Coronavirus. Just another chance to attack?
There’s not the slightest chance that you missed the earth-shattering, tsunami-like, volcanic eruption of the avalanche of indignation and furious disapproval, mixed in with the offensive, self-indulgent, self-satisfied confirmation of knowing that the words that spill from your lips are the gospel truth.
What I’m talking about, of course, is the Hungarian government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Parliaments are great things, wonderful inventions, we all know that. But, when we think of the many things that parliaments are, we can also see some of the things that parliaments are not.
Parliaments, though great, are not renowned for their speed of movement.
That is why, in March, the Hungarian government decided that, in the interest of protecting Hungary and Hungarians from…well, serious illness and death, the time had arrived to make it possible for the government to act swiftly being slowed down by parliamentary debates.
And with that, the sound that retorted around the world was that of the starting pistol for open season on Hungary being fired.
Hungary passes law that will let Orbán rule by decree
That was The Guardian’s headline for its article on the subject. Did you notice the language? Always pay attention to the language used.
The long game here, which The Guardian and others of its ilk having been pushing for a long, long time, is to convince the Western world that what we have in Hungary is not a democracy, but a dictatorship.
One way this is done is by replacing the idea of a government, with members, responsible ministers, state secretaries, and plenty more besides, with a single person. When journalists refer to Orbán’s rule, and this is something that the liberal Left do, more or less continuously both at home and abroad, they want to embed the idea of a government controlled by one man. Once they get that idea into your head, it’s far simpler to push the idea that it’s a dictatorship.
Now, ignoring the phenomenal disservice this does to the elected and appointed members of the government, and further ignoring the fact that there are only 24 hours in every day, even here in Hungary, that means it would be difficult for Orbán Viktor to do everything on his own, whilst still having the time to fly around the globe deliberately pissing off liberals by putting salt in their coffee and stealing jam from their children’s doughnuts or whatever it is that he does that makes them loathe him so much.
I mean, come on…superman would have trouble fitting all that into a week or two, and yet the liberal media and the Leftwaffe continuously attempt to hammer home the message that Orbán manages this on a daily basis!
That’s incredible. Yes, unbelievable.
But let’s move on. The Guardian, sharpening its collection of tofu sticks, manages to state, in amongst the palpitations that it’s suffering from the shock of what the Hungarian parliament has done, that the new set of measures intended to fight against the coronavirus pandemic include jail times for spreading misinformation.
Now, with this bit of reporting, they’ve managed to play with the contrast knob a bit. Whereas in the opening salvos they rammed home the idea that we’re living in a state controlled by one man, here, they deliberately drop the seriousness of the crime that is under scrutiny.
Misinformation
To state that people now face jail time for the crime of misinforming others is pushing the boundaries of truth itself.
The crime is scaremongering, not misleading.
You don’t think that in the midst of the worst global crisis since the last world war, or the Spanish flu’, we should perhaps ensure that those twisted souls who seek to undermine the national government by lying should be legislated against? What would you do? Allow these people who deliberately lie, in the hope of sowing dissent in a country under siege from a deadly virus, to remain free, unhindered in their attempts to create panic at all levels of society?
Do you remember what ‘scaremongering’ means? Well, according to my dictionary, it is the spreading of frightening or ominous reports or rumours.
Now, why on earth would anyone be prepared to tolerate that? Did you not get the e-mail? We’re in a global pandemic. People are dropping like flies. Whilst reorganising the entire economy, in which some sectors are now on the verge of total collapse; whilst we re-write the budget for next year to take into account the fact that all the figures have just been kicked in the teeth; whilst we spend hours negotiating with Brussels about deals which don’t benefit us, but deals that Brussels is determined to use to punish our refusal to toe their line on various issues; whilst trying to keep as many of our compatriots alive and out of hospital, because we can see what’s happening around the globe; whilst trying, all the while to maintain society, the health care system, the economy and everything else that’s on the agenda; whilst doing all this, whilst working flat-out to try and maintain normal life, you come along and misrepresent what we’re doing. You tell us that we shouldn’t penalise those who are busy trying to knock the bricks down just as fast as our government tries to build our defences against this virus.
You chose to lie about what the government was planning. This is not about misleading people. That is the word you chose. The Hungarians used a different word. They used the word ‘scaremongering’.
A different kettle of fish entirely.
You have chosen to organise your lives according to what you felt is right. You have chosen to organise your defences against a deadly pandemic according to what you felt was right.
So, why can’t we?
Don't try to muddy the waters so much. OK, you might claim that it's an addiction. This isn't new information, we've been aware of this for some time.
And it's high time for an intervention.