`Or Else I Will Smash Your Face In'
February 23 2013
Regardless of what will come of this new wave of post-election
tension, I can surely say one thing; I will work as a journalist,
anyway. Predicting the wrath of our fundamental readers, I can also
add that it has become easier to work in our field in the past 5 years
than before. I am sure that if Raffi Hovhannisyan becomes president,
he will not restrain us either. In that sense, I sense a threat from
only one person; you know whom I mean. And although some problems
related to the freedom of speech have been solved, one problem still
remains, and I want to write about that very thing. There is a social
stratum in Armenia - criminals, semi-criminals, neighborhood
gangsters, tough guys, plug-uglies, whatever you call them the essence
is the same. Photographing those people, filming them is not that
easy; they hang out in their houses, drive their expensive Jeeps, as
well as visit the kebab diners they prefer `to grab a bite to eat.' In
the last case, those characters may decide to record their dancing to
the songs of Hayko of Spitak, but that video will not be made public.
The only moment when that `mass' appears in public, so to say, is the
elections; they are chairmen, secretaries, and members of commissions,
authorized persons, `people bringers,' bribers, members of campaign
offices etc. Once or twice in five years, they should serve the
government, after which they can retire to their nests and enjoy their
kebabs. And since our elections should be a transparent process -
Europeans demand it - one can photograph them on that day. Is it
possible? It turns out that this possibility is just theoretical,
because they react to the camera in the same way as a bull to a red
cloth. It seems there's nothing wrong; if you perform your duties
honestly and conscientiously or you are an ordinary voter, why would
you go ballistic and start to yell, `Don't you even try to shoot me,
or else I will smash that camera against your head.' But no, you get
angry, because you are guilty. Therefore, there are a lot of cases of
impeding the mass media when police officers naturally take sides with
the tough guys. Certainly, the prosecutor's office, considering those
cases, `doesn't reveal' any corpus delicti. I propose to create a
group on Facebook called `Don't Shoot, or Else I Will Smash Your Head
In,' where all faces swollen due to kebabs will be uploaded, in order
that we enjoy looking at those characters every day. ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/02/23/152485/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
February 23 2013
Regardless of what will come of this new wave of post-election
tension, I can surely say one thing; I will work as a journalist,
anyway. Predicting the wrath of our fundamental readers, I can also
add that it has become easier to work in our field in the past 5 years
than before. I am sure that if Raffi Hovhannisyan becomes president,
he will not restrain us either. In that sense, I sense a threat from
only one person; you know whom I mean. And although some problems
related to the freedom of speech have been solved, one problem still
remains, and I want to write about that very thing. There is a social
stratum in Armenia - criminals, semi-criminals, neighborhood
gangsters, tough guys, plug-uglies, whatever you call them the essence
is the same. Photographing those people, filming them is not that
easy; they hang out in their houses, drive their expensive Jeeps, as
well as visit the kebab diners they prefer `to grab a bite to eat.' In
the last case, those characters may decide to record their dancing to
the songs of Hayko of Spitak, but that video will not be made public.
The only moment when that `mass' appears in public, so to say, is the
elections; they are chairmen, secretaries, and members of commissions,
authorized persons, `people bringers,' bribers, members of campaign
offices etc. Once or twice in five years, they should serve the
government, after which they can retire to their nests and enjoy their
kebabs. And since our elections should be a transparent process -
Europeans demand it - one can photograph them on that day. Is it
possible? It turns out that this possibility is just theoretical,
because they react to the camera in the same way as a bull to a red
cloth. It seems there's nothing wrong; if you perform your duties
honestly and conscientiously or you are an ordinary voter, why would
you go ballistic and start to yell, `Don't you even try to shoot me,
or else I will smash that camera against your head.' But no, you get
angry, because you are guilty. Therefore, there are a lot of cases of
impeding the mass media when police officers naturally take sides with
the tough guys. Certainly, the prosecutor's office, considering those
cases, `doesn't reveal' any corpus delicti. I propose to create a
group on Facebook called `Don't Shoot, or Else I Will Smash Your Head
In,' where all faces swollen due to kebabs will be uploaded, in order
that we enjoy looking at those characters every day. ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/02/23/152485/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia