The Minister of Croak
One of the shocking revelations to the National Party during the Epsom Tea Pot case was that NZers hated the mainstream media far more than they hated John Key. Key’s over the top response to the Tea Pot leak by sending in Police to major media offices might have seemed like a dangerous move against press freedoms in any other developed Democracy, luckily for Key, NZ has the emotional maturity of a can of coke.
This poll driven data provided to National allowed them to get away with attacking the media and sending in the Police, but it also taught National that they should always be open to the counter intuitive when under estimating the NZ voter.
This lesson came to be truly tested over Dirty Politics.
In any other country, news that the Prime Minister had been involved in operating a dirty tactics team that colluded with the Secret Intelligence Service to smear the leader of the Opposition would be called a coup and the population would respond angrily against that.
Not in NZ.
What National’s polling found was that the public hated Nicky Hager for being a communist conspiracy theorist far more than they hated John Key for abusing political power, and this is why that line became the only defence National used. They didn’t have to investigate Dirty Politics because a huge chunk of their voting base believed Hager was a communist conspiracy theorist.
You’ve seen National use the exact same tactics with Hit and Run, they know that if they paint someone out to be a left-wing extremist, their voters automatically switch off and the debate over what has been brought forward doesn’t happen.
This is what a 30 year neoliberal culture breeds, an irrational hatred of the Left and the belief that the free market injustices we have right now are the only alternative. Add to this economic cultural conditioning our negative egalitarianism where we perceive anyone whose read a book as thinking they are better than us, and you have all the conditions for blind ignorance.
Don’t for one second think that was a gaffe by a Health Minister embarrassed by a damning mental health report, because Health Minister’s don’t gaffe. The specific use of those trigger words have already been poll tested and National know that by writing the criticism off as coming from ‘left wing anti-Government protestors’ that their rump electorate will ignore the urgency of what the report has found.
There is a vast cultural chasm in our country, as divisive and as polarised as America, but our laid back persona and the smallness of our nation size have conned us into thinking we are an equal and egalitarian country.
Meanwhile those with mental illness are left to rot in a system that has been purposely run down because the National Government believes these obligations should be taken care of by the free market.
a lot of people have wishful thinking beliefs, such as spirit, karma or prayer that prevents them from understanding mental illness
I am not sure whether Dr Johnathan Coleman actually understand what has happened here in NZ with the systemic break down of Mental Health Services since Harold Titter initiated them in the 1980’s ?
Oh yes, JACK RAMAKA , … Harold Titter.
One of the long , long list of exorbitantly paid ‘ consultants’ (read : mercenary neo liberal liars ) imported from such places as England (such as Titter was ) and paid for in massive fees to lend legitimacy to the Labour / National neo liberal ideology of the 1990’s.
I recall that odious despicable little man on our TV screens with his blank dead eyes arrogantly justifying why ‘ these measures have to be done’. A foreigner from England brought in here to tell New Zealanders what they should be doing with their own country. And well do I recall the large numbers of hospital staff that lost their jobs and went to Australia all through the 1990’s etc for a better wage and lifestyle , never came back , – and gave the two fingered salute to Rogernomic’s.
Who can blame them when their wages were slashed, they lost their jobs, – and those that did remain had to accept flat rates , longer hours and degradation of the very profession that they had trained for. Now we have overworked young doctors , a glaring lack of our own NZ trained medical staff – which was also encouraged by these neo liberal subversives to gradually increase immigrant labour to force down wages even more.
Aka immigrants either ignorant of , – or hostile to – Trade Unions.
All nicely brought about by such Business Roundtable backed legislation such as the ‘Employment Contracts Act ‘ . With the real motive being to downgrade and underfund our Health and Education to pave the way for privatization.
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( * Business Roundtable , now known as the New Zealand Institute . They are a conduit for the Mont Pelerin Society – which was foundered by Friedrich von Hayek , – with his sponsor Max von Thurn und Taxis , – who’s family in turn , – created the Thule society ,… which then established the ‘ workers division’ , called the NSDAP , which then became the NAZI party .)
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Along with a whole raft of other paid for and grossly paid imported neo liberal consultants at the time stating why these false measures should be applied into other areas as well – such as education.
Hence massive student loans and massive student debts. Now they are making criminals out of ex students who falter in those payments – when those self same criminal neo liberal politicians enjoyed the full benefits of a Social Democratic welfare state and relatively free education fees. Such is the hypocrisy of the neo liberal far right wing.
