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March 14th, 2012

Hungary’s historical heroes, artists enlisted to push Orbán’s policies

Excerpt Via bloomberg.com 

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing government is presenting its own version of the national historical narrative at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest, with an ill- judged show of contemporary art that it commissioned to illustrate the new constitution. (Copies of the basic law, by the way, can be purchased in the museum shop.)

The National Gallery is in Buda Castle, the ancient seat of kings on the crest of a hill overlooking the Danube. The propaganda begins upstairs, in an exhibition titled “Heroes, Kings, Saints,” which runs through Aug. 26.

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  • Democrat

    “Copies of the basic law, by the way, can be purchased in the museum shop”. I thought all school kids were going to get a free copy. my daughter has yet to receive hers. She did however get her brand new shiny passport a week ago. Is she the proud owner of the new “Hungary” passport?…NO, they are still using up the old stock. She is still a citizen of the Republic of Hungary. Somehow they can’t even get the small things right.

    • Ricsi

      Stop been so petty, would you have them waste yet more money throwing away perfectly good passports just because it say ‘Republic’ ? Some people just need any pathetic excuse to complain,so sad really.

      • Leto of Arrakis

        No, she is a a citizen of Hungary (Magyarország). The word “Republic” has been deleted from the official name since 2012. :) (But, of course, the previously printed passports shouldn’t be thrown out.)

        Ah, coins with the sign “Magyarország” have just been issued. I’m sure you cannot wait to have them, too, instead of these stale coins with the sign “Magyar Köztársaság”. ;)

        • Leto’s interpreter

          ““ Arrakis … Dune … wasteland of the Empire, and the most valuable planet in the universe. Because it is here — and only here — where spice is found. The spice. Without it there is no commerce in the Empire, there is no civilization. Arrakis … Dune … home of the spice, greatest of treasure in the universe. And he who controls it, controls our destiny. ”

          — Princess Irulan, Frank Herbert’s Dune (2000″

          You are certainly not implying that Hungary is a wasteland? Paprika = spice?

          • Leto of Arrakis

            No, it’s a metaphor.

  • Leto.

    Fidesz told us that they did not want austerity, it was the EU that enforced it on us. It’s not Orban’s fault that there’s no money to print the new passports, blame the nazi’s from Brussels.

    • Leto. Fanclub

      Yeah those bad people from Brussels, didn’t give us money! WHERE IS OUR 20 BILLION?!?!?!??!

  • IDONTWANNAFANCLUB

    They played a silly game and froze it. But they can’t take it away from us for real. If they would dare to do so, Brussels would burn.

    • IDONTWANNAFANCLUB Fanclub

      GO IDONTWANNAFANCLUB… WE TAKE OVER EU! WE RUN EU! WE MAKE EU BETTER! WOOOOOO DEMONSTRATION 15TH OF MARCH WE SHOW THEM. WOOOO 20 BILLION.

      • Ricsi

        Knobhead

        • Leto’s interpreter

          Paprika sniffer!

        • Ricsi

          I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I will now go and prepare for the Fidesz demonstration against people that didn’t vote Fidesz. See you all there.

          • FDR

            Uh oh.

      • spectator

        We apologize for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible have been sacked.

      • Anton Gyorgy

        I love this caps-lock guy. It’s refreshing to all the idiots here.

        • Black George

          I am glad you liked him and that you feel refreshed by him.

          I think he is somewhat of a nutcase.

          • Anton Gyorgy

            Nah, he is just showing how you guys behave.

  • Black George

    It is a while ago that I have seen or read this many blatant lies in one article. The unapologetic bias is oozing from its every sentence. I wonder what goes through the mind of the writer when writing this much garbage. How does she feel writing it, when she knows that what she is writing is a lie? What does she feel in her gut when she knows that she is feeding her unsuspecting non-Hungarian readers with lies? How can she look into the mirror in the morning?

    It is one thing to be critical and to point out shortcomings. But to systematically and irrevocably smear and belittle, to destroy other people’s good name and dignity, and to do that with this much publicity, one has to be rotten inside, rotten in one’s core. What a sad example of human existence.

    • spectator

      For your information: the “artworks” made of the order of Mr.Kerényi are the ones that “systematically and irrevocably smear and belittle” the once existing Hungarian culture.

      -And I say this too with “unapologetic bias” – the one(s) who should apologize is/are the above named evangelist of this backward crap, and the ones who let him lose.

