Seymour: Swastikas OK
But intimidating symbols have got to go.
Race hatred cannot stop us
This one thing we know
Your poll tax and Donald Trump
Greed has got to go!
You’re bound to lose
You fascists bound to lose.
Original Lyrics: Woody Guthrie
There are a lot of things this government doesn’t like. Te Reo - got to go, they said, it’s too confusing for our supporters; they’d have to learn new names for government departments.
You’ve got to wonder how these people manage life the rest of the time. “Congratulations on your recent nuptials, Mrs Brown”, they’d say to a workmate, “but you know the old noggin is all full up, so I’m going to keep calling you Miss White - you don’t mind, do you? Of course, you don’t; it’s easier that way.”
They don’t like gang patches or tattoos. Kindness and concern for the environment are well and truly out. Respite for carers—yeah, nah. They don’t like that either.
Free prescriptions - yuck, they’re the worst and smoke-free legislation - not bloody likely. As for public servants, off with their heads. A smaller public sector for a smaller-thinking, less-caring society - ahh, now that’s bliss.
Rules and regulations are out unless they’re for beneficiaries, of course. Worker’s rights? You can chuck them on the bonfire along with Three Waters, Co-Governance and attempts to ban guns.
There are so many things to get rid of. Eventually, they had to run out of steam - they can’t just oppose everything for the sake of it, although, to be fair, they did a pretty good imitation of it in opposition during multiple crises.
But eventually, enough was enough, and they said, mmm, come to think of it - that one can stay. I just hadn’t imagined that thing would be swastikas!
I thought I’d better include a screenshot of the headline lest anyone think this was a parody piece. Sadly, Seymour is a bit like a steamed pudding, except in the absence of sauce - he is self-satirising. Hmm, it's time to move on from this dessert comparison - this one’s going to custard.
Anyway, David Seymour, who will be deputy PM next year, says he does not support banning swastikas in public because he likes “knowing who the idiots in society are”. Despite the fact that the government he is part of has prohibited the display of gang patches - finally ending the scourge of gang crime in Aotearoa.
See what I mean? Mocking Seymour is like shooting fish in a barrel with no water and using one of the really big guns that Nicole McKee wants to re-introduce. BLAMMO - it’s fish fingers tonight, kids.
Where do you go with him saying he likes “knowing who the idiots in society are”?
My first instinct was his caucus, “Next time you’re in parliament, take a look at who’s sitting behind you, pal; they’re right there.” But I can’t help thinking it might be a better play to suggest he wants to know who the idiots in society are so he can most effectively target his election advertising.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was vaguely more interested in doing something, although it’s always quite hard to tell. Asked whether he’d follow our Aussie cousins in banning Nazi salutes and symbols, he said, “We are up for those conversations.”
So, I don’t know - maybe? However, when asked yesterday by RNZ, Seymour said he was not in favour of banning swastikas.
“I hate those symbols and salutes, but I quite like knowing who the idiots in society are, and if they're prepared to self-identify like that, I think that's actually helpful to everyone,” said Seymour. I could relate; I feel the same way about those badges that the ACT team insists on wearing, even though no other party is allowed to display their insignia in such a way in Parliament.
When RNZ asked Seymour why he took a different position on gang patches, he said the intimidating nature of such symbols drove his decision.
“There's a difference there,” he said. “People are genuinely intimidated by seeing certain gang patches and symbols.”
Sorry, what? The reason that Seymour is ambivalent about banning the swastika, the symbol which represents the Nazi regime and all they stood for, is because it’s not intimidating enough? Are you kidding?
I live in West Auckland, so we see gang members pretty regularly; mostly, they just go about their day. Sometimes, if there is a big tangi, they might hold traffic up for a couple of traffic light sequences, but that’s about it - you don’t really think much about it.
But I tell you what - if some guy was walking up and down our high street waving a bloody swastika, I’d certainly notice and would be most concerned. Wouldn’t you? Say, for example, if your neighbour were to start flying a swastika flag over the fence - would you maybe find that a little “intimidating”?
RNZ asked Seymour whether he thought people - “including the Jewish community in his own Epsom electorate - might be similarly intimidated by seeing a swastika.” He responded that he thought they'd be grateful to be made aware of that person's views.
What planet is this guy from? I can’t speak for our Jewish community, but I’d be really surprised to find that they were grateful to see swastikas. I’m sure they would be greatly saddened and appalled - as any of us would be.
