Lack of intellectual potential
There are expressions in Armenian that make us different from other nations. For example, “Armenian destiny” is an expression that refers to the unique destiny that Armenians had in history. Other expressions are “the Armenians’ late common sense,” “Armenian hospitality,” “the Armenian envious feeling,” etc. Do these expressions come out of the common sense or at emotional level? Issues of national belonging and recognition have been analyzed by Ruben Angaladyan, professor of cultural sciences.
-The majority of voters said “no” to the incumbent government during the presidential election of February 18, 2013. Can this “national act” be considered the “late Armenian common sense?”
-We should differ local elections from the modern political history of Armenia. Unfortunately this political history is not written in the same manner as the history of the first and second republics. We don’t have the political history of the Armenian kingdoms either.
-Historians may oppose to this idea because we have school books of history, university books and academic publications.
-The history of the Armenian people is a history of Armenians. It is not political history. The history was taken from literature. Would it be taken from Romans, it would also include the political history. The history tells about cowards, traitors and individuals but not their political platforms.
-All our greatest individuals have been discontent about the way they were treated, but if we look at the history of other countries, we will see the same trend everywhere.
-Yes, that’s true, but we cannot be compared with other nations because in parallel with bad things they did good thing, too. Our behavior consisted of mistakes because our choices were not modeled and we did not know who was smart and who was foolish. The first and most important step would be making a good choice.
-Maybe the “right choice” is a flexible understanding. Maybe the right choice for us was survival. We have survived till the 21st century but many nations have not.
-It deforms our consciousness and makes us tend to foreigners. The opinions of foreigners about us have a fatal influence on us. We gain a status for us according to their opinions. Our best artists are waiting for opinions from international organizations because the opinions they have from us are not enough for them.
The nation appreciates the average artists but not the best ones. There are two types of thinking in our country – Asian and strictly European. Asia has integrated with the European culture though. Our way is not the strict European way because there are things our nation will not accept. The character of high intellectual Armenian will never absorb the liberal thinking of northern nations.
-Maybe many notions are artificially planted for the purpose of justifying the reasons because of which people are leaving. Many people don’t want to leave but ultimately make such decision.
-Would we have such tragic history if we were a smart nation? We easily give the power to such group of people, from who it is very difficult to take back.
-Elections are a mechanism for people to elect government.
-When you see your vote is not counted, you can look for an alternative method.
-Revolution?
-Yes, you can go out to streets and say that you don’t accept the government. If one million people go on strike for a month, no government can survive. The reason it does not happen is the thinking that the state can hardly survive and if they provoke instability, the enemy will use the opportunity.
-Is that why people emigrate?
-No. the primary reason for Armenians’ emigration is psychological. Armenians are a nation that has survived the genocide. For a thousand years we have been under the rule of others. We are egocentric and do not see the common interests. The guys who saw the common interest are buried at Yerablur. When you try to understand what people want when they complain, you cannot see anything but emotions. This shows how the political culture is low in our society.
-Should the nation believe their government or it is the government that should make the nation believe?
-By saying “nation” I also mean the government. The nation should understand that the tragedies that happened in their history were not because of separate mistakes but because something is wrong with the entire will they are living with. The nation adopts different befaviours in relation to different situations at different times. There was time we were emigrating, 40-80 years ago we were trying to bring people back, and now we are emigrating again. We should change the system and situation; people should see that they have a right for choice, a right to elect their president and others. Citizens of Armenia should stay sure that there is truth that is higher than anything else and the government will protect that truth.
Otherwise the government should be replaced. The Armenian people think they do not lack intellectual potential, but I believe they do. There is a huge lack of intellectual potential, and especially one that understands the real meaning of statehood. Our nation is very conservative; would we be different, the tragedies would not happen.
-It seems our ambitions are different.
-We should find out what the value of life is for us. We should know what kind of quality of life we want to live. There are situations that it is better to pass away rather than continue the same way. We should totally change our thinking and develop a good system of values to estimate other people and issues.
To be continued
By Lilit Avagyan
