Human evil, envy, hatred, seasoned with some very deep-rooted primitiveness, gave birth to its own man. The consequences of this are unpredictable and extremely dangerous. We talked with Zsuza Máthé, director of the Szent István Institute, about education, respect for national symbols, and the protection of normality, among other things.
When the Hungarian government made the logical, necessary and unquestioned decision in other countries to regulate the use of telephones in schools, the left-liberal side immediately went on the attack, that is, they stirred up a political storm from a non-political issue.
Zsuzsa Máthé, the director of the Szent István Institute and, not incidentally, the mother of four children, can form an opinion on the matter in two capacities. He has now done this at our request.
- Our institute conducted a representative survey of 1,000 people, the result of which is that 94 percent of parents think there is a problem with their children's use of smart devices, and two-thirds of them think the problem is particularly big. So there is a real consensus here, but the matter was pushed into the political space and once again covered with a liberties and human rights glaze, presenting the matter as if this restriction shows the government's malice and oppressive will. At the same time, it is an obvious fact that we are facing a phenomenon which, based not only on the results of Hungarian but also international research, is particularly harmful. In evolutionary terms, we are talking about a very short time, since after 2012 the spread of smart devices exploded. At the same time, their negative effects appeared quickly.
All research shows that the mental state of children has deteriorated exponentially, which is mainly due to the excessive use of smart devices.
– This cannot be disputed, and can also be measured by the deterioration of academic results.
- Indeed, negative changes in cognitive abilities and deterioration of physical condition can also be observed, and what we rarely talk about, the virtual world strengthens particularly harmful phenomena in a moral sense. It mostly brings out the bad qualities in people, egoism, aggression, and at that time we didn't even talk about the catastrophic effects of the dark web, pornographic and violent content, suicide challenges, radicalizing and strengthening extremism.
With the new regulation, the government does nothing but try to protect children from this for at least part of the day with its limited resources. I think this is not simply an option for a responsible government, but an obligation.
– All this is true, but we can justify the restriction in a simpler way. The institution where the children spend a significant part of their day is called a school, not a summer house or a leisure center. And the school is the place where they go to learn and not to mobilize.
– We asked adult Hungarians what they think children use their smartphones for most often. The answer here was also clear: for fun. A teacher can teach brilliant lessons, but they won't be able to compete with a TikTok video stream or stop kids from texting on their phones during class. So the regulation is certainly a great help for teachers as well. And, of course, it is also not a problem if, instead of talking on the phone, young people talk to each other, talk, get to know each other, i.e. learn to establish personal relationships.
– The deterioration of morality has already been discussed. Perhaps this can also be traced back to the fact that some people do not respect our national symbols, as evidenced by the case of Margaret Bridge, where vandals broke the crosses from the representations of the Holy Crown. Which, of course, the liberal city administration, which fears the cross, did not restore for a year.
"This has finally been done, after a year, after we demanded the restoration in a successful petition. It is a great pleasure that more than 16,000 people have signed our demand, and perhaps this impressive cooperation also encouraged the capital.
"But we have another crusade here." Leftists are muttering that they intend to place a cross on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in place of the heroic Soviet rapist soldier. They know, but they don't want to know, that the cross is not only a religious symbol, but also a symbol of European societies and culture based on Christian principles.
– The Statue of Liberty originally symbolized a salute to the Soviet army, the occupiers insisted that such a monumental group of statues preserve the memory of their victory. Opponents of the cross, meanwhile, argue that it is a monument that should not be altered. However, the Hungarian people, who harbor ambivalent feelings about the monument, have done this several times over the years. The opposition is also incomprehensible because
the cross not only reminds us of Jesus' sacrifice for all of us, but also of the thousand-year Christian history of our country, the heritage of which we all share since the founding of our country by King St. István.
- Europe has already lost its Christian roots, or more precisely, it has rejected them, the consequence of which is that the old continent is moving towards the Lipótmező. It's a shame that that institution was closed, there would be a place for all those who vote for insane things in the European Parliament and intend to impose insane aspirations on even normal member states.
