Words of Outrage or Outrageous Action?

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, December 24th, 2020 - 30 comments
Categories: activism, articles, boycott, campaigning, crosby textor, internet, journalism, Media, newspapers, radio, surveillance, tv - Tags: , ,

Another moron said something outrageous again and gets away with it (almost) scot-free. I’m seething with anger and I need want to do something about it, about my anger that is. I go on-line and vent my spleen. It makes me feel better. Others join in and agree with me, which makes me feel good. Some disagree with us, which makes me feel exhilarated because I can take out all my frustrations on them. Life is good.

It changes nothing.

I know a little bit about how it works. Shock-jocks do it all the time. Politicians and political strategists do it too, very effectively, with powerful metaphors such as dead cat or shock therapy. It works because it is a zero-sum game, i.e. the 24-hour news cycle is fiercely competitive and we have short attention spans and little precious time. The longer I stay on a site, the better – the longer I spend in a supermarket filling my trolley with their ‘specials’, the better because I won’t be spending my money (soon to be theirs) elsewhere at the same time unless I do on-line shopping whilst being in the supermarket doing the groceries, but whoever does that?

My opinion can be as fickle and fleeting as my attention. I would hate being a shock-jock knowing that nothing I say has any real meaning or sustainability, i.e. the unbearable emptiness and hopelessness of communicating meaningless virtual BS. However, I dislike them enough to want to rage against them, in vain, so that I can convince myself that my own existence is more meaningful, in vain.

A favourite pass time is pulling highly visible and successful people down from their high horses. Tall-poppy syndrome is in many of us, I believe, and who doesn’t know the feeling of Schadenfreude? When people are not actually on a high horse, some like to put them there anyway so they can pull them down with a thud, similar to erecting a strawman and setting fire to it. In this post-modern world, it is all about feelz.

We tend to be too quick to judge and in the public eye people can go from hero to zero in 2 seconds flat. Take our revered PM, who was nominated for a Nobel Prize and lauded for the country’s effective handling of the pandemic, for which she was rewarded in the Election with an absolute majority, under MMP! The new Government was sworn in on 6 November, less than seven weeks ago, but already people call her ‘Blair in high heels’, which sounds to me a little inaccurate, unfair, premature, impatient, and puerile – stuff one would expect from certain shock-jocks.

Another recent example of supersonically fast judgement and execution was the criticism faced by scientist extraordinaire Dr John Ioannidis. He dared to speak up, as scientist and from a scientist’s point of view, and he copped criticism and worse for that. How much of that was justified or warranted, from a science point of view, is beyond the scope of this post but suffice to say, he got a short and sharp trial by public opinion and media.

But I digress, as usual.

I think an effective way of dealing with people or ideas that we dislike or disapprove of is to ignore them. Don’t give them oxygen by repeating and spreading their words, e.g. by linking. Don’t give them your time and attention, make the as irrelevant as possible and send them to oblivion. Give them the tree-in-the-silent-forest treatment.

By raging against our antagonists we amplify their voice, we extend their reach, we do their bidding, for free. I have a habit when I click on a headline and find that the piece is written by somebody who I often don’t find worthy of my time, based on past experiences, to straightaway go back to the previous page in my browser. To really show my disapproval, I could immediately exit the site altogether. Sites that rely on advertising make extensive use of analytics tools to monitor statistics such as page views, bounce rate, and exit rate, for example. Imagine if many readers would exit the site when they land on moron X’s article and keep this up for some time.

Our on-line behaviour is constantly monitored, something that now also seems to happen in real-life such as in some shops with facial recognition technology, our on-line behaviour has a carbon footprint, which we can make smaller or larger, so why not try use it to influence on-line content?

