These people took the streets to demonstrate their sympathy for Viktor Orban on the 15th of March, 2022 in Budapest. According to news reports many of them felt sympathy towards Putin’s war.
But somebody joined their march in a costume of a large dinosaur and this was a clear act to question their understanding of the world. Some people attacked the dinosaur physically so that policemen had to intervene.
In Hungary, the pro government media is like a Russian style fake news machinery. And the government has been a long time supporter of Putin. Their audiences believe that Putin’s war is justified.
The participants of this demonstration were middle class people who have access to the internet and can see images of this war. But for them, safety is a key argument that the Hungarian Government is using. They think we should not be critical to Putin because it is not safe.
They attacked the dinosaur because he was compromising this vision.
Each of us must have an image on our minds about survival. How to get food, be safe, feed our children. We need our projection of reality in order to find safety. Our vision about the good and bad heroes is a key elemnt to this picture.
When you consume media content then you basically consume a vision of the World and subscribe to a way of survival, happyness and fulfillment. When someone attacks your vision of the war you can feel that your safety is under attack.
If we want to convince supporters of a war that they are wrong, we should be aware that they will feel attacked. This very act can make people feel insecure and angry.
Fear is the exact opposite emotion of what we want to inspire when we are trying to influence people. So when we want to convince them, it is not enough to counteract fake news, share facts and arguments, or make fake stories ridiculous. We have to give people an experience that makes them feel all right.