Cracker by Damian Christie

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Cracker: Hands in the Middle....

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  • Tessa Houghton,

    @Damian

    No, I disagree. I agree overall that we have a cultural drinking problem, and something needs to be done about it. But I can't get on board with anything that places the responsibility for being a victim on the victim, be it rape/domestic violence/whatever.

    As far as anti-rape advertising targeted at rapists (or possible future rapists) goes, I think there has been hardly any of it, so I don't see how we can make assumptions on whether it works or not. Sure, your archetypal violent rapist who jumps a woman down an alley isn't likely to respond well, but how about so-called 'grey' rape situations? I don't see how advertising aimed at educating (especially young) and quite possibly drunk men about consent issues is really all that different from the 'It's Not OK' campaign.

    Wellington • Since Aug 2009 • 18 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    BREAKING NEWS: In a shock move, the Government..

    All being quick to emphasize the need to reduce smoking not increase revenue. Ruth Dyson made an interesting observation that the urgency was because Nats have got nothing to offer so Tarianas bill goes through.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Here we call those "The After Ball", and schools threaten to cancel your ball if they go ahead.

    It would have been nice if they were school sanctioned - that way you wouldn't have to get venue hire from one of Auckland's larger criminal organisations, or (on the other side of the tracks) have a friendly parent who also happens to own commercial real estate.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    looked more like they were obliged to be where they were

    bouncers? promo grrls?

    No, not staff, punters. Unless the bars in question hire tens of bouncers.

    What I mean is they didn't look like they were at the bar for a fun night/morning, but because they somehow had to be there; a compulsion, an addiction.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    ... a piece by the late Kingsley Martin--the greatest journalist ever to hold the editorial chair of this magazine [The New Statesman]--which he wrote during a visit to Paris soon after the end of the second world war. As far as I can remember, the article consisted entirely of sentences like: 'The politics are more interesting in France, because the wine is cheaper. The food is better in France, because the wine is cheaper. The girls are prettier in France, because the wine is cheaper. The literature is more profound in France, because the wine is cheaper...' And so on, ad infinitum.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • mattgeeknz,

    @Tessa

    The report suggests that during those hours there is a higher incidence of alcohol related crimes, involving young people in particular. Crimes have victims, and a large number of those victims happen to be young women: of sexual assault, of violence, etc.

    I was wrong to imply that a justification for raising the drinking age for each sex was because a large number of young men cause crimes and a large number of young women are the victims of those crimes. You're right, that doesn't justify raising the drinking age for women, and it was badly worded on my part (not the report's, which doesn't make this argument as far as I'm aware).

    What does justify the raising of the drinking age for both sexes is that alcohol clearly inhibits the decision-making processes of young people of either sex, binge drinking is a problem for young men and young women, and that this is clearly reflected in hospital and/or crime statistics.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2010 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    T'other day Mikey Havoc asked Goff (and had asked Joyce also the previous week) why decisions of drunkeness, how much you are drunk, and the expectation that the law expects drunk people to decide their ability to drive,when they are drunk. Why is alcohol treated so differently? Neither really had an answer.
    Edit And, Jim Anderton is just calling the hipocrisy right now between Alcohol and tobacco.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    I can't say there's a really, really compelling social or moral argument why bars should stay open after 4am

    And why do we need one? If having a good time is a good thing, then it's happened to me at 5, 6, 7 and later hours of the morning. For information there are clubs in London, and I'm sure many other cities as well, that open beyond the evil hour. (I don't think the Spanish actually *start* going out much before 2am, from my experience).

    yoof-hating moral panic

    Got it in one. Sad old gits wanting to crack down on the young and "different", in the confidence that they won't vote or do anything else negative.

    The SOG raids are another side of the same coin. It's part of the government showing its dead white male core voters that while they might not have delivered on tax and childbeating, they can still deal to the youth. It's hard to see that Damien's scoop is coincidental - I'm sure he'd tell us, but I can't believe that somebody on the paper didn't get a tip from a "police source" that now would be a great time for a newsworthy story on the Evil Weed.

    The primary cause of drug abuse (whether alcohol, tobacco or the illegal stuff) is an underlying lack of social justice, not the availability of drugs. People with dead end lives and no self respect will abuse drugs and have problems. People in privileged situations, like most of the readers here, have much more chance of keeping those problems under control.

