A brief word on the #DWTSNZ fight between Dom & Chrystal

1. And to think this tabloid rubbish passes off for headline news!

   Geeze when did we sink so low? Oh that’s right since November 2008, when the NatzKEY monster was given life!

   We deserve better. Much better than this sewer tripe being dished up as news!

   • 1000% Mary_A

     FJK has made our society so self absorbed now and we are loosing our common humanity as a result.

     Just look at any day on the morning or evening news they talk more about their cares than the news they are presenting with al that back chat and hyperbole it makes me sick, as Martyn depicts.

   • It’s all part of the design to disempower the populace, while we’re focused on trivia those in power are transforming this country – and not in our interests.
     Look at a page on stuff.co.nz – after the current headlines we go down the page to sections that are all of the (pretty much) same size, therefore equally important?

     national
     video
     world
     business
     money
     small business
     technology
     life & style
     well & good
     home & property
     food & wine
     nz farmer
     entertainment
     travel
     stuff nation
     motoring
     sport

     not to mention
     oddstuff
     parenting
     kiwi traveller

     We’re drowning in news, mostly of the type that isn’t important.

2. C’mon Martyn, you’re losing it. A woman was sexually harrassed, and the best you can do is call her vacant and petty? This IS a real issue for some people … like, all women in existence. It doesn’t make the issues you mention any less important, but don’t act like the livelihood of women doesn’t matter, it’s embarrassing.

   • Interesting point, Seriously…

     I can’t help but think of the Palmerston North judge who oversaw a domestic violence case in the 1970s (80s?). The female victim was a solo-mother and the (male) judge’s comments shocked the nation, even back then;

     “She is unmarried (or solo-mother) and therefore no good” (Paraphrased)

     Perhaps the next Dancing with Stars show will have women in burkas? But not the men. Men has a free pass to dress as they wish, with no fear of others ‘faffing around with their bodies’.

     Funny thing… I don’t watch Reality TV. The term “trash tv” doesn’t begin to describe my feelings toward it.

     So I had to ask my partner who “Dom” was and what happened. (I had a passing awareness who Crystal was.)

     The lack of awareness by Reality TV fans about the sub-context of objectification of Crystal’s dance-move indicates that expecting a greater consciousness from them is a forelorn hope.

     If a rapist had leapt on the dance floor and grabbed Crystal and sexually assaulted her, the predictable response from most Reality TV fans might well have been, “Well, she was asking for it, dressed like that”.

     The only difference between now and the 1970s/80s, is that with the internet and OnDemand TV, anyone could leer and pass judgement. Even the most pig-ignorant.

   • The trouble is that reality TV and these sorts of formats sets up confrontations and huge amounts of people’s personality gets invested in these shows because we as a society worship fame.

     Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

     So we get excited by these injustices and the fascination of who got one over whom. But in the meantime, we’ve borrowed outrageous sums of money, sold assets, put prisons in private hands, made housing unaffordable, ignored global warming, left kids in poverty and on and on and on. Where’s the outrage for what matters, where’s the outrage for what matters?

     Meanwhile, the planet absorbs the heat of 4 Hiroshima bombs every second.

3. Yes Martyn, I’m afraid we are!
   That’s not to say there isn’t a demand for good, relevant journalism that isn’t reliant on commercial imperatives for its survival.

   I often see even the most staunch proponents of the need for PSB (for example) refer to the public as ‘consumers’. After 3 decades of neo-liberalism, it seems there are too many who’ve lost any concept of what things like sovereignty, citizenship, a public, etc. are about.

   Based on history (which most seem disinteresed in), they’d be well advised to delve into it.
   I’ve often said that since the specialisation and multiplicity of media outlets (by which I mean specialist TV/Radio/Internet sites, etc), people are able to ONLY reference those things they solicit. That usually means they have no awareness of anything outside their little box and its associated echo chambers.
   People need to be exposed to the unsolicited – it’s what helps with awareness.
   Even tho’ that fuckn old Reith was probably a bit of a curmudgeon, at least he was aware that the human brain and spirit needed to be fed (in his case with his trinity of information, education and entertainment).
   Some neo-lib cunt even came along later – and as usual, without a couple of original ideas to rub together, borrowed, stole, corrupted and commodified others’ ideas. I think they probably had a few self-improvement and management book sales that earned them a fortune on the basis of others’ ideas before/alongside trying to reinvent the language – and coming up with terms like ‘work-life balance’.

   Problem is (if they ever get around to familiarising themselves with history) – the natives eventually get restless. The longer it takes them to do so, unfortunately the more violent the process.

4. This excellent opinion piece on Chrystal and Dom is well worth reading – http://thespinoff.co.nz/22-07-2015/appreciation-in-defence-of-chrystal-chenery/

   • Read it. Excellent.

     • I second that

     • The whole thing is Pathetic, just an example of how we are getting dumbed down and getting caught up in rubbish incidents like this!
       Look at the whole picture: Jails, beneficiaries, child poverty, education, job security, Health, TPPA and we fill our columns up with this shit!

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