By Chris Trotter*
Pulling out of the truck-stop at Mercer (home of Pokeno Bacon’s incomparable toasted sandwiches) I noticed three large signs. Hung from a chain-link fence, the signs were hand-painted and impossibly wordy. Whoever it was who placed them there was angry – very angry. They were also completely unskilled in the dark arts of political communication.
It obviously never crossed their minds that the overwhelming majority of those passing their signs would be travelling at 100 kph. Nobody driving a motor vehicle at that speed has time to take in more than a few words. It’s only political tragics like myself who take the time to read these angry manifestoes.
Having done so, however, and for the benefit of my wife, who was driving, I condensed their author’s cries from the heart into three simple statements – one for each sign.
The Government Is Lying. The Media Is Lying. Stop The Lies.
When I told this story to an old comrade of mine, he exhaled noisily through his teeth and said: “There are times, Trotter, when I’m really glad you’re on our side.”
The anger and mistrust manifested in that angry Mercer signage came back to me a few days later when I tuned into a RNZ news bulletin to receive the startling information that the leader of the Act Party, David Seymour, wanted to blow-up the Ministry for Pacific Peoples. Now, I was aware that it’s Act’s policy to abolish all of what might be called the “identity” ministries: Women’s, Youth, Māori, Pasifika; along with the Human Rights Commission. I was unaware, however, that the policy mandated the use of high explosives!
And, of course, it doesn’t. What I had heard was what the writer of RNZ’s news copy had distilled from a political quip, uttered by the Act leader on the evening of Thursday, 17 August, during an interview on Newstalk-ZB. The context of the quip is crucial – especially in relation to what happened later. It involved a discussion of the Ministry of Pacific People’s gross overspending ($40,000!) on a farewell bash for its departing Chief Executive. Asked how he felt about the overspending, Seymour replied:
“In my fantasy, we’d send a guy called Guy Fawkes in there and it’d be all over, but we’ll probably have to have a more formal approach than that.”
Though you would never know it from the leaden humourlessness of the party political and mainstream journalistic responses to his words, Seymour was joking. In exactly the same way as the person who came up with the oft-quoted quip: “Guy Fawkes – the only man to enter Parliament with honourable intentions” – was joking.
The Deputy-Prime-Minister, Carmel Sepuloni, did not get Seymour’s joke. Or, if she got it, she didn’t like it: “David Seymour’s remarks are in line with his history of race-baiting and creating divisions, particularly concerning Pasifika and Māori communities”. Clearly, nobody in Labour was laughing. The Greens, too, remained stony-faced: “Just a man who received donations from known white supremacists making a ‘joke’ about his fantasy to bomb brown people institutions” tweeted Golriz Ghahraman.
Here, at least, is the source of the dreary literalism inspiring the writer of RNZ’s news bulletin. A humorous historical reference to Guy Fawkes (who would have posed no threat at all to the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, given that he proved singularly incapable of blowing up the Palace of Westminster on 5 November 1605!) had somehow morphed into the unembellished claim that the leader of New Zealand’s third-largest political party, the man set to become New Zealand’s next Deputy-Prime-Minister, had entertained seriously the terroristic notion of blowing-up a building housing a government ministry and, presumably, everyone in it.
It is, of course, possible that RNZ is, all-unwittingly, harbouring yet another unauthorised “editor” of contentious news items going out under its name, and that the publicly-owned radio network is every bit as outraged at the suggestion that David Seymour has ideas about blowing things up as the 12-15 percent of New Zealanders telling the pollsters they intend giving Act their Party Vote on 14 October.
One can only speculate, however, about the number of New Zealanders who found it strange that a number of mainstream news media outlets had chosen to make a news-story out of the fact that two citizens had entered a government building with some stern questions for the staff about what they regarded as the outrageous expenditure of tens-of-thousands of dollars of public funds on a senior bureaucrat’s farewell function.