Go and make a cup of tea or coffee, talk to other members of your household if you have any – I mean, actually talk to them – water the plants, check the mail in the mail-box, while there still is snail mail and NZ Post, and talk to your neighbours, kick the cat (I don’t mean that!) or do a few stretches and breathing exercises. During the time that you spend off-line, short or long, you are not rewarding moron X and his employers with your time and attention and this will be registered in the site stats; remember that it is a zero-sum game, life is too short and precious.

Would it work? An action too outrageous? I have no idea, but what do I have to lose? The plants need watering and will love it, the cat won’t 😉

Merry Christmas to you all.

30 comments on “Words of Outrage or Outrageous Action? ”

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  1. I Feel Love 1
    24 December 2020 at 7:38 am

    Myself and some friends of mine have started to write and send each other letters instead of emailing and or texting. Of course we still text if we need to, but personally I got rid of Messenger, I quit FB ages ago, I leave phone at home as often as I can. Don't get me wrong, I love the technology, and use it often, but I see it sucking people's lives too.

  2. left_forward 2
    24 December 2020 at 7:57 am

    Thanks incognito, I really appreciate your thoughtful OP. It synchronises with what was on my mind this morning. I am often tempted to reply in these ‘anger release’ kind of ways… I am learning to breathe and in the end forgive. Finding peace and goodwill is an active thing to do – it is often more important than what otherwise would be reacted to.

  3. Pat 3
    24 December 2020 at 9:01 am

    And a happy new year

  4. Stuart Munro 4
    24 December 2020 at 9:27 am

    Well of course if anger is an internal matter, Thich Nhat Hanh has a book for that.

    But the commentary process, except under transformational leadership, is exception based. Rather than building an aspirational future for people (which is left to the market, considered ineffable under the neoliberal paradigm), the state develops inertia, and responds instead to pressure of public dissatisfaction.

    We have had indeed some very shoddy media practices from time to time, but the issues that outrage public sensibilities nevertheless indicate areas for government action.

    It is not coincidental that Stuff's first prediction for 2021 is that

    Facing serious pressure on housing prices, Labour will extend the Bright Line Test, arguing this doesn’t qualify as a new tax – just a new way to crack down on people avoiding paying their fair share.

    However determined the government may be to stick to their failed model, the precipitous decline in living standards for the lower third of New Zealanders is nothing to celebrate – and outcomes are well short of expectations for the soon to be half of New Zealanders, who, unless government does something, will never enjoy the basic freedom of owning their own home.

    The economic outlook for us is bleak, but it goes well beyond economics. One cannot plant a forest garden on one's landlord's property, or a pottery kiln or a shed for whatever hobby beguiles one's creative impulses. Life is constrained into ever smaller and tighter circles, as one is obliged to wait for the rogues who ravaged the economic logic of our country to repair it. So dreams are put on hold. And that creates simmering discontent.

    What happens to a dream deferred?

    Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

    Or fester like a sore — And then run?

    Does it stink like rotten meat?

    Or crust and sugar over — like a syrupy sweet?

    Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

    Or does it explode?

    ~ Langston Hughes

    • SPC 4.1
      24 December 2020 at 12:20 pm

      For mine the description of the government as Blairlite, is accurate, fair, timely and astute. Something to be expected from those aware of history and the consequence of incrementalism in management of an inequality crisis. Imagine if we had tried that approach in managing the pandemic?

      Of course the middle class appreciated the action to protect it, and it was thus without electoral cost. But that support is only retained if there is continuing government for the middle class – and thus inequality grows.

      Governing for the middle class was also the Rogernomics path and we know the consequence of that.

  5. Gabby 5
    24 December 2020 at 10:09 am

    I am also very good at giving advice that I don't follow.

