Great, we are better off when you influence norms positively.

In the Global North, the different parts of the political aisle have been relying on each other and normalized negative behavior. And change requires a look inside.

Cooking has always been my passion. and yet I can’t help but feel anxious as I invite you to my kitchen. I am aware. Everyone is already full of what is coming. Because, today, we will cook together not a meal, but a possibility to our future that challenges perspectives and beliefs and at the end offers a solution to ease us and bring us closer.

Something that needs to be told, one that may not sit well with everyone, but is necessary for us to grow as individuals and as a society – in Canada, Europe or the US – today. This¹ has been told by many during the last decades. The closure will help us invite more people to the table.

Sunday, 24th of November, 2024. And we got three ingredients to prepare. One is a short story from the recent past. And two are headlines of two current articles with added explanation. 

And the recipe² goes, put the three together, clean up; what is left is our shared story that leads us to a new beginning.

Let’s roll back the clock, – 10 years, to 2014.

Amidst the chaos of war, political persecution, and natural disasters, countless individuals are forced to leave their homes behind. Their only option is to flee to unknown lands in search of safety and stability. But even as they escape danger, they cannot help but feel conflicted about leaving everything they have ever known behind.

The exodus³ of people⁴ , has led them to seek refuge in Europe.

For a fleeting moment, they were known as Refugees⁵. The weight of the label hung heavy on their shoulders, a constant reminder of the tragedy that had befallen them. But in that same breath, they were also survivors – strong and resilient in the face of adversity. And while the world may have labeled it, again for a short time, a “Refugee Crisis,” to these individuals it was simply their existence now – one of struggle and perseverance.

And behold, two main narratives start to surface, not by refugees, but by their imagined protectors⁶. In a world where countless narratives are contemplated next to our kitchen tables, there are only two that mattered.

The first narrative goes something like⁷.

The people fleeing have to be let in. Europe is a place that welcomes those who are not lucky. Europe is a refuge for those who are not fortunate enough to stay in their home countries; they must be allowed entry without a standard procedure and framework to accommodate as they flee from danger. Our nations can handle it, as we are the richest union ever existed⁸.

Ironically, this narrative is fueled by parties who are not directly involved in the discussion due to their part of the puzzle. Specifically, the media⁹ provided a platform for various forms of messaging that often had moral arguments but offered no solutions. These pieces were filled with emotion, rather than targeted towards finding real solutions. This type of unfocused approach to reaching a larger audience may have contributed to the current situation in the US where the main political agenda of the president-elect involves deporting people.

If there is one thing everyone understands sitting next to a kitchen table, is this.

This narrative confidently dismissed any notion of a solution to this complex problem, unwilling to consider any alternative frameworks.

For citizens of the European Union it was frustratingly clear that this narrative was content with the sweet status quo and was not open to any other potential resolution. But as the citizenry watched this narrative continue on the same narrow path, remaking the same old recipe, a batch of fresh air happened to slip in the kitchen window. And with it, a voice wondered still. If maybe there was another way, if perhaps a different perspective could bring about a breakthrough.

So comes the other narrative.

A tiny group that holds the second narrative. Tiny, but peppered, this group had a very thorough, planned out, communicated and formalized strategy. A key element of such a strategy is the malignant use of communication, and language.

It goes without saying that this strategy has been employed numerous times throughout human existence, and can be easily duplicated because of its simplicity. The key is to remain consistent in all actions, but that is the only aspect necessary for it to be effective.

The second narrative sound like:

They are out there. Killing women and children. But. We are going to build walls. And everyone will know throughout our board¹⁰ and campaigns, loud and clear. They are not welcome here.

Only two elements I need to mention from the non-physical part.

The strategy consistently uses keywords:

We are illiberal.

We do not let in Migrants¹¹.

Perhaps the kitchen got too noisy¹² but I urge everyone to sit for what comes next and shake that clock.

Return to 2024. We are left with the two remaining ingredients, the headlines:

Now that we have all¹⁵ the necessary pieces, it’s time to start cleaning up and chop everything to bitesize. I kindly ask you to let me be your knife for this experiment.