There was a time in this country’s history when citizens asking questions of public servants was an entirely unremarkable exercise of their civil rights. A time when, far from causing fear and alarm, the practice of holding bureaucrats to account was regarded as a pivotal feature of a properly functioning democracy. That the questions asked by these two citizens went unanswered, and that they were physically ejected from the building, is, surely, prima facie evidence that our democracy could do with a bit of a shake-up. Oops! Sorry. Some “refurbishment”.
Similar thoughts arise from the fact that it required some heavy-duty interventions from a number of prominent right-wing habitués of social-media to nip in the bud the thoroughly disinformative narrative that placed the “disruptive” individuals at the Ministry of Pacific Peoples after (therefore because of) David Seymour’s remarks on Newstalk-ZB. The facts of the story, however, produce a timeline in which the “threatening” citizens arrive at the Ministry long before Seymour’s quip hit the airwaves.
A small story? A storm in a teacup? Unworthy of all these words? Well, had I not read those signs at Mercer, I might agree. We are, after all, less than two months away from a general election, and peak rough-and-tumble is still weeks away. But, I did read those signs, and they disturbed me.
The point I’m labouring to make is that grown-up politicians are assumed to be capable of differentiating a rhetorical quip dressed-up in Jacobean finery, from an Al Qaeda To-Do list. And so are professional political journalists. The claim that David Seymour spoke seriously about blowing-up the Ministry of Pacific Peoples is, quite simply, a lie; and references to “race-baiting”, and bombing “brown people institutions”, advance the dial well beyond “rough-and-tumble”.
The practice of New Zealand politics, and the reporting of it, has changed – and the voters have noticed. Many more citizens than the major parties appear willing to acknowledge are furious about the changes the political class continues to impose upon them. Nor do they appreciate being gas-lit by politicians, bureaucrats, and journalists who clearly consider themselves a cut above the average voter.
Rhetorically-speaking, an increasing number of citizens would be quite happy to see someone put a bomb under a system they no longer trust. Which is why, heading into this election, nothing is more important than for New Zealand’s political and media leaders to do everything within their power to regain the public’s trust.
Otherwise someone, somewhere, will start hanging signs that everybody can read.
*Chris Trotter has been writing and commenting professionally about New Zealand politics for more than 30 years. He writes a weekly column for interest.co.nz. His work may also be found at http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com.
77 Comments
Trust in news media is declining massively and rapidly.
http://horizonresearch.co.nz/attachments/docs/trust-in-news-report-2023…
this 'article' is a good example why, trotter may have years of experience, but he has forgotten the basics; journalism in three simple points 1. say what you're going to say 2. fluff it up, and 3. recap what you said.
He appears to know this too, looking at one of the last paragraphs that leads with 'the point I'm labouring to make'.. you shouldn't have to labour to make your point trotter.
I may be in the minority here, but i believe our civil servants have an obligation to be better than average, not equal to or less than average. With this being said, old crack eyes seymour should not even jest about blowing something up and trotter should be holding him to a higher standard than he clearly is as he himself outlines in the earlier paragraphs in this article.
I’d have to say Chris makes a fair and accurate point, as it can easily be argued that of the media didn’t over-sensationalise minor things such as Seymours quip then we would have less of this attention-grabbing clickbait media and more accountability for those who are supposed to be leading us. That and maybe, just maybe more people will discover or remember what a sense of humour is.
The way these things play out, as whites' share of the population drops below 50% or so (i.e. the voting majority), there's an increased likelihood of a white led civil war.
Unfortunately the Anglo dominated world is in a sunset period of a centuries long period of dominance. I'm not sure how that gets effectively managed with an increasingly disenfranchised/marginalised white populace who took their collective prosperity as a given, and will turn increasingly towards populism.
Certainly interesting watching it unfold.
What are you going to be fighting for out of curiosity?
The Anglo dominated world is definitely under some sort of pressure, you need look no further than the UK and they have had a centre right party for 13 years. Maybe it's some sort of payback for sailing around the world colonising countries and stripping out their resources?
