Calling local bloggers
I’m constantly surprised that nobody makes disparaging comments about an odar writing about Armenia. Now I would like to “grow” Blogrel and find some local Armenian bloggers to contribute posts.
The idea is to get a variety of perspectives and make Blogrel a little more relevant to those in Armenia. I believe it can be a great forum for some interesting discussions. It would also be a great fill-in when I am on holiday!
So, if you live in Armenia, and would be interested in contributing posts about any of the topics you see here, then let me know.
Why are you surprised? Isn’t an odar just as entitled to write about Armenia as an Armenian? You actually wrote about something that I (an odar with a strong interest in Armenia) have noticed more often. Somehow, according to some (mostly Diaspora-)Armenians, if you’re not ethnically Armenian you are not supposed to have a valid opinion on Armenia or Armenian matters. This definitely does not apply to every (Diaspora-)Armenian, but still…
Comment by Mirta — 10/1/2004 @ 7:08 am
Mirta
I am based in Tokyo, and what I was telling my Armenian friends on my last stay was the difference in how Armenians and Japanese relate to foreigners.
In Japan, I am often told, or it is often intimated, that I am not Japanese and could never understand Japan. In Armenia, people constantly tell me that I must be Armenian. People don’t question my ability to understand the mentality of Armenians.
I do love both countries, but they certainly are different!
Just an observation.
Comment by Matt — 10/1/2004 @ 9:02 am
Hmmm, a few things to say here.
1) I’ve been trying to recruit local loggers for years on my site. It has not happened yet, but I’m still hopeful!
2) I am enjoying your site. How much of the year do you spend in Armenia? I’d enjoy if you ever decided to simultaneously log on my site.
3) There are always negative people, Mirta. I can’t begin to imagine what that guy’s (I assume it’s a guy) problem is with non-Armenians writing their impressions of Armenia. I try to have patience and not completely dismiss such people so that I can try to reason with them, but it can be difficult.
Alright, that’s all.
Comment by Raffi Kojian — 10/1/2004 @ 1:10 pm
In my opinion WebLogs about Armenia may not be efficient yet.
Comment by Hakob Gevorgian — 10/1/2004 @ 2:31 pm
Raffi,
I hate to admit it, but I spend very little time in Armenia. Anyway, not enough. I have been three times in the past year, all to do with my hotel project in Tatev.
The latest was one week ago.
Hakob - can I ask what you mean by efficient? Perhaps you mean that they are not developed enough, which I would certainly agree with. I was surprised earlier this year when I was searching for blogs about Armenia, and found very little. At least there are very few serious blogs. I don’t pretend to be an expert, but thought that I could make a contribution by setting this site up. There seems to be group of regular readers and commenters. I do think there should be more online discussion. Look at Iran (I am not comparing Armenia to Iran, it just happens to be another country I love and follow closely), they have a huge amount of blogs and there was recently a large-scale protest by a lot of these blogs against restrictions planned by the government over internet access).
I just think the discussion on Armenia needs to be constructive; it’s easy to get a debate going if you say something controversial, but the important things are not that controversial: investment, the rule of law, economic policies, corruption; these are the things that will change the life of the average Armenian in the next 10 years.
Comment by Matt — 10/1/2004 @ 3:01 pm
About your observation, Matt, well about the Armenian part of it (I have never been to Japan, so I can’t say anything about that
). Based on my own experiences in Armenia, I definitely agree with you: no disqualification there of odar-opinions just because they come from an odar. In fact, my Armenian friends keep telling me as well that by now I am at least half Armenian. To which I usually reply that that’s probably as Armenian as I will ever get. Again, a big fat 
The point I was trying to make earlier, is actually mostly related to what I read on the internet in forums etc. Sometimes I just get the impression that for some people the topic “Armenia” is only open for discussion by Armenians. This is an observation, nothing more. I guess, the thing that irritates me most, is the limited and/or negative points of view of some people. But hey, that’s their problem, not mine!
Comment by Mirta — 10/1/2004 @ 4:33 pm
Matt,
By efficient I mean there are not enough trusted resources that you can rely on.
I know, I have jewish friends here who follow to so called “revolution” that’s going on Iran… Some Iranians are preparing to return to Iran (100 people or so)… But this is not a legitimate news source…
There’s something else I’d like to mention (not directly connected with this tipic…) I was reading the Adobe license agreement, and it said that any individual from Iran, Sydan or other countries that US embargo, cannot use any of Adobe products. Maybe Iranians want to download Adobe products? heeheehee (joke)
Comment by Hakob Gevorgian — 10/1/2004 @ 4:36 pm
Matt,
Don’t get me wrong. But I just noticed that there is a mistypo in the logo of Blogrel. You need to use the other ‘E’ in Grel.
Comment by Hakob Gevorgian — 10/1/2004 @ 4:43 pm
Wow, this is the first time anybody said. Even my Armenian teacher didn’t mention it. Or maybe they are just being polite. OK, well, I’ll re-do the logo (sigh). I already have a T-shirt with it printed…
US companies are prohibited by law from doing business in Iran and some other countries, so that’s why they have that notice I believe. It doesn’t stop Iranians using it of course.
Mirta - my Armenian friends gave me an Armenian name, Matevos Melkomyan. My name is Matt Malcomson, and the “son” equates to “yan”, and there is a name Melkomyan as far as I know. I don’t get the feeling that Armenians don’t want my opinion (a lot of people listened to me rattle on about sustainable tourism on my last visit), but I think on some topics they probably think that westerners lives are just too different for them to be able to meaningfully comment. Maybe.
Comment by Matt — 10/1/2004 @ 5:59 pm
Hakob’s right, “el” verbs are always with “yel”
Uh oh!
Comment by k8t — 10/8/2004 @ 1:25 am