So in the first article, we hear the whisper that the EU is becoming rightwing. The reason being, the article suggests, that the parties representing the centrum and the status quo; not having their own set of ideas, adopt one from a party that labels itself, rightwing.

It’s like, your family is vegetarian, and you have no food, so you go out and hunt a game. Basically, what this referenced article says is that the centrists want to push out the right-wing by becoming right-wing.

Further in the second article, it turns out that the liberals lost their way; because they don’t have ideas.

It’s like, your family is vegan, and there is only meat available in the market, so you will starve to death.

Uh, this kitchen got very heated, let some air in…

Balint Katona / Civic Anchor

10 years ago, the prime-minister of Hungary defined the country illiberal, and hence defined everything else in the European Union as liberal.

This language trick was then slow-cooked and got served in households all over, becoming the norm.

While deliberately boiling, a nourishing element almost got 100% vaporized, just as planned.

That it is the liberal idea that gave birth to the illiberal idea. It was the moderate people that made the bed for the right wing agenda. Today, the centrists of the European Union want to adopt the ideas of the illiberal prime minister; suggesting the centrists were never different from what they opposed, it was just a jumpy holiday dinner.

Yet, we are left with the plain old definition of what liberal¹⁶ means. That we have free speech and everyone can get their opinion. 

But if you are louder and more consistent¹⁷ then you win the game.

The more aggressive you are in language, or in whatever way, you will have your way.

And here is why this language further¹⁸ creates needless steam, not only, in the kitchen.

The parties historically representing the center talk about both the internal (economy, health, education etc) and external problems (immigration, war, climate). But for reasons not outlined here, they lack the means of acting on all with high efficiency. Meaning, that however well-intended they are, with varying measures, they let everyone down.

On the other end, the “illiberal” establishment is focused. And blame the problems, even those they created, and everything (war, other countries, famous people, foreign institutions) on the externals (and what they label as such) to make the citizenry agitated. But illiberals never deliver, they got no policies that stand the tooth of time, no economy, nothing. They shape the legal system to their liking so they are legally able to do whatever. Illiberals use language to destroy norms and create falsehoods. For instance, illiberals label themselves Christian but in every step of the way violate the 10 Commandments.

Loudly, in the name of free speech, this type of host asks around who wants to eat and what. Maybe you won’t be able to sit down, your chair might disappear, depending if you wear a label of loyal service to a figure. And no matter what, you will be served with pigwash; blamed on someone down the street.

But, here is the deal. We can make some¹⁹ decisions here and now. If we do not let bad actors form a society based on false norms. So we need to capture this moment and not let anyone hack²⁰ the language but use it for good.

As a good meal caters to our body and mind; we can find our own language that satiates our appetite and makes our mind find ways and soothe instead of making us anxious²¹. This comes with a price. And the price of this is not free, contrary to the general opinion²².

The price is that there is discipline at the table. Rules that you can never ever break because then your kitchen timer is off.

And at this table, the conversation never stops. 

To conclude the day, we need to take care of ourselves²³. At this moment, there is only some we can share around the table. As we need to take care of our family, friends, neighbors, and homes.

After we are all fed and secure, we are able to find meaningful ways to help others with resilient solutions that will not weaken our core.

About the author

Balint Katona writes about topics that go unnoticed.

