Beating the blacks
A friend reminded me of a joke, a communist era classic. The conversation then evolved into trying to guess how many of the people who did not grow up under communism would be able to get it. Whether you can or can’t, here we go; I will explain later:
Sometimes in the 70s, an American delegation goes to Moscow where the party officials take them to a sightseeing tour. Part of the tour is showing the marvel that is the Moscow subway system. They take them to see the underground platforms, the chandeliers, the architecture, the stunning artwork. At some point, one of the Americans turns to the guide and says “This is all very beautiful, but we are here thirty minutes already and I have not seen a single subway car pass by” The guide turns to him angrily pointing a finger and says “AND YOU ARE BEATING THE BLACKS!”
It may be unfair to pin this on the communists alone, as it seems to be a political staple. Often this is the tone of even presidential debates. If you are asked an uncomfortable question, a subject you don’t want to talk about, you can just turn around and dish out vague but vehement accusation against your opponent. Aggressive subterfuge is the best ‘defence’ of the guilty. I didn’t really have doubts about the outcome of the Hungarian referendum, but when I heard the actual numbers, I did not want to believe it. The “NO” vote had 98.34% of the total. That did not really make sense. However much I wish that the 1.66% would truthfully represent the power of the political left, I knew that this cannot be the case. It was quite clear, that the only way to achieve such slanted results is if one side decided to boycott the process. The poster above is doing just that. I don’t know if I can properly convey its vulgarity and communist era verbiage, but it goes something like this: “The Orban gang pissed away the pension funds of two generations and now they want to subvert your attention with idiocies. BOYCOTT THE VOTE.” What the Orbán government did with nationalizing private pensions was truly criminal, but it has about as much to do with the question at hand as the Moscow subway schedules do with the treatment of minorities in America. It was absolutely clear that the “YES” side cannot win, but by subverting the democratic process, they succeeded to make the result invalid and did not wait a second after the announcement of the results to declare moral victory. As some papers point out, it does not really matter because there is no political will left in the Western European countries to push for compulsory quotas, therefore it is unlikely that the EU parliament will force the issue. While the actual vote may not matter, the strategy does. The left ALWAYS fights dirty. If they cannot win an argument, if they lack the intelligence, the decency, and the evidence to justify their latest power/money grab, they will just go sleazy. They will attack you with accusations, they will call you racist, sexists, islamo- and any number of other-phobe, they will lie and manipulate, throw in some fearmongering and propaganda and when all else fails, they corrupt, manipulate or subvert the process. The history of Eastern Europe after World War II provides scores of examples. No communist party ever got into power on its own through honest democratic means. What makes this last example so depressing is how very typical it is. It was playing out with the Brexit vote, in a number of national referendums, in Greek and Italian politics. We can see elements of it even in the US presidential race. And it plays out similarly in my personal life as well. It seems that I CANNOT have an honest discussion with a leftist, and it is not due to lack of trying. Pointing out the faults in their arguments, their positions, their policies is pointless. At best they ignore you, typically they try to bullshit you with slogans and vacuous banalities, and if that doesn’t work, you will learn that you probably ‘beat the Blacks’ and if you don’t, you must have known somebody who did and you didn’t do anything about it. What you will never get, is honest engagement. In the end, the only thing I still do not understand is why would anybody be surprised if this makes me angry? The silver lining If you look at the tables below, you may notice that even with a lower turnout, more people voted for self-determination in 2016 than for the EU membership in 2003. You can deduce whatever you wish from it. The left is spinning it already. Just as they will the outcome of similar upcoming referendums and elections. Hungarian European Union membership referendum, 2003
Choice Votes % For 3,056,027 83.8 Against 592,690 16.2 Invalid/blank votes 17,998 – Total 3,666,715 100 Registered voters/turnout 8,042,272 45.6 Source: Nohlen & Stöver
Choice Votes % Yes 55,555 1.66 No 3,282,928 98.34 Invalid/blank votes 223,252 – Total 3,561,735 100 Registered voters/turnout 8,272,625 43.42 Source: National Election Office (99.98% of votes counted)