The gaffes of the right wing media
What makes right-wing journalists attempt to rehabilitate elements of the traditional Arrow Cross and Nazi symbols and, by their writing, to bring often justified accusations of anti-semitism down on their heads?
Lanchid Radio displayed a photomontage on its website depicting the state secretary Gabor Szetey with a pink triangle on his chest standing in front of the gates of Auschwitz. Tibor Navracsics, leader of the Fidesz benches in Parliament, described the picture as "outrageous." He was right in this, but wrong when he compared the activities of the portal's editors to those of the Socialist MP Janos Zuschlag, who joked about Jews being shot into the Danube in front of 60 Andrassy ut, the former Arrow Cross and secret police headquarters which is now the location of the House of Terror Museum. I have nothing to say in his favour, not least because further information has emerged in recent weeks about a range of phantom foundations he run. But Zuschlag was not addressing the public. He was "bantering" with his companions in front of the House of Terror (one of whom is a state secretary in the Education Ministry), while the Hir TV's cameras were secretly recording him. He probably would not have given his approval for the public release of the video.
The Lanchid Radio crew,of course, are not polticians (although one of those responsible, Gabriella Veress, was a Fidesz borough councillor in Budapest), they were nonetheless media professionals. The radio itself belongs to Simicska's Fidesz-linked media empire, along with the daily Magyar Nemzet and Hir TV. There is no doubt that these organs of the press as well as the weekly Magyar Demokrata and Echo TV have extensive personal and other links to various far-right formations, including Jobbik-MIEP, the extra-parliamentary far-right party, and even the somewhat ridiculous Magyar Garda. (An announcer from Echo TV played a role in the Garda's swearing in on 25 August).
But why are these journalists unable to resist the temptation to continuously warm over the "Judeo-bolshevik-plutocrat" theory, even if only in coded form, as their overarching explanation for the world they live in and every single on of Hungary's problems? Why insist on breaking the Auschwitz taboos over and over again, despite knowing full well that this is one thing that will get international public opinion going, along with left-wing politicians at home and the left-leaning domestic media?
Fidesz's leadership is familiar with public opinion surveys showing that it is in the interest of a very unpopular left-wing coalition to make an issue of the traumas of the 20th century, especially the holocaust. It's a way of reining in a disillusioned voter base, threatening them with the prospect of "fascists" taking their place if they lose the elections. Gabor Szetey's coming out on Gay Pride Day in the presence of other members of the government was indeed a consciously designed media event. Its authors wanted to provoke an extreme reaction from the extreme Right and use that to tar the rest of the Right with the same brush. (In the West, gay politicians didn't start coming out until decades after artists and media personalities had started to publicly confirm their sexualities - while in Hungary even they still tend to be silent about their homosexuality).
Tibor Navracsics and the rest of Fidesz's leadership recognised this trap, and so came up with a carefully thought out statement describing the state secretary's sexual orientation as a "private matter", despite much of the media linking Fidesz with the fuming of the far Right. But keeping on-message is all in vain if the media fails to follow the directives from on high. However well they know the traumas of the 20th century, they are emotionally incapable of appreciating the Holocaust, that unparalleled collective tragedy. So they are able (and not just in private) to joke about it, comparing it with other terror campaigns, including some which claimed more victims, like Stalin's purges. They know they are walking on a minefield, but they want to tear down the taboos at all costs, relativising the loss that the murder of 6m people, many east European Jews, meant for humanity. They fail to realise that the extermination of the Jews was Hitler's and his movement's most important goal, that World War II was not the fruits of his unrealistic ambitions, but consciously designed to make possible the genocide.
The Nazis did not list as a goal the complete extermination of the Roma and the gays. Only those deemed a "public danger" ended up in the camps, something the authorities determined in a very subjective fashion. There are no exact numbers for the number of Roma or gays deported between 1933 and 1945, though historians estimate that there were several hundred thousand victims.
By putting that outrageous photomontage up on their website, Lanchid Radio's employees gave every member of the Gyurcsany government the opportunity to look like victims. The politicians could strike pathos-laden poses, standing up for their colleague. If the opposition fails to focus Hungarian public opinion on the genuinely serious social and economic problems Hungary faces, and the Right continues to walk into the Left's traps, then the reactions could seal today's political powers in government for many decades to come.
Janos Pelle
The Lanchid Radio crew,of course, are not polticians (although one of those responsible, Gabriella Veress, was a Fidesz borough councillor in Budapest), they were nonetheless media professionals. The radio itself belongs to Simicska's Fidesz-linked media empire, along with the daily Magyar Nemzet and Hir TV. There is no doubt that these organs of the press as well as the weekly Magyar Demokrata and Echo TV have extensive personal and other links to various far-right formations, including Jobbik-MIEP, the extra-parliamentary far-right party, and even the somewhat ridiculous Magyar Garda. (An announcer from Echo TV played a role in the Garda's swearing in on 25 August).
But why are these journalists unable to resist the temptation to continuously warm over the "Judeo-bolshevik-plutocrat" theory, even if only in coded form, as their overarching explanation for the world they live in and every single on of Hungary's problems? Why insist on breaking the Auschwitz taboos over and over again, despite knowing full well that this is one thing that will get international public opinion going, along with left-wing politicians at home and the left-leaning domestic media?
Fidesz's leadership is familiar with public opinion surveys showing that it is in the interest of a very unpopular left-wing coalition to make an issue of the traumas of the 20th century, especially the holocaust. It's a way of reining in a disillusioned voter base, threatening them with the prospect of "fascists" taking their place if they lose the elections. Gabor Szetey's coming out on Gay Pride Day in the presence of other members of the government was indeed a consciously designed media event. Its authors wanted to provoke an extreme reaction from the extreme Right and use that to tar the rest of the Right with the same brush. (In the West, gay politicians didn't start coming out until decades after artists and media personalities had started to publicly confirm their sexualities - while in Hungary even they still tend to be silent about their homosexuality).
Tibor Navracsics and the rest of Fidesz's leadership recognised this trap, and so came up with a carefully thought out statement describing the state secretary's sexual orientation as a "private matter", despite much of the media linking Fidesz with the fuming of the far Right. But keeping on-message is all in vain if the media fails to follow the directives from on high. However well they know the traumas of the 20th century, they are emotionally incapable of appreciating the Holocaust, that unparalleled collective tragedy. So they are able (and not just in private) to joke about it, comparing it with other terror campaigns, including some which claimed more victims, like Stalin's purges. They know they are walking on a minefield, but they want to tear down the taboos at all costs, relativising the loss that the murder of 6m people, many east European Jews, meant for humanity. They fail to realise that the extermination of the Jews was Hitler's and his movement's most important goal, that World War II was not the fruits of his unrealistic ambitions, but consciously designed to make possible the genocide.
The Nazis did not list as a goal the complete extermination of the Roma and the gays. Only those deemed a "public danger" ended up in the camps, something the authorities determined in a very subjective fashion. There are no exact numbers for the number of Roma or gays deported between 1933 and 1945, though historians estimate that there were several hundred thousand victims.
By putting that outrageous photomontage up on their website, Lanchid Radio's employees gave every member of the Gyurcsany government the opportunity to look like victims. The politicians could strike pathos-laden poses, standing up for their colleague. If the opposition fails to focus Hungarian public opinion on the genuinely serious social and economic problems Hungary faces, and the Right continues to walk into the Left's traps, then the reactions could seal today's political powers in government for many decades to come.
Janos Pelle