What most working class whites fail to appreciate is that it's not brown people attacking them, it's their own "elites".
What are you going to be fighting for out of curiosity?
You hit it with this
What most working class whites fail to appreciate is that it's not brown people attacking them, it's their own "elites".
The commercial interests that control much of the world are mostly white, but white minions are about as dispensible to them as any other flavour minion.
It's in commercial interests to fuel and foster a race war.
If only we could vote for a competent one, colour etc aside. This election and the term forthcoming has aa prime chance for politicians to restore the country’s faith in it, and make hard decisions for the betterment of all, not just some. Even if they are just in it for the power trip and seniority complex, surely someone will be able to make a name for themselves.
Unfortunately if we find ourselves with a lapdog government(of any stripe) we will also find our children(no matter what colour they may exhibit) running military drills and dying to defend US hegemony, while demolishing the NZ economy for generations to come. That's what we should all be concerned about, not the culture war BS the media and political classes keep drumming up to distract us.
You got it TK.
The ruling elites of all shades, need lessons in respecting the average joe.
Oliver A has it too:
Do we really live in a brown/black vs white country? Many long term New Zealanders have multi racial extended families. It would be a messy civil war if I had to take on my Samoan and Māori family members (on my wife’s side of the whanau) due to my white skin. This is fear mongering. In North Waikato and South Auckland we all get on quite well. We are more likely to go fishing or have a beer together than start a war.
Whatever we are should simply be good enough. New Zealand is great at being New Zealand. It’s when New Zealanders try to imitate or become over responsive to trends, pressures and influences from other directions, grandstanding and on, that things start to grate, There is nothing more rewarding or pleasing than just being amongst people enjoying themselves as themselves.
I grew up in West Auckland and as a kid I thought racial harmony was pretty good. My white family has their heritage in the far north and Maori is part of our family. I also recently lived in the Bay of Islands for a few years.
Over the years I've become aware that there is still racism in my family, there is still an obvious racial divide in many areas.
Racism was built into The Doctrine of Discovery that ordered the colonisation of so called 'undiscovered' lands. The fact that we still use the word race to label people implies a desired divide. There still seems a long way to go before we are able to view each other as one human family, as brothers and sisters, to encourage and empower each other as we do with our nuclear friends and family. And by extension we need to view our natural world the same way.
I believe it's only through this unity that we have hope of influencing any radical change in our current operating systems, and future direction of people and planet.
And the sad things about that is, the enmity shown at even a hint of making an attempt to reduce the gaps. In the end it all comes down to the culture war's indoctrination of a scarcity mentality. There are plenty of resources to go around, but those with the capacity to share, absolutely refuse to.
If you are a working class white guy, the society offers you nothing and actively attacks you. You owe it no loyalty. It is ruled over by money power who has decided to elect a new population to fill shitbox houses and consume buffalo wild wings. I would compare it to being a Turk under the Ottoman empire.
If this theory held weight, your average working class white guy wouldn't still be better off than most other working class guys of other flavours.
It's obviously less of an advantage being white than it used to be. When the crown needed a willing settler population they could easily manage due to cultural proximity.
I'm in agreeance with you. This is the natural consequence of a globalised workforce; those workers previously of higher value have seen their relative position deteriorate, whilst those worse off have received improved incomes/living standards.
Silly types will misconstrue this as some sort of race based thing.
The good news is working class whites have a massive language and local knowledge advantage to remain competetive. Just don't do a role literally anyone can be slotted into with minimal training or experience.
And the "flow" isn't even necessarily inbound labour. Most of the lost value is occuring overseas.
The west basically eats itself, domestically it's striving for higher conditions and standards, which gets overlooked while things get outsourced.
We do like the cheap stuff tho
We did the first thing for a long time and it almost made us broke.
