tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post5468966589129779562..comments2024-03-29T17:12:19.648+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Outdated Views? Andrea Vance On Sean Plunket.Chris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-73153403205132813852021-09-30T16:19:00.274+13:002021-09-30T16:19:00.274+13:00Excellent article Chris.Excellent article Chris.Doug Longmirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12008729336442910333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-3762597225915865412021-09-29T22:08:47.291+13:002021-09-29T22:08:47.291+13:00here we have Paul Spoonley, Jacinda Ardern and Eri...here we have Paul Spoonley, Jacinda Ardern and Eric Kaufmann on National Populism.<br />To summarize approximately half of the population like order and stability over constant change. These people aren't "knuckles draggers" ("homos"). There's more to it than that. Eric K does a good essay on the sociology of wokeness. I don't understand the whole thing but I think that there is a sort of societal ecology whereby there cannot be an us without an other.<br />Some people hate people on the right - you might say that is the border when there is no border. People on the right see progressives as fools.<br />One of the predictors of support for Brexit and Trump is opinion on the death penalty. I believe in a death penalty, not so much for vengeance but it is a way of looking at the world - a price (set of conditions) for being a member of society.<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuQHrmkgHdQ&t=1411sJohn Hurleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-24366752869528068712021-09-25T22:39:25.936+12:002021-09-25T22:39:25.936+12:00I was shamerous about my expostulation here, since...I was shamerous about my expostulation here, since it was a regular ejaculation into every argument you present sans investigating. I appreciate our democratic Right. <br /><br />Your last few paragraphs are more difficult to digest. We social democrats now look down on those silly social causes that were involved in bringing the vile 84 govt to power. And the liberal plutocrats in America who refuse to reach out to the people to fight the ongoing coup for the Freemarket Right, which is to say the Democratic Party. I think a Bernie Sanders is a torpedo through the currents.<br /><br />A tribute to my mentor, Wally Hotton. He ran a garden centre, down the hill, where I worked, but he'd been the union boss at the Whirinaki Mill. He gave me the fabulous information Muldoon was more left wing than the new Labour Govt. I boggled, but he was right.<br /><br />Of course he messed up his personal life in his pursuance of our good. Like all the old socialists. And he was a ... hero, despite his wife's complaints.<br /><br /><br /><br /> sumsuchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133092096534660472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-84177474804291018162021-09-25T16:03:53.317+12:002021-09-25T16:03:53.317+12:00Tom Hunter 9.19 re USA and Class.
Paul Fussell di... Tom Hunter 9.19 re USA and Class.<br />Paul Fussell did some work on that. Here is a bright piece from The Atlantic on him.<br />https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/03/class-dismissed/307274/<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/<b>Class:_A_Guide_Through_the_American_Status_System</b>greywarblernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-75698870626083790962021-09-25T15:16:01.038+12:002021-09-25T15:16:01.038+12:00Kat I can't understand the lingo of the Rhythm...Kat I can't understand the lingo of the Rhythm Aces. Too down country - music good though.greywarblernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-53318222328115310552021-09-24T13:51:00.708+12:002021-09-24T13:51:00.708+12:00The PM is making a speech the the Friedrich Ebert ...The PM is making a speech the the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, she is talking about an end to oil and gas permits: "I don't want some leader in the future to have to deal with that when I'm long gone and having a wonderful time in the Mediterranean or somewhere" - Not Porirua then Jacinda?<br /><br />I scanned my fathers colour slides. One slide that intrigues me is Corinthic heading out Lyttelton Harbour.<br /><br />Back then 3 weeks or so to get to Britain and not long before that 8 hours by flying boat Sydney Auckland. When someone had been overseas (eg Peru) we all went down to the Fairton School for a slide viewing.<br /><br />I used to imagine what it would be like if we could go through a door and into any place on Earth, I don't think we would like to be on the receiving end of that though. The internet, rising middle classes in Asia and cheap air fares have given us the next best thing.<br /><br />What got me watching Jacinda was a short James Lyndsay video on Inclusion. I googled Jacinda + Inclusive. What you find is things like Film Commision Series on Inclusion in film and a black Iranian saying she doesn’t see herself depicted in culture and “down with colonialism”. The net result is the sort of advertising with one of each ethnic group. The aim is that any expression of people-hood that aren’t licorice all sorts is “hate”. Susan Devoy used to lecture on not assuming someone who looked Chinese wasn’t a New Zealander – we are supposed to assume the opposite or “New Zealander” doesn’t exist.<br /><br />I was thinking of life for women in the 1950's. Typically a tiny minority have all the say today. Arthur Grieve says life in Auckland was "boring" before mass migration. I don't think my mother was bored.<br /><br />Her father was a farmer - he wrote poetry like "The Stock Sale at Addington". I told a farmer about him and his farm at Church Bay. He replied: "can't have been a very good farm?". Yeah. that had occurred to me - a bit like the Beverly Hillbillies.<br /><br />Actually though his father was a sailor and goldminer and he went back to the Shetland Islands to bring back a wife. I think it was a continuation of that timeless Shetland lifestyle?