The Roar of the Silent Majority

Whenever you find yourself
on the side of the majority,
it is time to pause and reflect.”
Mark Twain

Z. S. Andrew Demirdjian

A massive outpouring of letters to Mr. Appo Jabarian, The Executive Publisher and Managing Editor of the USA Armenian Life Magazine, warmly congratulate him on his exceptional investigative journalism talents, for his steadfast position on the necessity of reform in the Armenian Apostolic Church, and for his stance devoid of any politically correct posture.
Samples of the appreciative and supportive letters to the Editor are included in the USA Armenian Life Magazine’s weekly issue of August 2-8, 2019 both in its English Edition as well as in its Armenian counterpart, Hye Giank. Although the response was highly gratifying and positive, it was the voice of the vocal minority.

Per capita of those who live in Armenia, this tiny country has the largest diaspora in the world. Most of them are proud to be Armenian Apostolic Church members; but, unfortunately, most are either too busy or shy away from politically incorrect issues or too nonchalant in what is going on in the Armenian Church today. As a result, we have a vast silent majority out there who are muted on fundamental issues facing their own church. Silent majority refers here to a group of people who do not voice their opinions or thoughts on certain current issues of possible importance to the nation.
The “silent majority” idiom has an interesting history behind it. The phrase was used in the 19th century to refer to the “dead”. For example, it would be used in a sentence like “He has gone to the silent majority”. This was just another way of saying someone has died.
However, in the 1960s, President Richard Nixon was the first to make this silent majority phrase a popular term in politics by referring to a group of people who do not voice their opinions or thoughts on political issues. In his famous speech, he said, “And so tonight —to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans – I ask for your support.” In this context, Nixon was referring to the public discourse over the Vietnam War to garner the support of the silent majority who were once in favor of the war to oppose those young men and women who had taken to the streets in protest of the war. Thus, in his 1969 election campaign, Nixon asked the silent majority directly for their support, promising to end the unpopular Vietnam War. Right after that day, his popularity numbers jumped up to 77 percent in the Gallup Poll surveys. Moreover, supportive telegrams and letters poured in to the White House.
Since the campaign to clean up the Armenian Church of infamous clergymen, the critical question being addressed in this article is how to unleash some of the vast potential power of the silent majority. Let us see if we come up with some workable ideas to facilitate their participation.
The silent majority on this Armenian Church reform seems to be divided into five major groups of individuals:

1. Those that are busy with their own affairs prefer to remain as silent bystanders.
2. Those that are pro the clergymen accused of wrongdoings refuse to condescend locking horns with the reform activists.
3. Those that do not approve exposing Armenia’s dirty laundry to the rest of the world consider silence is golden lest the “odars” will know about the unflattering problem Armenia is currently having.
4. Those that hate the vocal minority remain silent. (Why? for no good reason; for every point there is a counterpoint; for every positive pole there is a negative pole. Why do dogs hate cats? —you get drift by now).
5. Those that do not know how or hesitate to participate in the campaign.
   It is immensely gratifying to see so many people have written letters to the Editor in support of the movement to introduce personnel reforms in the Armenian Orthodox Church both in Armenia and in the Diaspora. But it is only the vocal minority who took time to make their voice heard. We need to awaken the “sleeping giant,” members of the silent majority, to roar.
   While it is the prerogative of the above groups numbers from 1 to 5 to remain silent, for the 5th group (5. Those who do not know how or hesitate to participate in the campaign), here are some suggestions to consider for giving a voice to these special silent majority individuals:
6. Write and sign your comments with your initials only to make the source somewhat anonymous and submit it to the Editor.
7. Write conditionally in third person without mentioning the name of the wrongdoer (e.g., If a clergyman is materialistic, he should then leave the church or be duly deposed).
8. Very short letters to the Editor for moral support.
9. Report own experience with bad clergymen as a lesson to learn.
10. Sponsor a short comment to be published in the USA Armenian Life Magazine or in its sister publication Hye Kiank.
11. Offer to help with the possible publication of a book (e.g., an anthology) on the topic of eradicating the Armenian Church of materialistic clergymen.
12. And so forth.
    Let us remember that democracy is best practiced by having an informed and involved citizenry that has access to a wide range of sources of news and views and a vibrant forum in which to share and to debate ideas, issues and options. Today’s ultimate environment for the exchange of ideas for the Armenian Diaspora is the Internet and the weekly publications like the USA Armenian Life Magazine, The California Courier, and Asbarez to cite a few with which I am familiar.
    As you well know, within organizations, be they political or otherwise, people often have to make decisions about whether to speak up or remain silent – whether to share or withhold their ideas, opinions, and concerns. As a member of the silent majority, your small contribution will make a difference in reforming our church.
    As you would agree, the erosion of human values in our Church should stop. Members of the silent majority should be aware of the fact that they may be putting the team of the vocal minority at risk of failure in their quest when they withhold their voice of wisdom and input on this pivotal issue. We want to hear that roar. The supporters of the bedeviled clergymen may write the vocal “fringe minority” off as a small group of disgruntled, misinformed, misguided persons creating a storm in a teacup.
    As an ardent investigative journalist, Mr. Appo Jabarian is a deep-rooted iconoclast, avidly exposing people who are taking advantage of the Armenian community regardless of their affiliation. Despite threats to his life, Mr. Appo Jabarian has courageously spearheaded the campaign. He and other concerned Armenians have defined the problem for us time and again and now we need the voice of the silent majority to work toward solutions.
    We need to create people’s voice —the roar of the silent majority. The minority voice has already defined the problem; the majority now should take up that definition and propose and work on solutions on how to replace any imposter from our Church. By now most of the silent majority is well aware that three prominent Armenian religious leaders are accused of lack of spiritualism (i.e., His Holiness Karakin II, Catholicos of All Armenians; Arch. Hovnan Derderian, Primate of Western Diocese; and Arch. Yezras Nersisyan, Primate of Russia Diocese). Since they face serious allegations, remaining voiceless maybe construed as condoning these clergymen’s unacceptable behavior.
    Luckily, the vocal minority has opened windows of opportunity. Now, it is up to the silent majority to kick open doors to get rid of the clergymen who live in a cocoon of luxury by going materialistic in the house of God. The silent majority should gain its voice to drive those clergymen whose behavior has been overburdened with negative exclamations to abdication; the silent majority should rise up against those clergymen who have lost the trust of their faithful followers to resign; and the silent majority should roar to frighten those church rats, who have lost their sense of spiritualism, out of the house of God.
    We hope and pray that you, our fellow Armenian, will join the righteous group who want to exterminate the infested house of God of wolves in sheep’s clothing by unmuting your voice as a powerful silent majority member —and by remembering that democracy and silent majority do not make a happy marriage in heaven.