Industrialisation allowed for a massive amount of internal growth, spurred by the new technologies and methods of production. That only has so much of a shelf life as economies mature, hence the shift towards globalisation. The rub is that included in the pitch was someone else would do the manufacturing, and us in the west would move onto more valuable, more fulfilling work. Turns out, that wasn't possible across the board.
Does it reverse? Unlikely, unless the very nature of how a domestic economy operates changes - which would result in significant intellectual and capital flight.
No. Whilst labour supply is an issue it's not the cause. It's a nice narrative to blind and keep the divide and conquer MO rampant amongst the 'lower' classes.
It keeps the majority fighting and competing against each other for riches and basic necessities. Meanwhile more and more 'money' and power îs concentrated in the hands of a few and not the many.
Rentier and finance capitalism, the inflation of 'asset' prices and associated debt creation to fund this is the true cause of your deflated purchasing power.
When you need more tokens and more debt for a home that's not a sign of wealth, that's a collective poverty of values.
Well that is the class system. Still alive and kicking too. Born out of feudalism. Aristocracy down to serfs. That was still largely in place in Russia until 1917 & it was really only WW1 in the UK that shook out the embedded nature of it. Yep in its own field, superiority of class is little different in either application or outcome to racism.
Yes WH. Now to keep wages low and profits high and rising we import cheap, mostly brown, labour. To keep everyone in line with this we put in place norms where to question it becomes racist. It's the business owners dominant strategy - grow profits and keep the whites in tow.
Yes, Wholefoods in the US uses heatmaps to ensure there is enough diversity in each store because it lowers the cohesion and functionality of Unions. Racial diversity causes ethnic conflict, to the benefits of the owners of capital. No different to the coolie labour of the 19th century.
"Whole Foods' heat map says lower rates of racial diversity increase unionization risks
The second group of metrics in the scoring system, called store risks, aren't a direct cause of risk "but can predispose a store to risk," according to documents.
Store-risk metrics include average store compensation, average total store sales, and a "diversity index" that represents the racial and ethnic diversity of every store. Stores at higher risk of unionizing have lower diversity and lower employee compensation, as well as higher total store sales and higher rates of workers' compensation claims, according to the documents."
'Here, at least, is the source of the dreary literalism inspiring the writer of RNZ’s news bulletin'
The problem is that our mainstream narrative - that we in the West/Global North are superior, pure as the driven snow and on the right path - is coming up against evidence that it is invalid (see the Mike Joy article here currently).
The widening gap between truth/fact, and our traditional narrative, is being filled by people's 'explanations'. Most are wrong, via ignorance. That isn't helped by the media, indeed they too are part of the divergence.
RNZ has attempted the traverse by going down the woke rabbit-hole. RIP.
The big problem here is that it is becoming increasingly apparent that Governments as organisations and individuals have favoured the rich and powerful over the ordinary people for at least the last 40 years, all the while making sure their own incomes and privileges grow and are untouchable. The evidence is obvious for everyone.
In the early 80's homelessness was an unconscionable outcome for any one. Today is is a fact of life. Politicians who argue that the cost of housing is a crisis at the beginning of their term and consider it not an issue at the end, without having done a single thing about it. Everything is connected in society and the cost of housing is just one symptom in an increasing malaise that is driving NZ into the poor house. The police are talking about in the 90's drug seizures were in the tens of kg, but today they are in the hundreds of kg. Why then are so many having to turn to drugs to feel better about themselves? We don't ever seem to ask this question. Perhaps it is because the we already know the answer will be unpalatable?
So yes the Government lies, and the lies need to stop. But in the end any political leader should consider his words carefully, and no matter how apparently clear it is that he is joking, should understand that there is certain to be someone out there who will take it seriously and act on it. Seymour was stupid.
Well said. Housing has become an object of speculation and banking profit and bonuses, all at the expense of the rest of society. Especially the lower end. Yes global for tides of money has underpinned this but really highlights the lack of tax in this area, benefiting the few at the expense of the many. What to do....vote for change in taxation, or buy some Aussie banking shares.
