V.H. Apelian's Blog

V.H. Apelian's Blog

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

How about “'The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope.” for campaign slogan?

Vahe H Apelian

Gardening cannot keep occupy all day long. The social media fills the void. Yesterday I came across the attached cartoon posted by the online journal Keghart.com.

 It so happened that in that time span of time on the social media, I also came across the following comment made by the young and upcoming activist Garen Megerdichian. He wrote in Google translation: “We have a bunch of hyenas handing over the motherland to the enemy piece by piece. Officials ready to deny Ararat and the Genocide in order to maintain power. A tolerant, enslaved society, an educated elite, a self-centered intelligentsia, repatriates who have become mercenaries of foreigners and NGOs. A silent, head-down professional class, a miserable society that prefers a visa to go to Europe to Artsakh. Wounded Artsakh, ownerless homeland, prisoners in Baku, "Armenia" rushing towards Turkification and a new Genocide. In these conditions, let's not deceive ourselves any more - you have a nail, scratch your head.” 

The unmissable messages from the cartoon and Garen’s comment were the following. The Civil Contract campaign that there is hope for the future, is in fact a joke. And, according to Garen, the Armenian public does not live up to what it is supposed to live up to because they have “become mercenaries of foreigners” and so on and so forth. In George Carlin’s parlance, the Armenian public “sucks”. As to present leadership the citizens of Armenia elected? Well they  are a “bunch of hyenas” and so forth and so on.

 In short, Sevag’s depicton and Garen’s comment can be summed up by the popular Armenian saying – “prnvelik mart chga – բռնուելիք մարդ չկայ – there is no one to count on”. We should also bear in mind that keghart.com is a diaspora on line journal and Garen is born and raised in Diaspora but lives, in Armenia as a long-term resident. It is common knowledge that Diaspora Armenians tend not to repatriate, and if they opt to move to Armenia, they tend not become citizens of Armenia to  shoulder the political views they advocate and to avoid serving the Armenian armed forces or for sparing their children from serving the Armenia army. I was told that Garen Megerditchian is the patriarch of such a family.

The underlying messages from the cartoon and Garen’s comment reminded me of George Carlin. He once said the following about the public and the leadership they . 

Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope.

For all those "no holds" and "straight shooters" and who claim that they tell how it is, and come with such cartoon depictions and such comments, I have a suggestion for them. Indeed, what Carlin said may be a good upcoming election campaign slogan they may opt to adopt:

“'The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope.”

 

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