As a Member of Parliament, I Sound the Alarm: Naira Zohrabyan

Naira Zohrabyan made a post on her Facebook page: "I sound the alarm. This moral decay must be stopped. I have long ceased to be surprised by human audacity and meanness. I have long known that it has no bounds. But when I saw the insults and disgusting comments directed at the murdered 16-year-old girl, by the way, on the deceased girl's Facebook and Instagram pages, I realized that we are no longer at the edge of an abyss, but have long been at the bottom of an all-consuming abyss of hatred and malice.

These days, my good friends—Aram Abrahamyan, editor of the 'Aravot' newspaper, Narek and Sergey from 'ArmComedy', and my friend Ruben Mkrtchyan from Gyumri, with whom I discuss legal ways to confront this lava of hatred and negativity in society—almost every day address this already disastrous issue.

My good friend Aram, by posting insults against the sick and unformed people on our pages, we will not solve this problem. Believe me, we certainly will not solve it. One of our best psychiatrists believes that a significant part of society is simply sick, and social media merely makes evident the real number of those with mental disorders, which is catastrophically high.

We all talk, are astonished, are horrified, but let’s accept that in reality we are doing nothing; we—those of us who form public opinion, and those of us who have legal levers in hand—parliamentarians, journalists, true moralists. Every day seeing how a segment of society is degenerated, which feels unsatisfied unless it expels its daily dose of malice, hatred, and negativity on someone, we are not going to stop this disaster just by being amazed each day.

As a member of parliament, I sound the alarm and say there are no unsolvable situations; rather than just talking, we need to follow specific proposals and solutions with the people who understand what a destructive challenge this generation of public hatred poses for any country. Together with a few intellectual friends, we already have certain ideas through legislative solutions and more. We are ready to listen to any ideas and adequate proposals. Let this torrent of insults directed at the murdered girl become the last drop of patience for each of us."