Yes we sure do have many reasons to be cynical at this ‘government’ ! We also have many reasons why we shouldn’t trust them as far as we can throw them! We need also to be very cynical of the media playing lapdog to these fascist idiots and their neoliberal ideology!
Yes indeed Marilyn. Re the media TV1 'S replacement for Jessica Mutch who is now working for John Key-quelle surprise!!- Maiki Sherman certainly puts a positive spin on this government's activities. I guess she has to try to be neutral ,but she comes across as approving what they are getting up to. Except when it comes to Māori , and Act's proposals. She has been clear in her critiques of them.
I've been cynical about politics almost all my adult life - even about the politicians I liked because I know how the system works. But these nasties make me despair and worry about the future more than any government I've ever seen in power.
spoke to a left leaning friend yesterday who is leaving for Australia - he said he's never felt so embarrassed to be a New Zealander than in this political time - he said Australia is just as bad but at least he's not directly associated with it - tragic loss of another NZer.
I haven't quite settled to the cynical level yet! I am still astonished and incensed by the priorities, the decisions, the language, the abject callousness, the depth of ignorance, the smug certainty of the privileged right wing plonkers who have somehow taken control of our lovely country. Every day a new shock. Incandescent rage! But it is exhausting and futile ...
I am a raging cynic when it comes to this govt, and I admit I tried to be open minded initially. I went back into my cynics cave when they took more than a month to form a govt, and everything that followed has kept me there. Anyone not cynical right now is provable a RW voter.
What is cynical is Luxon's CEO speak, gained out of some cheap Management course, and practised selling deodorant. I know every line of that boss speak and call it out for the phony it is. And he's not even that good at it. Today, for your interest there is a confab of Tory leaders in Wellington, including luminaries like Lord Ashcroft, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Australian Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton; former Canadian Prime Minister and IDU Chairman, Stephen Harper; former Australian Prime Ministers John Howard and Scott Morrison. A horror show indeed.
Exactly. What the hell is"chunking" down? He's either using words that a teenager would use or talking in corporate gobbledygook. Drives me crazy. Is he trying to appear to be "hip"?
What were those marketing seminars of the 80/90's was it Dale Carnegie? 'I'm the one that you want' equivalent of Grease's song 🎵 for middle management..along with all the ra ta ta BS
Good piece Nick, a good subject to discuss/debate. Not cynical to question, something more people should do. If we get a logical answer, fair enough we can accept that. it is when we continually do not get logical answers, or indeed any answer, that's when I become very cynical.
I think you are a post-modern man -Skeptical of all metanarratives. (As I found in study some years ago.) I think it is a good thing not to be sucked in by any of the 'big storys' but to remain distanced and see what the evidence shows us. You may also be a bit cynical but then like me you've been through a few cycles of neoliberalism and seen the evidence of its true intent. ie line the pockets of the money men.
Nick, you feel sick because you've seen this behaviour before. The "anti-woke" blokes, the "take the austerity medicine and it will get better" 'the terrible outcomes of austerity rearing its head... no morphine for those dying in pain. Parents forced to get an over worked Drs certificate for their sick child, people forced to go to Chemist Warehouse to get free meds, which is the nemesis of the smaller Chemist shops. So it goes, fewer choices leading to higher prices paid by those who can ill afford it. One statement by Luxon was "we love those people, that's why we are doing it" That is "Love?" It made my stomach churn. This is "Work House" thinking, along with "Boot Camps" pandering to the empowered and cruel dressed in so called Biblical clothes. Keep telling it Nick.. it gives some balance to the propaganda and lies. Thanks for the well needed cynicism.
How can we not be cynical? The government actions so far seem to be less about 'doing and more about 'undoing' and cancellation, not to mention the sacking of people who are busy doing their jobs. The list of proposed actions is vague and illustrates the juggling going on to keep the minority parties on side.
If push comes to shove, I am probably even more cynical - possibly as a direct result of being older.
You're so correct on everything you've noted. The outright lies are the most galling. We are treated like idiots. To be told with a straight face that NACTFIRST are only interested in lowering the prevalence of tobacco usage, flies so directly in the face of their actions, it is infuriating.
I am definitely a cynic and I would put that down to learning that the years of conditioning designed to keep me in my place by so called authority figures has all been undone. Unfortunately it is also resulted in a lot of lost years.
Well said Nick. I’m a skeptic rather than a cynic and I think you might be too. I google the legitimacy of information before posting or passing it on, have been one hundred percent skeptical of anything claimed as truth by politicians of any stripe for all of my life, never more so than now. But not all politicians and wealthy people are wholly self-serving. They can even be kind and philanthropic.
I am however deeply cynical about the motives of this three-headed hydra of a government and its supporters because their words and actions stink of greed and privilege. They are the cynics with their negative attitudes to anyone ‘not like us’. Ditto the media, which I was once part of, for their transparent sycophancy before the last election and their ongoing love of sensationalism because it sells. It’s good to be sceptical, but I don’t think it’s good to lose one’s belief in the fundamental goodness of humans. Good deeds and helping hands are all around. We just don’t read/hear about them because that kind of journalism is dead.
You tell it exactly as it is, Nick! Bless you for being courageous - not many are!🍀
Thank you Judith - what a lovely thing to say. 😀
Yep! Well said Judith.
Yes we sure do have many reasons to be cynical at this ‘government’ ! We also have many reasons why we shouldn’t trust them as far as we can throw them! We need also to be very cynical of the media playing lapdog to these fascist idiots and their neoliberal ideology!
