I once had a friend of Armenian descent. I met him at work in the United States and quite honestly I didn't even know there was a country named Armenia when he mentioned it. He did so because I mentioned that I was of Greek descent and Greece and Armenia have a common past: having been ruled by Ottoman Turks for over 400 years - a rule that ended in genocide by the end of the Empire and of WWI. It all started when Armenians were told to hand their guns in to government officials. They were told that they were going to be protected. Soon after, the government killed all men of fighting age and deported the women and the elderly far away, through the desert. During the march, many were raped, injured and murdered. To this day, the Turkish government claims that it was not genocide but casualties of war. Many historians acknowledge this as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Like I said, I was completely unaware of the existence of Armenia when I met this guy, but once he told me I went and researched more about it, and when I came upon the subject of the Armenian genocide I became hooked. This is because there are many things in this story that ring a bell in my experience as a Venezuelan citizen: the use of language to defame the Other and the measures taken by the government to discriminate against those it deems as second class citizens.
I was friends with this guy for a very long time, although it was a long distance relationship. He is British and I am Venezuelan. He has lived all this years enjoying the benefits and the freedom of a capitalist economy, and through me he was able to learn about what was happening in my country, which became a socialist country from 2007. Now, I have never been an overly sensitive woman. I have a very strong temper and I am quick to anger when people do stupid things. He, on the other hand, presented himself as someone very sensitive, to the point of even becoming a vegetarian in order to avoid animal suffering. I think I am more pragmatic and I am still an omnivorous person even if I don't like making animals or people suffer unnecessarily. He had some issues with his mother, as she was capable of holding grudges and that made him uncomfortable and he also had a very short memory. I, on the other hand, am perfectly capable of holding very long grudges and I have a terrific memory. I can remember stupid details as if they had happened only yesterday. All of this made me think that he was the better person.
We didn't have that close of a relationship either. I would learn about how he was doing and tell him about the situation in my country. And then, one day, he stated in his twitter account that he was one of those people who had grown up with conservative parents and who was now leaning left.
I should have known for the many little details that didn't fit in my chats with him, like how he didn't believe me when I told him that my country was going to hell, and how he advocated for the proles and their power to turn things around when we discussed 1984. That post is from perhaps two years ago, when Venezuela was already plunging into hyperinflation, hunger and death. I answered to that tweet with a question: are you becoming a socialist after all I've told you? And in the ensuing twitter battle he told me two things that I shall never forget:
"This goes to show the divide between us"
and
"I am leaning left because people die"
There is a saying that I think explains perfectly this situation. It translates roughly as "people don't learn from other people's minds". And this seems to be true of many Europeans, even of those who are descended from people who have suffered genocide. I am writing this as an outlet, because I have been thinking for many days about those things he told me and about how very wrong he was. Every single thing that has happened in Venezuela should have rung a thousand bells in the mind of a descendant of an Armenian survivor, and yet they didn't. To him, his damned ideology was worth than the million of voices begging for life.
Yes D., this shows the divide there exist between us: a hundred million dead people who could have lived if it weren't for people like you, who live off the government and who are utterly incapable of being productive without help.
See, I may not be as good at math as you are, and I may not have graduated from the prestigious Imperial College as you did. I may eat animals who died to give me life. But I avoid making animals and people suffer unnecessarily, whereas you are a moron and shall die a moron. I cannot hate you more than I do.
And I had to take this out of my mind.
I shall tell everyone in the world that I am you, men and women who have bravely fought for freedom through the forest of denial.