\u201cMarriage\u201d (as opposed to civil contracts), and especially its overlay of fideist fanfare and flim-flam, has always struck me as silly, irrespective of what genders are involved.<\/p>\n\u201cMarriage\u201d (as opposed to civil contracts), and especially its overlay of fideist fanfare and flim-flam, has always struck me as silly, irrespective of what genders are involved.<\/p>\n
But it has also always seemed obvious that there should be an equal right to engage in such silliness, irrespective of what genders are involved. <\/p>\n
So I (always slow on the uptake) only started to realize the importance and significance of the LGBT rights movement when I noticed who was opposing it: For, virtually without exception, those who opposed LGBT rights were the very same ones who opposed all or most of what I (and, I think, most decent people) would take to be fair and right. <\/p>\n
So here\u2019s Hungary’s Jobbik, a party that embodies and celebrates all the uglier sides of human nature \u2014 ethnocentrism, racism, sexism, brutality, violence \u2014 putting on a \u201ccharm campaign\u201d in Washington to try to make itself look electable to more than just the tail end of the normal curve. <\/p>\n
There is an important article in the Hungarian Free Press about the Jobbik\/Fidesz \u201ccharm campaign\u201d in Washington: “Tad Stahnke: Don\u2019t be duped by Orb\u00e1n\u2019s charm offensive!<\/a>“.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most important thing Tad Stancke\u2019s timely report points out is that Jobbik is not the only foul emanation from today\u2019s Hungary: The regime in power, Orban\u2019s Fidesz party, has appropriated most of Jobbik\u2019s ugly agenda \u2014 less out of conviction than out of opportunism and utter lack of either principles or scruples \u2014 to attract Hungarian voter and expat support. <\/p>\n And plutocratic Fidesz, too, is conducting a charm offensive in America to try to camouflage its affinity to its Charon.<\/p>\n To the point where we can just as well speak of \u201cFidik,\u201d the fusion of the current body politic with its orbiting doppelganger.<\/p>\n The stance on LGBT rights is, as ever, the canary in the menacing magyar mineshaft.<\/p>\n But there is hope. Because although enough Hungarians are drawn to the Fidik mentality to keep it aloft for now, the decent side of the normal curve is also alive \u2014 if currently ailing \u2014 in Hungary, protesting against the xenophobic wall of shame under construction, and using their meagre means to help the migrants<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cMarriage\u201d (as opposed to civil contracts), and especially its overlay of fideist fanfare and flim-flam, has always struck me as silly, irrespective of what genders are involved. But it has also always seemed obvious that there should be an equal right to engage in such silliness, irrespective of what genders are involved. So I (always … <\/p>\n