Left-wing media accused of fomenting paranoia
August 23rd, 2013A conservative columnist believes that left-leaning Hungarians are becoming paranoid as a result of the left-wing media’s efforts to spread fear by constantly accusing the government of dictatorial politics.
Many on the left tremble in fear, believing that the Orbán government is undermining democracy, Alexandra Knopf writes in Magyar Hírlap. This, she believes, is the result of the propensity of the left-wing media to arouse a constant moral panic by creating the impression that democracy is in danger. But even those who take it for granted that Hungary is soon to become a dictatorship under Orbán cannot define democracy, the conservative columnist notes. There is no single, universally accepted definition of Democracy, she continues, and very different governments can be labeled as democratic. Left-wing fearmongers should realize that there are huge differences between the democratic institutional setups of the US, Switzerland and Japan, Knopf suggests.
As for Hungary, the Orbán government clearly has a different understanding of democracy than its predecessors, Knopf maintains, adding that its landslide victory at the 2010 election show that people were unhappy with past governments, and endorsed a party with a different conception of democratic rule. Bearing in mind that Fidesz is still well ahead in the polls, it is very hard to claim that it’s rule is undemocratic in any way, Knopf concludes.