Election time. Make your mark.
Agree. Well said.
And the urgency of addressing this injustice in such a basic commodity as shelter is simply not there.
What other commercial sector remains unregulated and at the same time subsidized by the taxpayer? It would be like a grocery industry able to sell expired and tainted foodstuffs - all the while being paid to do so by the very citizens it was poisoning.
Yes. The public are angry about the self serving government apparatus. Because sense does not seem to have any effect on it.
I really like Seymour's proposal of the "Stop Notice". Some things just need to stop. Like Pacific affairs. Just stop, stop now, go away.
And a raft of googy things that emerge from MBIE. Wellbeing. A group I work with got $2.5 million and we're planning to give Christmas hampers to old people.
I asked for clarity. "Am I getting one or am I delivering them?". I think the right answer was both.
Gouging the taxpayer for no use at all.
Should be worth another ?% for ACT
Sir Bob calls ACT = Labour vote at the election https://nopunchespulled.com/2023/08/16/my-poll-prediction/
https://nopunchespulled.com/2023/08/16/the-election-3/
I had a coffee with some local lads on Saturday, and we got to talking about politics, as one does near an election. These two kiwi's had lived in the area for much longer than me (a new arrival to the BOP). They were lamenting about the amount of waste evident within Government, and that NZ would be a nice place if that money was distributed around the regions for the local communities to fix their own local problems, as the locals know whats best for their regions. It appeared to them that central control was gobbling up money that should be spent more efficiently and effectively, and the "fat cat's" in Wellington had their long noses in the trough for too long. So I asked who they usually voted for a centre-left or a centre-right party, centre-left was the 2 answers I received. So I asked why centre-left, and the answer that this is what they believed was best for them because of the social media information they viewed. When I pointed out that the centre-right was more suited to their respective views and why, they were incredulous. Then I asked if they had heard of TOP, and they talked about cats, so I recommended that they actually studied the various policies of different parties and why, and not believe all the read off their favourite social media outlets. They were astounded about some of TOP's policies, and thought they were excellent and fitted with there needs and values better. A very interesting time for all of us. I learnt that the press in New Zealand is not as even handed as we had many years ago and that is to the detriment of all New Zealander's not just for a pakeha but for two Maori.
Great job, you’ve done a service by helping others make a more educated vote, and hence allowing those two to execute a more accurate representation of their vision for NZ democratically. Everyone take heed and educate as many people as you can . It is an important election as ever, and we need everyone to think before they vote.
If TOP changed their policies from a land value tax to properly regulating the banks (along the lines they were pre 1984) the I too would likely consider voting for them. But as i understand them, they too are just too wedded to the 'free market' myth as everyone else.
David Seymour is well known for his off the cuff remarks. He likes to keep things simple. My favourite quote of his; paraphrased, said that everyone should download the Treaty of Waitangi, it is only one and a half pages. He also said that he doesn't mind all sorts of political stuff going on, as long as it doesn't get in the road of a " vibrant liberal democracy". I quote that one a fair bit.
I've been to a couple of David Seymour talks (not official ACT events, but more where he was the guest speaker e.g. at a business breakfast talking from an ACT perspective).
He cracks jokes at everybody's expense; he rips into himself, his party, National, Labour, the people hosting him at the event at their expense - you name it everybody seems to be fair game.
Last one I attended there was a table of clearly 65+ attendees (rest of the room was 30s-50s) and he made some quip about euthanasia and freeing up table space at their expense, which everybody seemed to laugh at including those who were the butt of the joke.
He also made some joke about calling one of the TV news reporters (can't remember which one) "a hoe" in a play on words following his Waitangi speech in Te Reo.
One audience member asked a really tin-foil-hat question about whether all the MPs were in on some NWO conspiracy with Covid, and he replied they are all too dumb (himself included) to be capable of engaging in such a conspiracy.
