The European media establishment designated Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as the bloc’s boogeyman because it was practical for them to do so, prominent Canadian academic and author Jordan B. Peterson has claimed.
In an interview with the Hungarian news outlet Mandiner, the former Ivy League professor was asked why he believes Orbán receives such negative international press.
“Because it’s convenient for them. It’s always good to have something to constantly scare people with, to demonize somebody. Europe also needs a bogeyman like Donald Trump, and that is the role that Viktor Orbán has been appointed to,” he said.
“They have also targeted the prime minister of Italy, but Giorgia Meloni is so popular across Europe that it has not worked. Orbán, on the other hand, is a good villain, and the half-witted leftists are even better off, as they have most of the press in their hands,” he added.
He likened the portrayal of Orbán in the prose of Europe’s liberal media outlets to the recent categorization by CNN of former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, who they referred to as a right-wing extremist.
“Give me a break! Tucker Carlson can be called many things, but he is certainly not an extremist. I would even call him a Republican, but his political views on many issues are decidedly left-wing. The accusation is absurd.”
He added that with the spread of new media technologies, traditional media is losing ground and cannot do anything to prevent that from continuing.
“This is also due to the fact that the technological age has brought the traditional media to its knees. In five years CNN will be gone, as will MSNBC. And Fox News has killed itself by firing Tucker Carlson. In other words, all the traditional news media are gradually degenerating, and as they degenerate, they will have nothing left but lies and clickbait,” Peterson told the Hungarian news outlet.
The acclaimed author also said that the size of his audience clearly demonstrates that he is right in his defense of the traditional family model.
“The reason why so many people listen to me is because I speak their truth, I say what they dare not say,” he said. “If you ask the average person to argue for marriage, they don’t know what to say. They start stammering, ‘I thought that didn’t need explaining. It’s the common consensus,’ and that is the right answer.”
Peterson further claimed that the “two-parent, heterosexual, monogamous, married relationship” matters because “it is better for the children.”
“And why does it matter? Only an idiot would ask such a question. Anyone who can’t figure out why children matter is beyond redemption. As the saying goes, no one is as blind as he who has no eyes to see,” he added.
From the end of April until May 11, Peterson was on a 10-country European tour promoting his new book, “Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life.” The penultimate stop on his tour was Budapest, Hungary, on May 9.
