Remember the dreaded ‘Nanny State’? It was a term the foaming right wing used to decry any social policy that was deemed too socially engineering. Water saving shower heads, energy saving lightbulbs and the repeal of Section 59 were all examples of the evil of Nanny State, a creeping socialist agenda that would smoother all free thinking individuals and red meat eaters, it was the end of western civilisation, it had to be stopped!
Sigh – water saving shower heads, energy saving lightbulbs and closing the legal loopholes abusive parents were using to escape assault charges on their children, those were the days when an abuse of power was as dangers as the PM signing a painting she hadn’t painted, now days we have a Prime Minister who lied about mass surveillance, lied about getting us involved in a war and has henchmen who blackmail an MP, hack into opposition computers to download all their data, hand SIS info to far right hate speech merchants and plan hits on the head of the Serious Fraud Office.
The sins of Helen Clark seem so quaint in light of John Key don’t they?
I digress, back to Nanny State. So Nanny State was the expansion of the state into the every day lives of citizens and it was evil, so terribly evil – because water saving shower heads and power saving light bulbs and removing the legal right to bash your kids are such terrible intrusions, so what is one to make of the new policy to text beneficiaries to brush their teeth?
Where are the editorials in the Herald screaming Nanny State? I can’t hear Mike Hosking foaming about ‘Nanny State’, and I haven’t heard Paul Henry calling for marches in the street against Nanny State.
Why?
Because when it is poor people, those who scream nanny state don’t give a toss. When it’s a perceived intrusion into the lives of the middle classes, it’s political correctness gone mad, when it’s a pervasive intrusion into the lives of dirty filthy bennies, everyone is cheering.
Benefices don’t need paternalistic behaviour like this, they need free bloody dental care. Likewise the policy of pressuring the daughters of beneficiaries into taking long term contraception. Interestingly the ministry said nobody had their benefit cut or suspended up to the end of December for failing to meet the new “social obligations” introduced in July last year, including requirements to enrol their children with primary health care providers, keeping up to date with core medical checks and enrolling children in preschool from age 3 or school from age 5 or 6. So the mythology that dirty filthy bennies are poor parent slobs who need the bash simply doesn’t hold up. The new work regime is set up to disqualify beneficiaries, not help them.
It’s Nanny State when middle class pretensions are pricked, it’s a bloody good kick up the bum when it’s the poor.
Our double standards are embarrassing.
Actually, looking at the state of Paul Henry and Mike Hoskings teeth, not to mention Patrick Gower , I think they all might need a jolly good daily texting !!
I think for me the biggest shame is that people are just so thick and short sighted, particularly on the right. New Zealand needs a nanny state.
But you see, the thing is to go as far left as you can. Right wingnuts never seem to realize that if you go as far left as you can, you actually end up with more freedom. But the crucial point is – EVERYBODY ends up with more freedom, rather than just some people.
The Nanny is the New Zealand worker,only raising its self as their team runs on to the paddock,only then does Nanny cry,us.
You want to know summit?…..it was condescending shit like this coupled with the ongoing oppressive and out of touch paternalistic edicts passed down against the peasantry from an insular and callous monarchy that precipitated the 1917 revolution.
These neo liberals……like to view themselves as the new ‘ruler elite’ ….
But they are mere mortal.
And despite their fantasy’s ……their shit stinks just like the rest of us .
Ha . That’s so funny .
Water saving shower heads when we have millions of cows shitting in our water . How does it go again ? It takes like 80 litres of water to make one litre of milk ? Something like that .
Energy saving light bulbs ? When our electricity no longer belongs to us ? But the idea of us saving electricity is contrary to the need for the power companies to show increasing profits to our off-shore masters/investors . They insist we try and save electricity … but they must have us use ever more electricity . No wonder the government is dragging it’s feet when it comes to promoting solar energy .
Start here . In Jonky Country . Hawaii .
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-26/utilities-feeling-rooftop-solar-heat-start-fighting-back.html
It’s my view that the concept of ‘Nanny State’ is a psychological mechanism which in effect is the polarised opposite to what is meant by the term and behind the concept , or under the skin of it , like a diseased tick , is the Insurance Industry , their mates the Bankers and their sundry hangers on , the lawyers , accountants and real estate industry money fetishists who would otherwise be unemployable . Remember , back in 1921 some of the first hungry souls scavenging the road sides of the post Wall Street Crash dust bowls of the USA hinterlands were lawyers , accountants and bankers . At least the ones that didn’t jump to their deaths from their office windows . Ahhh , those were the days .
