Posts by Craig Ranapia
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When he isn't being melodramatic, Trotter is one of our most perceptive political writers.
Well, I thiink today's effort in the DomPost today wasn't so such 'emlodramatic' as pure self-parody. But let's be honest about it, would Trotter be the media's favourite lefty (as a rather puffy piece in the new Metro puts it) if he couldn't come up with Manichaeistic soundbites at a rate of knots?
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Yes, because artists should just churn out the same music in the same style, note for note, for the rest of their lives.
*sigh* God that's stupid - I've got a less than stellar DVD of Prince's 'Sign O' The Times' - and think RB saw one of the dates on that tour - and it's quietly astound how, time after time, the man and a crack band took tracks from (IMO) one of the great albums and made them even better. What a no-talent hack. :)
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All this is in a way ancient history, but there is still a lot of anger on both sides
Sure, Matthew, and I think it's also fair to poiint out that there are people "on both sides" who are angry that both National and Labour didn't have the book thrown at them with great force. Some of us actually think the rule of law - and the integrity of our elections - is a wee bit more important than the short-term partisan interests of 'our side'
I don't think you've got to get into Oliver Stone territory to be bewildered - and angered - that the Police's attitude to breeches of campaign spending law was 'know nothing, care even less' - which makes you wonder why the Electoral Commission or Chief Electoral Officer should bother even referring future breeches to the Police.
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Heh... Totally punked me, you bastard. But Michael Field's Dylan review was totally bizarre. I'm not the biggest Dylan fan on earth, but when you're reduced to bitching about the vulgar oinks sitting behind you, it's time to just go home. W.H. Auden once said he never reviewed books he didn't like because there's nothing to say unless you have a talent for amusing malice. Michael Field does not.
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Their parents might, sure, but do their kids?
Yes, because kids are nasty little pack animals who will jump on anything 'funny" (like speaking heavily-accented English or a foreign language with their peers, or a weird name - especially one you can make a grubby pun of) to establish a pecking order. Don't think that's racism though - just petty nastiness most people grow out of, or at least learn to hide under the polite hypocrisy that makes life tolerable.
And, like Keith, I really wish some folks would keep their 'resurgent nationalism' (and their bizarre standards of racial/ethnic authenticity) to themselves. And with all due disrespect, Dyan, if I ever stand for public office anyone who comes for me with Oreos or Bounty Bars will get a smack for wasting perfectly good food as well as their crapulent racism.
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Whereas if Keith or I write something about a particular topic, people will have a fair idea where we're coming from, and choose to disregard it, take it with a grain of salt or give it credence.
Good point - and to refer to your Hard News post, is it really such a terrible thing that in Auckland there are communities for whom the Herald and Radio New Zealand aren't the almighty 'gatekeepers' of media representation they used to be? I know more than a few people who listen to iwi radio stations, watch MTS and subscribe to Mana magazine because they're sick of being treated as a special interest group with "issues" by the MSM. While I don't want to be complacent about the pretty dire representation of minority journos and viewpoints in the MSM, I'm not really inclined to be down on alternatives because they just weren't willing to wait for the mainstream to get their act together.
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I think it's more productive for all concerned if we let our work do the talking.
Sure - and something else to think about: Does every damn technological or cultural change have to be a zero-sum game and/or the Fifth Horseperson of the Apocalypse? Strange as this may sound, but print as a medium, and the noble trade of hackery, is a damn sight more robust and adaptable than its practitioners give credit for. Radio and television were supposed to drive newspapers and bookstores out of business, weren't they? And not so long ago (historically speaking) mass-circulation newspapers themselves were decried as nothing more than open sewers for the ignorant and the mad to pander to the mob.
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As someone else said here, Rickards is probably the only person who think it's appropriate for him to continue as a senior policeman.
I'm one of the people who said that, and with all due respect to Angus (and we're just going to have to agree to disagree) I think there's a lot more than the rape charges he was acquitted on that has to bring Rickards' professional judgment into serious question. This might sound petty in the great scheme of things, but IMO there's something not quite right about someone who saw absolutely nothing wrong with fronting up to the trial in uniform while suspended (A breech of Police regulations for a start, AFAIK) and facing criminal charges.
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I deny being a journalist because I don't think I'm good enough (but I aspire to journalism on my better days).
At the risk of sounding like I'm giving you a virtual hand-job, you're perfectly "good" enough. It's a stupid as saying The Nation or The New Statesman are somehow second-class citizens of the print media, or their reporting is somehow suspect, because they're clearly and explicitly journals of opinion with a certain editorial POV. Of course, that doesn't give anyone a pass to just make shit up, but it does help if you're a little careful about not basing an argument on straw men.
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Or the next thing you know, you're Kiwiblog, and the quality of your blogging is undermined by the vile crap in your comments.
To be fair, rodgerd, there's a rainbow coalition of unhinged wingnuts from the loony left to the rabid right. Again, in David's position there are a few regulars I'd at least have on permanent moderation but that's his patch, and he can exercise his editorial discretion as he sees fit and wear the consequences just like Russell and everyone else. Personally, I just keep my finger on the scroll button and keep in mind the people whose comments I avoid unless my blood pressure happens to be particularly low.
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