I went to Professor Case’s talk on the refugee crisis expecting to hear a narrative focusing on the xenophobia of a national government, the compassion of a select few volunteers, and the determination of crowds of people who have been touched by inhuman atrocity. And all of these were indeed components of the situation, but I was surprised to discover the involvement of other sentiments and perspectives.

One of the recurring characters, so to speak, was the Two-tailed Dog Party, a band of absurdists who mock the political status quo in Hungary. A recent campaign of theirs involved the creation of doppelgänger billboards that mocked the xenophobic fear-mongering of the ruling party’s original versions. As amusing as these stunts are, they also reflect a sense of impotence haunting those who oppose the regime of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. When a party that calls itself Politics Can Be Different fails to offer meaningful change, it is completely unsurprising that disillusionment sets it. And yet people still refuse to accept the status quo, leading to the organization of such groups such as the Two-tailed Dog Party, who are less about supporting positions than laughing at the maddening wrongness of the positions that have been offered.

Complimenting this sentiment are the results of a survey mentioned by Professor Case that found that more Hungarians were concerned with emigration than immigration. Such feelings can be represented by a man from a border town who expressed a fear that one day nobody will live there because they will all have moved somewhere else. Post-Cold War optimism has given way to years of disappointment. Perhaps the most surprising conflict between the waves of refugees and the Hungarian citizenry is one of optimism. While the refugees come with hopes for a better life, many a Hungarian seems to look sadly at these newcomers as tragically idealistic. I was expecting something sad, but not this brand of melancholy.