A relative of mine sent me a video of this guy above, without comment. You don’t need to click. It is trivial and it is in Hungarian, but went viral recently on FB in Hungary. The soldier is a conscript from Zakarpatska, a region that changed ownership five times in the 20th century.
It started in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; it was given to the newly created Czechoslovakia by the Trianon treaty; taken back by Hungary during WW2; annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945 and gained its ‘independence’ as part of Ukraine in 1991. There is a joke about this place, an old guy explaining how he lived in five different countries in his life without ever setting foot outside of his village.
The video is a selfie, made by Lajos Levcej, in the trenches somewhere around Bakhmut. He is lamenting his fate of being there, at the age of 58 being a little too old for the battlefield and thanking his friends and relatives for their prayers and wishes for his survival.
I found it a little cheesy and sad, wondering why it was sent to me. What’s the point? Apart, of course, of trying to start a stupid fight. I held back for a few days, but eventually I asked:
“….and you sent this to me … because….??? What are you trying to say with it?”
Answer: “Just so that you can finally see a real fascist”
There is a lot to unpack!
Shortly after the war in Ukraine started, we had a conversation. Sort of. I tried to explain the background, the reasons, what led to the war, what the Russians want to achieve, why is the West involved, etc., while he kept insulting me and shouting me down.
He didn’t and doesn’t have a friendly clue of what’s going on, despite being a historian. What he is a master of, is virtue signaling propaganda regurgitation, and reading Putin’s mind without ever listening to what he actually says. Please, understand that I am not singling out this particular relative, he is just one of many. I’m lucky, I guess.
When I mentioned the role of the very real fascists in the Maidan coup, the Odessa massacre and their military role in the war, he flatly denied it all. There are no fascists in Ukraine, apart, of course, the Russians.
Even as the Ukrainian fascists never tried to hide the fact that they are fascists. They are proudly displaying the fact. You could not have been a member of the Azov battalion without being a self-declared fascist.
According to my relative, this is not real:
Neither is this:
Saying otherwise only proves that you and I are just brainwashed Russian stooges.
This is where our conversation ended. Faith cannot be argued with, especially not with evidence, as it is not based on ignorance, but denial.
So what was the point of him sending me the video? He was just playing a virtue signaling trump card. It was not meant to be an argument, just another declaration of his position and a clear rejection and condemnation of my position – as he perceives it.
Our conflict starts with the differences in our perceptions.
What I see, when we look at the video, is a miserable wretch, a pawn in a war of pawns. The whole of Ukraine is just a pawn in the geopolitical chess-game, and Lajos is just a pawn of the Ukrainians. He is not a Ukrainian nationalist; he is the member of a small ethnic minority that is far more likely to be oppressed by the Ukrainians than the Russians.
What I see is a soldier that is passed military age, dragged into service in a losing war. He is cannon fodder. He mentions in the video that he is somewhere around Bakhmut. This fact dates the video as Bakhmut was lost to the Russians more than two years ago.
I checked his FB page, he survived that battle, he even got a medal, but as of two days ago, he was heading back to the front line. Maybe we will be lucky again, maybe he will follow the advice of the majority of commenters urging him to surrender on the first opportunity.
What I see is a war that was unnecessary, what could have been avoided or ended years ago.
What I see is a war that was provoked by the collective West with the Americans leading the charge.
What I see is the desperate effort of the global hegemonic power to hang onto its status.
What I see is a desperate effort of the EU and NATO to hang on to their very existence.
NATO is irrelevant and the EU is a failing project. Only with expansion can they hang on to the illusion of relevance.
What I see is the naked ambition of the West to destroy Russia to gain full control of its natural resources. I am choosing my words carefully. This goal is already advocated for openly by American neo-con politicians.
What I see is a proxy war where people like Lajos are forced to fight to serve the interest of the Americans and the collective West.
What I see is a war that Donald Trump could have ended in a day as he promised.
All he had to do was to say: not a bullet or a penny more from the USA.