Yes indeed Marilyn. Re the media TV1 'S replacement for Jessica Mutch who is now working for John Key-quelle surprise!!- Maiki Sherman certainly puts a positive spin on this government's activities. I guess she has to try to be neutral ,but she comes across as approving what they are getting up to. Except when it comes to Māori , and Act's proposals. She has been clear in her critiques of them.
Hey Jacinda, let's chat about our fave albums! Oh, I don't recall Mike H saying that. Quelle surprise! I acknowledge that I am a cynic. Thanks Nick.
I've been cynical about politics almost all my adult life - even about the politicians I liked because I know how the system works. But these nasties make me despair and worry about the future more than any government I've ever seen in power.
spoke to a left leaning friend yesterday who is leaving for Australia - he said he's never felt so embarrassed to be a New Zealander than in this political time - he said Australia is just as bad but at least he's not directly associated with it - tragic loss of another NZer.
I haven't quite settled to the cynical level yet! I am still astonished and incensed by the priorities, the decisions, the language, the abject callousness, the depth of ignorance, the smug certainty of the privileged right wing plonkers who have somehow taken control of our lovely country. Every day a new shock. Incandescent rage! But it is exhausting and futile ...
I do wish I could edit out the random "he" above!
You should be able to click on the three little dots on the lower right of your original comment to edit it.
I tried that before but it only offered delete and hide! So this time it had edit, which I did - but it also deleted my "likes" and replies!
I am a raging cynic when it comes to this govt, and I admit I tried to be open minded initially. I went back into my cynics cave when they took more than a month to form a govt, and everything that followed has kept me there. Anyone not cynical right now is provable a RW voter.
..probably.....
What is cynical is Luxon's CEO speak, gained out of some cheap Management course, and practised selling deodorant. I know every line of that boss speak and call it out for the phony it is. And he's not even that good at it. Today, for your interest there is a confab of Tory leaders in Wellington, including luminaries like Lord Ashcroft, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Australian Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton; former Canadian Prime Minister and IDU Chairman, Stephen Harper; former Australian Prime Ministers John Howard and Scott Morrison. A horror show indeed.
Exactly. What the hell is"chunking" down? He's either using words that a teenager would use or talking in corporate gobbledygook. Drives me crazy. Is he trying to appear to be "hip"?
Absolute tosser
There's always chucking up.
What were those marketing seminars of the 80/90's was it Dale Carnegie? 'I'm the one that you want' equivalent of Grease's song 🎵 for middle management..along with all the ra ta ta BS
Good piece Nick, a good subject to discuss/debate. Not cynical to question, something more people should do. If we get a logical answer, fair enough we can accept that. it is when we continually do not get logical answers, or indeed any answer, that's when I become very cynical.
I think you are a post-modern man -Skeptical of all metanarratives. (As I found in study some years ago.) I think it is a good thing not to be sucked in by any of the 'big storys' but to remain distanced and see what the evidence shows us. You may also be a bit cynical but then like me you've been through a few cycles of neoliberalism and seen the evidence of its true intent. ie line the pockets of the money men.
Nick, you feel sick because you've seen this behaviour before. The "anti-woke" blokes, the "take the austerity medicine and it will get better" 'the terrible outcomes of austerity rearing its head... no morphine for those dying in pain. Parents forced to get an over worked Drs certificate for their sick child, people forced to go to Chemist Warehouse to get free meds, which is the nemesis of the smaller Chemist shops. So it goes, fewer choices leading to higher prices paid by those who can ill afford it. One statement by Luxon was "we love those people, that's why we are doing it" That is "Love?" It made my stomach churn. This is "Work House" thinking, along with "Boot Camps" pandering to the empowered and cruel dressed in so called Biblical clothes. Keep telling it Nick.. it gives some balance to the propaganda and lies. Thanks for the well needed cynicism.
How can we not be cynical? The government actions so far seem to be less about 'doing and more about 'undoing' and cancellation, not to mention the sacking of people who are busy doing their jobs. The list of proposed actions is vague and illustrates the juggling going on to keep the minority parties on side.
About now I throw each & every possible hope I had in the fking air ...what's the point it's all too damn disheartening 😫🥹
If push comes to shove, I am probably even more cynical - possibly as a direct result of being older.
You're so correct on everything you've noted. The outright lies are the most galling. We are treated like idiots. To be told with a straight face that NACTFIRST are only interested in lowering the prevalence of tobacco usage, flies so directly in the face of their actions, it is infuriating.
I am definitely a cynic and I would put that down to learning that the years of conditioning designed to keep me in my place by so called authority figures has all been undone. Unfortunately it is also resulted in a lot of lost years.
Well said Nick. I’m a skeptic rather than a cynic and I think you might be too. I google the legitimacy of information before posting or passing it on, have been one hundred percent skeptical of anything claimed as truth by politicians of any stripe for all of my life, never more so than now. But not all politicians and wealthy people are wholly self-serving. They can even be kind and philanthropic.
I am however deeply cynical about the motives of this three-headed hydra of a government and its supporters because their words and actions stink of greed and privilege. They are the cynics with their negative attitudes to anyone ‘not like us’. Ditto the media, which I was once part of, for their transparent sycophancy before the last election and their ongoing love of sensationalism because it sells. It’s good to be sceptical, but I don’t think it’s good to lose one’s belief in the fundamental goodness of humans. Good deeds and helping hands are all around. We just don’t read/hear about them because that kind of journalism is dead.