  6. RedLogix 6
    24 December 2020 at 10:48 am

    The question of 'what to do about things that offend/outrage me' is linked to this post:

    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/02/21/littles-hate-speech-laws-will-destroy-this-government/

    • Lucy 6.1
      24 December 2020 at 11:06 am

      Had trouble reading Chris Trotter's piece – ever since he lined up with Don Brash I find that I have a level of contempt. If you consort with liars and rouges then you lose the argument before you open your mouth. There were lots of comments and again got bored scrolling through the Daily Blog tends to have many comments – especially on free speech that remind me of incel rantings. "Everyone is mean to us and we can't do and say whatever we want". They need to grow up and see that a society has rules that tend to protect the vulnerable

      • RedLogix 6.1.1
        24 December 2020 at 1:58 pm

        Rules are all very well, but the short answer is that the cost of implementing a 'MinTruth' is far, far greater than any harm caused by few otherwise marginal idiots on the sidelines.

        From Trotter's piece:

        And this, sadly, is the problem which the advocates of hate speech legislation all fail to appreciate. That people cannot be forced into abandoning their erroneous, hurtful and/or dangerous opinions. They can only be argued out of them.

        • barry 6.1.1.1
          24 December 2020 at 8:07 pm

          The problem is not those that would utter hate speech, they are largely a lost cause. It is the people that hear it, and are radicalised by it. It is not to sweep it under the carpet and pretend it doesn't exist, but recognise that it is harmful and discourage its dissemination.

          The vast majority of those claiming their right to spew vile hatred as "free speech" are the first to shout down (and worse) muslims and progressives that they disagree with.

          The Christchurch killer learned his twisted world view from listening to others. If we can stop the "others" then the next of "him" might not get radicalised. He is one of those "otherwise marginalised idiots" on the sidelines, and has inflicted considerable harm on a lot of people.

  7. Anne 7
    24 December 2020 at 10:55 am

    There's one kind of rage I will never overcome… nor do I want to. That is the rage one feels when injustices have occurred – injustices to individuals and injustices to groups.

    The abuse meted out to children in orphanages and other institutions which we are now hearing about is a case in point. The fact it went on for decades and those children [ex children] were never listened to is beyond "outrageous".

    NZers need to hang their heads in shame! And that includes me.

  8. Robert Guyton 8
    24 December 2020 at 10:55 am

    One approach is to jump in, boots and all then regret it afterwards, all the while bathing in the warm glow of familiarity; that is, doing stupid sh*t can feel good if you've always done it! It's akin to being a fly deep in the throat of a pitcher plant; sure, it's a hard climb out but for the moment, it smells so sweet!

  9. SPC 9
    24 December 2020 at 12:07 pm

    In an editorial on STAT published March 17, 2020, Ioannidis called the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic a "once-in-a-century evidence fiasco" and wrote that lockdowns were likely an overreaction to unreliable data.

    In March 2020, Ioannidis tried to organize a meeting at the White House where he and colleagues would caution President Donald Trump against "shutting down the country for [a] very long time and jeopardizing so many lives in doing this," according to a proposal he submitted. The meeting did not come to pass, but on March 28, after Trump said he wanted the country reopened by Easter, Ioannidis wrote to his colleagues, "I think our ideas have inflitrated [sic] the White House regardless".

    Ioannidis widely promoted a study of which he had been co-author,

    It asserted that Santa Clara County's number of infections was more than 50 times higher than the official count, putting the virus’s fatality rate as low as 0.1% to 0.2%. Ioannidis concluded from the study that the coronavirus is "not the apocalyptic problem we thought". The message found favor with right-wing media outlets, but the paper dismayed epidemiologists who said its testing was inaccurate and its methods were sloppy.

    Writing for Wired (magazine), David H. Freedman said that the Santa Clara study compromised Ioannidis' previously excellent reputation and meant that future generations of scientists may remember him as "the fringe scientist who pumped up a bad study that supported a crazy right-wing conspiracy theory in the middle of a massive health crisis." On May 11, the study's authors revised the study with new figures.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ioannidis

    How many dead Americans does it take to demonstrate that criticism of this academic was warranted?

    Where would we be if we took his counsel seriously back on March 17?

