Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Not doing justice

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  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Pete George,

    DeepRed’s question remains unaddressed while diversions abound.

    It's not just happening in NZ, which is why the social media-isation of Gaza might just be a big factor.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Pete George, in reply to Deborah,

    That's interesting Deborah. In Palmerston North a dick on a John Key billboard and boobs on a Labour billboard. That's the same themes on the National and Labour billboards in Dunedin.

    Maybe it's just a coincidence of hoons.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2011 • 139 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to 81stcolumn,

    And those who are conspiracy theorists and scholars?….perhaps no hope.

    The likes of Robert Spencer, Pam Geller and Brigitte Gabriel have somehow managed to inflate their credentials, or lack of them. What they do have at their disposal are the ability to pull off Big Lies - not unlike the infamous Elders of Zion book - and all the right connections – especially the right connections with very fat chequebooks.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Honestly, if we're discussing why National is getting hit more (and in Wellington, it most certainly is), it doesn't stretch credulity for me at all that it would be a mix of healthy hatred for the bastards and frustration for the lack of alternatives as we march towards Key's third term, as expressed by people who are not very sophisticated at expressing themselves. Social media might have amplified things a bit (look mum, I'm on tumblr!), but on the whole it seems to me that the vandalism is the mirror of the quality of the election campaign. Which is simply atrocious.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,

    I think the reason there’s more billboard defacement this election is that there’s now a broader and permanent audience for it (the tumblr feed(s?) showing defaced billboards) than just the people who happened to pass by before it’s replaced.

    So true – witness the prevalence and increasing sophistication of image sharing as communication via Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, etc compared with even a few years ago.

    And if most of those platforms skew young, it’s hardly surprising there will be more of a focus against the larger established parties of both left and right.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to 81stcolumn,

    those who are conspiracy theorists and scholars

    Matthew's book must be coming out soon :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    many, if not most, delusional paranoiacs manage not to post boring and offensive nonsense on the internet.

    I wish PAS had favourite buttons because if it did I would mash it hard on that one.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    Also, as I went to bed, I remember thinking “Ah, crap. I have to like something about Gaza,” as I hit the Like button on a post with a pro-Israel message.

    By the next morning, the items in my News Feed had moved very, very far to the right. I’m offered the chance to like the 2nd Amendment and some sort of anti-immigrant page. I like them both. I like Ted Cruz. I like Rick Perry. The Conservative Tribune comes up again, and again, and again in my News Feed.

    This is from the wired post I linked to earlier. Facebook it appears can function as a robotic enabler for extreme views. What we are seeing in terms of Gaza and covert antisemitism may in part be the product of bots that didn't exist in 2011.

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Pete's something of a perennial candidate here in Dunedin, seems to run for just about anything and with anyone who will have him, but never gets elected - remember when started his own party and was searching for candidates on TradeMe?

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    remember when he started his own party and was searching for candidates on TradeMe

    Love the comments:

    "I think this will be a one election wonder."
    "You underestimate my plans and determination"

    Turns out that no, he wasn't.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    Of course his party was not exactly a bastion against anti-semitism

    That's OurNZ, not YourNZ, though.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    oh you're right, my apologies - edited - I guess what we have at the moment is TheirNZ

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Rosemary McDonald, in reply to Deborah,

    Idiots and wind, every time. No need to read anything significant into it, other than hoons will be hoons.

    Ah!!!! Finally!!!

    The voice of reason.

    Vote Deborah.

    Waikato, or on the road • Since Apr 2014 • 1346 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to 81stcolumn,

    However JK chose not to, allowing more breathing space for a damaging inflammatory meme that amounted to a convenient untruth.

    Par for the course since about, coming on 6 years ago now. Had IMP not existed today, I suspect it would have been "the nasty greens" or "the looney left" JK was consistently inflaming untruths in the House which were repeated for media to take up on a regular basis. If that is just a bit of banter in politics then why is there any surprise as to where it leads to?
    I thought Laila Harre said on Breakfast that Dotcom was doing a good job promoting youth getting out to vote, barely audible as Christie tried to talk over her at the same time as demanding it was her job to clarify. I didn't see the Key interview the day before, Does Christie talk over Key as he is meant to clarify what he was insinuating? He (for me) came across as being bloody rude. Why ask a question then talk over your guest?

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

  • Tim Hannah, in reply to Pete George,

    That's interesting Deborah. In Palmerston North a dick on a John Key billboard and boobs on a Labour billboard. That's the same themes on the National and Labour billboards in Dunedin.

    Maybe it's just a coincidence of hoons.