I can completely see why some people would take offence to his Guy Fawkes remark. At the same time, having heard him speak off the cuff on two separate occasions, I can also believe it when he says he meant it as a clear joke.
As Chris Trotter says, the more concerning aspect is the immediate attempt to link the two randoms asking questions of the Ministry staff with Seymour's remark, despite there being no evidence of a relationship.
Over the last few years "the racists out there" are clearly in Labour, Greens & TPM.
Seymours jibe is certainly no worse that Maori MP Hone Harawira saying he wouldn't want his daughters to date Pakeha "I don't want my daughters bringing h... | Items | National Library of New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand (natlib.govt.nz)
Edit: Tom Scotts 2010 cartoon in the link would never be published by any NZ MSM today - why is that ?
Maybe he is just using a metaphor?
Honestly the butthurt and pearl clutching from leftists is completely unbelievable. Leftist and shitlib media spent all of the local council elections last years screaming about the wrongthinking public, doxxing people and using their power to intimidate and threaten them. Now they cry that others strike back? Fuck off, I have no sympathy.
The last dox I remember is the National government outing Winston Peters private superannuation details. I think that is partly what got them kicked out of government last time.
Is he just using a metaphor, or is he striking back by using dog whistling extremist ideology? Emboldening people who post like the above, with a lot of inflammatory language and anger but no substance?
It sounds like coping and seething from you. Why are people not allowed to be angry with their state which has failed them? The steady course of centrist moderates has resulted in the present misery. Why are we not allowed to be enraged about it? What is not substantial about the comments?
The accusation of vapidity falls flat in the face of any reflection.
David Seymour was ‘dog whistling’ - saying something that can later be waved away (it was just a joke, I did not mean it in that way etc). He is letting racists out there know that he is really on their side and they should vote ACT.
This makes no sense, Seymour has *explicitly* expressed his desire to dismantle the Ministry of Pacific Peoples. There's nothing coded about his messaging here, he's not shy about it.
The phrase "dog whistle" now belongs in the same bin as "gaslighting", overused to the point of meaninglessness.
This article is bang on. The government and media have a lot to answer for. They did the same thing with the Posey Parker visit. Incited the violence, and then pretended like they had nothing to do with it. It seems to me that all throughout the covid period it was the government and media who were the greatest sources of misinformation and propaganda. Now they’re upset that everyone’s listening to the Platform, Reality Check Radio, NZDSOS, and VFF, or basically anyone but the government’s mouthpieces. How has the MSM become so corrupted? Is it simply because of the public interest journalism fund? or do we have a more serious problem in that these organisations have internally promoted woke Marxist ideologues into positions of power? The new government is going to have a hard time fixing this.
"It seems to me that all throughout the covid period it was the government and media who were the greatest sources of misinformation and propaganda."
You started off ok.
"How has the MSM become so corrupted?"
Because they've become profit driven corporate giants and sucked into the social media, clickbait, divide and conquer model rather than objective truth seekers/tellers.
"or do we have a more serious problem in that these organisations have internally promoted woke Marxist ideologues into positions of power?"
Sounds like someone's fallen into the 'woke' rabbit hole narrative being pushed by various elements of MSM and social media.
Perhaps what they were trying to say from the last piece about woke ideologies is that the recent cultural shift in government organisations and likely the media organisations also, is swaying further away from a meritocracy and instead putting excessive value on other factors, resulting in more people being hired or promoted that are not the best person for the job and slowly degrading the values and competency that said organisation is supposed to represent.