– This is a symptom of a crisis and the tragedy of Western societies separated from God. Instead of the Creator, Western man tries to define himself with very strange things, just think of the scandalous Olympic opening ceremony. I was sitting in front of the television with my children, but because of what I saw, I had to send my fifth-year-old daughter away. Yes, this world is confused, but I trust that the pendulum has reached its extreme point and will start to swing back towards normality. My teenage children were also outraged by what they saw, even though they already receive plenty of brainwashing. Deviance is a natural part of videos and films, and the work of the LGBTQ lobby is also unbridled, yet I do not see the situation as hopeless. Maybe this is naivety on my part, but I believe that normality will find its way again even in a devalued world.
– However, while we are trying to protect normality, the leaders of the Union want to divert us from this path with very harsh methods.
– Everyone could already see this at the demonstrations he organized.
It may seem at the moment that it would be easier to bow and then let's say the money would come, but we have to understand that there are issues where we have to remain unwavering and rock solid, because if we don't do this, we will lose our future.
– Back to the beginning, using smart devices. We have a Hungarian curse, a reincarnation of Béla Kun, who took advantage of the situation and came up with the demagogic, stupid proposal to ban mobile phones from the Parliament. While he spent his first EU day doing nothing but texting and taking selfies.
- Ever since Péter Magyar entered public life, we can see that he is driven primarily by getting as much publicity as possible and as many followers as possible on Facebook who will vote for him. He stirs up scandals, appeals to people's envy, malice, and aggression, this is his only political achievement so far. I am convinced that what he is doing is immeasurably harmful to Hungarian society, which is not in a good state of mind anyway. After all, there was a pandemic, there is a war in our neighborhood, life is not easy, not only here, but anywhere in the world, the economy also faces difficulties on a European level, which of course breeds dissatisfaction. Judit Varga's ex-husband exploits this by inciting hatred. He cannot boast of the virtues of a politician or a statesman, responsibility is missing from his vocabulary, and I don't think he even deals with it. He threatens and assaults everyone who stands in his way, be it media workers, politicians, or anyone who criticizes his actions.
He fanaticizes his followers, and he does so very successfully.
– Everyone could already see this at the demonstrations he organized.
– I also have personal experience in this regard. In Vác, coming out of the doctor's office after a blood test, an apparently well-to-do lady about my age stomped in front of me, and without any precedent, with a flashing look, hissed at me: "Let the Tisza flow!" Then came the unqualified indicators of what I should do and where I should go. Just with the language used by his "leader".
– Quoting Géza Hofi: lower than this only if the moles are also interested.
– In addition to the impermissible style, the way the political adventurer sells himself, his bracelets, I don't know what, is also wrong. They collect money from many people and try to build on it, they promise the stars from the sky, while no real solution proposals are heard from them. However, they brought back the janitor style, for example, they launched a separate reporting page. They encourage people to photograph, eavesdrop, and betray each other. Which, of course, Péter Magyar also did with his wife. This is a very harmful, demoralizing and dangerous direction! And it's very difficult to get hold of him, because you can't even argue with this type of person. And if someone does try, like Egon Rónai did, he gets up and runs away instead of giving a meaningful answer. Likewise
it also has undisputed fanatical followers who are not interested in reality, but actually not even Péter Magyar himself, because this group is actually fueled by hatred against Viktor Orbán and the hope that they can defeat the Christian-conservative side with their leader.
- We know from practice that you can only successfully deal with such people by using the same tools they use, but a Christian cannot do that.
"It's not allowed." We know that our path always leads to the narrower path. And, of course, we also experience that if there is a mistake, a crime on our side, if someone commits a blunder, we are held to account twice as much. But I say, let them do it, we have to accept the consequences. The same can be done on the other side with a shrug. It is shocking, but it is happening before our eyes that someone who eavesdrops on his wife, behaves scandalously, abuses people, makes out with young girls, takes a phone and throws it in the river and spits in the face of his own former friends and political community, can be a successful politician. The world of smartphones and moral chaos leads to this, among many other tragedies…
Author: György Tóth Jr
Cover photo: Zsuzsa Máthé
Source: Facebook/Zsuzsa Máthé
