Friday, April 28, 2006



Petty politics

Jane Clifton's column in this week's Listener comments on the current dominance of political news by stories that can only be described as petty, pointing out that

At holiday times, when most MPs dash overseas or try to restore normal relations with the strangers they call their families, the news diet gets especially lean, so mean and petty stories come to the fore.

Clifton focuses on the recent stories about army horoscopes and prison landscaping, but this week's allegations from National that Te Papa is engaging in "political propaganda" because an interactive game about immigrant experiences uses the Labour Party (along with the Plunket Society, Catholic church, and "the regulars at the local pub") as an example of a social group they can join falls squarely into that category. But perhaps the pettiest was on the TV news alst night: Simon Power releasing statistics on the number of traffic accidents in ministerial self-drive cars, and using them to claim that Harry Duynhovem shouldn't be Minister of traffic safety. Duynhoven's car had had three accidents, all of them minor, and he'd been responsible for one of them: he hit a wall at low speed and caused $400 of damage (which is about the price of a single headlight). So, we have National claiming that someone can't be a Minister because they had a parking accident. If that's not petty, I don't know what is...

2 comments:

What failed radio talk show host from the cultic Right is trying to make a comeback by stacking the callers for his own show? Here is the email that Lindsay Perigo is sending out to his cult followers demanding they call his show when he is on and to hide their membership in his little religion. UIN, is a Perigoon term for Useless Inert Nothing which he uses against any follower who does not do his bidding when he demands it. Here is his email. Pardon the posting but I wanted this to arrive anonymously.

From: "Linz" editor@freeradical.co.nz
To: libertyloop@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 12:17 PM
Subject: [libertyloop] Radio show


> This Sunday at midday sees the beginning of a new regular slot for me,
every
> second Sunday at first, alternating with Willie Jackson, then every week
> once he gets slotted in elsewhere.
>
> This is a HUGE opportunity for liberty-lovers, but if past experience is
> anything to go by, it'll be passed up because of UIN Syndrome. So I am
> urging you NOT to be a UIN this time round. STAND UP FOR FREEDOM by
phoning
> the show & having your say. Do NOT make it party-political, i.e. a
shameless
> plug for Libz, since nothing will get the show canned more quickly; DO
make
> it pro-freedom, anti-political correctness, anti-tyranny,
anti-collectivist,
> etc.. If you're not prepared to do this, please do not ever complain again
> that the media doesn't give our ideas a fair go. Those who preach
activism -
> this is your opportunity to practise some!!
>
> Linz
>

Posted by Anonymous : 4/28/2006 01:17:00 PM

I've just emailed your post to the entire cast of Radio Live. I'd encourage others to do the same.

Posted by Anonymous : 4/28/2006 02:30:00 PM