Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

[Hellektor]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

I agree, Hrai is right, accent is not a problem. And most people overcome the accent in no time, when they are in Armenian homeland friendly native environment, for at most one year it disappears, especially among the young. And if you encounter a few badmouthing people, they are scattered everywhere in the world, but they do not constitute the majority of Armenian nation. Besides Armenia itself has different dialects in different regions and they are in the same situation.

Dear gegev,

Iranian Armenian accent is almost the same as that in Armenia. It's the same eastern Armenian dialect. Shah Abbas “brought” us here from Nakhijevan and the region of Araratian plain; we didn’t fall from the sky. True, the main Yerevan accent (not that of every Yerevantsi, mind you) is slightly different as a result of the Russian influence, but I hear many an Armenian speak very similarly to us in Yerevan and different regions of Armenia, would you believe, using the same Persian words/expressions we sometimes use, which is quite delightful: shalvar, hab, zahrumar, jahannam, akhmakh, kucha, etc., etc.

I didn't mean to stress this as much as it was noticed by you guys. I just mentioned it en passant, and the reason was, sometimes jokes are made on us because of the way we pronounce/use certain words or expressions. I didn't mean it as an important point.

[Hellektor]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

Hellektor,
Different solutions for different locations.

The situation in Russia for 70+ years gave no allowance really for nationalities, just the Soviet model. Armenian schools had no chance in Union, barely in Armenia itself, giving no basis for schools since collapse of USSR.
This doesn't mean nationalities disappeared, what's shown and seen on media doesn't reflect what happens in home or on the street.
In my experience, you go to school and speak one language, go home, socialize and speak another..........or very often switch between the two often mid-sentence. Schools may not be common, there are quite a few churches but really the social networking centres are in every Armenian apartment.

The media really get me angry. How often do they say " We only print/broadcast what the public want"...........I've never been polled by the media as to "what I want". The media print/broadcast what they (& their controllers) want us to read/see/hear.

Armenian language TV or Russian/English language is irrelevant for me, although some Russian shows are too good to miss!

As regards your accent, I've many friends from Tehran and the accent is fine!

Dear hrai,

I only state the facts seen through my eyes that look in windows that are not necessarily the same for everyone. I hope the Russian Armenians remain Armenian for centuries and when the time is right, go back and live in their liberated, united Armenia. But the ugly fact is that the Diaspora is the result of the Armenian Genocide and not just that of the 1915. It's beyond doubt that the Diaspora will disappear sooner or later. I only observe that this may happen faster in Russia than a number of other, better organized communities, because of the reasons I stated in earlier posts.

Everything is relative: our sun will reach the end of its life in about 8 billion years. Still, since the weather will become too hot as the result of the dying sun's expansion, there will hardly be any sign of life (or maybe no atmosphere at all) in a couple of billion years from now, on this planet. No surprise that the human kind won't make it beyond this millennium, let alone millions or billions of years. Still, as the result of evolution, no creature looks the same after a several hundreds of thousands of years so the offshoots of the human species may not have much in common with us millennia later, that is, if Islam or a meteor or industry hasn't destroyed our planet earlier.

All this is to say that Armenians will continue remaining that for centuries only on Armenian territory, the genocidal Turk abomination is very well aware of that, this is why they constantly nag and demand more territory from Armenians until no more territory is left to us. And our lousy diplomats are sitting down and talking with our bloodthirsty enemy to see how much territory are we going to cede to the sore, warmongering, genocidal “Azeri” chicken losers... Go figure.

[Haykakan]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

"it's only in Armenia where the Armenian nation will go on as long as the country exists."
This is a important piont and one i myself have been stressing for a while now. We in the diaspora need to develop a relationship with Hayastan. It can be in a different form for different people but Hayastan is our only hope for a future as a Armenian nation.

[gegev]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

Hellektor,
Different solutions for different locations.

The situation in Russia for 70+ years gave no allowance really for nationalities, just the Soviet model. Armenian schools had no chance in Union, barely in Armenia itself, giving no basis for schools since collapse of USSR.
This doesn't mean nationalities disappeared, what's shown and seen on media doesn't reflect what happens in home or on the street.
In my experience, you go to school and speak one language, go home, socialize and speak another..........or very often switch between the two often mid-sentence. Schools may not be common, there are quite a few churches but really the social networking centres are in every Armenian apartment.

The media really get me angry. How often do they say " We only print/broadcast what the public want"...........I've never been polled by the media as to "what I want". The media print/broadcast what they (& their controllers) want us to read/see/hear.

Armenian language TV or Russian/English language is irrelevant for me, although some Russian shows are too good to miss!

As regards your accent, I've many friends from Tehran and the accent is fine!

I agree, Hrai is right, accent is not a problem. And most people overcome the accent in no time, when they are in Armenian homeland friendly native environment, for at most one year it disappears, especially among the young. And if you encounter a few badmouthing people, they are scattered everywhere in the world, but they do not constitute the majority of Armenian nation. Besides Armenia itself has different dialects in different regions and they are in the same situation.

[hrai]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

Hellektor,
Different solutions for different locations.

