Keep your friends close, your enemies even closer. Wise advice, to be taken to heart. Your friends can help you, and you can keep an eye on your enemies' moves so they don't surprise you. So far so good, but I don't know of any wisdom that says you should pay your enemies well to see if they love you. They will not.
I don't know, Fidesz or the local directors compile the list of performers of the Bálványos Free University (Tusványos) and it's not important. However, it makes you wonder if the person making the decision is aware of who he is inviting. I think that the chosen ones take the role not for free, but for a charitable purpose, especially not those who are known to hate the Christian-conservative "course", Fidesz and Viktor Orbán personally.
It is their heart's right to hate who or what they want, they can also voice this hatred out loud, what's more, pour it into songs with disgusting lyrics. Their goal is unmistakable: to incite against the reigning government and prime minister, to arouse hatred against them in their audience, to "indoctrinate" them, to instill hatred in those young people who are willing to do so, to instill the poison of hatred in them, to spew their own hatred around them. But do it, it's a matter of taste.
Our political likes and dislikes are shaped by thousands of factors, so why we like one side and why we don't like the other cannot be explained in one way.
However, a person with reason stops here. I don't like it, okay, that's it, but I'm not going to hate it. Hate is not a career. And if I'm the author of a popular band, but I'm also a normal person, I keep my opinion to myself and don't publish dirty lyrics.
Because my job is not to form expert camps, but to help all our viewers and listeners experience music, to get them a few unforgettable, fun hours.
Okay, I know, it all sounds very nice, but today we live in a democracy (in this case, yes, but if the government has to be insulted, some people immediately envision a dictatorship), a band can freely say and sing their distaste, there is no disadvantage. But the fact that there is even an advantage from it is surprising. That they want to be dirty in the name of free expression, they have the right to do so. On the other hand, those who are rudely attacked and reviled should perhaps not be hugged.
Looking at the list of invitees from Bálványos, we find names that are at the forefront of anti-government incitement.
As I said, it's their right, but I don't understand why they even have to be run and paid for? More precisely: if, say, they win a competition, let them be healthy, they deserve it, they submitted a good competition. If one of their concerts is financially supported by a government body, support it. Because they are not pro-government, their music can still be good (and it is good). But I don't understand why they should be invited to an obviously conservative event? It is as if the staff of a bank invited our fellow citizens, who are known to make a living from bank robbery, directly to the vault, and even gave them the lock combination of the vault.
Just as we don't have to (and shouldn't) hate, but we won't love those who disagree with us, we shouldn't attack or make it impossible for musicians who don't like us either. However, in my opinion, they should not be promoted as dear guests in Tusványos. Not even if they are deservedly popular anyway.
Keep your friends close, your enemies even closer - but maybe not so much that they can easily poke you.
György Tóth Jr