    • RedLogix 9.1
      24 December 2020 at 2:24 pm

      How many dead Americans does it take to demonstrate that criticism of this academic was warranted?

      Ioannidis was making the case that COVID is not another 1918 Flu, or Black Death. It's IFR rate is about 5 – 10 times worse than seasonal influenza, but it's a number that's very hard to pin down during the event. It's only afterward when all the data can be consistently accumulated and properly validated that a hard, finally agreed upon number will be available.

      The point of the OP is that science demands scrutiny. If we silence all voices who we disagree with, even ones that turn out to be incorrect, then the science process fails.

      The other aspect I deeply deplore is the mindless politicisation of the science. It was a disaster for climate science, and the same has proven true for COVID.

      Right now I'm still deeply troubled by many aspects of this disease event, far too much contradictory information, selective reporting and blatant agendas at work. There are still many unclear aspects to this disease that beg for deeper unbiased, honest investigation, but are being shouted down or labelled 'misinformation' if they deviate from the official ‘politically approved ‘narrative.

      Even something as simple as the obvious role that Vitamin D plays, is still not getting the traction it should be.

      • SPC 9.1.1
        24 December 2020 at 3:01 pm

        He was arguing against lockdowns and he was wrong. End of.

        He even boasted that Trump was doing what he recommended, we all know the result and how lucky we are that no one in our government took him seriously.

        What politicisation of the science, right wing denialism? Let the carbon burn and let it spread, as alternative and equally credible scientific thinking?

        Politically approved, you mean the Telegraph Tory crusade for freedom from lockdown until the human crisis of their winter finally silences them?

        Yes Vitamin D supplements as well as getting sleep, exercise and good diet are all good for the immune system – Vitamin D especially for those older and or non white. And a healthier immune system will reduce the risk of serious health consequences from infection. And its now known that use of aspirin will reduce the risk of clotting and do the same. Also zinc is good for the cell health and supplements can be useful for older people. And these are all fairly cheap.

        The problem is the inference made by the freedom from government right that we should wait for herd immunity (with or without vaccines) and people take personal responsibility for surviving infection (the public health policy equivalent of Randian philosophy).

        • RedLogix 9.1.1.1
          24 December 2020 at 3:26 pm

          He was arguing against lockdowns and he was wrong. End of.

          But that does not mean he should not have gotten the opportunity to make his case. Being 'wrong' in hindsight is not cause for abuse or silencing.

          Yes Vitamin D supplements as well as getting sleep, exercise and good diet are all good for the immune system – Vitamin D especially for those older and or non white. And a healthier immune system will reduce the risk of serious health consequences from infection.

          This 'second wave' in North America and Europe (and those are the nations where it's largely confined) are almost certainly because we've failed dismally to listen to the people who are telling us this. Why the fuck have govts everywhere completely failed to implement this incredibly low cost and low risk opportunity to reduce the death toll? Or is it more important to ensure maximum profits for the vaccine manufacturers?

          And why is it that poorer nations in the global south are actually doing relatively well at the moment? For example Argentina shows no sign of a second wave whatsoever, even when there is no containment as NZ has achieved.

          • SPC 9.1.1.1.1
            24 December 2020 at 3:43 pm

            Winter has come for those in the north. The second wave has nothing to do with whether people have been taking Vitamin D supplements or not, or receive them when infected with hospitalisation (they should test levels and give boosters to those with low levels when hospitalised of course).

            It's summer in the south at the moment. The flu season thing applies. When warmer there is more ventilation – this reduces spread and of course sunlight kills the virus.

            • RedLogix 9.1.1.1.1.1
              24 December 2020 at 4:02 pm

              Other factors around summer do count, like people tend to be outdoors more often, which experience now shows is a relatively low risk environment … but ultimately sunlight of course a major source of Vitamin D for the human body. But again, this obvious connection is now being deprecated as a 'fringe theory' and willfully ignored by medical authorities. And it's not the only one.

