Published: 13.2.2023
The photo of Viktor Orbán and Volodymyr Zelensky shaking hands, as young people say, has been a big hit on almost every public platform. The propaganda team of Fidesz’s prime minister, in a display of infinite professionalism and infinite immorality, chose a photo for the prime minister’s social media page showing the „Ukrainian warrior” in a state of agony, bowing to the „statesman who is building a European middle power.”
Other shots of the encounter, of course, paint a more accurate picture of the moment, of the flashes of eyes, the clasping of hands, and the vibrant sense of confusion and hypocrisy. The deliberate choice of the photo does not deserve much further comment: it is a cheap trick, which, beyond the professionalism of the propagandists mentioned above, once again confirms the endless frustration of the power holder. The aftermath of the footage, however, is all the more worthy of a Sunday letter, as it is a perfect example of our divided public: in the Fidesz bubble, the image of the submissive Zelensky, while in the opposition space, almost without exception, the image of the flashing-eyed Zelensky was shared. The same moment, but once again told and disseminated in two separate realities.
There is no question in my mind that Fidesz’s continued stay in power is fundamentally due to one reason: the immoral professionalism of its domination of the media. There was a time when public radio stations would unhesitatingly announce and constantly report the leaked words of the current prime minister, but nowadays state radio instead of performing public service is publicly servile; and anyway, the best way to get into public media these days is to climb over the fence.
And it is almost Muppet Show level when, at the Government Info, representatives of the media under the influence of the state party ask the government for official reactions (mostly read from paper) only to matters concerning the opposition, to statements by opposition politicians, and only journalists independent of the government ask about the current decisions of the cabinet and matters concerning the country.
But the situation is not so funny, of course, because this oppressed and divided public results in distorted interpretations of reality, which is certainly useful for a while for those in power – the fourth two-thirds certainly proves this – but such war propaganda is an extremely dangerous tool. I understand and I can see that the system has worked perfectly well for more than a decade, but it takes only one miscalculation to throw you off the mark.
If a mistake is made in the calculations and, for example, an unexpected rule of law iceberg appears on the radar of the ship and the money owed to the country and the Hungarians might immediately be lost. Or if Putin promises a quick invasion of Ukraine and a settlement at the long table in Moscow, but then it doesn’t happen and the camp has to be sensitized back and forth about the Russians. Or if the crowds, aware of the constant onslaught of speculative frogmen, who want to save the kindergarteners from sex change surgery and hate the opposition with clenched fists, suddenly turn on Fidesz.
The kind of blindness and anger that has been planted and is constantly nurtured on all public platforms: public media, a manually controlled media Golem, publicly funded Facebook influencers, and volunteer inciters that rage based on deception can turn against the powers that be at any time. And that is in no one’s interest. Not even in that of the opposition. Conscious propaganda that pours lies onto society, which can be easily debunked with a little common sense, can only end badly. Because it leaves generational scars and irreversibly deforms a nation’s self-image, present and future.
The propaganda machine has divided our shared homeland into two countries. Today, we answer all substantive questions on the basis of our attitude towards those in power. Black or white. Whether Fidesz approves of it, or not. It is infinitely sad that with the elimination of substantive dialogue (and the ricochet effects of violent propaganda), all questions have been simplified into sectarian camps), and we are now even judging the weather by how cold the Prime Minister feels in the morning. If he thinks it is cold, the paid government influencers are already pouring out posts saying that it was only colder under Gyurcsány, while the opposition’s community spokespeople say Orbán is lying because it is, in fact, nice and warm out there, i.e. whoever wears a thick coat is a paid Fidesz loyalist.
If you are pro-government, you see the battery factories as the saviours of the country and their critics as mercenaries of foreign interests; if you are the opposition, the battery factories are the nation’s undoing, to be fought with scythes. Period, stop asking questions because there is nowhere else to stand. And all this is basically again the result of the consciously constructed propaganda, strong-arm communication dividing everything into black-and-white, stifling all opposition voices.
„Whoever controls the media in a given country decides who controls the thinking of that country and, through that, who controls that country” – this frank and otherwise accurate statement was made by Balázs Orbán, the Prime Minister’s political director, at a conference as chairman of the board of trustees of the Matthias Corvinus Collegium. His statement is accurate and true, but it is of course a political and moral question to what extent a ruling elite will strive to achieve this and, if it does achieve its goal, what it will do with it and what it will use it for. Fidesz has taken advantage of this opportunity and, without any moral retreat, is using it to maintain its power through constant juggling.
They are mistaken in their belief that everything lasts forever and that, even if this edifice collapses, the bunkers will already be ready and the sub-accounts of the bank accounts will be filled to the brim, and it won’t be an issue for them. For us, however, it does matter what Hungary will be like. Where no one sizes up the Hungarianness of the other, where no one lies about the other selling out their country for foreign Judaic money, where the adjective „national” has real value and content, and is not just a sticker that can be stuck on anything to proclaim that it is „mine”. Where propaganda does not have a ministry but a curriculum in free universities. I know, there is still a lot to do. And I will do what I can.
After the Hungarian Prime Minister’s landmark 2014 speech in Tusványos, which proclaimed the illiberal state, I vowed that as an MEP I would write an open letter every week to warn the public of the crimes of the system that had been established. I am ringing the bells of alarm for the 393rd time and will continue to do so tirelessly for as long as it is necessary. Because we must give revival and our shared homeland a chance.
dr. István Ujhelyi
Member of the European Parliament / Founder of the Community of Chance
12/02/2023