Progressives and anti-pressers can't digest Tucker Carlson's visit. One of the reasons for this is that Carlson did not ask for money and traveled here at his own expense, even though he obviously could have used this amount for an unconditional basic income.
The other reason is that the visit was successful, at least from the media and public perspective. That is why they are frantically looking for a grip on the story, trying to emphasize the differences between Carlson and Orbán, American and Hungarian politics. Thus they arrived at their favorite activity and began to ideologize.
It's possible that even without Carlson's visit, the pointless and endlessly boring navel-gazing about "who is the real conservative" would be a hit topic - this is the standard program in cucumber season - but at least we have the apropos.
The opposition media workers began to exert themselves in a ridiculously sweaty way. Since Carlson's visit, there has been a tiresome listing of what Carlson thinks about China, vaccinations, mask-wearing and illiberalism, and what Zorban stands for in contrast. And although Carlson himself said that he does not consider himself a conservative, in fact he is a supporter of the Enlightenment (well, a conservative would never really say that about himself, since the conservative habitus was forced to formulate itself against the Enlightenment), he is still called to account for an opinion that differs from his own "conservatism".
We can only hope that the kind delinquents do not rot in the midst of such jaw-dropping stunts.
The only problem is that the effort to unify dogmas, the demarcation and naming of trends and sects is anything but a conservative activity. These are the favorite activities of ideologues, commonly known as single-minded people. The most natural thing in the world is that the American right-wing paints and thinks differently than the Hungarian one. You don't even have to be conservative for this, just use common sense.
It is enough to look at the map: one has selected a large power overseas with a population of 300 million, the other a country of ten million between the Germans and the Russians. The two countries will necessarily have different perspectives, so their relations will be different in terms of both foreign and domestic politics. Of course, we know that there are ideological fanatics who would demand the same thing: in this country, some oppositionists sometimes demanded that we declare war on China and Russia. According to set theory, they belong to the category of "assholes", since even the United States does not fall for this.
It's even funnier when some people sell us the "anti-science" of the American right and the pro-order and pro-science of the left, while the pro-scientific left says that there are five hundred thousand human races, and who belongs to which is a matter of individual decision.
And if someone wants to be conservative at all costs, then the above distinction only gets stronger. In this case, the history and traditions of different countries will be emphasized, which only strengthens the acceptance of differences and resists the pursuit of unification, since the latter is an unchanging part of the progressive policy.
The reason why oppositional convulsions do not appear among conservatives or on the right is because in their eyes the difference between countries, nations and policies is considered the most natural thing in the world. In this case, the goal of a conversation is not for the parties to reach an agreement on dogmas and to eliminate all disagreements.
This is so true that the "reactionary" government of Hungary finds many points of agreement with Carlson, who considers himself a representative of the Enlightenment and traditional liberalism, without starting an ideological jihad on the part of the parties due to the differences.
If the progressives are done fixing dogmas and demarcating sects, they could try this one day as well.
Featured image: Gábor Magadja. Photo: Árpád Földházi
