9/19/2006

liar, liar, pants on fire

First of all, Budapest is not in flames. As far as I can tell the protests and demonstrations are relatively small-scale and lead primarily by more extremist elements of the population, not the majority. Most people seem upset, but not very surprised by the scandal. The problem is that the Prime Minister of Hungary lied to the people. A lot. And then he got caught on tape talking to his party members about it. I find the whole situation quite interesting because his speech was actually a call to change the way his party had been operating (as far as I can tell). He admitted that he had been lying to the people and not been doing his job so that things would change (presumably because of pressure from Brussels and the EU). Most of my students (the easiest Hungarian group for me to survey for their opinion) want him to resign, but a small number see him as somebody who was trying to stand up to the system. Anyway, the bottom line is I'm not running off to Vienna for my safety. I'll keep an eye on things, but I'm not too worried.

2 comments:

Jacqueline Klamer said...

How very interesting that a political leader told lies in order to make his people believe they were on the up-and-up economically. Doesn't that seem the style of leadership taken throughout history (or that we're winning a war, or that unemployment is going down, etc.)? Why do we fault this leader for admitting his wrongdoing? Aren't we all sick of the political version of truth? And don't we keep on believing it anyway?

Anyway, stay safe, even though you're in the middle of the biggest uproar in Hungary since 1956.

KBush said...

I know a song you could sing. I think you taught it to me. :)