A politic that purports to have the environment , its resources and its people’s best interests at heart while selling off their stuff and things and turning a blind eye to the most vulnerable they’ve just created are promoting a logical fallacy for their own agenda . It’s a pretence .
Bashing the defenceless unemployed and welfare dependant is yet another example of a logical fallacy . The real meaning behind such abominations carried out by criminals claiming it’s in the interests of the tax payer , are in themselves the ones most helping themselves to tax payer money .
But we know this . My question is ; what are we going to do about it ?
I do seriously believe that , that’s where our creative minds need to journey . We need to work out a strategy for action .
If it is true , that 48% voted national , then that is a catastrophe of biblical proportions for all of us for generations to come .
I still think The Daily Blog needs to promote itself , and us by association , using any means at its disposal to engage the MSM-disaffected masses .
The neoliberal disease is desperate to keep as apart . To promote ‘ individualism ‘ as being the holy grail of social impetus . To deeply ingrain that idea of ‘ individualism’ they promote Safety First . Safety in the work place . Fluro vest syndrome . Traffic cone addiction . Flashing light frenzy .
It’s a con . A swindle . A lie . A logical fallacy . https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/
One outlet that seems to gaining a strong youth based audience, while also doing some decent journalism, is John Oliver on ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’ on HBO. This kind of hard-hitting yet very accessible satire might provide a model for engaging disaffected citizens here in NZ. The Civilian did some great work over the election mocking, and thus drawing attention to, the ridiculous nature of the Act Party and others.
I’ve been interested recently as to how it is that we and the population are being manipulated.
Wikipedia has a page on Propaganda Techniques and another site has pages on how to recognise and protect yourself from propaganda. We know about a fair amount about these techniques but it doesn’t hurt to have a solid reference.
“Nanny state” falls straight under “glittering generality”: it has no real meaning but sounds bad. It is also an epithet (like anti-smacking, fart tax, left-wing conspiracy theorist). “Nanny state” is a propaganda device pure and simple.
One side is using effective propaganda, the other flailing in the air. Time for us all to wise up and start turning the tables.
“When is Nanny State not Nanny State”?
When it becomes Bully state, as we have now! The one where cowardly government keeps hammering society’s vulnerable, because it can get away with it! For now that is!
The new work regime is set up to disqualify beneficiaries, not help them.
The “I’m comfortable with that” plutocrats have requested a slave labour force. Easily done. Criminalise the poor. Privatise the prisons for profit. Bring in the working-in-prisons regime. “once money is taken for board, they’d be left with a couple of dollars a day.” http://tvnz.co.nz/vote-2014-news/prisoners-face-40-hour-working-week-under-national-6077054
And it’s going through not with a bang or a whimper, but something more like a cheer: “Labour and the Greens are backing National’s plan” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11322363
Remember that many or most of the prisoners will be there for reasons that originate in poverty. And increasingly, State-created poverty.
A few months ago the Herald ran a story that “bad teeth” was a sign of someone being poor. The tone of the story wasn’t concerned that dental problems could caused serious health issues, or how it could be that there were suddenly so many poors that their teeth were becoming noticeable, no, it was all about how to identify those damn poors and keep one’s self, and presumeably one’s blood line, pure. If you had good teeth, well, weren’t you just that little bit more “White”.
The average price to get teeth “cleaned” is $100. Since the middle classes don’t like beneficiaries saving up to buy paint to maintain their tin roof (they should just replace the whole thing, like any other good white person!) then saving up for a teeth clean twice a year is out, too.
Ahh yes, the cleaner, better looking, better smelling, morally superior and much-envied, shit-don’t-stink, middle classes. Always setting up circular cowardly idiocies to beat up on the poors with. The revolution can’t come soon enough. Gosh, I hope it isn’t violent. A few nice white teeth might get kicked out and then how would we tell who is dirty and poor anymore?
National (John Key) are/ is doing things now he didn’t do before elections, its open slather to advance his agenda.
Lets hope Hone Harawira’s recount of votes shows some changes, maybe then the other unsuccessful candidates will show some guts and insist on recounts as well, instead of rolling over and giving up.
Texting benficiaries to brush their teeth!? hadn’t heard of this til now lol, my god that’s almost literally a ‘nanny state’. I suppose the poor oral health of poor people has nothing to do with cheap processed food and unaffordable dental care.
I have an idea for National re state housing ,how about moving all the prisoners out of mt eden jail and selling the jail off, after all its on valuable inner city land ,then they could get the charities to look after the prisoners somewhere far far away.not much left for john key to do soon , hmmmmm.
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