The problem with the kind of negative politics National intend to play in 2020 is that when something genuinely good happens, all you have is spite and venom to share and that reaction spooks those voters who were considering you once they see the true pathologically vicious psyche under the veneer of caring about their petty bigotries.
I’ve always found the weakest argument National use against Jacinda is that she dances the International stage while shirking her real job here in NZ.
It’s disingenuous in the extreme because:
A) she wouldn’t need to be doing such emergency surgery on the country if National hadn’t fucking run it into the ground for 9 years and
B) since when was being loved and respected Internationally ever been a bad thing for NZ?
It’s like Simon and National begrudge the PM this International support out of that most parochial and gauche of NZ traits, the naked jealousy of negative-egalitarianism.
Like a bucket of crabs pulling an escaping crab back into the pit to suffer the same basic bargain warehouse existence of all of us. A negative-egalitarianism whose first cultural flinch is ‘you think you’re better than me’ intellectualism.
It is the most base New Zealander who is affected by this type of dog whistle and it will find solace in the ruddy necked sleepy hobbits of muddle Nu Zilind but turn away anyone else with innate grace or a reading level above the age of 10.
The Venn diagram of those who hate Jacinda because she is popular overseas with those who hate her baby and those who hate women is a perfect circle.
I’m really interested to see how National spin this kind of positive international attention as a terrible thing for NZ which will make every child sick while also being another kick in the face to Farmers.
No doubt there will be plenty of tall poppy syndrome comments to come.
A rhetorical question without doubt Martyn.
You know exactly what National will do. Exactly what they always do with a person or event they see as a threat to their quest to be government via an incessant 24/7 ridiculing, undermining and divisive campaign.
Ardern’s grandmother died 3 days out from the 2017 election. The kiwi way toward such an event is sympathy and empathy. We all have grandmothers and Ardern’s never got to see her granddaughter become NZ PM. Instead, National supporters fearing sympathy votes attacked Ardern and accused her of being the sort of “lowlife” who would exploit her grandmothers death. We all know what sort of human being would say such a despicable thing. A Nat troll and fear working hand in hand.
Very few politicians are capable of becoming leader of a party 9 weeks from election day, going up a well oiled National Party desperate to retain Government and perform as well as Ardern did. She’s undoubtedly an extremely intelligent person with considerable leadership skills. Nat trolls routinely ridicule Ardern’s appearance, butcher her name, call her an “airhead” who should go back to the fish and chip shop she had the audacity to work in as a teenage girl.
Ardern obviously has a loyal, loving and supportive partner. They are not yet married but that is not a rare situation in this day and age and the business of nobody else. Nat trolls relentlessly attacked Ardern’s partner and their marital status as if they were sub human for not being married. They fear an event such as the PM getting married as it will attract positive feeling. They accuse Ardern of being the sort of low life who will only get married to win votes.
Ardern had a beautiful baby girl and the Nat trolls absolutely despise that baby and the word “bastard” has been used online often. They see Neve as a threat to their campaign. They are convinced Ardern will have another “sprog” when she feels she can get maximum votes from “it”.
Nat trolls hated Ardern wearing a Hijab after the Christchurch massacre. She couldn’t possibly be an empathetic person showing respect. She was “exploiting” the situation and the tragedy for votes.
One of the Nat trolls biggest fears at this time is the recovery of human remains from the Pike River tragedy. This will result in closure for families and answers to potential criminal liability questions. That’s not how the Nat trolls see it. They know it will highlight this Government doing something that had to be done. Something the previous National Government said couldn’t be done. It would be a huge win for the Government and that is the Nat trolls biggest fear. They can’t come out and say that. Instead, they parrot on about it being a waste of money and a PR exercise at the expense of the victims families National care so much about. I can’t recall any Nat trolls complaining about JK’s enormously costly ego driven flag referendum.
What will National and their trolls say and do about Ardern being on the cover of “Time” ?
It will be more of the same fear driven negative and divisive slop. Led of course by NZ’s two most vile politicians. Bridges and Bennett. What else could you possibly expect?
The smart move for National would be to speak positively about the actions of Ardern and how she did a sterling job in NZ’s darkest hour. National and their trolls are not smart. They are divisive selfish haters.
Very well said. You covered everything I think and have said. Ir amazes me how thermy call her child such terrible names and her. Sad sad people who dont have lives if their own . Simon and Paula are the absolute the worst. Once more well said and thank you.
