What do you think of the tone of the debate regarding parenting issues? At the conference (At the MCC Budapest Summit international conference, the participants discuss what and why we teach our children about rights, responsibility, fellow human beings, gender theory and critical thinking ) and in Hungary. The debate is also taking place in the United States. Can you compare the two places?
– This debate at this conference was very respectful and direct. At the same time, I wonder what would have happened if there were progressives and leftists, could this tone have been possible? My experience in America is that there simply cannot be such a discussion situation, even though there is nothing more important than talking about their children, about how we raise them, what values we teach them. However, the left in America is so hysterical about LGBTQ and critical race theory issues that they think that if someone contradicts them, it is not only wrong, but simply evil incarnate. And this is a huge problem, because it makes dialogue impossible. During the epidemic, many parents studied at home with their children, who attended school via distance learning, so parents could get a glimpse of what the teachers were saying to their young children. They could hardly believe the kind of propaganda going on in racial and gender issues. So it started to become a theme. More and more parents across America are learning that many schools have pre-set policies that if a child comes out as transgender, or non-binary, or anything like that, the school won't tell the parent. The assumption is that the school's job is to protect the child from his own parents. I dealt with totalitarianism, well that's exactly what totalitarian governments do; they stand between parents and children. This is what is happening in America right now and we can't even discuss it because the left refuses to talk about it.
The question, or my question is, is this a systemic thing in the United States? Here in Hungary it is very difficult to argue with this, there are no such experiences, it could be said that these are only isolated, certain extreme cases. Even a leftist can argue that of course there are such things, but not extensively.
"But it's widespread in America." Left-wing activists, left-wing media and schools, on the other hand, try to deny it, because they know that the more people, ordinary ordinary people, find out about it, then they would be very upset. Every time a new case comes to light, they come up with the argument that "yes, it may have happened once or twice, but this is not normality", when the fact is that it is becoming normality. Radicalized teachers who have graduated from teacher training go into schools and preach their radical words there. Luckily, some people are foolish enough to share what they say to children on social media. And these run around and serve as a wake-up call for parents who say: "oh my god, I thought I could trust the school, but these institutions can no longer be trusted".
He spent a long time in Hungary and wrote about the country, the so-called "situation in Hungary". The "situation in Hungary" is also discussed in this way in the European Union. What were your main experiences that you share with the American audience, readers, first hand, through your own lens?
– The main thing I want the Americans to understand is that Hungary is not the way the American media portrays it. And the media systematically distorts the truth about the country. Of course, Hungary is not paradise, but just a normal country, just like other countries. However, if you learn about us from newspapers, television, radio, you will think that this is some kind of authoritarian state under the control of a bandit, where you cannot speak freely, where the newspapers are all propaganda sheets and so on.... but this is not true. I was here for two weeks last summer, then I saw that the story, the narrative constructed in the American media, is a lie. That's when I wrote to my friend Tucker Carlson, the most popular American conservative TV host, to come over, take a look, and tell his viewers the truth about this country. He did . Now we're seeing that opinion has begun to change—at least among conservative Americans. They wondered what was going on, "are the people there really that terrible?" – and the answer is that they are not actually terrible, they are great people from whom we can learn. Here in the United States, our conservative politicians are prone to weakness, they have no real vision for the future. I usually tell them to come here and learn from Viktor Orbán and Fidesz. This is a man who is not ashamed of his country, his civilization, wants to protect it as well as the Christian faith, and is smart in politics. Many Americans say "this is Orbán, isn't he the Hungarian Trump?" This is why I say no, because unlike Trump, Orbán knows how to fight intelligently and win. America is very different from Hungary, your problems are not the same as ours, but we also need a politician like the prime minister who understands the nature of the civilization he is fighting for.
We can think of American political processes, but also of social developments. In a broader sense, we can also talk about the cultural environment, which is also very strongly permeated by the so-called woke ideology. Just one example, if you watch the NFL, the American football league, you see the inscriptions on the sidelines of the fields every step of the way to fight racism, fight for justice, etc. So the idea is very deeply embedded in the culture, in the cultural messages. Isn't this a permanent influence that cannot be reversed?
"I understand that, and it can be reversed." But what worries me is that many conservatives in the United States think that politics is everything. If you choose the right politician, all problems will be solved. This is simply a mistake, as culture is more important than politics. Politics is also a branch of culture. Even if Donald Trump had been a philosopher emperor, he would not have been able to block the whole process. Not a single politician has the strength for this, not even Vikor Orbán. By the way, I read from him somewhere that, as a politician, he can give certain things to people, but he cannot associate meaning with them. What can provide this interpretive framework is the church, the school and other institutions of culture, as well as parents and families. If we parents, ordinary people, wait for the politicians to solve it, then it won't happen, we have to take it upon ourselves to give our children the framework of interpretation that they can relate to and base their view of the world on. If you outsource the interpretive framework to Netflix or American football, you lose them, the children. We see this happening in the United States, where the young generation is imbued with a new kind of ideology because the institutions that shape the culture, especially the churches, have surrendered.
What are the signs of society changing on a daily basis? Are there any noticeable signs, really in daily experience, compared to 1-2-3 decades ago?
"Oh yes, there are." On the positive side, society is much more balanced and unified in terms of race. I come from the deep south, where the Ku Klux Klan was still strong decades ago. Things are much better today, and that's good. However, it is also true that we have drifted apart. We are atomized, many of us spend most of our time at home, watching TV or on the Internet, we don't see each other, there is no sense of a common goal, as it used to be. I remember my parents; when I was a child in the 70s, in the countryside. In the neighborhood, in our area, every weekend someone had a garden barbecue, barbecue, fried fish or fried crayfish. They considered it important to get together, the children played together, and learned how to become a community. It rarely happens these days, everyone is so busy - and it's not just a conservative or liberal thing, but the way our society has changed. But perhaps the most shocking thing to me is the way gender ideology has become part of the mainstream, even in conservative small towns. My hometown in Louisiana is a village of two thousand people. This is one of the most conservative parts of the United States, and yet, the local high school has a large presence of gender ideology, with transgender people. But how could this happen? Through the Internet, smartphones, and technology, these radical ideologies were able to become part of the mainstream there as well. And if there is no strong cultural resistance in parents, communities, and the church, then they will take over. Those who believe in these destructive, insane ideologies do not doubt for a second that they are right. They are convinced that they represent a good cause. They will win if we don't try to push them back, the way they try to push us to the edge. That is why I am so proud of Hungary when it tries to resist in the protection of families, even if Hungarians pay a heavy price for this in the European Union. Thus, the day before our conversation, the European Court decided on the suspension of funds. I consider this hateful for Hungary, but at the same time I hope that Hungarians will see that the protection of families is worth it, that the human soul has no price. However, the European Union is trying to get them to sell their souls.
can be heard on hirado.hu, HERE
Photo: MH/Tamás Purger