    Think you're onto something really big here, Pete. Judging from my limited knowledge of classical Roman graffiti, this secret society of dick and tit favouring vandals is older than the Catholic Church.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 228 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Deborah,

    Idiots and wind, every time. No need to read anything significant into it, other than hoons will be hoons.

    That's a fair point, Deborah, but one reasons I'm not quite so relaxed was a remarkably unpleasant experience when I was in Wellington Central. We had a really nice elderly couple who had a hoarding well inside their property line, that would only have been accessible by climbing over a fence. They were quite understandably terrified and upset that someone was on their property in the middle of the night, quite literally slashing a hoarding to ribbons and damaging the timber framing so severely it was unusable.

    At least in my book, that's beyond "hoons being hoons". And unsurprisingly, they never allowed a hoarding to be placed on their property again.

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

  • Pete George, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    I thought Laila Harre said on Breakfast that Dotcom was doing a good job promoting youth getting out to vote,

    Maybe it's working in some parts of the country but notable at the Internet-Mana meeting in Dunedin last night was the lack of youth - on stage and in the audience.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2011 • 139 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Tim Hannah,

    Think you’re onto something really big here, Pete. Judging from my limited knowledge of classical Roman graffiti, this secret society of dick and tit favouring vandals is older than the Catholic Church.

    Not to mention the middle finger salute, which in Roman times was known as 'digitus impudicus'.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    the rise of the Labour vs. National/tit vs. dick thing might just be fallout from Labour's attempt to have a balanced slate paying off in the hoon mind-space

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Mikaere Curtis,

    Green suporters tarred themselves, posting proof of vandalism on Facebook, as reported by ODT and seemingly as accepted by Metiria.

    Pete, what do you mean by "seemingly as accepted" ?

    This is what she actually said:

    "We don't want people defacing ours, and we don't approve others defacing other parties, they are expensive and they are part of the democratic process to allow parties to put forward their policies, such as ours, or their people, such as these ones," she said.

    Mrs Turei confirmed she knew one of the Facebook posters, but reiterated the party "does not endorse the defacement of billboards".

    As someone who regularly helps put up Green Party billboards, I can tell you that there is no time to vandalise other party's billboards because we are simply really busy. Plus there's that give away thing of, y'know, looking like GP supporters because of the trailer full of GP billboards. Seriously, you need to get a grip.

    Tamaki Makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 528 posts Report Reply

  • Pete George, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    At least in my book, that’s beyond “hoons being hoons”.

    There's another problem with just accepting “hoons being hoons”. And accepting "Winston will be Winston" and "it's just how Question Time is".

    In an age where we seem to be making progress in promoting non-acceptance of violence and rape - we have mostly moved on from "it's just a domestic" - why should we accept destructive and abusive behaviour from politicians and political activists as just it's how we do politics?

    It's hypocritical of Whale Oil to complain about damage when Slater's one of the worst offenders in a corrosive political culture, but making excuses for it here and resorting to the same old diversionary attacks does nothing to address the problem with our politics - more and more people are turned off but those perpetuating it just seem to be getting worse.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2011 • 139 posts Report Reply

  • Keir Leslie,

    Yeah we need to clamp down on billboard vandalism, it's Just Like Domestic Violence. Honestly Pete could you just get out your own head for half a minute and think about what you're saying?

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    Honestly Pete could you just get out your own head for half a minute and think about what you're saying?

    You're talking to the guy who claimed that my urging Radio Live sponsors to donate to Rape Prevention Education was a form of sexual assault.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,

    Idiots and wind, every time. No need to read anything significant into it, other than hoons will be hoons

    .Ah!!!! Finally!!!The voice of reason.Vote Deborah.

    Absolutely. Plus probably a bit to do with the big loudest fight in town being about Dotcom wanting to bring down Key and graffiti (possibly seen as not 'that bad" as it's just a bit of cardboard so German against Jew alterations being the fastest point to show dislike, as Steven Crawford suggested) being an expression for disaffected.Images get a quick response. Some are getting noticed more quickly than others. Point made.

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

  • Paul Campbell,

    So I'm off to Burning Man next week, will all this go postal and I'll be arrested for a hate crime at the border when I return for burning "The Man"? Will DoC go after the Kiwiburn folks for burning kiwis?

    Done carefully setting fire to (your own) stuff is just a bit of fun, and practical on a cold winter's night. Demonising people who do so will have to put a final stake in that Kiwi cultural practice of burning a Catholic in effigy every November to celebrate his capture by the authorities. Burning JK in effigy is no different than a Guy Fawke's night bonfire - something that happens in just about evert small town in NZ every year.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

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