Thank you Margaret,
I’ve stood by and watched NZ politics for decades without ever wanting to comment about it. The way Jacinda Ardern is targeted, misrepresented, abused, ridiculed etc etc has been sickening. It’s not the NZ I grew up in and want to leave behind for my children and grandchildren.
When a lady has her pet cat run over and killed outside her home, she gets my sympathy and empathy. Many people have suffered that same heartbreak outside their family home. Ardern however was mocked and ridiculed by National Party supporters over the event which is just reprehensible. This group of National Party MP’s and trolling supporters are the most selfish, arrogant, misogynistic, toxic and divisive I’ve ever witnessed involved in NZ Politics.
They have ensured my support for Jacinda Ardern and the caring, fair and decent direction she wants to take NZ…hence my user name 🙂
Jacindafan: Where are you seeing or hearing this stuff? I pay attention to what’s going on politically here, and I haven’t seen it. Maybe FB? I’m not on it, so I wouldn’t see anything there.
“Nat trolls hated Ardern wearing a Hijab after the Christchurch massacre. She couldn’t possibly be an empathetic person showing respect.”
I’m certainly not a Nat troll, but I was very irritated by the hijab thing. Respect, my foot! That garment is a symbol of the repression of women: Muslim women in particular. At the time, there were articles from Muslim women who don’t wear it, saying as much. But the woke left was too busy congratulating itself on its open-mindedness to notice. Stupid people….
NZ is supposed to be a secular society. That’s how – despite the many different cultures here – we manage to rub along together with as little conflict as we have.
Christ…. that’s why all those refugees from conflict zones come here. The very last thing we need is the PM doing a damnfool thing like wearing a hijab!
“What will National and their trolls say and do about Ardern being on the cover of “Time” ?”
Hands up all those who remember Jim Anderton being on the cover of Time magazine? I certainly do. And the magazine was wrong in its prediction about him. Whatever has been predicted by that magazine about Ardern will likely also be wrong.
D’Esterre,
There are numerous online blogs I’ve been reading for several years. Most are extremely toxic and dominated by obvious Young Nats on a mission and people working directly on “data” being fed to them by Nat MP’s. One of the worst offenders has been the Trade Me Message Board. It’s a vile echo chamber for entitled, bitter, divisive and twisted Nat trolls. They genuinely believe they are influencing the election result but that is little more than their fantasy. Any single person who is fool enough to offer a contribution that dares to support anything the Government has ever said and done is immediately targeted at the rate of around 15-1 by a bunch of hyenas who are online pretend friends comforting each other. It’s the most toxic blog I’ve ever read and is thankfully shutting down in a couple of days.
We see the Hijab the same and differently. It is absolutely a symbol of female oppression by neanderthal type “man”. I despise most of what it represents ….but not all Muslim women see it that way. What occurred with the massacre in Christchurch was as powerful as it gets. Targeting people because of their religious beliefs is the very thing many devout Muslims have been doing themselves toward anyone who has the audacity not to be a Muslim. The tag “religion of intolerance has been well earned”.
That aside, we can’t fall into that trap. Crime-watch will show images of Maori men for example dominating their wanted list. That of course does not mean all Maori men are a liability with a propensity to violence or robbing you. Ardern wanted to send as strong a positive message to Muslims as Brenton Tarrant’s horrendous message. The “Hijab” wearing did that very quickly and very powerfully to all Muslims. “We are not Brenton Tarrant”. I would have preferred another tool be used but nothing could get the job done as immediately and as powerfully as her wearing a Hijab. I sincerely believe her actions were the reason no revenge attacks against Kiwis took place. Perspective is always helpful.
Jacindafan: “There are numerous online blogs I’ve been reading for several years. Most are extremely toxic and dominated by obvious Young Nats on a mission and people working directly on “data” being fed to them by Nat MP’s.”
Ah, that explains it. I don’t visit such sites, so I wouldn’t have seen any of it. I knew about TradeMe message board, but I’d never visited it.
When I have encountered toxic comments online, my favourite ploy is to ask the commenter whether they’ve done their math homework like they told their mother they were going to do? Works a treat every time! Many of the most extreme comments do come from adolescent males, sadly.
With regard to the hijab: I remain of the view that the PM was badly-advised on it. Had she fully understood its religious significance as a tool of oppression, I doubt that she’d have worn it.
