One of the weirdest manifestations of political polarisation this year has been the attempted cancellation of Dr Bryce Edwards for having the temerity to disagree with Morgan Godfrey over the class nature of the Parliamentary protests.
The Woke had written off the protestors as Lumpenproletariat Nazis while Bryce argued it was a class based response to the lack of transformative change and the anger at Covid had sparked it.
For having the temerity to challenge the Middle Class Maoists, there was an attempt by woke activists to have Bryce removed from his job!
Of course there were bad faith far right actors manipulating the anger and frustration of working class kiwis, but there wouldn’t have been an angry mob ripe for manipulation if the Left had actually provided for their material well being rather than alienating middle class virtue signals.
Dr Bryce Edwards wrote a powerful column this week looking at the break down of social cohesion and the polarising impact of algorithm generated social media debate.
Bryce writes:
“It is the unequal distribution of wealth that most New Zealanders believe is at the heart of this decline in social cohesion. According to the Herald’s survey, 74 per cent believe that wealth inequality is pushing us apart. In addition, when asked if “Our distribution of wealth is fair and good for the country”, 46 per cent disagreed and only 24 per cent agreed”
This is the crux of the tension between the Middle Class Woke who have benefitted from the rigged casino of capitalism but who dominate debate on the Left and alienate with their virtue signals.
We have allowed on the Left the wank virtue signals of the middle class woke to eclipse true messages of class solidarity for whatever hobby horse 4th wave feminists, nationalist Māori and non-binary gender activists have hijacked us into and it’s alienating.
People’s real hurt is economic and that is a direct response to free market neoliberal Capitalism.
Bryce Edwards continues…
The second most significant factor in declining social cohesion is housing inequality. According to the poll, 70 per cent believe that access to housing is a cause of the growing division. And when asked if “Our access to housing is fair and good for the country”, 60 per cent disagreed, and only 21 per cent agreed.
There is a tendency to view a lot of New Zealand’s current social cohesion challenges as being primarily due to conspiracy theories and opposition to vaccines. This is certainly the argument being put forward strongly by academics from The Disinformation Project. In responding to the Herald survey, Kate Hannah and Sanjana Hattotuwa have emphasised the problem of misinformation and disinformation as being at the heart of the problem.
However, the survey results and related evidence shows that the problem of increasing social divisions and declining social cohesion is more closely related to the very real material struggles the public are facing in their day-to-day lives. Academic focus on global conspiracies, social media, the internet, and public ignorance can distract from understanding and addressing material inequality.
…which is what TDB has been saying all year. The woke activists has spent too much energy on alienating virtue signalling and not enough about the material well being of people.
Woke Dogma Activism on Twitter sees everyone less mentally ill than them as privileged and everyone more mentally ill than them as toxic – not much of a Broadchurch recruitment attraction to that tiny woke kingdom.
Despite the best virtue signalling intentions of the middle class woke, poor people are not sitting around the kitchen table cancelling people for misusing pronouns, hate speech or mispronouncing te reo, they are freaking out about the economy…
Poll: Economic pessimism soars to 10-year high
Kiwis are feeling more pessimistic about the economy’s immediate future than at any other point in the last decade, today’s 1News Kantar Public Poll shows.
Respondents were asked: “Do you think during the next 12 months the economy will be in a better state than at present, or in a worse state?”
Of those polled, 18% responded ‘better’, 21% responded ‘same’ and 61% responded ‘worse’.
The $51billion Labour used to juice the economy and inoculate us from the worst of the pandemic inadvertently transferred a trillion dollars in wealth value to the richest Kiwis and according to the Reserve Bank Governor the price to pay for that inflationary pressure is the slashing of 115 000 jobs.
Why should the poorest pay most for inflationary pressures that enriched the wealthy?
Meanwhile Middle Class Left Activists waste energy frighting culture wars the Left can’t win.
This is one of the reasons the Left are losing political support, we are focusing on esoteric issues like land rights for gay whales and not the material well being of voters.
Middle class fear has always driven social policy so it’s no surprise the vast amounts of money now being sunk into the domestic intelligence apparatus because if a middle class person is threatened on social media, Western Civilisation has ended.
Dr Bryce Edwards has shown enormous courage for challenging the Woke and has provided deeper insight and oversight for his courage.
We should celebrate academics prepared to challenge values especially when they are criticising our own side.
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I wonder if the woke are concentrated mainly in govt and academia- just asking for a friend
His comments on Nania Mahuta this afternoon are on the money! It’ll be interesting to see how life is for Labour from now on in!
He’s such an excellent writer, one of my daily ‘go-to’s’ in the hope he’s put something new up.
The social cohesion article was one of his finest yet.
Me too and I agree. Love Dr Bryce – a decent non polarised academic
For social cohesion to improve in New Zealand we ought to explore wealth taxes, including the possibility of a comprehensive inheritance taxation and a one-off taxation on excessive wealth.
Those middle woke class and the top want class issues buried hence gender and age issues are the focus. Class is a threat to the way of life of those benefiting from Neo capital economics. Unification of working class would send as shiver up those groups spines.
Bryce Edwards is a right wing commentator and of no consequence. I haven’t read any of his articles.
Hmm…so how do you know what he really is? Aaah yes, someone told you! You see, we know you’re ignorant, because we read your comment.
Funny I’ve read Bryce for years and thought him quite left wing, so perhaps he is pretty politically neutral.
I mean how many right wing academics are there, very few I would imagine. He was pretty scathing of the Key govt but quite easy on the Clark govt, so that probably tells you where he sits. But then again, in NZ if you’re not a card carrying unionist, then you’re a Nazi.
Nikorima
I hope you read that.
Sorry to tell you, Bryce Edwards was class left for years. Read up on him. Now like many of us old lefties, he is a centrist with leftish leanings.
Good commentary Martyn. The place is in a terrible state, in all sorts of ways
In my daily life I am hearing more and more people becoming outspoken against the government, which is really unusual because my experience of most Kiwis is that they’re not that interested. I never start the conversation, but these days I am often rewarded by a “f**k Jacinda” or one yesterday “I’ve voted Labour all my life but never will again”.
I see these are selling well: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car-parts-accessories/decals-stickers/other/listing/3890884278?fbclid=IwAR2KZrMzwRWwhFXdvTtAnrdgIFVtwPtqMejwRDB4JDSGN7ZpFjA-FcWU-cA
Ahhh the so-called middle class. Just sufficiently deprived to complain about it. Just sufficiently powerful to have those complaints heard.
Edwards is a progressive thinker – the current government is neither.
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