              Not all non-official ideas will of course be true, probably most will not be, but right now everything but the magical bloody vaccines is being ignored and censored as 'misinformation'.

              • Drowsy M. Kram …
                25 December 2020 at 2:00 am

                But again, this obvious connection is now being deprecated as a 'fringe theory' and willfully ignored by medical authorities.

                Not all non-official ideas will of course be true, probably most will not be, but right now everything but the magical bloody vaccines is being ignored and censored as ‘misinformation’.

                That's a really interesting opinion. Is there evidence to back it up? Seems to me that medical authorities are for the most part doing their bit to promote the benefits of vitamin D supplements – heck, even the esteemed Dr Fauci has not tried to conceal that he takes a vitamin D supplement.

                "There is good evidence that if you have a low vitamin D level, that you have more of a propensity to get infected when there are infections around," he said last fall. "Those data are pretty good data." Fauci has said he takes vitamin D and vitamin C supplements.

                However: "If you really want to keep your immune system working optimally, there are things that you do that are normal things: get a reasonable amount of sleep, get a good diet, try to avoid or alleviate severe stress, which we know can sometimes impact the immune system," said Fauci. "That is much more healthy living than giving yourself supplements of anything."

                And do everything you can to prevent getting – and spreading – COVID-19 in the first place: Wear a face mask, get tested if you think you have coronavirus, avoid crowds (and bars, and house parties), practice social distancing, only run essential errands, wash your hands regularly, disinfect frequently touched surfaces, and to get through this pandemic at your healthiest, don't miss these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.
                https://www.eatthis.com/vitamins-may-prevent-covid/
                [22 Dec. 2020]

                I take a multivitamin tablet once a day – probably unnecessary but it's a peace of mind thing. As for vitamin D supplements:

                There is not enough evidence that vitamin D supplements protect people against Covid-19, an expert panel says.

                Made up of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Public Health England and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, it said more research was needed.

                But everyone is still advised to take a daily supplement this winter to keep bones and muscles healthy.
                https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55333063 [18 Dec. 2020]

                Covid: Free Vitamin D pills for 2.5 million vulnerable in England
                https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55108613 [28 Nov. 2020]

                Vitamin D is is great for all sorts of things, but it's simply not as good as universal masks at preventing the (still increasing) spread of COVID-19 (21,667,626 "Currently Infected Patients"), and it's not as good a an effective vaccine when it comes to decreasing the severity of COVID-19 symptoms.

                I (still) think it makes sense to at least consider the consensus opinion of scientists and medical health experts; but what do I know?

                • RedLogix …
                  25 December 2020 at 2:38 am

                  Seems to me that medical authorities are for the most part doing their bit to promote the benefits of vitamin D supplements

                  I hadn't noticed.

                  This virus is going to be around for a good few years yet, and decent vaccine coverage is still likely to be later next year. This means that for most people there remains a good chance you will catch it. Quarantine isn't a magical, impermeable force field and even if one highly contagious variant gets loose in NZ it could be all on again.

                  So in the meantime a simple, cheap low risk vitamin, while it won't stop you catching it, is very likely to reduce the chance of a severe illness as a result. What exactly are you objecting to here?

                  • Drowsy M. Kram …
                    25 December 2020 at 8:29 am

                    Why is it that you hadn't (want to?) noticed, do you think?

                    There is not enough evidence that vitamin D supplements protect people against Covid-19, an expert panel says.

                    Made up of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Public Health England and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, it said more research was needed.

                    But everyone is still advised to take a daily supplement this winter to keep bones and muscles healthy.
                    https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55333063
                    [18 Dec. 2020]

                    Covid: Free Vitamin D pills for 2.5 million vulnerable in England
                    https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55108613
                    [28 Nov. 2020]

                    Can Diet Influence the COVID-19 Mortality Rate?
                    https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/512841

                    We know what works to minimise the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases – it's not rocket science, or brain surgery – and yet, sadly, the spread of COVID-19 remains stubbornly out of control in many countries inhabited by the "golden billion".

