Tweet
Alright, I was going to post this in the other thread, which Emil the Great has now locked for the sake of the people. Long live Emil the Great!
The issue of the armenian language is a sensitive one for us. It is just VERY recently that we have seen Armenians not speaking armenian. The fact that Armenians in the diaspora always went to armenian school, and always spoke the language was a sort of guarantee that we are still surviving. Now, the strong communities of Haleb, Beirut, Cairo, etc. are all losing people to the new communities in Montreal, Toronto, LA, Boston, etc, where in one or two generations, knowledge of the armenian language and culture has dropped dramatically. This is when we start fearing for our existence. And when people who don't speak armenian actually find it funny that some people waste their time on a "useless" language because they're living in the States, that is when people start to get angry. Therefore, you have to understand our situation when you judge the Armenian people's constant fear of disappearance. Sure the Italians don't panic. They have millions and millions living comfortably back in Italy, and the Italian people, I hope we agree, face no risk of elimination anytime soon. I will have to disagree about Italians all living in harmony. Their situation is worse. A half-italian friend of mine was being ignored by another Italian at school because she was from Sicily, and he, from Napoli. I have never seen such things between Armenians. Never has an Armenian from Syria ignored one from Armenia, or from Iran, or wherever else. Not to my knowledge anyways.
As for Dan's white supremacist views, I obviously disagree with him. As Armenians, I think the first thing we have learned is to NEVER engage in such false beliefs where we believe that one race, or ethnicity is superior to another. Such idiotic thoughts have pretty much ALWAYS led to homicide, mass murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, etc.
I will also disagree with you if you think that most Armenians are followers of such ways of thinking. I just recently read an article about an Azeri woman that lives in the capital of the now independant Nagorno Karabakh (say what you want people, it's independant
), and about how well she is treated, and how Armenians there never mistreat her. She even has a job in Artsakh's national radio station.
Also, in Montreal, the Armenian General Benevolent Union has organized many events where survivors of the Cambodian, Rwandan and Jewish genocide all came to speak about their events.
Back to the Italians now. My french canadian friends have always told me that Armenians in general are a lot more open to the Québécois culture, as opposed to the Italians and the Greeks, who usually go by the motto of "If you're in Canada, speak english or get out!" with regards to the local population. Also, my Serb, Croatian, Romanian, Syrian, Lebanese, Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan Jewish, Cambodian, Haitian, Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian friends have all been suprised when I spoke to them about their national issues, and about how aware I was of it all.
All this to say that we Armenians are NOT a group who are constantly closed to others. Yes, we ARE protective of our culture, and justifiably so. But we have learned throughout our history that fanatacism, or false ideas of supremacy, lead only to danger, and that is what we try to avoid.
The issue of the armenian language is a sensitive one for us. It is just VERY recently that we have seen Armenians not speaking armenian. The fact that Armenians in the diaspora always went to armenian school, and always spoke the language was a sort of guarantee that we are still surviving. Now, the strong communities of Haleb, Beirut, Cairo, etc. are all losing people to the new communities in Montreal, Toronto, LA, Boston, etc, where in one or two generations, knowledge of the armenian language and culture has dropped dramatically. This is when we start fearing for our existence. And when people who don't speak armenian actually find it funny that some people waste their time on a "useless" language because they're living in the States, that is when people start to get angry. Therefore, you have to understand our situation when you judge the Armenian people's constant fear of disappearance. Sure the Italians don't panic. They have millions and millions living comfortably back in Italy, and the Italian people, I hope we agree, face no risk of elimination anytime soon. I will have to disagree about Italians all living in harmony. Their situation is worse. A half-italian friend of mine was being ignored by another Italian at school because she was from Sicily, and he, from Napoli. I have never seen such things between Armenians. Never has an Armenian from Syria ignored one from Armenia, or from Iran, or wherever else. Not to my knowledge anyways.
As for Dan's white supremacist views, I obviously disagree with him. As Armenians, I think the first thing we have learned is to NEVER engage in such false beliefs where we believe that one race, or ethnicity is superior to another. Such idiotic thoughts have pretty much ALWAYS led to homicide, mass murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, etc.
I will also disagree with you if you think that most Armenians are followers of such ways of thinking. I just recently read an article about an Azeri woman that lives in the capital of the now independant Nagorno Karabakh (say what you want people, it's independant
), and about how well she is treated, and how Armenians there never mistreat her. She even has a job in Artsakh's national radio station.Also, in Montreal, the Armenian General Benevolent Union has organized many events where survivors of the Cambodian, Rwandan and Jewish genocide all came to speak about their events.
Back to the Italians now. My french canadian friends have always told me that Armenians in general are a lot more open to the Québécois culture, as opposed to the Italians and the Greeks, who usually go by the motto of "If you're in Canada, speak english or get out!" with regards to the local population. Also, my Serb, Croatian, Romanian, Syrian, Lebanese, Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan Jewish, Cambodian, Haitian, Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian friends have all been suprised when I spoke to them about their national issues, and about how aware I was of it all.
All this to say that we Armenians are NOT a group who are constantly closed to others. Yes, we ARE protective of our culture, and justifiably so. But we have learned throughout our history that fanatacism, or false ideas of supremacy, lead only to danger, and that is what we try to avoid.
Comment