Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Buying Phil Collins CDs helps keep the velocity of money circulation high, so in a way Kyle your father is a Hero of the Pro Globalisation Counter Recession Strike Force**.
Unitard, cool code-name and a secret lair stuffed with gadgets sold seperately -- some assembly required. Please dispose of packaging in a reasonsible manner, and if recession persists, consult a Doctor.
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InternationalObserver wrote:
But I don't know the facts yet and neither do many others at this stage.
Fair enough, and I don't want to give the impression that I don't get the difference between being charged with an offense, and a conviction after the police have proved their case beyond reasonable doubt in a fair trial.
But do you think its fair comment to ask if the tone and nature of the coverage in the O'Herald would have been slightly different if this was some tagger rivalry gone bad, or a teen tagger facing murder charges today? I also stand by my original comment that perhaps this was not the most appropriate moment for Len Brown to be repeating his anti-tagging stump speech.
Meanwhile, there's a rather charmless letter from a Steve Sinclair of Manurewa today (not on-line) which reads in part:
The tagger wasn't murdered. he was killed. The word murder should be used to define only an innocent person's death at the hands of someone else. He was certainly not innocent. Tagging should be a criminal offence, period.
Um... wonder if Legal Beagle would have a few words on the quality (or otherwise) of Mr. Sinclair's jurisprudence? I rather doubt the Herald would publish a letter even suggesting that Saishwar Naidu or other 'innocent' victims of violent crime provoked their own abuse or death.
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That would be Mr Jamieson. But I think he agreed with you too.
D'oh... Didn't mean to sound like I was picking a bone with Alastair Jamieson. (Memo to Self: practice agreeing with people. You'll get better with practice) Just didn't think this was really the best time for Len Brown to roll out the standard anti-tagging talking points, rather than repeating at the top of his voice that taking the law (and a knife) into your own hands is never an acceptable option.
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I do! Motorway Patrol is awesome.
Of course you do, Russell. But you're the most decadent and depraved thing this side of the Kentucky Derby. :)
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In the RadioNZ news report this morning he was quoted as saying the Council would come down hard on taggers. Seems harsh to say the least....
How about zero tolerance for knife-wielding vigilantes, Mr Brown? And was I the only one who thought the blaring headline Herald A life for the sake of a tag kinda, sorta totally missed the point and has a rather distasteful subtext of 'well, that's one tagger scum who got what he deserved'.
Call me a wet hoodie-hugging liberal wimp, but no matter how much I loathe tagging and traggers, I find the thought of folks stabbing them to death even worse.
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Somewhat fascist though..
You say that like its a bad thing. :) Though, after seeing Sweeney Todd last night (bloody good, BTW) a string of shaving accidents followed by some creative cookery is more to my taste.
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Heh. Good luck banging that drum Craig!
Well, I sure hope it's a drum Media Watch and the similar show that's been commissioned for TVNZ 6 is going to beat that drum good and hard. The media is always going to be a bullshit-rich environment but when we're talking about bad journalism that can (quite literally) be matters of life and death, then you've got to keep banging away.
I'm sorry to hear that Craig, and very glad you didn't succeed.
Pretty chuffed about that too -- but my point is that if you want to explain why I did what I did, latching on the pop culture bogeyman de jour (think it was MTV and the lyrics to 'Darling Nikki' at the time) is way too simple. And shame on The Press (and British papers I expect better from) for serving up the same old bullshit in a brand new box.
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And before my blood pressure returns to normal. What do folks think of this proposition?
The De-Press's latest fit of Beebophobia is proof that bad health reporting should be considered a public health issue?
OK, I know that sounds totally OTT but surely you can't make good decisions (whether at the macro-level of legislation and public policy down to judgment calls around getting your children vaccinated or going on HRT) when you're being fed shonky stories more interested in scaring the shit out of you than informing?
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That article really annoyed me.
Ditto - and here's the reason why. I think it's fair comment to say everyone just feels sick at the though of anyone ending their life before its even really begun. But while its perfectly understandable why people want simple answers to complex problems and horrible tragedies, isn't it the responsibility of the media to be the cool, calm voice of reason and obstinate fact?
Here's the ugly truth: I attempted suicide when I was fourteen because I was a very, very unhappy wee chap. The undiagnosed manic-depression sure didn't help matters. You don't find answers when you're asking entirely the wrong question, or going for the quick fix non-solution.
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Giggle. But yes. Ralston can write well, but seems to be a disaster around anything that touches on economics.
Meh... I don't know if Bill Ralston and churning out two columns a week is a happy marriage, full stop. (And that's not meant as a snide bitch at Ralston -- I couldn't do it either.)
Russell is right, he can write well, and if I was a publisher I'd be trying to get a book contract with his name on it. Something great (and enormous fun) could result if BR had to sit down and develop a well-constructed, thoroughly researched and intelligently edited thesis at more length than a 800 word column.
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