                    And, amazingly, there are a couple of apparently effective COVID-19 vaccines already being distributed to some of the most vulnerable citizens in those same countries. Over the next six months these vaccines should make a real difference to the chances of developing lethal symptoms from a COVID infection, and once immunisation rates are high enough the vaccines could have a real impact on the spread of coronavirus too.

                    But we're not out of the COVID woods yet, either here in NZ, or anywhere else. Stay the course – Stamp is out, keep is out.

                    We don't know how lucky we are – Merry Xmas smiley

                    • Dick Michaels …
                      25 December 2020 at 10:36 pm

                      You're giving a totally wrong impression of the coverage of vit D. To anyone who has been following this from the start, the media has hyped up a vaccine from day 1 as being the only focus and solution. I have not seen one news item in 2020 that discussed vitamins for covid.

      • Andre 9.1.2
        24 December 2020 at 3:58 pm

        Ioannidis copped extra swipes of the blowtorch because his study trying to determine the true rate of infection in the community was full of the junk science errors that he made his reputation shredding other people's work for having. Crap such as self-selected non-random sampling, not properly considering the effects of false positives were just the most egregious of these errors.

        What's worse, even at the time he was using the results of his study to try to poo-poo those arguing for stringent public health responses, the evidence already existed that his headline conclusion was false. At the time Ioannidis was asserting the infection fatality rate was likely 0.1% or less, New York City already had a population fatality rate above 0.1% (New York City population fatality rate from COVID is now just under 0.3%, and the way cases took off again in November suggest they were nowhere near herd immunity)

        When it comes to vitamin D, at this point all we have is a correlation between low vitamin D levels and higher likelihood of poor COVID outcomes. There have been clinical trials looking at administering vitamin D to infected people, most of which are ongoing. But the few that I've seen that have completed suggest there is no benefit to giving COVID patients vitamin D after they're in hospital. Haven't seen any results from trials of giving people vitamin D before covid exposure, but it's unlikely to cause harm.

        However, an opinion I've received third hand from a pulmonary intensive care doctor totally stretched to the absolute max in the US is that for covid patients, vitamin D levels are merely a marker of general health and lifestyle factors that correlate with covid outcomes, and that the vitamin D level itself isn't an important factor.

        • RedLogix 9.1.2.1
          24 December 2020 at 4:38 pm

          Low cost, low risk … just damn well do it and see if it helps.

          • Andre 9.1.2.1.1
            24 December 2020 at 4:44 pm

            And maybe give people a false sense of security that they're protected by something that might in fact be doing nothing. But because of that false sense of protection, maybe they don't bother with whatever other preventive actions they might have otherwise taken.

  10. barry 10
    24 December 2020 at 12:59 pm

    It is all very well to say that we should just ignore them and go an make a cup of tea, and in most cases we would be happier for it. Certainly adding to the noise doesn't help.

    However it is not true to say that the shock jocks and people like Ioannidis (or Billy TK) have no effect. People are influenced by them and they cost us big time. An obvious example is the Auckland August cluster. Some people involved didn't follow the health guidelines (because they were under bad influences) and the cluster grew and persisted resulting in 3 deaths and billions of dollars in cost to the economy.

    So it would be good to have the news media (including Twitter & Facebook, and talkback radio) stopping the propagation of lies, misinformation and disinformation. I know there are problems determining truth, but some of the lies are pretty obvious.

  11. Brendan 11
    24 December 2020 at 2:40 pm

    Nat voter here.

    Agree Agree Agree, sometimes saying nothing is the best option.

    A mate of mine's sports team got sponsorship from a brothel.

    There was outrage in the media.

    After everything blew over, the manager threw a party and invited the team – one of the guys actually went along.

    He had just gotten $20K of free publicity.

