How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

[JohnCanadian]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

A poverty level of 10% doesnt qualify as extremely poor! You need to go see for yourself how the childeren there live. Armenia is no closer to being a democracy then is the USA. John you have a naive appreciation for all things western and a dislike to things eastern and you dont give Armenia the credit it deserves for having survived through extreme hardships and having emerged stronger then ever. If you are armenian or care about armenian issues then i urge you to go to Armenia and see what life there is realy like vs reading about it in some western oriented magazine.

No I am Not Armenia I am a full blooded Canadian with Scottish, Australian, and some Dutch. I was born in Vancouver, Canada

[ara87]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

No I am Not Armenia I am a full blooded Canadian with Scottish, Australian, and some Dutch. I was born in Vancouver, Canada

Then what are you doing here mannn, get off you non armo you!!!

Lol, anyways...

On the 2008 ranking by GDP Armenia was 102 out 194

So I wouldn't say we are exactly, extremely, poor, but I don't doubt that we could improve our economy, infrastructure, and standard of living. Yes, Armenians in Yerevan seem fine, but what about the Armenians in rural areas? The fact that as a nation we don't have enough money to create jobs for ourselves, that our citizens have to go out to find work, that means we are poor.

[Crimson Glow]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

Obviously there is PLENTY of room for improvement, as is to be expected from a nation that just cut off the umbilical cord from its communist Soviet mother. Again, Armenia is still a fledgling nation. However, evidence shows that it IS moving in the right direction, perhaps even more so than your beloved Western civilizations:

• The poverty rate of 10.6% may seem high, but that's actually equal to your Canada (10.8%), BETTER than the US (12%), and MUCH better/less than HALF of Turkey (20%).
  
• The economy may be struggling, but it's growing at a rate FASTER than the above mentioned countries. The GPD real growth rate for 2008 increased 6.8% for Armenia, while it only increased a measly .4% for your Canada, and the US and Turkey were tied at only 1.1%
  
• Despite the fact that Armenians struggle to find work in the homeland, it's actually no worse than much more powerful countries. The unemployment rate in Armenia is 7.1%, which is 89th compared to the world. However, the US rate is 7.2% (91st), and the Canada rate is 6.2% (76th). So apparently, it's not much better (if at all) in your beloved Western powers. For the hell of it, it's 10.7% in Turkey (128th)

I think you're confusing perception with reality, which is very, very common for Westerners. You're also under the delusion that Western automatically equals better than Eastern, which is another huge misconception. BTW .....how does one become "full blooded Canadian"? Canadian isn't an ethnicity.

[Muhaha]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

Invite a whole bunch of Muslims into your house and let them make the rules.

[TheSARSVolta]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

On this note, I get slightly irritated when someone hears that I am Armenian and they reply "but, you're white!"
or, "so you are Muslim?"
Not because being non-Caucasian or Islamic is an atrocity--but because Armenians are too often perceived as being no different than say, Turks because of their common geography when the culture, dominant religion, and ethnic content of Armenians are so often mistaken by outsiders. I have even heard the "you're too White" BS from other Armenians...all right, just because you happen to have black hair doesn't mean it's typical of the entire country or populace. Armenia could be considered Eastern Europe and is also in close proximity to Russia.
For example:
Dark-haired and Armenian


and also
Fair-haired/skinned and just as Armenian...


(last one is a hottie!)

edit: and either way, all of these examples are beautiful people! regardless of varying appearances.

[KanadaHye]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

I think you're confusing perception with reality, which is very, very common for Westerners. You're also under the delusion that Western automatically equals better than Eastern, which is another huge misconception. BTW .....how does one become "full blooded Canadian"? Canadian isn't an ethnicity.

It just means his family lines has been in Canada so long that he doesn't know what he is... so he just watches hockey, wraps himself around the Canadian flag and bathes in maple syrup.

[Muhaha]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

It just means his family lines has been in Canada so long that he doesn't know what he is... so he just watches hockey, wraps himself around the Canadian flag and bathes in maple syrup.

So you don't think there's a little bit more to Canada than those things you've just listed?

