Government for the people by the people
If you hadn't heard already, there's a bridge naming contest going on which has some people upset. Upset because apparently the American comedian Steve Colbert has clearly demonstrated how stupid and ill thought out the local version of e-Democracy is.
Steve Colbert has already demonstrated the pitfalls of unleashing the the power of democracy on the internet, when he invited users to edit wikipedia. As soon as Colbert mentioned the bridge, someone should have just changed the game plan.
So the first round results are in and the 'Stephen Colbert híd' has 53% of the vote with a total of 17,231,725 votes. Now Hungary's population is a mere 10 million (take a basic knowledge test is you didn't even know this much), so the chances of him winning are almost certain. Particularly when you see that second place went to 'Zrínyi híd' with just over 2 million votes (6%).
The sensible thing to do at this point would be to make a statement about what this e-democracy effort was hoping to achieve and politely but firmly reject Steve's candidacy for immortality. Unfortunately that isn't going to happen.
Oh no, instead the vote now goes into a second round, which is even easier to vote on for non-Hungarian speakers. This time you do have to register, but I think even non-Hungarian speakers would be familiar with the form of registration required (email plus password) to coast this hurdle.
So the second round begins, which 'starts from scratch, to make it more exciting'. Ye, right. They have taken the top 25 placed candidate names from the first round and put them in an exclusive race to the line. So far what began as a lighthearted joke has turned into a full blown farce.
As of this morning the 'Stephen Colbert híd' has 64% of the vote, this is likely to increase as the thing builds momentum. But, that's not the worst, even 'Perl-Script híd' has 4% of the vote and is in third place. There are clearly a lot of bored hackers out there craving for attention. Which probably explains why 'Hacker híd' has 2% also. In second place there is of course that great Hungarian Jon Stewart with 13%.
My personal favorite is fülemüle, or 'nightingale', but it doesn't stand a hope in hells chance of winning. But then neither do any other Hungarians.
At least 6 of those last 25 shouldn't have gone forward for the final vote. It is fun, it's lighthearted, but it also shows that those in power don't understand the internet, e-Democracy or how to communicate with your audience. No, that's not surprising at all. But, Hungary is going to look (even more) stupid as a result.
The Hungarian word for today is szavazás for 'vote' or 'poll'. That bizarrely simple act through which democracy works and e-Democracy doesn't (and the power that was returned to the people in May 1990, from legislation introduced in October 16-20, 1989).
Update
As of this morning Colbert Bridge it is going to be. As predicted his followers are marshalling their increasing strength, so he how has 81%, with second place trailing somewhere around the 2% mark.
That much was predictable. There's an interesting take on this in nol (a pretty serious newspaper here):
Returning to the topic of our bridges in Budapest, in my opinion the Steven Colbert bridge would be a fitting name. Of course, we could ponder over our history and find some godfather (Zrínyi, Szent István), but a modern bridge requires a modern name. Colbert, on the otherhand, brings to mind the whole western world, with what kind of blindness we enter an endless war against terrorism, and how we sacrifice common sense to a dictated act that is clearly dangerous. We Hungarians are partners to both of those.
I voted for the Colbert bridge. Watch the video and join me!'
This is a complex message (one I don't happen to agree with), but at any level its meaning will be lost on most of those casting their vote.
Follow Central Budapest on Twitter.
