SileX blogja

Interesting. Often you hear about countries and the government and it's leaders seem to stand for the whole country. And governmental policy will often be conflated with the opinions of it's people.

I have always been fascinated by Central/Eastern Europe, and to be honest, those countries are on my dream list to visit.

I have been concerned by the path that Hungary has taken in the last few years. I'm sure that others are disturbed by the path my own country has taken.

It is always valuable to hear from people who live in the country and not just those who lead it. There are always a polyphony of voices and opinions.

Thank you for this post.

I was in Budapest few years ago. Beautiful city. I wish you would have better life there and equal rights for the gau community. I really like your drawing too. You are very talented

The so-called “right wing” worldwide is filled with this kind of hatred. They are terrified of freethinking people. Observe what has happened in the United States.

Both the far-right and far-left have their history of intolerance to speech. When people become extremist thinking their ideals are the only true and valid ones and can't defend them with debate and rhetoric, they need to resort to force and oppression. The problem is not the "right-wing", but taking ideologies to an extreme.

No. Right wingers are the problem. They're all about conserving a past when racism and sexism was legal and that's why it is still justifiable in their minds. The 'far left' is nothing but a reaction to the far right. What do left wingers find intolerable? Intolerance, homophobia, radical sedition against democracy, gun fanatics who think more guns is always the solution, trickle down economies where right wingers always give more to those who have in a vain fallacy that everyone will benefit. There is no equivalence between right and left wing intolerance. Some things should never be tolerated.

Homophobia and racism is not necessarily related to either right wing or left wing ideologies. I know people from both sides who are both racists and/or homophobes etc. Both far-right and far-left are intolerant to any ideals that oppose their own and both ideologies have an extensive history of human rights violations. Being a right wing does not necessarily imply being far-right wing neither is a left wing implied to be a far-left wing and anyone who thinks it does is probably an extremist. Also, the examples you gave sound like very specific lines of thinking that a subset of people have and has nothing to do with what right wing. The gun policies you mentioned are very specific to the US and are not what right wing politics usually stands for in general (because it is not even up for discussion in most countries). Be careful of such generalizations and thinking one side is the good one and the other the bad one, it is usually a sign of extremism and intolerance.

But anyways, I really don't wish to keep arguing politics on this website (I'm not even sure this is allowed by the website rules) so I'll refrain from making further political replies. So, regardless of your political beliefs and ideologies, I hope you have a nice day!

What you continue to misunderstand is that the far right, no matter where in the world, desires to force its objectives on everyone. The far left does nothing but resist the far right. The difference is clear and its obvious which side fights for justice and which side fights for power.

As Jojete commented on my previous blog post: "If you read "I don't understand why" as "I don't want to understand why" the internet discourse makes a lot more sense. "

I would put forward that the government of Hungary is not "far right", it is just a label they sometimes earn from critics for some of their policies. They are conservative in social questions and cleptocratic / left leaning in economic questions. Overall on the right, though, and like all aspiring dictators or mixed regimes, they are very intent on controlling the public debate on certain issues.

They did deny the right for gay couples to marry, to inherit or to adopt, but not out of any sort of conviction (they do not have any), but for this need to control the discourse and to be able to label opponents as "anti-family" or "anti-christian".

All I said is not all right is far right. Both "fars" fight for power, just through different methods. And so we should fight both of them, to avoid history repeating itself. And let us hope democracy can stand the current trend to extremism there is in the world.

Unbelievable, happening in the 21st century's Europe.

People are deeply stupid.

Thanks for sharing the article. I wonder what Christians (in Hungary and worldwide) think about this law, based on the 'it's our Christian beliefs'. Sadly, I suspect those in positions of authority of the various religious groups, will not stick their head above the parapet.

To be honest i am not sure what to think about this gender ideology that is becoming popular topic and for a lage part the subject of legislation in HU. I prefer to trust in biology when it comes to that, rather then some philosophical concept.

Excellent article, very informative. Thank you for sharing

Your mistake is that you are approaching this like a rational debate. This is not that. This is a cynical attempt at manipulation and controlling the narrative of an upcoming election. This has nothing to do with conservative values or Christianity: our populist rightwing government is neither of these things in anything other than rhetoric.

Now the president of Czech Replubic has weighed in with his own views that basically disgust me.
There is a lot of populist right-wing views coming about which is worrying.
Seeing the video of someone beaten beaten by police on Pride match in Turkey is worrying.
Weird that the Luxembourg PM basically invited Hungary to leave the EU.
I fear that the mention of economic sanctions against Hungary could be a reality. Unfortunately there seems to be too much racial or sexuality & gender hatred springing up in Eastern Europe.

This is truly disappointing. Homophobia, stigma (negative and usually unfair beliefs), and discrimination (unfairly treating a person or group of people) against gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men still exist in the United States and can negatively affect the health and well-being of this community.

These negative beliefs and actions can affect the physical and mental health of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, whether they seek and are able to get health services, and the quality of the services they may receive

Ich verstehe nicht, was daran schlecht sein soll , Themen wie Pornographie u Gechlechtsumwandlung von Minderjährigen (!) fernzuhalten.
Ungarn hat, jedenfalls in diesem Bereich, die beste Regierung in Europa.

Here's a few things I would put forward:

• Conflating pornography and discussion of gender roles is a false argument typically made by demagogues.
• Criminalizing information that is otherwise available outside school is not productive.
• Creating a climate where students cannot approach trusted teachers about these issues helps neither the students nor the teachers.
• Education is the road to understanding and understanding is the road to acceptance. Denial of education is the road to lack of understanding and thus is the road to hate.
• Depiction and discussion of heterosexual conduct does not turn gay people straight. Expecting the reverse to be true is misguided at best and a cynical lie most of the time. You cannot use propaganda to turn people to any particular sexual orientation. If that was the case, we would see a very different world than what we are seeing now.

Isn't there any opposition in the government that can do something about this? Has the law been passed already?

For those interested:

European leaders call for sanctions against Hungary over anti-LGBT law

The EU has been criticizing the Fidesz regime for years for its anti-democratic actions, while cheerfully sponsoring Fidesz and its oligarchy with billions of EU funds, enabling them to maintain their clientele and grip on power. Perhaps this will now come not to an end, but a slight decrease.

I support you. I support gays all over the world. As a gay man, I want other men, children are disgusting and underdeveloped. Pedophiles are not equivalent to homosexuals.

- Claymore Alexander

I was curious about this situation in Hungary. Thank you for posting this. When I was younger I used to think that once gains had been made in terms of acceptance and equality, things could only go in one direction, that is, for the better. Unfortunately that's not the case. So basically we can't rest on our laurels. We are doing quite well here in Australia, but the debate over marriage equality in 2017 showed that there is a lot of homophobia out there and it was a very depressing time in the lead-up to the referendum. I and many others did not know whether our country would vote in favour or marriage equality, but 65% voted yes. Phew! I am acutely aware of those who suffer under the weight of state-backed homophobia in some countries and I wish there was something I could do. By the same token, it is always useful to get a more detailed picture of the situation. Once again, thank you.

Tolerancia cero a la homofobia, sin justificaciones.

Thanks for sharing this insight....

Interesting perspectives here. There are still governments in Europe that tend to take a harder line approach on matters such as LGB rights. (I am not putting the rest of the alphabet in there as I feel fringe groups are trying to hijack the LGB cause for their own ends). Could it be a carry over from the soviet days when Eastern Europe was under the cloud of communism? I know some of the Baltic states hold similar views as does Putin's Russia. It is why we cant blame the right wing or the left as discrimination takes place under any agenda even if it is wrong.