<br /> https://www.facebook.com/groups/rememberingchristchurchnz/?multi_permalinks=1223564244825386<br />John Hurleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-62471680179053987632021-09-23T21:16:01.033+12:002021-09-23T21:16:01.033+12:00"Alright mate, what matters, climate change a..."Alright mate, what matters, climate change and nothing else."<br /><br />Sure you weren't studying comedy? CXHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07716356211635024878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-59713449140151959832021-09-22T22:19:59.399+12:002021-09-22T22:19:59.399+12:00Alright mate, what matters, climate change and not...Alright mate, what matters, climate change and nothing else. I read your article claiming lil old New Zealand couldn't do anything. Unlike WW ll we know what's coming up for certain. Even in ineffectual NZ we need a war govt NOW. As indeed we needed it in 1990.<br /><br />I realise you need to be paid in the present day.<br /><br />I've probably said this before, but I remember Sean's seriously dismissive view of my 36-year-old bare feet at the Newtown supermarket in Wellington. He couldn't digest it. He had major rightfulness in my opinion, but then again he's a shit. Like the other right wing prick from my generation. Sparkly teeth?<br /><br />Difficult to be a NZer really when you're a right winger. You see it most clearly in first generation immigrants. It's just not acceptable for them to disrespect our old social democracy.<br /><br />Funny thing , I was studying journalism when Sean stared at my feet with death rays. sumsuchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133092096534660472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-67651383733765698652021-09-22T20:40:36.757+12:002021-09-22T20:40:36.757+12:00Yes.
So what can our contributors here recommend...Yes.<br />So what can our contributors here recommend:<br />1. To dispossess and do away the middle and ruling classes ? <br />2. Or to strengthen the effort to guide and help the proletarians also to accept the <br /> discipline, responsibilities and risks of property ownership and "middle class values", through having them actually participate in that effort on the material level in the full knowledge, that for whatever reason, their efforts alone could not be adequate for many <br />of the poor ?<br />3. Or what else can you think of ?Jens Mederhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17304734497662325275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-63467450357187990602021-09-22T19:18:04.283+12:002021-09-22T19:18:04.283+12:00Brilliant! Your best writing Chris. The metro eli...Brilliant! Your best writing Chris. The metro elite will be beaten if we stand together. <br />Trev1https://www.blogger.com/profile/00271717267778957672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-61746243973102757472021-09-22T16:56:44.787+12:002021-09-22T16:56:44.787+12:00Vance's assertion, re the public interest jour...Vance's assertion, re the public interest journalism fund, that "that it acts at arm’s length from the government of the day, and has no control or input into how content is produced"<br />is clearly misleading at best. <br /><br />Regardless of any overt bias the fund has quite clear requirements from participating news organisations to toe the line on some specific and highly questionable and controversial government policies and proposals. The revolutionary proposals within and surrounding He Puapua in particular.<br /><br />Here's a good look at the issue, minus the Vance fluff: https://democracyproject.nz/2021/09/14/graham-adams-the-double-edged-sword-of-the-55m-government-journalism-fund-cuts-deep/<br /><br /><br />"However, he suggested it was time for news organisations to consider refunding some or all of the “Covid-induced $55 million media support package” after record levels of government-funded advertising — “particularly around Covid-19 and the controversial Three Waters proposals” — had goosed their profits.<br /><br />Cotterill, a former CEO of ACP Magazines, pulled no punches: “If there is any risk that the media is skewing their representation of the performance of government, then we are indeed on shaky ground. In fact I suggest that there is nothing quite as dangerous in any democracy as a media that is beholden to the government.”<br /><br />Extraordinarily, the column was followed by a statement titled “Proudly independent”, and signed by no fewer than eight senior Herald editors declaring their editorial independence was exercised “without fear or favour”.<br /><br />National will also be hoping that the Prime Minister will be obliged at some point to deny that her munificent handouts exert any influence on editorial coverage — which would flush the question right out into the open.<br /><br />In fact, she has already done that twice in Parliament but the public unfortunately wouldn’t have any idea about that because — surprise! — it wasn’t reported in the mainstream media, despite the significance of the topic to a democracy."<br /><br />"The section describing its goals recommends “actively promoting the principles of Partnership, Participation and Active Protection under Te Tiriti o Waitangi acknowledging Māori as a Te Tiriti partner“. And the first of the general eligibility criteria requires all applicants to show a “commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to Māori as a Te Tiriti partner”.<br /><br />To those who are deeply suspicious of these criteria being included, the fact that journalists rarely (if ever) mention the impending Three Water reforms handing 50 per cent control of the nation’s water to iwi is compelling evidence it is deliberately avoiding their most contentious aspect. Viewing the Treaty as a partnership is, of course, the basis for such a revolutionary policy.<br /><br />Their suspicions will be heightened after TVNZ’s Q&A on Sunday in which Jack Tame treated viewers to a soft-soap interview with Nanaia Mahuta about the reforms.