Libertarian Stuff
Ian Taylor with another self-obsessed moan about Jacinda.
Arise, libertarians above totalitarians
Our guide is the mighty invisible hand
Reject state controllers, collectors and patrollers
Our choices are better than government plans
Songwriter: Dominic Frisby.
This week, Prime Minister in waiting, Chris Hipkins, ventured into the centre-right heartland of Newstalk ZB and told them what he really thought.
No major surprises; it was what any thinking person would make of the biased bilge they broadcast, and yet the presenter had to put up a modicum of pretence, saying it was “a bit tough”.
NZME’s editorial stance is clear for all to see, I’ve mentioned it before: Labour = Bad, National = Good, Facts = irrelevant. Or as Chippy put it when the presenter asked why we don’t hear about ram raids any more:
“It’s cos your Tory owners at NZME have just decided not to put it on the front page any more. It’s still happening, it’s just NZME have decided that it’s not in the government’s best interests, and they do the National Party’s singing for them, so they’re not covering it as much any more.”
Bang on Chippy, meanwhile Stuff said - “hold my beer”.
While NZME openly backs National, seldom offering any criticism unless they want them to go harder, Stuff provides regular libertarian opinion pieces, far beyond anything centrist, unabashedly promoting quite extreme viewpoints from further to the right, with absolutely no left-wing pieces to provide balance. There’s a word for that, and it’s not “News”.
Damien Grant spouts his pure libertarianism, which appeals to perhaps 1% of the population. “That” one per cent.
The same number who used to vote for ACT when they consistently polled 1% and Seymour needed his shady Epsom deal to keep the smouldering embers of far-right dreams alive.
That’s before they found other voters by becoming the party of gun nuts or those who hate Māori getting anything, which saw their support grow many times over, albeit not based on their actual agenda.
This morning, Stuff carried an article from Ian Taylor. Both Stuff and NZME have been eager to deride Jacinda’s worldwide success over her book, so it was no trouble for Mr Taylor to revisit his me, me, me attitude of the time and confirm to everyone that despite a few reasonable articles since he remains a jerk, lacks empathy, the ability to see beyond himself, or to let go of a grudge caused by, to use the terminology of the time, Jacinda Derangement Syndrome.
Speaking of the latter period of Covid restrictions, Taylor said, “That was the moment I realised, this wasn’t leadership anymore. It was brand management.”
The self-centred arrogance is mind-blowing. If you recall, Mr Taylor wanted exemptions and failed to get them; he was required to do the same things as everyone else, and he thinks it was “Brand Management”?
I don’t want to cast aspersions on the man’s intellect, but that is just dumb.
If Labour were more concerned about their Brand than the health of New Zealanders, then they would’ve dropped restrictions earlier. They undoubtedly knew there was growing anger over restrictions, but erred on the side of health, obviously not what you’d do if you were worried about “Brand Management”.
“The brand that was so carefully nurtured at those 1:00 pm ‘single source of truth’ press conferences, reinforced internationally by features like your Vogue cover story, had matured into a global product, ready for sale,” said Taylor. I think your Derangement Syndrome is showing there, Ian, not to mention a bit of misogyny - does anyone think he would’ve written that about a male leader?
To me, Jacinda often looked exhausted during those health updates; you could see the pressure on her and the determination to look after people. The fact that Taylor’s take at the time was of someone preparing their image for sale says a lot more about a bitter, jealous man than it does about a great leader who was working her butt off.
It’s a nasty article that portrays a man who is ungrateful, arrogant, and still promoting views that were such a blight on our nation.
If I offered Ian one piece of advice, it would be to shut up already.
Your views are no more important than anyone else's, although Stuff sees fit to provide yours with a platform. Neither are they unique - we encounter them on social media all the time from people who are still filled with anger at our Jacinda.
Here are a few other comments:
Nina: “His ‘article’ is just a bitter rant, and what's disappointing is how it gives all the other bitter ranters the courage to come out of their holes and rant bitterly.”
Thanks, Stuff, I guess rekindling the worst of what we saw at the end of Jacinda’s time is fulfilling some sort of public good, although I’m buggered if I can see what it is.
Frances: “It’s disappointing to read that Ian supported Jacinda until she stopped making the decisions he wanted. Shouting from the sidelines instead of actively being part of the solution doesn’t help anyone. What has Ian Taylor actually done for NZ citizens unless it suited his own personal view?”
David: “An unnecessary piece of gutter sniping garbage written by a man who is obviously jealous of her success.”
Quite right, and I really liked the letter Blanche wrote in response:
“Dear Ian Taylor
This is a very easy letter to write to you.
I don’t know why you think you’re so special that your opinions matter so much that you have to broadcast them far and wide; or why you think that you could have run the country better than our caring Prime Minister and her team who were taking advice from medical experts to try and keep all of us safe.
Your opinions matter only to you, so keep your narcissism under wraps, jump in the lake three times, and come out twice!”
Taylor goes on to make comments about the waka of five million, which is ironic because he jumped out of that vessel the moment he decided he knew better than the scientists advising the government.
I had high hopes for Stuff when it became independent, but I find that it is increasingly becoming a less reliable source of information than the NZ Herald, which is quite an indictment and rather unimpressive if you consider the role of the media to extend beyond pushing messages that suit the government of the day.
With the NZ Herald centre-right, Stuff further to the right in libertarian territory, and both RNZ and TVNZ increasingly “showing balance” - blackmailed into portraying the government in a more positive light to avoid losing funding by ruffling the feathers of those in power - these are grim days for our media.
I don’t expect things to always be to my liking, but what is the point in having an ardent critic of the last government regurgitate his bile for all to see, other than to paint Labour and scientists in a bad light?
Shame on you Stuff, and for goodness sake Ian Taylor, could you piss off already?
Ngā mihi,
Nick.
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To end today, the Libertarian "National" Anthem.
Bugger! I wrote 'Epson' instead of 'Epsom' again. My apologies, corrected online.
Professional jealousy is so ugly, isn't it? Especially in little men who yearn for international fame and don't get it. So many of these jerks, seem to want to blame Jacinda alone, as if she made all the decisions out of single wilfulness instead of understanding that these decisions were made after qualified advice, cabinets meetings etc. The "single platform" of information was leadership. Leadership is something we don't really have right now, so maybe the whiners don't recognise it. It is very doubtful that Jacinda was thinking of the "brand" at a time of national crisis, or even thinking of an overseas career at the time. I think Ian, Mike and all the others are projecting their own pettiness onto someone they'll never understand.