    • Szabad Ember

      @Black George

      Yes, I agree! How does it feel to know that you are feeding your “unsuspecting non-Hungarian readers with lies?” How do you “look into the mirror in the morning?”

      It’s good to know that you realize that you are “rotten inside” and a “sad example of human existence.” The next step is to stop smearing and belittling. Good luck!

      • Black George

        There you go again with the pathetic third-grader response of repeating, as in parroting, back what you hared. Can’t you even formulate your own thoughts? You are such a hopeless loser.

        • Szabad Ember

          @Black George

          I formulate my own thoughts all the time, as well as showing that what you and those like you say about others can easily be said about you, as well.

          You parrot your own thoughts all the time; are you turning them against yourself, as I am doing against you?

          Calling me a “loser” again just shows that you are incapable of coming up with either substantive arguments or original insults based on something I’ve written, rather than some random, meaningless words that you have been called repeatedly since you were young. You’re so intellectually bankrupt that your brain would’ve been repossessed, except that it has no resale value. See? I insulted you in a way that refers directly to your postings, is original, and doesn’t rely on baseless epithets. I’d suggest that you try, but I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.

          • Black George

            “I formulate my own thoughts all the time”

            Sounds like a joke, but now you have the chance to prove me wrong by actually addressing the points I was making in my original posting.

            We will see, whether you can actually succeed.

          • Szabad Ember

            @Black George

            “prove me wrong by actually addressing the points I was making in my original posting.”

            You made no points, at all, you simply called the writer of the article a bunch of names and claimed that she was lying. You never once even pointed out a single lie, nor offered anything that might be construed as evidence of a lie, so how can I address your post other than to ask you to be more specific. You won’t, of course, because you have no evidence and don’t want to be exposed as a liar yourself, so I don’t have to concern myself any further with your insubstantial little post.

        • Paul

          “back what you hared. Can’t you even formulate your own thoughts”…..look who is talking.

    • American in Budpaest

      What a sad example of a country.

  • Aloof

    @BG, Leto, Arrakis, Ricsi

    Well here’s some truth for you: 5.9% inflation (and rising), HNB interest rate at 7% and VAT at 27%, the highest in the EU. Those are 3 key economic areas that OV has led Hungary to the top of the heap in Europe. Yeah, investors are going to flock to that. What a bunch of deluded finger pointing clueless intolerant putzs all of you are. No one else to blame but VO and FIDESZ. What a sad state of affairs that could have easily been completely avoided. Pathetic…

    Yeah… have a great time tomorrow as you bathe yourselves in OV rapture.

    • Black George

      Oh, here is some more of the brazen bullshit and partisan polemics. Read the article! There is nothing in it what you are talking about. The whole thing is a sick caricature of a sick mind, published in a newspaper. Why do you refer to the article at all? If you want to discuss economics do so. But you are not discussing it. You are simply spewing your hate-filled bullshit.

      • American in Budpaest

        Stating the facts is not hate-filled bullshit.

        Needless to say, the Hungarians has specialized in hate-filled bullshit against the Slovaks, Jews, Roms, and most of the outside world.

    • Leto of Arrakis

      Data updated on 09.03.2012:

      -http://www.ahkungarn.hu/fileadmin/ahk_ungarn/Dokumente/Wirtschaftsinfos/HU/Statistik/Konjunkturdaten_hu.pdf

      I’m positive your Hungarian will be enough to make sense of it.

  • Aloof

    Denial isn’t going to help you this time. What part of reality are you afraid of? Naw… I’ll just wait for the massaged numbers you present to the EU in a month. You’re doing the spewing and the chickens are comin’ home to roost. What’s next in the FIDESZ playbook, OV nailed to the EU cross?

    • Black George

      Idiot.

      • spectator

        We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking 
        the people who have just been sacked. 
        have been sacked.

    • Leto of Arrakis

      “Massaged numbers”. :D Poor you. You picked three random numbers, something you fancied because they sound bad, and you try to ignore the relevant and important numbers I quoted from the Hungarian-German Chamber of Commerce, and you make a ridiculous conclusion like “Those are 3 key economic areas that OV has led Hungary to the top of the heap in Europe.”