    Or may I quote Mr Slater, who remarked that you don't wrestle with pigs, because you get dirty and the pig enjoys it.

  12. Adrian Thornton 12
    24 December 2020 at 10:29 pm

    " The new Government was sworn in on 6 November, less than seven weeks ago, but already people call her ‘Blair in high heels’, which sounds to me a little inaccurate, unfair, premature, impatient, and puerile "

    Really?…

    Government kills off capital gains tax, won't happen on Jacinda Ardern's watch

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/government-kills-off-capital-gains-tax-wont-happen-on-jacinda-arderns-watch/PRAJYZ2BSONYAFTJI4HJ6JUS5A/

    Jacinda Ardern says 'sustained moderation' remains the Government's goal when it comes to house prices, as people 'expect' the value of their most valuable asset to keep rising

    https://www.interest.co.nz/property/108301/pm-jacinda-ardern-says-sustained-moderation-remains-governments-goal-when-it-comes

    6,000 Homeless In Motels A National Disgrace

    "It is a national disgrace that 6,000 Kiwis are being accommodated in motels, and a further 7,000 were in transitional housing, camping grounds, boarding houses, and other temporary accommodation.

    Another 31,000 are staying with others in a severely crowded dwelling.

    Even middle income earners are finding it difficult to afford an accessible and decent home with often 60 to 80 percent of household income going on paying the rent."

    Meanwhile…….

    Government surplus becomes largest in NZ history

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/government-surplus-becomes-largest-in-nz-history/NMCXTS4XI2RIEYPN7IZ4WWQ5WE/

    Living wage guarantee for RSE workers in border exemption

    But not for local orchard and farm workers!!!!!!! …under Ardern/Labour in New Zealand 2010…WTF.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/431752/living-wage-guarantee-for-rse-workers-in-border-exemption

    The truth about inequality in New Zealand

    "The wealthiest 20 per cent of households in New Zealand hold 70 per cent of the wealth, while the top 10 per cent hold half the wealth. At the other end of the household wealth spectrum, the bottom 40 per cent of households account for just 3 per cent of total wealth.

    …shows a steady increase in income inequality beginning in the 1980s and continuing into the early-2000s."

    And this is exactly the same neoliberal ideology that Ardern and Labour are inflicting on the country today,and will again tomorrow and for as long as they govern, just like every other neoliberal Labour and National government has done since 1984…so why the fuck wouldn't you be angry?

    I mean seriously Incognito, why would you write this piece? People should and have the right to feel rage and anger at what they feel has happened and is happening to our country, our towns and communities, fellow citizens and the planet, expressing that opinion in what ever form it takes is one of the things this forum is here for. Most people know (many only instinctively I think) that much of this damage has been brought about by the pursuance of a political concept that has lust for endless growth at any cost which is destroying and devouring our future and that of our children …so I say, so what if we get angry and rage on the internet here and there…personally I think there isn't enough rage by half….sure most of it is ineffectual at the moment…who cares? Let us rage, at least citizens are displaying some emotion and passion about something that isn’t fucking rugby or some other sport, which apparently in NZ is the only thing that you are allowed to yell about it….none of us can know who’s rage and anger could turn into the spark that ignites the flame of change that will come at some point…lets just hope it is the progressive Left change so desperately needed.

    Turn Labour Left!

  13. Adrian Thornton 13
    24 December 2020 at 11:07 pm

    But seeming its Christmas eve and all, let’s keep it positive for the kids and pets..so here is a little something for all you Labour supporters out there (just to prove good things happen under Liberalism too!), yep a little something that has been spawned out of the destroyed Southern States of the great USA during this disastrous neoliberal hegemonic epoch (but we won’t yell about it)…and very much like what liberalism has done to us, this tune rolls over you like some sort of unstoppable lahar, a force of nature if you will….I give you Weedeater…you can thank Milton Friedman for this creation …happy Christmas one and all!!!

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