Footnote

1. On the pages of the British Journal of Political Science, Armin Schäfer in 2021, Gabor Sheiring and his team (2024) talked about this phenomena in different terms, calling it a backlash. ↩︎
2. In 2022 Lisbeth A. Pino Gavidia talked about this like social constructivism, “Critical Narrative Inquiry: An Examination of a Methodological Approach
   Lisbeth A. Pino Gavidia, MPH, PhD(c) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5810-2224 lpino2@uwo.ca, and Joseph Adu, MPhil, MSc, PhD(c) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6535-2029View all authors and affiliations
   All Articles https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221081594 ↩︎
3. Zack Beauchamp wrote about The Syrian refugee crisis, explained in one map in 2015. https://www.vox.com/2015/9/27/9394959/syria-refugee-map ↩︎
4. Note from the author: A future article will elaborate on why this happened, and the policy reasoning {Terror and antiterror as policy} ↩︎
5. Camila Ruz, 2015, The battle over the words used to describe migrants https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34061097 ↩︎
6. Phillip Connor, 2018, A majority of Europeans favor taking in refugees, but most disapprove of EU’s handling of the issue
   https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/09/19/a-majority-of-europeans-favor-taking-in-refugees-but-most-disapprove-of-eus-handling-of-the-issue/ ↩︎
7. Matthew Karnitschnig, 2015. Merkel’s migrant morality play. https://www.politico.eu/article/willkommen-germany-refugees-migration-takes-the-moral-high-ground/ ↩︎
8. Note from the author: As a future side dish, in a coming article, I will elaborate on this mainstream agenda. {Popular, means populist.} ↩︎
9. Michelle Reddy, Hélène Thiollet et al. in 2023. The Making of a Crisis: Migration and Polarization in the French Press https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764223118327 ↩︎
10. Note from the author:In Hungary the ads/board campaign was in Hungarian, but was in singular or plural second person. For instance “If you come to Hungary, you can’t get the job of Hungarians.” Evidently a Syrian refugee can not understand it. ↩︎
11. Note from the author: There went the word refugee, mind you. Later we return to the illiberal word. ↩︎
12. Emmet Livingstone, 2016, wrote about the change of messaging “Angela Merkel drops the ‘we can do it’ slogan”
    https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-drops-the-we-can-do-it-slogan-catchphrase-migration-refugees/ ↩︎
13. Alberto Alemanno, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/18/european-union-right-wing-ursula-von-der-leyen-eu-commission-hard-right-parties ↩︎
14. Nesrine Malik, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/18/donald-trump-victory-liberals-modern-crisis-neoliberal ↩︎
15.  Jan Fredrik Hovden and Rafal Zaborowski, 2024.The space of immigrant discourse in the European press. https://doi.org/10.7146/mk.v40i77.141528 ↩︎
16.  Cambridge Dictionary: believing in or allowing a lot of personal freedom, and believing that society should change gradually so that money, property, and power are shared more fairly ↩︎
17.  Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, 2024, https://theconversation.com/repeated-political-soundbites-can-influence-how-people-think-even-if-they-disagree-with-the-message-232838 ↩︎
18.  De Coninck, D., Ogan, C., Willnat, L., & d’Haenens, L. (2019, October). Media use and attitudes
    toward immigrants and refugees in Western Europe and the United States. Paper presented at
    ECREA Digital Fortress Europe Conference, Brussels, Belgium. ↩︎
19.  Céline Cantat, Antoine Pécoud, Hélène Thiollet. Migration as Crisis. American Behavioral Scientist,
    2023, 23 p. https://doi.org/10.1177/000276422311832 ↩︎
20.  David Blanco-Herrero, Javier J. Amores, Patricia Sánchez-Holgado. 2023. Criminals, terrorists and freeloaders: how migrants are portrayed in the European media. https://theconversation.com/criminals-terrorists-and-freeloaders-how-migrants-are-portrayed-in-the-european-media-208524?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=bylinecopy_url_button ↩︎
21.  Greussing, E., & Boomgaarden, H. G. (2017). Shifting the refugee narrative? An automated frame analysis of Europe’s 2015 refugee crisis. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(11), 1749–1774. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1282813 ↩︎
22.   What Do Europeans Think About Muslim Immigration? 2023, Chatham House,  https://www.chathamhouse.org/2017/02/what-do-europeans-think-about-muslim-immigration ↩︎
23.  Michael Ignatieff, Juliette Keeley, Betsy Ribble and Keith McCammon. 2016. The United States and the European Refugee Crisis: Standing with Allies.
    https://shorensteincenter.org/us-european-refugee-crisis-standing-with-allies/ ↩︎