Statistics Show Hungarians Hidebound, Boring, Violent

Those who like to make fun of Hungarians for being narrow-minded, sadistic killjoys will be pleased to know that statistics just released by two respected authorities suggest that their slanderous stereotypes may have some basis in fact. According to an offline report from state news wire MTI, leading market research firm GfK Hungaria today made public the findings of a multi-national "Euro-Socio-Styles" opinion poll that paints an unflinching portrait of the average Magyar. Since we already get enough hate mail for poking fun at the hard-pressed inhabitants of our favorite Central European country, we'll just quote MTI on some of the highlights:

• "Hungarians consider the family important and prefer to live in a world of their own."
• "While 88 percent of west Europeans strive for self-fulfillment and wish to show their capabilities, Hungarians are prone to live like others and accept their environment in an unchanged form."

• "The poll showed that Hungarians respect traditions much more than other peoples on the continent. For instance, 56 percent of them are enthusiastic listeners to traditional Hungarian music, while the eastern European average is 36 percent and the western European 30 percent."
• "They give priority to security, with three quarters of respondents think about the future while the majority of West Europeans would prefer to have a good time in the present."

Meanwhile, the country's former ombudswoman, Katalin Gönczöl, gave a speech today at a crime prevention forum in the eastern city of Sátoraljaújhely in which (again, according to MTI) she called Hungarian families "extremely aggressive." Gönczöl, who is also a commissioner at the Ministry of Justice, went on to say that "at least 80 percent" of Hungarian parents "apply violent methods or extortion against their children," by which we assume she doesn't mean forcing them to quit acting up and forgetting their family obligations. Because, according to the GfK survey, most of them don't want to anyway. On the other hand...