Fidesz's whisper campaign won't work

The socialist party has been financing Jobbik! This is the slogan, Fidesz and its supporters have been spreading among the electorate about Jobbik since the European Parliament Election when it became evident that the party for better Hungary has emerged as the third force in the country.

There are several problems with this whisper campaign. The first is that by now, the majority of the people have understood, at least in some degree that the Socialist party is in fact, a crime network, and it resembles more to an organized mafia clan than to a political party. Currently, Jobbik is the only party in the Hungarian political arena with proven records; it hasn't been tainted by corruption, fraud, money-laundering and those sorts of crimes that are part of the everyday policy of the socialist government and in some degree of the opposition's, on the municipal level.

The idea of linking Jobbik to the socialist crime syndicate is so far fetched that it is doubtful that the majority of Fidesz supporters will swallow it.

A large segment of Fidesz supporters have been sympathizing with Jobbik policies and better armed with sense of reality than the socialist electorate socialized in the Kadar era.

Looking at the rumor from another point of view, it turns out that it has no impact, it doesn't have the initial element of surprise that should be part of every good ruse.

A classic example of a good whisper campaign took place during the 2002 election campaign, when the socialists made people believe that Viktor Orban was gypsy. In this case pundits correctly assessed their target audience. The socialists, in general, are very good in assessing the mental capacity of their electorate, since the leading politicians of the party have been encultureted into the same sub-culture as their supporters. The rumor, that Orban was gypsy was believable because the supporters of socialists known to be hostile against gypsies. The claim had an element of surprise as it appeared out the blue and the assertion wasn't too outlandish. You need certain sense of balance and measure when claiming something you know is not true, otherwise, the message becomes suspect. To lie professionally, you have to have self-control, otherwise the lie falls apart. Most people get alarmed when the presentation of a story is out of proportions. Like in plastic arts, even if the viewer is not an expert, s/he becomes aware of the shortcoming of a composition when badly foreshortened.

Whisper campaign has to work like an advertisement campaign; a good slogan enters into the subconscious of the target audience on several levels. It has to appeal, among others, to emotions (it has to shock), to wishful thinking, to flattery, to ridicule, to fear and so on to work its magic on the subconscious level.

By analyzing the relevant phrase “The socialist party has been financing Jobbik”, turns out to be quite ineffectual in its mobilizing capacity; it appeals none of the faculties mentioned above. It doesn't stir up emotionally, it doesn't appeal to wishful thinking, it has nothing to do with flattery or ridicule, neither it inspires fear; but, it might alert people's sense of proportion and scale and making them realize that the claim is too extreme in its scope to be true.

I've read today that a new rumor is spreading on the net, according to which Krisztina Morvai secretly, flew to the United Sates to solicit funds for Jobbik, from Jewish organizations. The article was quite entertaining by all means. Whoever spreading this rumor, he plays on the fact that Morvai's husband is Jewish. This hasn't been the first time she was targeted by chatterers. Some months ago, she was branded as a crypto Jew whose children are attending Jewish school. This is despite the fact that she said several times that her children have been baptized and attending Catholic school.

The funny thing is that even Gábor Vona was labelled, at one point, as being a saphardic Jew. This allegation came from the senile István Csurka, the leader of MIEP, that recently has became an Orban fan; he seizes every opportunity to slender Jobbik, the party that during the 2006 election campaign was his ally.

All in all, one can conclude that the corrupt and treasonous “elite” is indeed desperate and tries to employ every conceivable means to minimize Jobbik's impact on society (this was the main reason behind banning the Hungarian Guard. People love the Hungarian Guard because it is the only credible force in the country with the will and determination to protect people, especially those living in gypsy infested regions) and of course, to block the party's expected breakthrough in the spring election. However, taking into account all the circumstances, (the plummeting economy, the breakdown of social order, unemployment, gypsy crime and so on) suggest that Jobbik is destined to become a major force in Hungarian politics.

(hungarianambiance.com)