The situation in Russia for 70+ years gave no allowance really for nationalities, just the Soviet model. Armenian schools had no chance in Union, barely in Armenia itself, giving no basis for schools since collapse of USSR.
This doesn't mean nationalities disappeared, what's shown and seen on media doesn't reflect what happens in home or on the street.
In my experience, you go to school and speak one language, go home, socialize and speak another..........or very often switch between the two often mid-sentence. Schools may not be common, there are quite a few churches but really the social networking centres are in every Armenian apartment.

The media really get me angry. How often do they say " We only print/broadcast what the public want"...........I've never been polled by the media as to "what I want". The media print/broadcast what they (& their controllers) want us to read/see/hear.

Armenian language TV or Russian/English language is irrelevant for me, although some Russian shows are too good to miss!

As regards your accent, I've many friends from Tehran and the accent is fine!

[Hellektor]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

A strange notion. Do you have direct knowledge of completely russified Armenians? Many of my family have been in Russia for 20+ years and don't fit your profile, at all.

As a matter of fact, the organization of Armenians is much weaker in Russia than other countries where there's a considerable Armenian community. In any case the Diaspora is a temporary phenomenon and sooner or later the Armenians will either leave like in most Islamic countries or they'll assimilate like in Poland where since the 17th century (just like in Iran) 300,000 Armenians held on to their identity as long as they could but they eventually disappeared.

In Iran where I live, as the result of the Islamic “revolution” and the installation of the backward, intolerant rule of the tyrant mullahs 31 years ago, the more or less 300,000 strong Armenian community of before the revolution has dwindled and is at about 60,000 or so where the 32 million Iranian population has grown to become over 70 million. The ratio has been reduced about ten times from about just under one percent to under 0.1 percent in 31 years... The picture is not better in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon or even Jerusalem. The well organized Diaspora in the Middle East where we had a huge number of Armenian schools, community homes, churches, etc. has thinned down considerably as the result of the political changes in the region in the past three decades.

Throughout the four centuries in Iran we have kept our Armenian identity and every Iranian Armenian speaks the language (whether you like our accent or not) and we have also kept the traditions and the Mesropian spelling. However the community will not last forever because it's only in Armenia where the Armenian nation will go on as long as the country exists.

The over a million Armenian community in Russia (over two million all over the ex-USSR region) are endowed with the blessing (or curse) of the knowledge of the Russian language. You correct me if I'm wrong but the number of schools in the whole region is abysmally smaller than the absolute minimum needed to preserve the Armenian language and identity for a long time. The organization of the Russian Armenians: community homes, churches, etc. leaves also to be desired.

With satellite TV available worldwide and 4 Armenian channels and one Russian Armenian channel: TV ARM RU (I wonder who the audience is other than Armenians in Russia who DON'T speak Armenian) all on Hotbird, we get to see quite a few cases of Armenians, young and old, in Russia who speak Russian on TV.

The simple fact that they already know Russian and they live in Russia and the scarcity of Armenian schools it's pretty obvious the parents do not feel the need to speak Armenian at home with their kids. This is so obvious and if your relatives aren't among these it is that the exception doesn't change the rule.

I'm just stating the fact that I have observed watching Armenian TV. If this doesn't reflect the truth blame Armenian TV, don't blame me. I wish this was not true. This is sad but it is not so different than the Polish Armenians' case.

[Joseph]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

I have been thinking and saying that for many years. It is good to see other Armenians who care about the Armenian people and country yet are not blinded by religion.

Here here!

[hrai]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

I personally would like to see Armenians in Russia back in Armenia, since they speak Russian as a legacy of Soviet assimilation program, they lose their Armenian identity faster than anywhere else and if Armenians in “Christian” countries have been assimilated after three generations, an Armenian that has lived in Russia for say, 10 years, has already “forgotten” the Armenian language. It's also due to poor organization of Armenians in Russia as contrary to the Diasporans after the Genocide where the Dashnaktsutiun was strong and did everything to organize the community.

However, the downside is that these Armenians outside Armenia work and send money to their relatives in Armenia, where the lousy governance of the mobster thugs has caused inequality soar to the miserable actual levels.

A strange notion. Do you have direct knowledge of completely russified Armenians? Many of my family have been in Russia for 20+ years and don't fit your profile, at all.

[hrai]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

You are either a classic Islamist liar or a perfect idiot to dare to suggest that Armenians have "coexisted perfectly" with Muslims. Nobody can coexist perfectly with Islam, unless you consider extinction to be perfect coexistance. When Muslims are not gleefully killing non-Muslims, they are even more bloodthisty with any fellow Muslims they consider are not acting like true Muslims. Islam is evil, and is probably the most dangerous problem facing the world. No reasonable person could argue otherwise. The only stable Islamic countries are those whose rulers have realised that all aspects of Islam need to be firmly controlled lest it becomes a bloodthirsty monster. Iraq is an example of what can happen when that control is lost. Why not go there and try out your "loving"?

S**t !!!!

I agree with Bell......................I suppose that's an example of some universal mathematic probability equation.

[hrai]

Re: Racism (Anti-Armenianism); a good thing?

Yes, it's sad that this "Islamophobia" in the west is really just another name for "being racist against anyone who has a Middle-Eastern phenotype".

Azar, perhaps you believe that just to make yourself feel better. But really, islamaphobia, for me and many, many others is exactly that. No more, no less.