By Vic Gerami
Hey, Ben Savage,
I was flattered to learn yesterday that you or your team blocked me on X (Twitter). I imagine it’s because I called you out on your hollow and offensive political posturing posts devoid of empathy, education, or solution.
You, me, and your ‘team’ know that you will not get elected to Congress to replace Congressman Schiff. Similarly, I knew you didn’t have a chance to become a Councilmember when you ran for West Hollywood City Council a year ago.
What I do know is that unlike your disingenuous posts about the West Hollywood ‘community,’ your hollow posts about Artsakh and Armenians are deeply offensive. As a gay man and having grown up in LA, I’ve been an integral part of West Hollywood since I came out of the closet in 2001. In all these years, I’ve never seen you in WeHo, ONCE. I’ve never witnessed you make any effort to be a part of the ‘West Hollywood community,’ NOT queer WeHo or anything else. But while campaigning, you suddenly talked like you were Elton John. That’s fake, disrespectful, and BS.
But now, you and your ‘team’ keep posting half-hazard copy/photos on your social media handles to win over the Armenian vote, without which not you or any other candidate can become a Congressperson from District 30. You have made no effort to get to know Armenian-Americans, learn about our struggle, the second Armenian Genocide (Artsakh Genocide), how we’ve been going through the worst tragedy and struggles since WWI, how we are under attack by anti-Armenian/Armenophobic flyers and hate speech all over LA and Beverly Hills. No, you have not. You simply have a strategist and a campaign manager who tell you what to say to get the vote.
In the latter case of the two runs for office, you’ve gone too far. Azerbaijan, with help from Turkiye, Russia, and Israel, massacred 10,000+ Armenians from 2020 to 2023, dozens of Armenians are currently held hostage by Aliyev’s brutal regime, Azerbaijan has escalated the cultural genocide of Armenian churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and monuments. ARMENIANS’ WOUNDS ARE TOO FRESH FOR YOU TO PLAY POLITICS.
We get you are trying to drum-p publicity for your dormant acting career, but NOT at our expense. I’ve offered you myself as a journalist, a scholar, and an expert about the matter if you truly wanted to learn. But you’ve not taken up my offer. Nor do I see your rhetoric changing to think that you are getting your facts from someone educated.
I’ll leave you with three quotes from Thomas Sowell
‘One of the painfully sobering realizations that some from reding history is the utter incompetence that is possible among leaders of whole nations and empires – and the blind faith that such leaders can nevertheless inspire among the people whore enthralled by their words or their posturing’
‘When you want to help people, you tell them the truth.
When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear’
‘It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance’