized dialogue with the public? You will agree that when the question is framed in these terms, taking it out of the realm of emotional judgment, the answer is no longer so clear-cut. Especially if we take into account the fact that it is the government itself that has exhausted a significant part of society with its purposeless and meaningless incivility—and has done so quite deliberately. In this way, it has created a kind of protective layer.
And perhaps it is an illusion to think that harsh and sometimes coarse rhetoric, however justified, causes pain or concern to the current government. Perhaps not. At most, it continues to exhaust the so-called neutral segments of society. And that is precisely what matters to the government: that these segments remain tired of and disgusted with politics, because this is one of the essential prerequisites for maintaining the status quo.
Hakob BADALYAN
