Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: When that awful thing happens

425 Responses

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  • Geoff Lealand,

    Well put, Russell.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • John Farrell,

    One of the unfortunate consequences of the publics' increased access to the media, is that we have to listen to and read rubbish produced by those who in past times would only have had their friends to bore.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 499 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    The summit to me was reached by the following headline on the DomPost (motto: 'hurting New Zealand since 2002'):

    It's like living in Iraq, says resident

    It would be sensationalistic and morally bankrupt of the editors to make that claim, but of course a resident said it, so it's okay.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    I don't need to tell you about the statistical folly of trying to declare an average or a trend on the basis of a single cluster.

    Do you think there's any chance of passing a law that requires every media outlet to employ at least one person who has passed sixth form maths? We wouldn't require them to derive the Poisson distribution from first principles, but maybe, just maybe, they might be able to tell their colleagues that clusters of rare events do happen, and that one should not draw conclusions, let alone foaming opinion pieces, from their occurence.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    We wouldn't require them to derive the Poisson distribution from first principles

    Oh, I know this one: mostly in bodies of water, right?

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Felix,

    I heard some pretty appalling radio coverage of the events in Napier.

    Across three stations, the same volley of gunfire was described (within 2 minutes) as "5 shots", "7-15 shots" and "20 shots", all by reporters at the scene.

    One reporter describing the L.A.Vs: "These are basically REALLY BIG TANKS".

    The winner though was the complete champ was who had "just been chatting with police commissioner Greg O'Connor" which is a bit like mistaking Brian Tamaki for the Pope.

    Raglan • Since Nov 2006 • 26 posts Report Reply

  • ConorJoe,

    Ah Yes. A Hunting country.

    What the hell: I feel very fortunate to be have been born away down here in the South Pacific but only if I don't move around to much for - when I drive anywhere - it is through a gulag.

    A concentration camp for animals, the creatures we prey upon. Our 'farms'.

    Further: we section parts of unfarmed land off, call it reserves and forests and then good keen men and their sons go in their with personal arsenals and dogs and keep up the killing.

    They head out to sea armed to the teeth with the best of hi-tech gear and torture and kill the most incredible animals, for what?

    Blood lust.

    I can't help but feel held hostage in this country by the bloodthirsty 'normalised' manner of farming and recreation.

    We are awful people wrapped in a myth concealed in an enigma deceived by our isolation. As 'no-one is watching' we can abuse our environment and it's inhabitants and get away with it.

    EastCoast • Since Sep 2008 • 10 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    They head out to sea armed to the teeth with the best of hi-tech gear and torture and kill the most incredible animals, for what?

    I'll give you the recreation part, in part, but you know, meat is what sustained us through the millennia. We can choose to forgo it now, it's a luxury that we can afford, and full props to the people who do that out of principle. But on the "gulag" and "concentration camp" comparisons you might want to gain some perspective.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    The Weekend Herald ran with four front page headlines under GUNNMAN DEAD (which was unconfirmed at the time they ran it apparently) with a dead policeman, booby-trapped houses, rescued dogs, robots and tanks. They clearly couldn't let one of those topics not make the headline.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Henry Harrison,

    So the iconic 20th century kiwi male, the "rugged individualist," the "Man Alone" doesn't transplant too well to the 21st suburban environment. From what I've heard from friends family and neighbours on the radio, he was a "typical kiwi bloke." A bit laconic, minding his own business, fit and phsyically capable, one of the million or so gun owners in the country.

    Might make us a bit more cautious in repurposing some of the other 20th century kiwi myths for the 21st eh?

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 11 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Ahh but Giovanni, that's how some people see it. Simplistically put,killing is killing is killing and some are just frankly sick of it. After a while it all seems the same. Jus' sayin'

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

  • Tom Semmens,

    And yet for all the media coverage, very, very little was made of the sensational use of the light armoured vehicles in this seige. It is without precedent in New Zealand, and yet was barely remarked upon. Eye witness accounts say the LAV may even have returned fire when recovering Len Snee's body. Surely this is possibly the MOST unusual aspect of this seige?

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Carol Stewart,

    A very fine piece, Russell. Thank you.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Simplistically put,killing is killing is killing and some are just frankly sick of it.

    Yes, and these people could get some fucking perspective, is what I'm saying. They are alive because their ancestors ate meat. Is what's got us here. Argue we can evolve past it, fine, but don't mix it with genocide and political prosecution, that's just narcissistic grandstanding crap.

    Gassing jews and running an abattoir? Not the same thing.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    And then there are the idiots who want to romanticise the killing, like the neighbour who painted "LEGEND" on his roof.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    And yet for all the media coverage, very, very little was made of the sensational use of the light armoured vehicles in this seige. It is without precedent in New Zealand, and yet was barely remarked upon.

    The very same ones Wayne Mapp is looking at flogging off.

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

  • andin,

    They are alive because their ancestors ate meat.

    I thought the great advance was cultivating crops thus reducing the negative effect of a bad hunt? But the male of the species insisting on how valuable their contribution was re: hunting, set the trend which continues today of keeping redundant behaviours alive thru institutionalising or culturally codifying them

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    My “highlight” of the coverage was ZB news on Saturday morning.

    They had their reporter inside the cordon reporting on latest developments. So what did getting inside the cordon enable her to tell us?

    Well not a lot really. She just read out a whole lot of stuff from the NZ Herald website.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Yes, and these people could get some fucking perspective, is what I'm saying.

    Ok, keep your hair on. (thought that was Craig for a minute) Yes, you're absolutely right of course (unless you're a cow or sheep or baby lamb)It's not the same.

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

  • Carol Stewart,

    Further: we section parts of unfarmed land off, call it reserves and forests and then good keen men and their sons go in their with personal arsenals and dogs and keep up the killing.

    Where do you stand on killing possums, goats, deer, rabbits, stoats and feral cats, ConorJoe?

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I thought the great advance was cultivating crops thus reducing the negative effect of a bad hunt?

    Sure, but ours is really the first or second generation tops that can get away with foregoing meat altogether without being undernourished. For the maternal side of my own family (which lived in the countryside but with no land of their own to plant crops) this was demonstrably true until Word War II. So, as I say, by all means, argue that we should all be vegetarians, but stay away from comparisons that are both ignorant and stupid.

    And sorry for the threadjack: it's just that being compared to a Nazi and a Stalinist first thing on a Monday morning ain't my thing.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    Nice post Russell

    Just thought it might be a nice place to mention that events like this are why in the first instance I like to treat the police with respect. They do a job that I certainly don't want to have to do myself and most of them do so with honour.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    And yet for all the media coverage, very, very little was made of the sensational use of the light armoured vehicles in this seige. It is without precedent in New Zealand, and yet was barely remarked upon.

    I remember being asked once, rhetorically, just what Auntie Helen wanted to do with LAVs that were so well optimised for armed crowd control. Eh? Eh?

    The speaker was a nice chap but the crinkling tinfoil distracted me a bit.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Yes, you're absolutely right of course (unless you're a cow or sheep or baby lamb)

    Doing all I can to let this one go.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    ConorJoe, vegetarian I presume? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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