Gergely Karácsony gave a heartfelt interview to Telex yesterday , which - I used the adjective for a reason - speaks to the heart. And only for that.
As we discussed in our last article dealing with the Christmas phenomenon , during next year's elections, visceral emotions will clash with common sense, reason and emotion will clash. The in-depth telex interview provides a perfect insight into the state of mind of the majority of opposition voters - and a smaller part of them are driven by their well-defined interests - and on which Karácsony and his staff pluck the strings of emotions with geometric precision.
As a journalist, you absorb texts in a different mode than the average reader, and sometimes you notice things that might not be apparent to others at first glance. What words and phrases does the text use? In our case, which words does the respondent repeat, where does he emphasize, which question does he give an explicit answer to, when does he smear, and so on.
In the interview, Karácsony uses "morality" as a self-conscious adjective half a dozen times: "morally right" is said twice, but there is also "moral purpose, morally, my moral basis, morally correct attitude". It's as if he's repeating it just to convince others, and maybe even himself, how moral he is . Morality can be for Karácsony what democracy is for Gyurcsány; none of them can ever repeat enough. After all, the DK leader already said in 2006: "Repeat it many times, you have a chance of being believed."
It is worth reviewing in a condensed form what expressions the mayor of Budapest uses, i.e. a verbal cavalcade aimed at emotions, when he talks about the Fidesz government, his political opponent:
strangulation, killing, he wants to kill me, he wants to destroy me, he acts like a murderer against me, take me away, they shut off the money tap, the government is scared, let's smash it with a hammer, internal tension and hatred in Fidesz, payment, they are evil, they can't fulfill it, damn it, sarcasmous, counterproductive, it will backfire, they cut corners, there is always more to come, a conspiracy theory made from croaking, disdain for the electorate, overconfident, maximizing the refugee crisis, bad property policy, bad development policy, squandered assets.
He says this about himself:
fulfill it, I see everyone as a partner, showing a clear alternative, the primary election is good, real change, I want to talk about the future, keeping it together, program, overcoming, I laugh at it, I will wait with a smile, I will win, it will strengthen me, you can't get him out of his tolerance for peace, I will protect my family, I was afraid of my family, I will survive, I will do what is humanly possible, I am prepared for everything, new political vision, self-identity, rule of law, democratic model, decisive struggle.
This war-propaganda way of speaking, the demonization of the political enemy , serves nothing more than whipping up emotions: don't believe them, hate them, then crush them - believe me, love and pity me, then vote for me! Is there rationality, objectivity, or fact in this? No! But Christmas doesn't even need it, since most people don't think, they just feel. Another issue is that they define their feelings as thoughts, and they are not aware that they are victims of manipulation. And the sad irony lies in the fact that they can fully experience their feelings whipped up by the opposition because it was the Orbán government that created the security and predictability that they now see as evidence and readily believe that it cannot be worse. It can be. And it will be if the united opposition comes to power.
The practice of "accusing the other person of what you commit" is also a popular communication trick around the house of the opposition. Karácsony applies this scheme as follows:
"Fidesz is simply past the stage of being able to behave rationally."
Or like this:
"We have to restore the honor of politics so that professionals, not just counter-selected political appointees, manage the public administration again."
And so:
"300 state leaders, this is the largest and most expensive government of all time, yet only one person makes decisions. Even half of today's huge government apparatus would be enough."
This is said by the man who, as part of the deal - because the supporters have to be paid - flooded the City Hall with Gyurcsány's people, with the shadows of the socialist past, without batting an eye, and swelled the capital's apparatus to one and a half times. Of course, they cannot be the cause of the perpetual lack of money, only the demonized government. Let's see what Karácsony says about this when asked about the three most important measures implemented in Budapest!
"I think it is an extremely heroic attitude that we are alive. In the past period, the government and the crisis took 40 percent of the capital's operating budget. As a private person, anyone can imagine what it's like when their income drops by 40 percent, but their expenses don't decrease, in fact."
I think everyone can imagine, except for Christmas, what it's like when, for example, monthly utilities take 50-70 percent of a person's salary; everyone who is willing and able to remember the rampage in Gyurcsány.
Of course, the attitude of the mayor cannot be left out either. When asked what kind of documents he presented when he accepted the two academic positions, which required a language exam, he answered as follows:
"It's all ridiculous, I'm just laughing lasciviously at this."
I honestly don't know how much Hungarian society laughs, or how much it will laugh , if its prime minister, due to his lack of language skills - let's not have any illusions, because he can't learn it at the negotiation level, not even in conversations in less than a year - stumbles around the EU in discussions.
Of course, a little self-pity comes with the parrying:
"I probably had dyslexia, which I may have outgrown since then, or - I think that's the professional term - compensated for."
Poor thing.
But let's also say a few words about the flashed program, here are the first three things to do if elected:
- I will renegotiate the funds of the recovery fund with Brussels (it borrows and puts the country in debt - ed.)
- clarification of the rule of law issue (he dismantles the rule of law without two-thirds, then writes one he likes - ed.)
- the child poverty program put together by Zsuzsa Ferge and her colleagues in 2007 is brought out again. This is a HUF 700 billion program that can be financed from the recovery fund (it spreads the credit to welfare measures, taxes it in parallel, and ultimately cripples the working middle class - ed.)
And finally, here's the encore:
"We're going to get them back — the private assets pumped out of public money — and we're going to give reparations to those who have that money out of their pockets."
Would this promise also be enforced on the heroes of Apró-villa (if they are coalition partners, then of course the Dobrevs would have to do this against themselves), and on everyone who came to their senses during the regime change, or would they just target their political enemies like good communists?
Would Gergő be strong enough to carry out his will, according to which "an important element of my politics is: there is no return to 2010, not only the last ten, but also the last 30 years, we must show something new and make amends" with a 1 percent party in the behind his back, but even more so with the Gyurcsány-Dobrev clan in the pantry?
Photo: Árpád Földházi / MTI