[TheSARSVolta]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

yeah, you forgot something important. canada's weed is excellent.

[hipeter924]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

The words "extremely poor" related to Armenia means that Armenia suffers from poverty that is very very high and the poverty relates right across the country and not just one area.

Armenia's per capita is well below the world average which is another meaning of the word.

Extremely poor is classified when a countries citizens are living below US$0.50c a day. Unfortunately quite a big amount of Armenians especially children live under US$0.50c a day. The latest figure for Armenian children living in that extremely poor bracket is close to 50%

Poverty levels in Armenia are 10.6%

Armenia is an emerging Democracy

Hate to break it to you but the poverty levels of Japan are 10-15% as are many other 1st world nations (including Canada which is around 12%).

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/natio...na013000c.html - Japan

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/press/newsrelease/10-21.aspx

News Releases 10-21
Canada’s Record on Poverty Among The Worst of Developed Countries—And Slipping

Ottawa, September 17 — Poverty rates in Canada— especially among children and the working-age population—are among the worst of 17 leading developed countries, according to the Conference Board’s annual ranking on Society indicators.

With more than 12 per cent of the working-age population living in poverty, Canada is in 15th place out of 17 countries—a “D” grade—ahead of only Japan and the United States. More than one in seven Canadian children lives in poverty—resulting in a 13th place ranking and a “C” grade.

“Considering how wealthy this country is, these rates of poverty are unacceptable. Not only are we not making progress; we are losing ground,” said Anne Golden, President and CEO of the Conference Board. “Poverty rates among children and working age people are rising.

“Poverty rates among seniors doubled between 1995 and 2005, which is disconcerting, because we take such pride in having conquered seniors’ poverty. And when the data for the current time period become available, we can expect this trend to persist.”

In the overall Society category—which measures 17 indicators in the areas of social cohesion, equity and self-sufficiency—Canada ranks ninth, an improvement of one place from last year. Canada also earns an overall ‘B’, which remains consistent with its grades in this category over the past two decades.

“This middle-of-the-pack ranking obscures our very poor performance on social cohesion indicators—especially assaults. Despite poor rankings on poverty and social cohesion, we moved up to ninth place due to higher grades on income mobility (the extent to which income levels are able to change across generations) and our acceptance of diversity,” said Golden.

The overall rankings have Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands all earning “A” grades, while the United States and Japan are the two “D” performers among the 17 countries ranked.

Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark were also among the top five performers in the economy category of How Canada Performs, indicating that a strong economy does not have to come at the expense of a strong social fabric.

“Canadians should care about social outcomes. In addition to caring about social justice, a strong social fabric ultimately contributes to sustainable economic prosperity,” said Golden.

How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada is the Conference Board’s annual benchmarking analysis, which the Board has conducted since 1996. The Conference Board assesses Canada’s performance against leading countries in the domains of Economy, Health, Society, Innovation, Environment, and Education and Skills.

© Copyright 2009 The Conference Board of Canada. 255 Smyth Rd., Ottawa ON K1H 8M7 Canada

^About Canada, and Canadians saying it

I have to ask John Canadian the question? When will you see reality, the fact is that no country in the west including Canada can sit back and say its wealthy, when such numbers of people are poor and unemployed. This is why I don't smugly say my country is rich, and simply ignore the poor even though I could point to a few wealthy businessmen and say it is.

[Catharsis]

Re: How do I as an Armenian make myself feel more European?

edit: and either way, all of these examples are beautiful people! regardless of varying appearances.

Armenians, like many peoples of Europe have all the sub-races of the Caucasoid/Europid family.

The Turkish people have absorbed into their formation various ethnicities including a good deal of Armenians, Greeks and others hence some of the parallels in terms of appearance. However, a good deal of Armenians of Istanbul who still live in Turkey, note that overall you can tell a difference between a Turk and an Armenian in terms of appearance. Only one who is not familiar with these differences and tends to generalize would reach such a wrong conclusion. And once again appearance is not everything since the cultural differences are just as noteworthy in this regard.