<br /><br />In a 13-minute interview, Tame let the Local Government minister get away with a preposterous amount of flannel about the proposed centralised system to manage drinking, waste and storm water throughout the country."David Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04883628159193125307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-18000027957954783972021-09-22T15:05:40.538+12:002021-09-22T15:05:40.538+12:00Not often I agree wholeheartedly with you Chris bu...Not often I agree wholeheartedly with you Chris but this is one of those rare occasions.<br /><br />The unmadated changes you allude to are something to be resisted by those of all political persuasions.Gary Petersnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-84632638763972032742021-09-22T13:51:25.832+12:002021-09-22T13:51:25.832+12:00What does it achieve to spew an on-course of diatr...What does it achieve to spew an on-course of diatribe at the expense of someone's time? A whole generation of chest-beating is brought on by naval gazing when there are bigger things at play. For God's sake (if there is a god), bring it down so the average man/woman can digest all this rhetoric without throwing up. While everyone has an opinion, how many of them miss the mark, purely by adopting their own egotistical spin.<br />In this world of democratic misfortune and political correctness, the majority of hard-working people cannot be bothered. Everybody wants a cause, everyone wants to riot from inside their four walls, so give them the option, otherwise, you'll miss the mark every time.<br />Those that think that they are the elitists, who cares, there are enough tall poppies to go around for every kiwi in today's world. Good on Sean Plunkett for at least giving it a go, in preference to those on a corporate handout<br />Rex Ellacotthttps://www.rexellacott.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-50978855418979362192021-09-22T09:57:27.513+12:002021-09-22T09:57:27.513+12:00The media is awash with 'opinion' writers,...<br />The media is awash with 'opinion' writers, third rate commentators with low rent views.<br /><br />Here's a song for Andrea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX_FCOS4RzY<br />Katnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-16653519892492425622021-09-22T09:38:51.152+12:002021-09-22T09:38:51.152+12:00Christopher hits the nail squarely on the head:
A...Christopher hits the nail squarely on the head:<br /><br />A Woke establishment massively downplaying & obfuscating its own power, social status & glaring economic privilege while systematically scapegoating lower income ‘outgroups’ as their fall guys to do all the sacrificing & suffering. A total subversion of genuine Left principles by an affluent & fundamentally self-interested Professional New Middle Class masquerading as 'altruistic' by way of ostentatious moral posturing & various other flamboyant expressions of performative narcissism.swordfishnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-43871051657188156512021-09-22T09:19:04.598+12:002021-09-22T09:19:04.598+12:00Our superiors?
Two posts on that, the first from ...Our superiors?<br /><br />Two posts on that, the first from me, <a href="https://nominister.wordpress.com/2021/09/21/the-hunger-masks/" rel="nofollow">The Hunger Masks</a>, where I take a look at the recent mask mandates in the US and the rulers who breach them. The latest being the Emmy Awards but also San Francisco mayor, London Breed, caught having maskless fun at a Jazz club. One of her responses to this is as priceless as Vance's:<br /><i>“We don’t need the fun police to come in and micromanage and tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing,” she said during an interview, contending she was drinking at the time and started dancing because she was “feeling the spirit” and “wasn’t thinking about a mask,” according to reports.</i><br />Take that peasants!<br /><br />The other is from a superb American analyst, Angelo Codevilla, just killed in a car crash at age 78 yesterday. It's from 2010 and you could say that it predicted the rise of Trump: <a href="https://spectator.org/americas-ruling-class/" rel="nofollow">America's Ruling Class</a>. Ten years later he was <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/angelo-codevilla" rel="nofollow">interviewed about it</a> and responded to a question with this:<br /><i>I didn’t predict anything. I described a situation which had already come into existence. Namely, that the United States has developed a ruling class that sees itself as distinct from the raw masses of the rest of America. That the distinction that they saw, and which had come to exist, between these classes, comprised tastes and habits as well as ideas. Above all, that it had to do with the relative attachment, or lack thereof, of each of these classes to government.</i><br /><br />I think we have much the same here in NZ, and around the Western world.Tom Hunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17840988228699338463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-47228089567764595932021-09-22T08:16:59.635+12:002021-09-22T08:16:59.635+12:00Listening to John Michael Greer he echoed Chris...Listening to John Michael Greer he echoed Chris' comments. His contention was that the One percent and their enablers the professional middle class echo the aristocratic and ruling classes of the past.<br /><br />Greer noted that all ruling classes adopt a form of expressing their greater worth as "the good guys" through displays of morality. Think Victorian attitudes to sex (not that it stopped the ruling classes, the display of righteousness was for the prols).<br /><br />Going by that it is easy to deduce woke identity politics, as adopted by the 1% and PMC as a vehicle to lord it over the rest of us. Hence the denigration of the "deplorables", the labeling of any objection as "right wing reactionary". This is actually class warfare in which the lower class is totally unrepresented politically and in the media. Except by shock jocks whose employers ironically are ruling class. Nick Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12609312325425361413noreply@blogger.com