Commentary
For decades, Europeans have been able to enjoy glorious autumns without fearing Panzers rumbling along Avenue des Champs-Elysées, Soviet conquerors messing with their art festivals, or overfed, oversexed Americans pawing their women and corrupting their morals with Hershey bars.
Instead, they have been able to focus on what really matters: fútbol, vacation times, and fear that global warming will transform Earth into a waterworld a decade from next Tuesday, give or take. Muslim assimilation problems? Can’t talk about that; few in positions of authority listen, anyway.
Except for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who’s giving every Brussels-crat heartburn from one end of the food counter to the other. Thus, an unelected and mostly unaccountable EU commissioner can’t examine concombre a la menthe, linger by cassoulet, and finish with profiteroles, without being interrupted by pesky thoughts from that meddling Magyar.
It’s enough to give privileged rulers indigestion, which is another challenge that requires careful study.
The problem is, Orban just doesn’t get it. Power, wisdom, and orders flow from the top down, and compliance is expected; thus, members of the European Parliament cheered after voting to punish Hungary for threatening “democratic values” so prized by their superiors—few of whom grasp how such a national leader can be so popular and not be, well, one of them.
When the European Commission commanded Hungary to accept its “quota” of Muslim refugees earlier this year, Orban essentially said that Hungary refused to gamble with its country’s welfare and security. Apparently, the European Commission is shocked that no gambling is going on there.
Orban isn’t. He also has refused to be lectured by arrogant elites whose minds are gripped by a fictitious swarm of condescending cliches—multiculturalism is good, globalism is the wave of the future, democratic norms are being quashed in Hungary, and the rights of minorities are being gravely threatened—all of which is nonsense, according to Orban, especially EU complaints about Hungarian democracy.
“To my understanding of democracy, it isn’t possible for the government not to honor the will of the people. We are talking about national sovereignty and the cultural identity of the country. We must preserve the right to decide who can live in Hungary,” he said.
Further, many Muslim refugees strike him less as victims seeking security and more like invaders that will conquer eventually by population increases and political demands—all of which will lead to the demise and destruction of European civilization, in his view.
But EU imperialists have a different view, especially on such trendy matters as “gender studies,” which was dumped by the Hungarian government on Oct. 12, ostensibly for low enrollments. More than that, Orban’s chief of staff had no compunction about adding, “The Hungarian government is of the clear view that people are born either men or women.”
This is in opposition to a widely shared view in LGBTQ circles that gender is as malleable as anything else homo sapiens get their hands on, especially those of the female persuasion.
Leaving aside the question of how private parts can be “socially constructed” or unfathomably, “assigned at birth,” the George Soros-supported Central European University huffed that this policy change is “a major infringement on academic freedom and university autonomy. Gender Studies is an internationally recognized academic field, which produces socially relevant knowledge …”
Relevant to whom? Why, gender-studies specialists, that’s who. Others, such as Orban and his supporters, are puzzled by how “gender studies” aficionados, who have been “deconstructing” literature and humanities for the past two generations, can claim that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) is “gender discriminatory.”
It’s difficult for normal people to grasp how something like physics or calculus or building a bridge can be “gendered,” and to many Europeans, such talk triggers memories about Nazis dismissing “Jewish science” and slaughtering millions during the most horrific war in history. How about this: science is science, men are men, and women are women.
Not to the Brussels-crats, who’ve been grinding their molars over Budapest’s latest outrage, announced on Oct. 15, which bans people from sleeping on Hungary’s streets, requiring them to move into shelters instead. But no one needs to saunter through San Francisco’s feces, drugs, and needles avenues to conclude that this isn’t a bad idea, for the homeless, mentally ill, others who need public assistance, and most important, for all the country’s citizens.
Certainly, individuals concerned about their gender identities and the struggles of the less fortunate have rights, which shall be respected, along with other foundations of Western Civilization.
Wherein lies the problem, as far as Europe’s elites are concerned. Orban’s unapologetic nationalism, embrace of Christianity, and defense of Western Civilization could be contagious and adopted by other EU members. Which would threaten many rulers’ jobs and commitments to ideas that majorities of citizens regard as fatuous, dangerous, and even suicidal.
In short, if Budapest prevails, ordinary citizens throughout the continent regain control over their lives, EU’s arrogant and dysfunctional elite structure might collapse, and Brussels would again return to a more or less ordinary city.
And that’s how Hungary may save Western Civilization.
Marvin Folkertsma is a retired professor of political science and fellow for American studies with The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. The author of several books, his latest release is a novel titled “The Thirteenth Commandment.”
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
