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Criticism does not mean hostility
Yerkir/arm
October 29, 2004
One might very often come across an opinion that those who criticize
American president George Bush's foreign policies go against the
civilized and democratic world thus assisting the international
terrorism. Similar opinions are expressed by some of our political
leaders, analysts and media.
This sort of contemplations have resulted in another `brilliantâ=80=9D
observation suggesting that those who are against sending Armenian
troops to Iraq are against civilized and democratic values thus
supporting the international terrorism and adopting an anti-American
position.
The authors of these brilliant ideas tend to overlook one fact -
Bush's foreign policy is criticized not only by the American
Democratic Party and its presidential candidate John Kerry but also
Bzezinsky, Soros, Kissinger, andmany other American analysts, research
centers and media. Finally, almost half of America's population shares
this criticism of Bush's foreign policies. Does this mean that they
are all against democracy? Do they all support international
terrorism? Can they all be considered anti-American?
Following this logic, France, Germany, Russia, Spain and other
countries can be added to the list of anti-democratic, anti-American
and pro-terrorist countries.
But let us come back to the Armenian political forces that are
intensively trying to reveal the anti-democratic and anti-American
forces in Armenia. They fail to understand that criticism does not
mean hostility.
The logic of these forces suggests that if you criticize the
government, then you are the government's enemy. If you criticize the
opposition, then you are the opposition's enemy. If you criticize the
media for ungrounded gossiping then you are the enemy of freedom of
speech.
This logic is the reason why the government and the opposition are not
working efficiently in our country and this is why freedom of speech
is very often equalized to merely flattering or freely swearing.
Yerkir/arm
October 29, 2004
One might very often come across an opinion that those who criticize
American president George Bush's foreign policies go against the
civilized and democratic world thus assisting the international
terrorism. Similar opinions are expressed by some of our political
leaders, analysts and media.
This sort of contemplations have resulted in another `brilliantâ=80=9D
observation suggesting that those who are against sending Armenian
troops to Iraq are against civilized and democratic values thus
supporting the international terrorism and adopting an anti-American
position.
The authors of these brilliant ideas tend to overlook one fact -
Bush's foreign policy is criticized not only by the American
Democratic Party and its presidential candidate John Kerry but also
Bzezinsky, Soros, Kissinger, andmany other American analysts, research
centers and media. Finally, almost half of America's population shares
this criticism of Bush's foreign policies. Does this mean that they
are all against democracy? Do they all support international
terrorism? Can they all be considered anti-American?
Following this logic, France, Germany, Russia, Spain and other
countries can be added to the list of anti-democratic, anti-American
and pro-terrorist countries.
But let us come back to the Armenian political forces that are
intensively trying to reveal the anti-democratic and anti-American
forces in Armenia. They fail to understand that criticism does not
mean hostility.
The logic of these forces suggests that if you criticize the
government, then you are the government's enemy. If you criticize the
opposition, then you are the opposition's enemy. If you criticize the
media for ungrounded gossiping then you are the enemy of freedom of
speech.
This logic is the reason why the government and the opposition are not
working efficiently in our country and this is why freedom of speech
is very often equalized to merely flattering or freely swearing.