The Hungarian revolution in 1956 taught me something very important. I was born in 1972. 16 years after the events. So I didn't see 1956 with my own eyes. I didnt experienced it.
First I heard about 1956 at the school. In my history-book in the early '80s they refered to it as a counter-revolution. I did believe. Why?....Because they said so! Because they wrote so in the schoolbooks.
Where are our knowledges come from? How do you know that the Earth is a globe and its not flat? How do you know that Australia exists?
You heard about it. You read about it in books or in scientifical studies. You saw it on the TV. And do you believe that the Earth is a globe and its not flat? Yes most probably you do. Even if you are not an astronaut who saw it with his/her own eyes. Or you never made mathematical calculations or physical experiments to get convienced. You just simply believed what they taught to you.
80% of our knowledges are like this. We simply believe what they say to us.
In 1989 I was 17. The communist block collapsed and suddenly all the newspapers, books, TV channels started to say it was a revolution in 1956. We received new history books..but the content was different. I saw the same newspapers but they wrote totally the opposite as before. They were using the words just like before but their meaning was the opposite. I watched the TV where smart men were talking about revolution with a superserious face. The same faces as before when the previous guys were talking about the counter-revolution.
I think this was the point when I decided I won't believe anything just because they say to me with very serious face. What happened in 1956? I dont know. They say it was a revolution but I haven't been there. Is the Earth a globe or it is flat? I don't know. They say it is a globe but I never seen it from a distance. Does Australia exists? I don't know...they say it exists and maybe it does but I never been there.
This is the story..how skepticism became on of the foundation of my way of thinking. The Greek phylosophy of skepticism says:
- every knowledge is limited and even with the tool of logic we cant be sure we got the final truth because even the premises of logical consequences are mostly based on prepositions. (source: wikipedia)
To me the most important they said was the truth was not unavailable but the truth is something which doesn't exist in a clean simple form.
Maybe I am wicked saying this things on this wonderful day when I can see all the TV channels around the word are celebrating the great revolution of Hungary decades years ago. And I can see the serious faces on the TV, I can hear the pathetic words but I am like being poisoned somehow. Maybe I am too old even at 34 that I have an inner resistance in myself a little devil sitting on my shoulder saying:
- what if they rewrite the books again?"
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8 comments:
Dear Zsolt,
Your post is the best explanation of this whole '56 hype what I've ever read. I born in the seventies and I feel exactly the same. Thanks for this brilliant abstract!
thank you!:)
This is a interesting post that I will share with my Hungarian students in the American Studies department at ELTE.
I am also going to post a link into my own blog so it is widely shared.
Your comments are appreciated.
thanks Ryan...
and thank you for showing your blog..I collect and publish Budapest, Hungary related blogs
Hello Zsolt (strange to write you in English...)
You said it.
Last year I still celebrated this day with the Stockholm Hungarians and that was a nice celebration, so different from the ones in Hungary. If you want to read my Hungarian blog post
But this year, I feel the same as you write it here...
Plus, sometimes I read philosophy books and there I found very interesting things about the nature of revolutions (why do they happen, what could be done instead, etc) and especially since then I don't consider this event a national holiday at all.
The only thing I celebrate on 23/Oct is my parents wedding anniversary :-)
Zsolt-
Very interesting post... had not thought about '56 like that before.
I enjoyed reading your explanation of where your skepticism comes from. Unfortunately many many Hungarians have also gained this skepticism and distrust from their experiences with communism.
Do you think it is possible to restore faith, hope and trust to Hungarians?
emeshea..
to be honest I do not find my scepticism as something I want to change. I learned to believe only in my own experiences and whatever they say or write is just a fairy tale to me. The (hi)story is always written by those who are powerful (on the level of a family and a country, too) and its easy not to hear other voices in a noise.
Very interesting, first time I read it, I clicked on a link from Twitter. Every so often they rewrite the history books and other books too. This happened after the second World War too. My parents had to go through the same thing. I think it's very hard for the teachers too, I don't know how they can handle it. I think it happens elsewhere too, it's not only a Hungarian thing. I live abroad for the past 28 years and when I read newspapers online, the language is very similar the way it was when it was in the seventies, when I went to high school. Some of the people I went to school with and they were hardcore communists, now they are in higher positions and don't remember how they were before or don't want to remember. Probably time will solve the problem and it will be easier to look at '56 in the far distance. Until then we are going to be confused about it.
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