The pro-government politician (not actually related to Viktor Orbán) says the American Orthodox Jewish public figure and political commentator excels in the genre of “the show,” something missing from European public life.
“The United States has had a huge cultural impact on the world for many decades. Our American friends have many cultural and social products that the rest of the world doesn’t really want to adopt, especially today. But they have even more achievements that we can rightly envy. Strange as it may sound, in my opinion, one of these is the cultural role of ‘the show’,” the deputy minister begins his post on Facebook.
“Americans certainly understand how to create entertaining genres. And I am not talking about a dubious reality show or celebrity cult but rather their ability to create fun yet high-quality and valuable content in many areas of life, including public life and political debates. Thus, ‘show’ is by no means a pejorative concept: Artistic tools and an entertaining style serve to maintain the attention of the audience, taking them step by step through the logic of a work — or political debate — to reach a final conclusion. I really don’t see this kind of show in European public life,” he continues.
“In American public life, Ben Shapiro is one of the characters who excel at this genre. He argues in an entertaining way in his journalism and his lectures, and on his own show on YouTube, but he substantiates his arguments by exploring serious scientific contexts. Shapiro’s book, The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great, is true to this genre and can now be read in Hungarian as well,” writes Orbán.