    Governments like this one (or the last one, for that matter) aren't going to be fixing that in a hurry though. Much easier to use the cops to try and force people to do what they're told.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Here we call those "The After Ball", and schools threaten to cancel your ball if they go ahead.

    They went through with it in my final year. So there was only the After Ball and the Unball (the student organized ball). It really came down to a moral panic about the Ball the previous year, which was apparently a total shocker. I was there and never saw any of it. The whole thing was rather weird, but it was a bit of a weird school. It was the first place that I came to realize that just because someone is a hippy doesn't mean they aren't an authoritarian bastard.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Have NZ schools always had formal balls, or did they come in with the movie Pretty In Pink?

    My 6th form in England had a student organised party in a club the summer after exams. That was the nearest it got to a formal, unless you went to St Posh's May ball at Cambridge or something..

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Have NZ schools always had formal balls, or did they come in with the movie Pretty In Pink?

    I remember them through the 70's

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Leigh Kennaway,

    The previous night doesn't finish until you go home. This is a well established phenomena.

    It's knowledge bro!!

    Western Bays • Since Feb 2007 • 79 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    Have NZ schools always had formal balls, or did they come in with the movie Pretty In Pink?

    I found my '73 ball photos a while back. I had rather long hair, platforms and an electric blue flared suit. Considering the evidence presented in those now concealed, inc. negs, shots, it may be best if I argue strongly that we didn't.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Knowledge Bro,

    No, I'm the one with the formal Balls.
    Lord Bong Week

    Behind the fridge • Since Mar 2009 • 58 posts Report Reply

  • cad,

    Or should we just put all that ALAC money into ads that say "Hey, don't rape drunk women, it's not cool." Because I don't know that rapists respond that well to social advertising.

    I think we should find out:
    If you kiss her and she doesn't kiss you back... it's not OK.
    If she's so drunk she doesn't remember her address... it's not OK.
    If you're not sure if she's keen... it's not OK.

    Rapists are not a separate feral breed that "don't respond" to messages that other people do. They are seemingly normal people and have family, friends, co-workers, etc in the same manner that people who commit domestic violence are. I think trying out some social advertising would be a move in the right direction.

    Eden • Since Feb 2010 • 4 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    Imagine drinking wine, that has no labels; Wine from a brown paper bag..

    I do that all the time (well, the no labels bit, not the brown paper bag). Cleanskin wine - it's the surplus from various vineyards, sold cheap in bottles with plain white labels giving you the year, grape variety, and region. You have absolutely no idea who made it. It's great: you're forced to form an assessment of the wine based solely on how it tastes, rather than preconceptions based on the label. It's a bit of a lucky dip, but I've never had a bottle that I wouldn't happily have paid at least that much for if it had a label on it. And with the overproduction at a lot of vineyards in the last few years, there's some damn good stuff going for $12 in a white label.

    Also: that liquor baron who died in a plane crash a few years ago had an interesting business model. He made money hand over fist selling alcopops with absolutely no advertising budget. Didn't spend a penny on ads. He just priced his stuff slightly lower than the brands that did advertise. The target market for alcopops is extremely price sensitive - he reckoned, and was proved right, that the average teenager would see an ad for an alcopop (say, Smirnoff Ice), go to the liquor store, and see that the one next to it was slightly cheaper... and buy that instead.

    So I'm not that convinced that removing alcohol advertising would have that huge an effect on problem drinking patterns.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I do that all the time (well, the no labels bit, not the brown paper bag). Cleanskin wine - it's the surplus from various vineyards, sold cheap in bottles with plain white labels giving you the year, grape variety, and region. You have absolutely no idea who made it.

    Just quietly, the cleanskins at Liquorland branches at the moment are top-of-the-line Kim Crawford wines.

    The sauvignon blanc is poked: do not buy.

    The 1997 barrel-fermented chardonnay and the riesling are both very good value, at $12.99 and $9.99 respectively.

    And the $9.99 gerwurtztraminer is sensational.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Imagine drinking wine, that has no labels; Wine from a brown paper bag.