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Some helpful links to expand knowledge the fate of New Zealand over the last 30 years of neo liberalism and the origins of it are provided :
* Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems | Books …
https://www.theguardian.com › Arts › Books › Economics
* Health and Hospitals PHD Thesis Draft | New Zealand – Scribd
https://www.scribd.com/document/131575075/Health-and-Hospitals-PHD-Thesis-Draft
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* An extremely important aid in understanding neo liberalism and its links to Nazism by association of the people who founded the Mont Pelerin Society are here , – the first one is by Hugh Price of Price Publishers and is perhaps the most damning one of all :
New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html
Thule Society – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Society
Young Hitler – Excerpts Appendix | The Thule Society
http://www.younghitler.com/thule_society.htm
+100 WILD KATIPO…well said !
Jonathon Coleman is implying that only left wing,anti Government protesters have Mental Health issues?
Who is Hager?
We are looked after so well by this loving and caring government, who would dare oppose and criticise anything they do???
Surely such subversive people can only be radical left wing activists and conspiracy adherents.
Hail thee, our Leader, ‘Bill the Most Cherished English Man’, who had the medicine for us, that is work, work, more work, ever more work, and NO nasty bites at the wonderful medicine dished out, soon more of it with The Budget!
Coleman is only serving his leader very well, as is expected of him.
“…a 30 year neoliberal culture breeds, an irrational hatred of the Left and the belief that the free market injustices we have right now are the only alternative. Add to this economic cultural conditioning our negative egalitarianism where we perceive anyone whose read a book as thinking they are better than us, and you have all the conditions for blind ignorance…”
Certainly the conditions for something… hmm? Anyone with the reading level of a precocious five-year-old and above can see what’s coming…
Tell you a funny story…
I had been commenting on RNZ for a while, and would occasionally get responses from the various hosts that I made comment too or asked question of until…
I asked a this simple question, I had been having a debate with a friend as to wether it would be considered an ad hominem question, if a reporter asked Coleman whether he had public or private health care himself?
I asked
John Campbell
Morning Report
Media watch
I even tried one quick question,
Never heard a peep back from them, and no one has responded to any of my other questions since.
I’ll tell you a funny story.
“Adrian, I made it on the plane”
I expect most polies have health insurance. What we really need to know is which ones don’t. Which would indicate which ones actually belief in the public health system.
So to sum it all up:
We like to shoot the messenger when he is the bearer of truth but we reward him when he is the bearer of lies.
How on earth did New Zealanders become so smugly hypocritical and indifferent in such a short time?
It didn’t seem so long ago we used to take pride in our honesty, compassion, truth and justice.
What happened?
Nzers exhibit the same know-nothing populism, racism and indifference to democracy as everyone else on this benighted planet. Much of the fault lies with the capture a by right wing corporate wealth of all aspects of the media. Now Facebook is being used to manipulate voting.
By not paying attention, we stumble on, like sheep to the slaughter.
Nzers are as guilty of know-nothing populism, racism and indifference to democracy as anyone else on this benighted planet. The total capture of the main stream media by extreme right wing corporate wealth is responsible. Issues of national importance are never impartially explored and discussed in a way that will engage the general public. Instead reporters give us trivia is in all its vulgarity.
By not paying attention to important questions about inequality, environmental degradation, corporate greed and the arrogance of this present government, we are like sheep to the slaughter.
My partner is a GP – she is overrun with patients with mental health needs that cannot be addressed in a 15 minute GP visit. Mental health needs are being pushed out into the “volunteer” sector (a long standing Neo-liberal tactic to reduce “costs”) and on to areas not equipped to help – such as the Police and the general health system.
Needless to say she is disgusted at Coleman’s callous disregard of this report.
Someone once told me there is a good way to tell if you are talking to a National supporter.
Mention mental health and National supporters immediately pooh pooh it declaring “that it is only in the mind”.
The mind is part of human life, as much as the heart, lungs, limbs and brain.
Just because it isn’t as tangible as say a broken leg or diseased heart doesn’t make it any less relevant.
You Wonderful Man Jonathan Coleman !
Billy English and Paula will have given you a big hug for your put down of the Mentally Ill.
You are so good at putting your boot into the helpless sick.
But maybe, just maybe wherever you go Left Wing Protesters will call you out. And with them will be many Right Wing Mothers with mentally ill children and husbands.
They will despise You. Johnny Coleman. Because you play very dirty. Ugly eh.
Todays answers for mental health comes in a jar, Prozac, Ritalin, Venlafaxine the list goes on ?
Todays answers for mental health comes in a jar, Prozac, Ritalin, Venlafaxine the list goes on ?
Todays answers for mental health comes in a jar, Prozac, Ritalin, Venlafaxine the list goes on ?
[…] …there is a very clear rational as to why the Government are labelling this report as pushed by R…, and that is because National discovered through the Epsom Tea Pot Tapes and Nicky Hager that their rump voters hate the messenger far more than they are prepared to hate the message. […]
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