Április 19,  Péntek
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Határokon Átívelő Szellemi Táplálék

ENGLISH


It Has Never Been our Custom to Ask Someone Shitting on our Doorstep in for Tea

Ez a felület kizárólag önkéntes olvasói támogatásokból működik. Nem politikusok, háttérhatalmak és gazdasági érdekcsoportok tulajdona, kizárólag az olvasóké.

Kiszámítható működésünket körülbelül havi 3,000,000 forint biztosítja. Ebben a hónapban összegyűlt 2,340,346 forint, még hiányzik 659,654 forint.
A Szalonnát ITT támogathatod, a Szalonnázó extra cikkeire ITT tudsz előfizetni.

Köszönjük, hogy fontos számodra a munkánk.

To do away with everybody who is no fan of the government or who does not shut up at least. We’ve known this would be the programme of the current year as we are nearing the election. Though Fidesz has a mile-high lead in the opinion polls and there is barely any chance of the sudden emergence of a brand-new party able to address a mass of people, the devil (and LL Mészáros, of course) never sleeps and the public mood can change radically in the matter of mere weeks.

This has happened before and it was the current governing party caught by surprise when it did. Now they take no chances; they want complete mastery over every media outlet and they want all those still wielding some – no matter how tiny – influence over the general run of things destroyed. It is no secret that after the mainstream press the small ones’ turn will come: opinion sites, blogs. No exceptions.

The reason I’m writing this is that during the past couple of days a number of Fidesz-soldiers have been trying to get a grip on us. Or a single but overly zealous Fidesz-warrior has. This is different from the perplexed onlookers or the haters or the simple fools appearing daily. It is quite clear that this is no volunteer led by an impulse but someone charged with a task. Since destroying our site has become a tougher nut to crack, they leave that area alone. Next up is our personnel, and their personal badmouthing. Sometimes it comes in Romanian, ‘cos we all should go and rot in hell for daring to openly link the Hungarians of the two countries.

The thing is that we are not and will never be ashamed of our connection with Transylvania. On the contrary. There is nothing to be ashamed of in this matter. Romania – just as Slovakia or any other country and people –  is not our enemy; there are just as many normal and nice Romanians and Slovaks as Hungarians. There are quite a few idiots as well, just like in Hungary. And nationalistic airheaded ones, too, same as here.

So, the other day – amidst much abuse and badmouthing – one of these mercenaries demanded that my colleague, Andrea give back her Hungarian citizenship. As he did this in Romanian, we have reason to believe that this fellow hails from Transylvania, too. He claimed among his rattles that we were no democrats because we deleted his pithy thoughts and that we did not tolerate opinions different from ours. Yes, we have to spend much more energy moderating and yes, this kind of rubbish will be deleted. It has never been our custom to ask someone shitting on our doorstep in for tea, lest he takes a liking to dumping inside as well. This type of humanoid will be kicked down the steps without second thoughts and remorse. This is just as it is. It has nothing to do with freedom of speech or formulating another opinion. It is no opinion at all that each and every one of us should go fuck ourselves. And no, we will not get fed up with deleting and banning though we could spend our time with more useful things to do.

In conclusion: there is no shame in being a Romanian or a Slovak or a Hungarian living in Slovakia or a Hungarian living in Romania or a Hungarian living in Hungary or a Hungarian living here or a Hungarian living abroad or a foreigner living in Hungary or a foreigner living abroad. There is no shame in being a democrat or a liberal or a conservative or a socialist or a rightist or a leftist. Just as there is no shame in being a Jew or a Gipsy or gay or a man or a woman or being old or young or blonde or brunette or dark-haired or red-haired. It is complete lunacy to think that it can form the base of an attack against anyone. It cannot.

It suggests a hugely deformed psyche when instead of changing what is bad, one tries to destroy those pointing out these bad things. Our government has had and still has every chance to alter the course for a good or at least a better direction, but they refuse to do so. Still, it is not mandatory to be corrupt, inhumane, to steal, to lie. It is a rope made of sand, because there will always be somebody brave enough to speak the truth. There will always be people willing to speak out. There are people like this even in bloody dictatorships and ours is not a bloody dictatorship; only an insidious, cynical and cheap version of it.

Sometimes I wonder how it feels to look in the mirror thinking: “Today again I destroyed someone, today again I earned my keep, I  browned my nose nicely for my bread buttered on both sides, I crunched a piece of freedom again today.” How does it feel to enter the editorial room and have the instructions already waiting on the desk or on the computer: who should be targeted today, who should be bullied, what lies should be said about whom if needed? It must be terrible.

I know and the minions of the dictatorship must know as well that this system can crumble into pieces any time and then there will be nothing to provide sufficient protection against reality. When that happens, there will be no power, no money, no instructions what to do. Until then, however, these guys will carry out anything they are instructed to.

I have bad news: we will also do anything our commitment for democracy and for our country compels us to do. And the country is not solely Fidesz or any other party alone. We are the country. Rightists, leftists, Transylvanian and the people of Nógrád or Lučenec or London. If there is one thing the one called Orbán was right in saying,  here it is: our homeland cannot be in opposition.

We believe that instead of smearing shit everywhere we should clear it away. And we are not at all alone in this belief. Hence all this squirming. If it is not possible to buy or bribe or blackmail a website, then their only way is to harass it and break its authors one by one. They will not succeed because we are not alone. It would be so much better if the government worked honestly and normally; if the comrades did not loot the country; if there was real accomplishment instead of propaganda; if cynicism was replaced with solidarity and they tried to unite the people instead of tearing it apart. Then we would shut up of our own accord and there would be no need to set their petty cronies upon us.

Obviously, just writing this down will not change much if anything but I may have caused a few embarrassing moments for those making a living this way. If just one of them thinks about it for a minute or two, it was worth it. If they do not, so be it. They do their job as we do ours. It will come to an end sometime. One way or another, it will. Come to an end.

Written by Róbert Tamás

Translated by Eszter Somogyi

Edited by Réka Eszter Szabó

malac

A Szalonna egy teljes mértékben civil, független véleményportál. Nem kérünk és nem fogadunk el támogatást senkitől, csak az olvasóinktól. Ha olvasni szeretnél, nem ugrik az arcodba egyetlen reklám sem. Ez csakis úgy lehetséges, ha te fizetsz a munkánkért. Kizárólag ezekből a támogatásokból működik a Szalonna, hónapról hónapra. Ha kiürül a becsületkassza, elfogy a Szalonna. Ne úgy fogd fel, mintha koldusnak adnál, hanem úgy, mintha az újságosnál fizetnél rendszeresen a kedvenc magazinodért.