    Felix Salmon often links to studies of wine blind test tastes. They generally find:

    1. When you get above ~$50 a bottle there is no link between cost and appreciation.

    2. But the more you think a wine costs, the more you appreciate it.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • BlairMacca,

    I hate to say it but nothing good does happen after 4am in a bar except usually hooking up with someone you really didn't want to under normal circumstances.
    Having said that I think what will happen is you will have everyone on the street at once, cue more fights and it will be impossible to get a taxi. This was exactly what it was like in Dublin when I lived there and bars closed at 2.

    Wellington • Since Apr 2007 • 208 posts Report Reply

  • mattgeeknz,

    @BlairMacca

    Similar things have happened in New Zealand with a flat closing time: Queenstown is given as an example in the report. I imagine the rationale behind a no-entry policy at 2am and a closing time of 4am is so that people have a period of 2 hours during which they will leave their final venue, and not everyone is turned out into the streets at once.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2010 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I'm not quibbling with the statistic, I'm querying its use in reply to a comment made regarding factors relating to statistics of hospital admission and harm caused by/related to drinking. I don't see pissed women becoming victims as their fault.

    I don't think anyone was really saying that.

    Assuming I haven't misinterpreted the argumentative intention behind the statistic being cited, its a little too similar to the ALAC Lisa ad for my taste.

    I thought I should look up some actual knowledge on this -- and this British report on alcohol-reated violence has some fascinating -- and surprising -- conclusions on victimisation related to alcohol consumption:

    Gender

    Overall, the incident rate of stranger and acquaintance assault was significantly higher among men than women. There were an estimated 188 incidents of alcohol-related stranger assault and 130 incidents of acquaintance assault per 10,000 men in 1999. The respective figures for women were 32 per 10,000 and 68 per 10,000. Interestingly, among men the rate of stranger assault exceeds acquaintance violence, while the reverse holds for women.

    If the picture is roughly the same in NZ, then there would seem to be call for a public health campaign to point out to men that if they drink to excess they're greatly increasing their risk of getting the shit kicked out of them by a stranger. (Edit: Oh yes, there is one. The guy who gets plastered in a bar, and is found bleeding all over the bathroom at home by his daughter.)

    Women were more at risk of being assaulted by someone known to them (ie: a partner) if they drank heavily -- but I don't think anyone would find an ad campaign saying that acceptable. It's an interesting thing to ponder ...

    Is there an acceptable way of communicating this sort of risk in a public health context?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    And the $9.99 gerwurtztraminer is sensational.

    Next time you go, there will be none left. Anywhere. I'm getting a truck.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • uroskin,

    The sauvignon blanc is poked: do not buy.

    That grassy piss is always poked. The only thing it's good for is export.

    Waiheke Island • Since Feb 2007 • 178 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    It's hard to see that Damien's scoop is coincidental - I'm sure he'd tell us, but I can't believe that somebody on the paper didn't get a tip from a "police source" that now would be a great time for a newsworthy story on the Evil Weed.

    Yeah it is coincidental. I've been quietly working on this story for about a year; the police undercover operation has been going for two, apparently. A Metro magazine piece is planned at least a couple of months in advance, there's no overnight response to breaking news. And read the story. It's not about 'the Evil Weed'. It's about drug dealers who are pretty much like you and me.

    And though it might be a coincidence, it's also a f**king annoying one :) I thought people might read it and go "wow, so this guy got his equipment AND his seedlings from a hydroponics store?" Now the front page of the paper has told everyone the same thing.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    @Tessa.

    I think there is a marked difference between attributing blame and responsibility, and issuing a safety warning.

    If we can look at a less contentious example, because honestly I can't be arsed trying to couch everything I say with caveats like "even though they don't deserve it" because that should be self-evident (even though I appreciate that's not always the case... see, I'm doing it again) - let's consider the signs that tell you to lock up your valuables.

    I don't look at a sign saying "thieves operate in this area, be sure to lock your valuables/car/whatever" and say "hey fuck you, i'm the victim here." I don't consider that I am to blame for the fact there are thieves out there eyeing up my shit. I don't think the signs are trying to say that. There is no subtext to those signs. But I take note of the signs, and lock up my shit. Do you view those signs the same way you do the ALAC ad?

    For the record, I'm not being facetious here. I think this is a completely analogous example.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

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