What I see, looking at my relative, is a selfish [expletive withheld], who would never make a personal sacrifice to help a cause, but would nonchalantly sacrifice millions just to hang onto his comfort. (I will return to this point later.)
What my relative sees is a heroic struggle between good and evil, democracy and authoritarianism, the West and the rest.
What he sees in Lajos Levcej is a reluctant hero fighting for ‘our’ values against the overwhelming power of Russian aggression.
Just like the reluctant hero Zelenskii, who rose to the occasion just like Winston Churchill did in WW2.
What he sees is a conflict that hit us right out of the blue, when the mind-worm of evil mastermind madness attacked Vladimir Putin. Because he decided to recreate the glory of the USSR and conquer all of Europe on the top of it.
What he sees is an unprovoked attack by a big bad bully on the innocent little guy. A David and Goliath situation.
In a typical leftist cognitive dissonance (a.k.a. doublethink), he also sees Russia as a clay giant or a paper tiger that is bound to fall.
What he sees in the Western help provided to Ukraine is humanitarianism and democratic solidarity in the face of barbarism.
What he sees when looking at me is someone both stupid and evil. A brainwashed, manipulated, and mindless victim of propaganda and/or a paid stooge of the enemy.
The point of sending the video was not just a declaration of his own virtue, but also a clear condemnation of the lack of mine. This dynamic is the foundation of every left-right disagreement. Virtue signaling is inseparable from the moral condemnation to any opposition to it. Any attempt to explain and rationalize an opposing position is, on the one hand, completely dismissed without any consideration, while on the other hand, it is treated as a proof of bad intentions.
When the right is trying to convince with arguments and evidence, the left is trying to convert with more examples and display of their righteousness. That is why you see so many leftists losing it. That is why you can see so many lead – repeat chants at leftist protests. I encountered a few leftists who got panic attacks when they realized that they cannot convert me just by displaying their virtues.
Conversion means joining the flock of the faithful.
Let me finish with one more point about the relative sending me the video. I mentioned Trianon above. It was one of history’s great travesties, but only sort of…
With Trianon Hungary lost two thirds of its territory, but only a third of its population. Hungarians were in minority in every detached region.1
In December 5, 2004 there was a referendum in Hungary about granting citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living abroad. The referendum was proposed by the World Federation of Hungarians and strongly supported by FIDESZ. The ruling Socialist-Free democrat coalition was just as strongly against. The referendum was declared invalid due to low voter turnout. The relative who sent me the video of Lajos Levcej, the Hungarian-Ukrainian war hero, voted against giving him citizenship for the most selfish of reasons:
As his wife explained, they did not want these new citizens to become a drain on THEIR social services. 2
The political reason was also obvious: these new Hungarians would have been much more likely to vote for nationalist than socialist parties.
The principle at work here is the following: The left does not care about individuals and the effect of their ideas or policies on them. My relative does not care about Lajos Levcej, only about what he represents. That is what gives meaning to HIS life.
What gives meaning to my life, is exposing the deeply immoral vacuity of his.
Well, this was supposed to be a joke….. sort of……
What gives my life meaning is understanding and articulating what I see.
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References
https://www.facebook.com/levcej.lajos/videos/729363569866553/
Hungarians were not very nice to their ethnic minorities. Both of my grandfathers had to change their names to get a government job. From the Sloven ‘Paszicsnyek’ to Pósfai and from the German ‘Höhn’ to Hun. Most Hungarian Jews I know have ‘Hungarianized’ names.
I don’t think I have to mention that they both fully support mass migration into Western Europe and North America.
I do feel sorry for the Ukrainians - but not because of Putin - because of the western espoused statement 'until the last Ukrainian' - obviously - and on multiple occasions represented as 'saving Americans' because the dead pushed to the front line are Ukrainians... and it should be, could be - us. If Zelenskky didn't sacrifice every one of his countrymen.
Gesinnungsethik. Every single time. People like your relative are participating in a morality play and as long as their intentions are pure the purity of their (and their side’s) actions is guaranteed. No analysis necessary.