      You’re a joke, not a serious businessman. :D

      • Szabad Ember

        @Leto

        “You picked three random numbers, something you fancied because they sound bad”

        Don’t you ever tire of making an ass of yourself? Aloof, unlike you, reads something other than politics.hu: realdeal.hu! That’s where he got the numbers, not randomly.

        http://www.realdeal.hu/20120313/hungary-now-leading-entire-europe-union-in-three-key-economic-areas/

        You make it sound like those numbers don’t mean anything, but they are very telling, just like other numbers that show Hungary underperforming compared to other countries in the region. Even if Hungary has solid growth of 2% in the near future, it would be misleading, because the growth would be lower than it could have been, had Fidesz not screwed everything up. Slovakia and Poland have much higher real growth rates than Hungary, since they are run by responsible governments that adhere to effective policies and support democracy (at least more so than Hungary has lately).

        High inflation rates are usually a sign of a poorly-run government, and generally lead to a loss of investment and an increase in debt levels (since most debt is denominated in foreign currencies). High central bank interest rates can be positive, since they might indicate healthy, strong growth, but Hungary’s high interest rates are a reflection of high inflation and a weak currency, therefore are an important indicator of poor health. High VAT rates are decided by the government, so they aren’t an economic indicator, but they do show that the government doesn’t care about the poor, since those with less money to spend are much more affected by the rates. That might not be true if the VAT weren’t levied on basic goods like non-prepared food and cleaning materials, for instance, but Hungary’s government has decided to hit the poor especially hard with this particular regressive tax. I’m not blaming Fidesz for enacting it, but they have the power to change it, which they have not done. The government has, on the other hand, lowered taxes on the wealthy while raising them on the working poor, so that shows where the priorities of Fidesz lie.

        • Leto from Arrakis

          @postcommie idiot:

          If you had cared to check at all then you would have seen what data I referred to on the web page on the *Hungarian-German Chamber of Commerce*.

          • American in Budpaest

            The website doesn’t matter. Hungary is a poor country falling behind the rest of Eastern Europe.

          • Szabad Ember

            @Leto

            I don’t know who “postcommie idiot” is, but I’ll answer your sad little post for him.

            I did take a look at the site you mentioned; not really anything new there, except for the German-specific numbers. Hungary’s having a natural rebound from the lows suffered, along with Germany and most of the world, during the financial crisis and subsequent severe downturn. The key is to look at the same numbers of neighboring countries, to see how well Hungary compares. Also, the foreign direct investment flight has only recently begun in earnest, and will start to show up in the numbers next year. The OECD and other publishers of economic data have already downgraded their prediction for Hungarian GDP in 2012 to negative growth; the Economist (not a left-wing publication by any stretch of the imagination) says growth in Hungary will contract by -0.8%, while it will expand in the Czech Republic (+0.5%), Slovakia (+1.3%), Ukraine (+2.5%), Austria (+0.5%), and Poland (+2.1%). Even Slovenia, which is the one country in the region that will contract, is expected to do better, at -0.2%. They don’t publish numbers for Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Bulgaria, but Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are all expected to stay out of recession. If you don’t believe me, look it up yourself at economist.com/node/21550312.

            So Hungary is likely the only country in the entire region to be suffering from negative growth, after almost two years under Fidesz. If you want to understand part of the reason why, ask someone to help you understand my previous post in this thread; the one you tried to ignore, even though you might learn something.

  • Aloof

    @Leto from Arrakis aka Dune Buggy
    I’m at the point of suspecting that when Leto’s mother says “but I’m your edes anya” he just reflexively says “no you’re not.”

  • Big Fish

    What kind of reporting on this would one expect from American (controlled) media, like Bloomberg. I stopped viewing US news site long ago.

  • Aloof

    @Big Fish

    Well we’re all on the edge of our seats now. Come on man, give us the word. Where can we find the truth, the way and the light?

    • American in Budpaest

      Orbán is the Truth. Hungary is the Alpha and Omega. All else is sheer illusion or perfidy …

  • luzerorszag

    It’s the new socialist realism! Congratulations, boys. Money well spent.

  • Big Fish

    From within ourselves. Pretty deep.
    Common sense, intuition, and bit of research is what’s required to get to crux of the matter. What one generally finds with \sensitive\ issues is that what we’re told by controlled media and paid pundits is true and best is pretty much the opposite.
    Other than that, I can suggest this great news aggregator: whatreallyhappened.com. Many times, things cited here are reported much later by regular press.

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