In my previous post I divided those who recognize evil in our current system into two distinct camps: those who believe the system can be saved by removing the evil that has corrupted it: and those who believe the system itself is evil.
In the following, I hope to illustrate the attitudes inherent in each of these "camps" as well as how these attitudes influence their approach to evil.
Contemporary Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán, is squarely in the first camp, especially when it comes to the European Union. The Orbán government is shrewd enough to comprehend the evil within the EU, but it has approached this evil as something that merely plagues an otherwise inherently good system. Current Hungarian diplomacy is based on the belief that the evil within the EU is a just stain on the system rather than the core foundation of the system itself. In a nutshell, the Orbán government likens the evil within the EU to a cancerous tumor, one that can be surgically removed through political action.
Hungarians who rose up against the Stalinist regime and Soviet occupation in 1956 were clearly in the second camp. Those who revolted in 1956 did not regard communism as an inherently good thing that had been corrupted - as something that could be saved by removing the corrosive elements within it. They saw the system for what it was - an embodiment of evil. Those who rose up against communism in 1956 were not interested in negotiating with the system, or finding common ground with the system, or winning concessions from the system. They wanted one thing and one thing only - the complete obliteration of the system. And many gave their lives in an attempt to achieve this goal. In the minds of many at the time, dying in a struggle against an evil system was infinitely better than continuing to live passively within an evil system.
The 1956 Hungarian Uprising ultimately failed, but it did leave its mark. Thirty-three years after the event, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe. On the surface, it looked like the red star had been destroyed forever. But the red star was not destroyed. It merely changed its form. The forces Orbán and his government are currently confronting are essentially the same forces Hungarians battled against in 1956.
The Orbán government needs to acknowledge this fact as it prepares to commemorate the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. And if it sincerely wants to honor the memories of those who gave their lives in the struggle against evil, the Orbán government will have to begin seeing the evil within the EU for what it truly is - and act accordingly.
In the following, I hope to illustrate the attitudes inherent in each of these "camps" as well as how these attitudes influence their approach to evil.
Contemporary Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán, is squarely in the first camp, especially when it comes to the European Union. The Orbán government is shrewd enough to comprehend the evil within the EU, but it has approached this evil as something that merely plagues an otherwise inherently good system. Current Hungarian diplomacy is based on the belief that the evil within the EU is a just stain on the system rather than the core foundation of the system itself. In a nutshell, the Orbán government likens the evil within the EU to a cancerous tumor, one that can be surgically removed through political action.
Hungarians who rose up against the Stalinist regime and Soviet occupation in 1956 were clearly in the second camp. Those who revolted in 1956 did not regard communism as an inherently good thing that had been corrupted - as something that could be saved by removing the corrosive elements within it. They saw the system for what it was - an embodiment of evil. Those who rose up against communism in 1956 were not interested in negotiating with the system, or finding common ground with the system, or winning concessions from the system. They wanted one thing and one thing only - the complete obliteration of the system. And many gave their lives in an attempt to achieve this goal. In the minds of many at the time, dying in a struggle against an evil system was infinitely better than continuing to live passively within an evil system.
The 1956 Hungarian Uprising ultimately failed, but it did leave its mark. Thirty-three years after the event, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe. On the surface, it looked like the red star had been destroyed forever. But the red star was not destroyed. It merely changed its form. The forces Orbán and his government are currently confronting are essentially the same forces Hungarians battled against in 1956.
The Orbán government needs to acknowledge this fact as it prepares to commemorate the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. And if it sincerely wants to honor the memories of those who gave their lives in the struggle against evil, the Orbán government will have to begin seeing the evil within the EU for what it truly is - and act accordingly.
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