London is burning.
Every time you turn on the news it looks more and more like the opening of some dystopian science fiction future.
Fires, floods, more and more extreme temperatures - and so what does our media do?
They have a second night in a row of attacking our climate change minister, and the co-leader of the Greens, because they found a couple of junior party members who had posted on Facebook that they want Che Guevara as leader instead, but obviously female, of colour, and preferably part of the rainbow community.
Can you imagine One News running multiple stories in the opening segment of the News having found comments from a couple of Young Nats saying “I’m not sure about Luxon, Crusher was cool” and declaring that meant the party was divided, the leader was under threat, and clearly they were dysfunctional. Wouldn’t happen in a million years – the person who chose to ran that steaming pile of dingo kidneys would be marched from the building.
No political party would want their effectiveness and cohesiveness judged based upon a couple of junior members making comments on Facebook. Young people say and do controversial things without considering the consequences, that is part of the joy of youth, it doesn’t mean those things should be broadcast as one of the lead items on the national news.
It is so absurd the only thing I can think of that makes sense is that they’re within a polling period and would love to see the Greens with a number closer to 5%, even if it is just a one off poll.
This would allow them to run the “Greens are on the precipice if you vote for them you might waste your vote - don’t risk it” line.
It is an imaginative strategy, not in terms of being new - they try the same thing every election cycle. But imaginative in the sense of - the climate change crisis is getting worse and is a clear threat to our quality of life as a species on this planet imagine focusing questions to the climate change minister on what a couple (two) of excited junior members wrote on Facebook at a time like this!
But no it’s that time again, about a year from when the election will be called, time to undermine the Greens with absurd questions about something so trivial and inconsequential that it would not even be mentioned if it was another party. You could almost set your clock by it, hmm perhaps your calendar.
It would be like finding a young Labour supporter posting angry messages on left wing pages about the Prime Minister because she briefly removed a mask for a photo and now all of a sudden she is a bad role model for our COVID response.
To push the narrative that Labour is therefore divided, it would be absurd to give the disgruntled posting of a junior supporter such weight as to imply it could end the leadership of the Prime Minister, but that is what has happened to James Shaw. Except his crime rather than briefly removing a mask for a photo is wearing trousers, the jacket sure, but mainly the trousers – the fiend!
Left right and centre people are not wearing masks, the leader of the opposition seems unable to wear one correctly at all, and we’re going to criticize the PM for taking hers off for a photo?
You can always find an angle to criticize someone no matter how minor or how unimportant. If we require 100% perfection in every regard all of the time we have predetermined failure.
Even Nicola Willis resisted the temptation to put the boot in to the PM when offered the opportunity on TV this morning, which I felt a degree of respect for until someone pointed out there were National MPs in the scandalous photo.
Launching disproportionate attacks is the sort of behavior we have seen from the likes of Chris Bishop through the pandemic. Absurd claims that made him look ridiculous time and again, fortunately for National there is no level of ridiculousness that Chris Bishop won’t stoop to.
His role as an elected MP is not to provide leadership or support in the time of a crisis it is to undermine the government as much as the media will allow him to do unchallenged.
Fortunately for Chris Bishop they are gagging for it, negativity sells and most people won’t stop to consider how absurd the basis for the headline is.
Such is our form of government that gaining power is more important than keeping people safe from a Pandemic, or saving the planet from burning down.
Then of course we have the absurd country VS city debate, which is stoked by the opposition. Rather than say the government is taking a hard, but necessary, line to address climate change National will say “Labour hates farmers!”
Which is an absurd message but it has been driven home again and again, like an enormous SUV after the local school run in Ponsonby.
Why can’t we have all parties come out and say:
· Country waterways are in a bad state and need to be sorted
· City waterways are in a bad state and need to be sorted
· Climate change is real and we have to take action
· Agricultural emissions are part of the problem and need to be dealt with.
· Farming is a hard job, most of them care deeply about the enviroment, just shut up and be nice to the farmers this is hard enough as it is.
Come on city folks repeat after me “farmers are our friends and they don’t marry their cousins. Usually, although living in small communities can provide different challenges”
And country folks, not all city folks are oat milk swilling vegan hipsters who look down at you. Some of them still eat eggs.
There you go, and then we can all come together and sing, “Parts of Christchurch smell like poo, our rivers look like Vindaloo, the cows keep burping not saying moo, and the All Blacks suck what will we do?”
Don’t worry hipsters; we’ll explain it later once you’ve gotten over the “all blacks suck” chant appearing in your Tik Tok. Yikes.
You are looking a little pale, here eat this raw steak – think of it as “imitation” imitation meat.
Or maybe just post on Facebook “This is all James Shaw’s fault”, you’ll feel much better – and besides what damage could it possibly do?
Point of order Mr.Stack - Bishop was not elected, he was dismissed by his electorate last time around and is only in Parliament and able to make a complete ass of himself on almost a daily basis courtesy of the List.
Maiki Sherman is a terrible reporter in my opinion. Where the government is concerned she always operates from a negative spin. I was just thinking yesterday while watching the 6 pm news on TV1 , that Simon Dallow(who I used to think had a brain )should request a more professional standard of what he has to read. The way it pans out we get a statement about -usually something the government has done, or proposed- then in the same breathe we get "BUT not everybody is happy" or "BUT the National Party say....". And so on- there is always a BUT, because let face it the current news media have to be seen to hold the government "to account" and they think they are doing so with their "BUTS".