<:think_woke:378717098681171988>

tbh

i don't get the joke

the actual name of it is carl gustav

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_recoilless_rifle

Gustaf

i was wrong at the last letter

It's the swede in you longing to come out

Causing you to turn f into v

```LunaticHell - Today at 2:16 AM
JUNG?!
Karl Gustav Jung?```

oooo

now i get

#1 thing Westerners must understand not only about Hungary, but all Eastern countries is that here abiding the law, playing by the rules or even speaking out in favor of such just behavior gains you not respect, but contempt and being called a loser.

It originated out of necessity to skirt the rules in the Socialist era, but it got entrenched in the national psyche in the process. When asked about, people naturally hate tax evaders and say they would like to see the process cracked down on to pollsters - and then it comes naturally to them to not to ask for an invoice at any service, keeping it off the books and saving the 27% VAT, or to do the same with renting a home.

So when others do it, people still don't really feel they are the ones who are stolen from, but rather from the big, hazy image of "the state" they feel no relation to, even though they are the ones bankrolling it.

There's also the aspect of people simply unable to comprehend the magnitude of corruption. 50% of households have less than €25.000 in worth. 5% is worth more than €250.000, with only 0.3-0.3% owning between €500k-€1m and €1m+. There are no more than 150-200 households with a net worth of over €10m, so the economic elites are extremely tight.

When stories about public tenders going 50 or 70% over budget, resulting in tens of millions of Euros in increases, people literally cannot grasp just how much money is that.

As for the opposition, it's fractured, amateurish and fail to realize they cannot play the same game Fidesz is playing, coasting by on drummed up fears and promises - because they aren't in charge. They ought to appear highly skilled and professional, proposing tangible changes, attaching numbers and tables to every claim they make to gain credibility.

But that's not possible when you have just as many career politicians mostly looking out for their own well-being and short-term gains than in Fidesz.

?

Is copypasta?

Fidesz also made two key changes. First is communication style: prior to 2010, discussing politics was largely in a civil manner, focused around expert opinions and all around a more or less intellectual process. Fidesz realized they don't need to do that, they don't need the educated 15%'s majority support if they can rile up the hoi polloi. And they did, introduced record lows in the quality of public discourse.

Accusing Jobbik chairman Vona of being gay not only in pro-gov't tabloids (that Fidesz oligarchs brought to existence and sustain on public funds to a tune of them receiving 80-90% of ad revenue from the state), but in snide comments of cabinet members wasn't even a lowlight, just 1 of dozens and hundreds of such occurrences over the years.

The other was Fidesz clearly dividing the population into those who are favored and those who aren't. The bottom third of the population gets it very rough by them, but they can't do anything about it and are so destitute, their vote can be (figuratively) bought for next to nothing. Videos of pensioners thanking Orbán for their €35 meal voucher gift before Christmas are a sight to behold, and at election time, Fidesz candidates giving away sacks of potatoes or some pasta and oil are not uncommon.

The lower middle class still isn't the favorite of theirs, but they are largely allowed to keep themselves afloat the same way they've been doing until now. So still no reason for them to feel alienated and can be convinced by the fear campaigns about migrants coming to eat their babies alive. They also loved the extremely ineffective workfare program which the traditional unemployment benefits got converted into. They get to feel superior or vindicated, because now the "lazy poor people" have to work as well, not only them.

The real winners of Fidesz government is the upper middle class, which in Hungary sadly means people between the ~65th and ~90th earning percentile. Tax breaks, incentives for families and having more children, etc. They got the funds they've taken away from the poor. And since these people are people who have very localized micro-influence and respect, even poorer people look up to their growing prosperity as if it were their own. But they can't, social mobility is extremely low in the country.

All in all, this is what you get in an immature democracy. The Western values of respect for each other, revering an equal playing field for all, etc. didn't form in people organically, but they were fine with them until money ran out. Then it did and their true nature -selfishness out of necessity- came out and got strategically amlified by Orbán and Co.

@Deleted User Just a take from a Hungarian living in Hungary

Wanted to share it

Ah

Since when did daddy Peterson have a beard

He's had one one and off for years now

I like he's like me, sometimes he does. Sometimes not

I wouldn't read into it

He’s had it for a while

<:gay:382982146249326612>

You have to be careful reading into something like that

atm I have beard

but I'm starting to get fed up of it

not yet tho

but also I'm single, I'm widower

your missus might like clean shave or she might like a beard

I'd guess that he's travelling around so much he can't be assed to shave

Doing TV and interviews and travelling and being away from home is hard on anyone

Yeah that makes sense

I've seen a couple of interviews from JBP last couple of weeks and he needs a rest

he probably won't

@here I try to make this a positive thing but today is the 10th year Aniversary of my Mother's death. So if you are putting off calling someone you care about today's the day

Gotta love it when you try to argue with Staunch Dems about the national debt

with no solutions because you can just spend out the ass without taking in more money

or two half solutions