I'm in trouble, as I don't know how I should address the head of the US embassy, given the current situation. Should I greet him by saying "Zdrastwujtie Tovarisch," or address him as a dear colleague? In good faith, I would just call Mr Pressman, who recently exhibited his willingness to edit the pages of the daily Magyar Nemzet, a "colleague."
Because he sent us a message, letting us know that he believed our choice of words in a headline was wrong. I understand. But when the same man talks about Hungary in a disrespectful way, why is he not so sensitive about our choice of words?
If - using a correct choice of words - our new "colleague" would write down that Hungary is a democracy and - as a gesture, after having insulted so many Hungarians - he would also request to be transferred somewhere else on top of retracting and correcting the countless lies he has spread about Hungary, then perhaps we would correct our criticized headline.
Or we could play the game that Brussels is playing with Hungary. After Mr Pressman grants our request and gets the hell out of here, we would just keep making new requests. And until those are fulfilled, we certainly would not not change our headline... And after that? Well, we'd be looking for more and more excuses to keep our old headline.
You know, dear "colleague," we did learn a lot from you in this department.
And if I have offended you by calling you a "colleague," we can stick to calling you Tovarisch Pressman, whichever you find more congenial. It doesn't change the point: Dasvidaniya, Tovarisch!
Cover photo: US Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman (Photo: Miklos Teknos)
