By Rod DREHER
How fanatical are European elites about LGBT? Look:
Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, said Hungary either “must leave” the EU or repeal the law, which bans TV shows and other content seen as championing LGBT lifestyles for the under-18s.
However, some eastern European governments refused to join 17 of the bloc’s 27 countries in a rare joint statement condemning a fellow member state.
The Hungarian government hit back against what it called the EU’s “shameful” interference in its domestic affairs.
Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, said the law was about “defending the rights of the kids and the parents” and claimed to be a fighter for gay rights when Hungary was under communist rule.
“Homosexuality was punished, and I fought for their freedom and their rights,” he said as he arrived at the summit. “So I am defending the rights of the homosexual guys. But this law is not about that.”
More:
While the EU has no power to force a country to leave, this could be achieved “step by step”, Mr Rutte told reporters in Brussels. “My goal is to bring Hungary to its knees on this issue,” he said.
“They must realise that they are either part of the European Union and this community of values, which means that in Hungary… no one can be discriminated against and [everyone] can feel free on grounds of sexuality, skin colour, gender whatever.”
I wonder if Europe’s Muslims support the Hungarian law. If they do, is there no place for them in the European Union? Someone should ask the Dutch prime minister.
This is really extraordinary. A country that has been part of Europe for a thousand years is now regarded by other European leaders as unfit for their company because it bans a kind of sexualized material aimed at children — a ban that probably would have been supported by majorities in every European country forty or fifty years ago.
The rainbow flag has taken on special significance in our regime. It is the flag of our globalist elites, symbolizing “diversity and inclusion,” principles that they regard as the source of their right to rule.
“Regime” is a technical term in political philosophy. It refers to the source of political authority. A regime defines essential matters about which “we all agree.” This agreement establishes the boundaries of legitimate political contestation, and it treats as traitors, rebels, and revolutionaries those who overstep and transgress.
America’s regime has long been that of a constitutional republic. We litigate, organize, and in some cases protest. Politicians exploit procedures to angle for advantage. Elections are contested. And all of this is supposed to operate under the limits imposed by our rule of law. But our regime is always more than constitutional provisions. It also concerns what counts as a legitimate opinion in public life, and what is beyond the pale. In this domain we have undergone regime change.
Yes, even the pro-life Catholic conservative Democratic governor of Louisiana takes a knee before the rainbow flag. He vetoed a bill that would have protected female athletes from trans competitors.
The regime change is even more pronounced in Europe. More:
So it’s not surprising that our elites have embraced the rainbow flag. It flutters over our universities and is featured in the windows of global corporations. Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and Wall Street—drivers of globalization and the breaking of boundaries—wave the pride flag.
The rainbow flag represents the regime that our globalized elites intend to sustain. As a regime, it treats dissent as illegitimate. Those who object to the rainbow flag and what it represents are not fellow citizens concerned that society cannot function without clear social markers of the differences between men and women. They are “haters” and “bigots.”
… America spawned the open-society consensus, which over time evolved into the open-border, open-trade, diversity and inclusion regime now pressed upon us as so self-evident and non-controversial that it is obligatory. Our country invented the rainbow flag and our embassies export it to the entire world. But populism bids fair to strengthen rather than weaken. It challenges the hegemony of our globalized elites and the regime they insist must determine public life. I predict that the time is coming, perhaps soon, when our elites will suppress the American flag and wave all the more insistently the rainbow substitute.
The rainbow flag is the “Workers Of The World, Unite” sign from the Havel’s Greengrocer Myth. Viktor Orban is Havel’s greengrocer. American conservatives, pay attention!
This letter came today from a Hungarian reader:
So does this American.
UPDATE: The European Parliament has approved the Matic Report, which defines abortion as a human right, and essential to democracy. It has thereby defined all faithful Catholics and pro-lifers of any confession as a threat to democracy and human rights. More:
Speaking in the debate, Matić said: “Tomorrow is a great day for Europe and the entire progressive world. Tomorrow we decide on positioning Europe as a community that chooses to live in the 21st or the 17th century. Don’t let history remember us as the latter ones.”
Read the signs of the times.
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Strategic Culture Foundation