Except for David, who has strong views on certain things, you know, like the role of te Tiriti, but not on swastika-waving, sieg-heil-saluting fascists.
What the actual fuck is going on in our country?
Seymour said, “What do you achieve? I mean, you talk about a tiny minority of incredibly stupid people. If they're prepared to self-identify, let's let them.” I understand; I feel similarly about the Taxpayers’ Union - but actual Nazis?
When RNZ pointed out the double standard of Seymour supporting a ban on gang patches but not one on swastikas, he said, “You can always ignore the Bill of Rights. It actually has a clause within itself that says you're able to do that. But it doesn't mean that they don't give you pause for thought.”
It’s good to know he paused for thought, although it appears he did so over gang patches and said, “yeah nah, not so worried about those people's freedoms”, but when it came to the sort of people who might want to carry a swastika he was a bit more - “hold on now, let’s not be too hasty.”
A confession: I briefly considered mocking up a picture with My Seymour and some of the, um… historical memorabilia, but the truth is I don’t really think David is a Nazi. He is just less opposed to them than some other people. You know, like the ones who went overseas and fought against them.
It seemed a step too far, so I’ve done one with him as a lizard person instead because it’s better to be thought of as a cold-hearted reptile than a Nazi. Even if it means that someone confuses him for his deputy as a result.
Mind you, Seymour’s ambivalence towards the symbol of the Nazis is nothing compared to what we’re seeing across the Pacific in America.
With Donald Trump and Elon Musk getting ready for a future of revenge and a war on the left, Hispanics, women, trans people and pretty much everyone who isn’t a straight, rich white man or doesn’t still believe that group are God’s chosen people to rule in perpetuity.
And they don’t seem keen on letting a minor detail, like who people vote for, stand in their way.
The big lie 2.0: Trump plan to subvert 2024 election more organized than ever from the Guardian says, “There is little doubt that Donald Trump will refuse to accept a defeat in November’s US presidential election.”
The former president, who is deadlocked in the polls with Kamala Harris, has spent months priming his supporters to believe the only way he could lose is through fraud. “If I lose – I’ll tell you what, it’s possible. Because they cheat. That’s the only way we’re gonna lose, because they cheat,” he said at a rally in September.
He has refused to say, several times, that he will unequivocally accept the results of the election, only going as far to say that he will if “it’s fair and legal and good”. Having escaped any accountability for the attack on the Capitol on January 6, he has embraced those who violently attacked the US government to protest against the 2020 election results, calling it a “day of love”.
Who knows what America will look like in the event of a narrow loss for Trump? What far-right militia will take to the streets?
I hope that sanity will prevail, but it really does feel like democracy is under threat in the US to be replaced with an authoritarian regime holding the opposite values to those the country prides itself on.
Whether here or there, it is easy to feel powerless as we see our countries slide further rightward than surely any kind of majority really wants. The unthinkable happens every day, and people become disillusioned.
But there is power with the people yet, as seen in the public’s response to the Washington Post opting not to make an endorsement…
That is one hell of a response. Perhaps the next time the NZ Herald decides to cover its fish and chip wrappings in far-right propaganda against Māori, people should do the same thing en masse here?
If nothing else, are we starting to get the picture that if we want an honest media that speaks out against threats to democracy or the rise of the far-right, then having Big Tech owning the news, be it Musk, Zuckerberg, or Bezos, is a really bad idea?
Neither they nor Mr Seymour seem to be perturbed by what they’re seeing, and I suspect that in some of their cases, there is more than ambivalence involved.
What do you think? Is this all a storm in a teacup over a little swastika, as Seymour would have us believe? Or is this the sort of thing our government should be speaking out against rather than demonising protestors who want to protect our environment, planet, and people - from them?
A pretty grim topic today, but I hope there were a few laughs along the way. Have a lovely day, all you folks who don’t need to be told that waving or wearing swastikas in Aotearoa is bloody unacceptable.
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Today's clip is The SKANDINISTAS with Woody Guthrie’s All You Fascists Bound To Lose.
In case you're wondering, I said "swastika" 14 times during that newsletter. Forget the symbol - I'm sick of the sight of the word!
Seymour may not self-identify as a fascist but quite a few of the coalition would look right at home in a black uniform riding in a tank running over poor people