Earlier this week a new singular law has passed in Hungary. First of all anyone spreading "misinformation" on coronavirus will be sent to jail, second of all Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, will have the power of ruling by decree. This means that he can suspend laws and basically govern by himself, for as long as he wants, seen that no time limit has been set to these "emergency measures".
It's obvious that something is wrong, if the government determines which are "fake news", then it can control the media completely and use it for spreading only what Orbán wants to be spread. This can limit freedom of speech, which is a basic human right as well as a fundamental element of democracy. As you can see it can be easily taken away from you, not in some far away country you've never even heard of, it's happening at the centre of Europe.
It's obvious that something is wrong, if the government determines which are "fake news", then it can control the media completely and use it for spreading only what Orbán wants to be spread. This can limit freedom of speech, which is a basic human right as well as a fundamental element of democracy. As you can see it can be easily taken away from you, not in some far away country you've never even heard of, it's happening at the centre of Europe.
I get it, we are all afraid of coronavirus, so it makes sense to adopt special legislation to protect ourselves, nothing wrong with that, it would be foolish not to. Yet keep in mind that we are citizens and we deserve to be treated as such, we deserve privacy and health, both of them, neither should be sacrificed at any point. We have the privilege of being in a democracy (not all countries have it) so we also have the responsibility of maintaining it. So do the right thing, follow the guidelines given by scientists and do your part fighting the virus, don't give governments excuses to potentially take away some of your rights.
One more thing, coronavirus worries us all and it's fundamental that the media covers the situation thoroughly. However let's not forget that everything else in the rest of the world did not completely stop because of it, other concerns can rise at any moment. We have to be informed on that as well, the situation in Hungary did not trigger nearly as many people as it should have.
One more thing, coronavirus worries us all and it's fundamental that the media covers the situation thoroughly. However let's not forget that everything else in the rest of the world did not completely stop because of it, other concerns can rise at any moment. We have to be informed on that as well, the situation in Hungary did not trigger nearly as many people as it should have.