This is a secular society, after all. That’s a valuable part of the political landscape here: we don’t need it being undermined by well-intentioned but poorly-informed politicians.
“…nothing could get the job done as immediately and as powerfully as her wearing a Hijab. I sincerely believe her actions were the reason no revenge attacks against Kiwis took place.”
I’m sceptical about that. Assuming that her and her government’s actions have indeed prevented a revenge attack – and it might be a bit too early to say that with any confidence – her wearing a symbol of religious oppression may entail a price that we citizens aren’t willing to pay. Or wouldn’t be, if we fully understood it.
In any event, were it the case that a counter-attack has been forestalled, I think I’d want to give a large chunk of the credit for that to the ordinary citizens of NZ, and how they themselves reacted. The rest of the world sure took notice of that.
Except, of course for those idiot Green MPs and activists at the Auckland vigil….
Well said.
Also, as a proponent of business-as-usual neoliberalism, J.A. is doing nothing meaningful about planetary meltdown, nor about the inevitable decline in energy availability that accompanies peak oil. Instead, the Adern government is making NZ increasingly dependent on imported oil and is fostering increased emissions of CO2.
George Carlin summed up politics long ago: “It’s all bullshit, and it’s bad for you.”
Never mind business-as-usual neoliberalism, JA is doing nothing about the dire housing crisis in NZ, which is why people cannot afford basic living after they have paid their exorbitant rents. If they can pay the rent.
Absolutely correct.
well lets vote in a labour greens government with a mandate to do that nzf is the blockage you need to give jacinda and james shaw the mandate and power to do that
never thought I would be defending NZF but I do not recollect any move by them that has pushed up rents. Labour and Greens have brought in policies that have pushed up the cost of a home and on top of that made renting less attractive unless there is a large financial reward hence the rise in rents. They try to indicate they are a fiend to the down trodden but they are not helping them with their policies which are dividing the country
“The Venn diagram of those who hate Jacinda because she is popular overseas with those who hate her baby and those who hate women is a perfect circle.” Good one! I’ve never been able to fathom the Jacinda-haters as opposed to those who think she might be a bit ineffectual or hostage to the neoliberals (a different argument entirely). I was in Alexandra the other day enjoying a spot of fine Otago weather and this gnarly old bloke said it was probably because Jacinda was out of the country. I mean goodness me!
They’ll use any excuse to put the boot in, mate. It’s raining? Jacinda. You’re stuck in traffic on the way to work? Jacinda. You burnt your toast this morning? Jacinda. If I were Jacinda, I might be slightly flattered at their delusional belief I’m some omnipotent deity capable of influencing lives, weather patterns and culinary disasters on a global scale.
John Key was a bastard and people happily attributed all sorts of awful events to his malign influence, and they’re doing the same with Jacinda. Apparently, the human race hasn’t yet evolved beyond feeble superstition of some village malefactor giving them the evil eye and ruining their lives.
I’m not impressed. Neither Helen Clark govt nor present govt reinstated Ruthanasia benefit cuts of 1991. Had they been in Clark’s day (& maintained by Jonkey) & present govt., fewer would be in a state of virtual penury now.
Yes.
“… has the World’s attention. How will she use it?” ROFL. Seriously? I hope the World’s not holding their
breath hoping for anything other than Com’s 101 platitudes.
I’m waiting for Garner, Richardson, Hosking, Du Plessis Allen, Hawkesby, Hooten and the rest, to start with “What has she done to deserve it?”.
Which is similar to the question I ask myself whenever i read or hear their opinions, “What have I done to deserve this?”…
its easy just compare this one to Hitlers
Legislation primarily occurs as words not photos, in this respect a word is worth a thousand portrait photos. Actions determine, result from and reinforce government policy, in this respect the current government is only willing to commit to 1/20 of an action for any plan (e.g. implementing 2 of 42 social recommendations). The Time cover is then only worth 1/1000 * 1/20 = 1/20000 of a political equivalent (versus a vehicle for information, entertainment, comedic tourism marketing or personal brand reinforcement on the public dime). Ten a penny is generous.
Time might do for Labour what Metro cover did for Greens voters.
Aka turned them off.
Herr Zensor cannot help himself, he must protect Jacinda, no matter how useless her government.
Hence totally normal, acceptable comments are deleted, as they do not meet the author’s bias expectation.
Easy, Nats can point to ‘deeds’ promised and NOT done.
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