It is no coincidence that left-wing politicians regularly call right-wing voters animals: according to analysts, the contempt of Péter Magyar, Péter Márki-Zay and many of their comrades for the representatives of the national camp is rooted in the elitism of the left-liberal side.
Left-wing politicians regularly express their disdain for the representatives of the national camp, and there have also been numerous examples of publicly calling Fidesz-KDNP sympathizers animals, who were also used with many other derogatory epithets.
Most recently, Péter Magyar called the government party voters an endangered species,
https://civilek.info/2024/05/30/igy-gyalazza-a-fidesz-szavazoit-a-magyar-peter-fele-baloldal/
but the fact that Ildikó Bangóné Borbély, a former MSZP member of parliament, referred to Fidesz supporters as rats also brings back unpleasant memories for many. Péter Márki-Zay's public frenzy can also be classified here, when he compared right-wing people to mushrooms fed with manure and kept in the dark as the joint prime ministerial candidate of the left in the 2022 election campaign. The list could be continued for a long time, but it is more important that these are not random cases.
- On the left-liberal side, it is a tradition to look down on voters. Even their own, but especially their political opponents. We have come across countless examples in the past decade when dissidents were treated with various insulting and humiliating epithets (for example, they were called animals), but sometimes they even publicly wished for their death, said Levente Boros Bánk, political analysis director of the Nézőpont Institute.
– Behind the examples when left-wing politicians like to label others with dehumanizing terms, typical patterns emerge. They especially call people or groups of people animals if they cannot control their emotions. We encountered a similar reaction earlier when they were in a hopeless political situation and projected their despair onto the supporters of the opposing side. The third scenario, as happened in the case of Péter Magyar, is when the speaker comes under his own influence. The latter usually occurs when the politician engages in lengthy explanations during his public appearances, admits to what he has to say, then falls out of his role and loses his self-control in a manner unbecoming of a politician. Péter Márki-Zay also got himself into similar situations when he made his well-known unacceptable statements.
In fact, Magyar and his colleagues in this case only involuntarily say what they are thinking anyway - Levente Boros Bánk explained.
The director also pointed out that the left-liberal side has always been elitist.
– We have been able to experience this throughout the last three decades, but communism was also built precisely on the fact that voters were seen as subjects who could be told how to think and how to act. From the SZDSZ, through Momentum to Péter Magyar, it was characteristic of most left-wing actors that they considered themselves the possessors of the truth and considered everyone else who did not think like them to be stupid, undereducated, misguided, and classified as inferior. From there, it is only one step to consider the members of the other political side as animals - Levente Boros Bánk pointed out.
Dániel Deák, the XXI. The senior analyst of the Század Institute pointed out that in the case of Péter Márki-Zay, statements defaming members of the opposing camp appeared when, based on surveys, it became more and more likely that he would not be able to win the election.
"Márki-Zay could have tried to appeal to the hard core of the left by insulting and reviling Fidesz voters, but this is a radical, extreme position, not a pro-people one. The only question for Péter Magyar is how much defeat he will suffer from Fidesz in June, and it seems that he fell into the same trap as the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely. In addition, his unqualified statements are made even more distasteful by his aggressive habit, which was also evident, for example, when he screamed at people leaving the church in Putnok," stated the political scientist.
- If a politician calls an identifiable group of voters an animal, it goes beyond a limit - this was emphasized by junior constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici.
According to his words, this is supported by the works of such prestigious authors as Timo Büchner.
- In his book Anti-Semitism and animal similes, the German writer discusses, for example, that the animalization of people in political public life can be traced back to Nazi speech to this day. As the author points out, in the history of anti-Semitism, animal metaphors and animal comparisons have been elementary stylistic tools for dehumanization for centuries, the expert explained.
Zoltán Lomnici Jr. also highlighted the criminal law aspect of dehumanizing expressions made in public:
"Hateful expressions uttered in public, including against gender, racial, or national minorities, are sanctioned by the Hungarian penal code as incitement against the community. In Germany, for example, it is forbidden to insult, slander and slander certain groups of people, that is, intimidation is punishable in itself, which usually carries a prison term of three months to five years."
Cover photo: Péter Magyar, leader of the European Parliament list of the Tisza party
Source: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák Photo: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák
