Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: So far from trivial

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  • Anorak,

    Sorry. And Done.

    Auckland • Since Apr 2007 • 61 posts Report Reply

  • Susan Snowdon,

    That was scary. It needed a 'that is not ok' intervention. Good for you Russell.

    Since Mar 2008 • 110 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    what we thought was a discussion about the general...

    I don't want to reopen a horrible can of worms, but as someone who's been at Ground Zero for this kind of thing...

    I find the threads on rape and domestic violence incredibly difficult, just to read, let alone contribute to. I don't want to dictate what other people can say, but I know I would find it easier if when people commented they would remember that there WILL be people reading here for whom this is NOT an intellectual exercise, not a theory, not an abstract. It's personal, it's painful, and it doesn't ever go away. Yet aren't those the people whose contributions would be the most useful?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    To drag this all the way back over to on-topic, is it bad that I actually didn't know off the top of my head who Tony Veitch is? That I couldn't pick him as anything other than a vaguely-familiar name until I watched last night's news (which I actually turned on for the discussion about Beijing!) and saw the press conference?
    I feel so horribly out of touch with pop culture at times like this, when even a "celebrity" TV personality is a fuzzy name association at the back of my mind.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    is it bad that I actually didn't know off the top of my head who Tony Veitch is

    If so, then I'm bad too. Can't say I'm too impressed with the way the name penetrated my consciousness though.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Oh wow. Here's something.

    I was going to remedy your lamentable lack of knowledge by linking to the Tony Veitch pages on the two main celebrity speaker comany websites.

    Imagine my surprise to find there were no pages at the end of these links:

    http://www.speakers.co.nz/tonyveitch.html

    http://www.csnz.co.nz/default,5316,tony_veitch.sm

    Ouch.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Tom, I deleted your comment. Enough of the weighing of suffering, get back on topic.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    there WILL be people reading here for whom this is NOT an intellectual exercise, not a theory, not an abstract

    I agree, and even if there's someone speaking theoretically or generally, you never know what they've experienced... I think that there are probably also plenty of people who discuss these kinds of things abstractly in order to avoid the personal/painful part altogether. We are a nation of sublimators, right?

    I didn't know who Veitch was either! I should have taken more notice of my sport-talkback-listening uncle...

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    The csnz site is http://www.csnz.co.nz/default,5316,tony_veitch.sm&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=nz&client=firefox-a" target="_blank"> still in google cache

    I'd never heard of Veitch either. Whatever gene controls the urge to watch total strangers play a sports game is absent from my DNA - which means I rarely turn on the 6 PM news shows, or if I do then they're on mute most of the time.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    aren't those the people whose contributions would be the most useful?

    Often yes. Maybe sometimes no - I say that because personal experiences are, well, personal, and not necessarily good bases for generalising. And as an example, the Sensible Sentencing Trust can marshall a lot of personal stories from people who convey well what it's like to be a victim of violent crime, and those people have something to say that's worth listening to on how to support victims of violence, and yet I believe their recommendations on preventing violence range from worthless to counter-productive.

    I do think that some people's flippancy in this thread is totally wrong, eg Danyl's comment further up the page.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Anorak,

    Well I knew who Veitchy was, but I can't say my life has been any richer for it. Nor poorer mind. Just -.

    Auckland • Since Apr 2007 • 61 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    Often yes. Maybe sometimes no - I say that because personal experiences are, well, personal, and not necessarily good bases for generalising

    Oh yeah, I don't mean 'instead of', I mean 'as well as'. In that it's the voice that's often missing. Not the one that wants vengeance, but the one that's tired and will take the quickest route to make it all be over - which is not the judicial system.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • rodgerd,

    $100K to snap my spine repeatedly?

    um... isn't that just a bit emotive.....?

    Perhaps you can offer us a nice, even-handed way of describing someone kicking the shit out of a prone person until the bones in their spinal column shatter?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    No worries, Steven. It happens, and I'd like to think that the PAS community is grown up enough to cope.

    I'm sorry that I caused you distress.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    Gay Oakes was never this pretty, neither was Doug Gardner for that matter- come to think of it they must be casting for realism. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/423466/43404

    One night, the women rail against men in general and husbands in particular. Jodie, leading the charge, goes one step further - to hell with divorce, she wishes Brian were dead.
    http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1848805

    Was it Rape Crisis or Womens' Refuge that gave Gay 'support' & got cut off from their national body for it?

    Which holds more weight, an ad campaign or rewriting history & profiting from a mans murder?

    Not sure TVNZ are being consistant here.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Having checked with Steven, I'm leaving all comments up. I think it's instructive all round.

    Have a good evening, everyone.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • robbery,

    Perhaps you can offer us a nice, even-handed way of describing someone kicking the shit out of a prone person until the bones in their spinal column shatter?

    where'd you read the details about him "kicking the shit out of her till her spine '__shattered__' "

    That's the third different description of her injuries I've heard, from non official sources.

    new zealand • Since May 2007 • 1882 posts Report Reply

  • Samuel Scott,

    Good article Russell, and good discussion here. This is such an awful story on so many levels and I think it has been dealt with in several areas of the media inappropriately.

    As soon as the story broke TVNZ should have had him off the air. If they new about this when it happened they should have reported it the police. There news team choose to deliberately incriminate Dairy owners selling solvents but leave this guy in front of the biggest audience for any NZ TV show every night of the week. A good message it does not send.

    Also TV3 News need to shape up. I usually watch 3 news but was disgusted enough by their strange gloating over this issue the other night to go back to the Food channel. Seriously guys, we can see your trying to not smile. I don't know, maybe I'm projecting but it felt weird. It felt wrong.

    Whats more the Tui billboards once again prove to be the bad taste barometer of our Nation.

    bad, all bad.

    South Wellington • Since Feb 2008 • 315 posts Report Reply

  • David Haywood,

    Matthew Poole wrote:

    ... is it bad that I actually didn't know off the top of my head who Tony Veitch is?

    Until I started reading this thread, I thought that Tony Veitch was the slapper weather-lady from TV3. The one with the weird stream-of-consciousness technique: "Large orifice-like clouds will be squirting golden showers over Timaru..."

    Dunsandel • Since Nov 2006 • 1156 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Hmmm. Perhaps we *are* latte-sipping elitists...

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    "Hmmm. Perhaps we *are* latte-sipping elitists..."

    All I see wrong with that statement is the implicite support it gives to the merciless dairy industry.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Until I started reading this thread, I thought that Tony Veitch was the slapper weather-lady from TV3.

    Hey, If you don't even know who Toni Marsh is, then why call her a slapper?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Also TV3 News need to shape up. I usually watch 3 news but was disgusted enough by their strange gloating over this issue the other night to go back to the Food channel. Seriously guys, we can see your trying to not smile. I don't know, maybe I'm projecting but it felt weird. It felt wrong.

    ITA, and funny how the positions were reverse when Darren McDonald's drug conviction -- and being granted home detention -- became a matter of public record a few years back, wasn't it? OK, I'm not naive enough to think media outlets aren't going to sledge the opposition at every opportunity -- but stop pretending its news, and in circumstances like this, how about some sheer human decency.

    Dave and I also decided to cancel the Herald sub because of that headline this morning and restrict our reading to the website. I've long given up expecting rigorous editorial standards from that particular quarter, but that crossed a line into a place we're not willing to pay for any more.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Mikaere Curtis,

    On the Tui billboard, the negation ("Yeah, right") is always associated with the person or entity making the statement.

    e.g. I dye my hair ginger for the ladies

    (that was a Donald Trump quote).

    So, from that perspective, "Heres 100 grand. Keep it quiet" means that the negation is of Tony Veitch, not his victim.

    i.e. How the hell did he expect his outrageous violence, that resulted in a woman being confined to a wheelchair, to actually ever stay quiet?

    I sincerely hope that was their sentiment, yet I acknowledge that I may be wrong.

    Tamaki Makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 528 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    If anyone is feeling particularly masochistic: Bridget 'Batshit' Saunders has been having a big think -- and it's not pretty.

    WARNING: Possible side-effects include nausea, banging head against nearest brick wall or existential despair. Do not take with sold food, alcohol and avoid driving or operating heavy machinery after following link.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

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