Hi meh. I do stand by criticism of woke ideology. You can see woke ideology everywhere from decolonialization/reindigenisation to the promotion of identity politics across multiple government departments. There are so many problems with woke ideology but let me focus on just one. One of the postmodern / woke core principals is the notion of relativism. That’s the idea that one’s worldview is a function of lived experience, and therefore disagreements on matters of morality or truth are unresolvable. Ostensibly, there can be no universal standards of truth or morality, and that all perspectives are equally valid. This relativistic stance undermines the foundation of critical thinking and open discourse and leads to totalitarianism. Also, the underlying premise that two people need to have common ground in order for a fruitful discussion to take place is, in itself, wrong. That idea was refuted in Poppers “The myth of the framework”. Jordan Peterson also has a lot to say about moral/truth relativism. It’s just one example. I could go on and on about it. "paradox of tolerance” for example. That's another observation from the great Karl Popper. A tolerant society can’t tolerate intolerance without undermining its own values. Similarly, if relativism leads to the acceptance of intolerant ideologies, then the very openness and tolerance of the society could be threatened.
David is right. Most of today's politicians are too dumb to actually do anything worthwhile, other than destroy what's taken centuries to build up. In fact, that is all the Left can do, destroy. Seymour is in the latest version of our David v Goliath battle that we have on our hands today. Not only are the politicians suspect, but their bureaucracy is bloated & incompetent, & in many places, deliberately so. It may never be unravelled.
Perhaps getting all public servants to reapply for their new job descriptions before Christmas might work. They certainly don't work, so it's worth trying something.
Reading these comments reminds me of the end of George Orwell's Animal Farm:
"An uproar of voices was coming from the farmhouse. They rushed back and looked through the window again. Yes, a violent quarrel was in progress. There were shoutings, bangings on the table, sharp suspicious glances, furious denials. The source of the trouble appeared to be that Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously.
Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
The blunt fact is that we can divide by ethnicity, gender or whatever, but that is not what drives and divides society. What does drive and divide society is the small group of people who are motivated above all else by a desire for wealth, power and wealth and power. They drive society because these are the people that make things happen in pursuit of these goals and they divide society for the same reason.
Modern democracy is a formalised exercise in harnessing and directing the energies of this group so that they do more good than harm to the rest of us. Deng Hsao Ping's Chinese system was not democratic, but it had the same aim until it was destroyed by Xi Jing Ping. Like fire, this group can be a good servant to humanity, but let them once escape from their containment vessel, and they rapidly become a very bad master.
There is no doubt that they have escaped containment in this country, and across most of the Anglosphere since 1985. For this reason the NZ House of Representatives here is now not in the least representative of the majority of society, who are not that interested in either wealth or power. It is instead entirely populated by members of this small group of power/money driven people. This small group is surrounded by a protective cloud of revolving door civil servants and lobbyists who are likewise members of this small but highly organised, interconnected and motivated group.
Public analysis of 'representation' in the House is focused on things that don't really matter, like race, gender and sexual orientation. This is not accidental. The primary failure of 'democracy' in this country is its progressive failure to contain this small group, which draws its membership from all races and genders within society - With the outcome that they are committing progressively more harm on the rest of us, while the good that they do diminishes relentlessly.
Let's be honest here, bar a couple of sprigs of social garnish you could not currently put a sweetie paper between the core economic policies of ACT and the Green Party. Both parties' policies will lead to the progressive impoverishment of the majority of the population of this country to an end point of complete destitution, and they represent an iron consensus within this currently unrepresentative House of Representatives.
For this reason, if an 'normal' European and a 'normal' Maori were to look in through the windows of power after voting in this election and saw the National/ACT led government of the day and Maori political/tribal interests negotiating their positions as 'their' representatives (to take but one example of many), they would both be witness to much the same scenario as that described by George Orwell above.
This might cause them to fall to arguing as to which one of them elected the pigs. They would be encouraged by their representatives to do this, as it is a distraction from the logical conclusion that it doesn't really mater who voted for which species if the practical outcome is the same.
Seems to be (belatedly) resonating with the apology today.
But the lack of trust underscored by the revelation today that the Government has been buying stories on One News and Stuff. Yes, paying to get the stories it wants inserted into these media organisations:
https://theplatform.kiwi/podcasts/episode/simeon-brown-reacts-to-mainst…
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