Coffee coloured race hustlers, the year of weeping millennials on social media and casual racism – what 96 hours of Leitch taught us
It’s day four.
Apartheid Israel declaring war on us and the Foreign Minister’s electorate office vandalised with vile slurs has been ignored.
And the numerous ominous warning signs that the global economy is about to suffer s severe and possibly catastrophic stroke has been pretty much side lined.
Why? Because a 23 year old crying on social media from some interchange she had with a rich white bloke at an exclusive winery has managed to dominated the RNZ, NZ Herald, Stuff websites and most social media.
I love a classic run-of-the-mill-middle-class-emotional-millennial-over-share as much as the next person, but that this managed to dominate news and debate is an indictment on the failing quality of journalism than it does about the state of race relations in this country. The reality of who actually cares beyond Twitter was answered by the 16 000 voting in the stuff poll on the issue.
71% don’t think this is racist or don’t believe they have enough evidence to form an opinion.
14% said it was racist but that Peter didn’t mean it in a racist way.
15% said yes it was racist.
Based on the amount of column inches, headlines and hashtags you would have thought the majority of the country was prepared to shoot Peter for crimes against racism. If you look closely at this picture you’ll notice the hat is actually a Klan hood…
That Poll however suggests the louder and more determined the Twitter elites scream racist, the more alienated the majority will become.
This will probably become a regular theme for this election year.
So we are day four on this lazy mainstream media Summer news room journalism that has managed to take a fight on social media to lead news headline status.
I can barely keep up with the on the hour updates.
Boag has managed to make Leitch look like the Race Relations Commissioner & the Race Relations Commissioner’s u-turn has managed to look like Leitch.
The people who have attempted to defend Peter’s stupid and clearly ill thought out comment have only managed to make even more offensively racist comments. Boag’s ‘coffee coloured’ comment and claims that she wants the same tan are just grossly offensive and Dick Quax claim that the 23 year old is a ‘race hustler’ aren’t casually racist, they are formally racist wearing tuxedo comments.
With a Green Party Candidate now jumping in and claiming that Peter is not only a racist, but he only helps others for sinister and selfish ends, has anyone in the media asked Jacinda & Julie Anne Genter if the mad butcher is a racist?
The good people of Mt Albert should know and I’ve got a bet that we could keep this going for another 120 hours of the news cycle.
After the pounding Peter’s reputation has taken, he would be a fool to meet with anyone to discuss this issue because anything less than slavish grovelling by him will be immediately reported via social media by those involved as condescending mansplaining and the media will wait outside wherever they meet to immediately ask him questions about what the Green Party Candidate has now said.
Being outraged on Twitter is the most competitive sport on Earth and Peter Leitch is the new whipping boy for the all white men are rapists AND racist brigade.
Peter, mate, here’s some advice because right now, in just 96 hours you’ve had all that charity work, all that generosity and all that good will you’ve fostered ripped from you and you are now stained forever on social media as a racist who uses people.
All in just 96 hours.
So,
1 – Tell Michelle to shut the fuck up.
2 – Disengage altogether and do not respond, because a response at this stage will simply become the next social media post and whatever you say now will be purposely taken out of context and fuel another 24 hour binge feeding frenzy on Twitter.
3 – Don’t talk to anyone under 45 again please, it’ll just get you in bloody trouble.
By the way, the person you engaged to protect your reputation managed to end up saying 3 things far more racist than what you apparently said, so get Boag to give you a 50% discount.
Oh and while we are thinking about the manner in which Boag managed to make this actually racist, could I just pause in a quick prayer….
Hello God
I know we haven’t spoken for a while.
Hope you & your son are well
Please let Michelle Boag be National’s Campaign Manager in 2017?
Watching the ease with which a persons reputation can be destroyed from a misunderstanding is a reminder that 2017 is the the year of weeping millennials on social media and there’s no need for a Judge or Jury when Twitter is the executioner.
So what did we learn from 96 hours of Leitch Gate? That these kind of emotional testimonials and first world sensitivities retweeted and shared as social comment will be the future of media while the majority become more and more alienated.
In short, every time an elite on Twitter screams the Mad Butcher is racist, two old white people vote for Trump.
Meanwhile, 1 in a 100 NZers are homeless (many being Maori), 10 000 prisoners are locked up (the majority of them are Maori) and 300 000 kids live in poverty (again the majority of those as a percentage of the population are Maori). Those seem like far better issues of racism to focus on than crucifying the Mad Butcher because of a disagreement with a 23 year old in a winery.
How do you come second in the biggest race of your life?
Sit in a bucket of cold water until your dick quacks…
It is easy to over estimate the influence of the social network in our society, when you are a user of it. It actually isn’t as important to the vast majority of kiwis and the way they form or alter their opinions as you might think. The same goes for the Herald
Those people who didn’t like the Mad B before still don’t like him and those who did probably support him more then ever. His reputation has not been destroyed and his fine work in supporting the Warriors and other charities will continue to be appreciated and acknowledged.
“the Warriors and other charities.” Hahaha! I like your turn of phrase!
Spot on!
This is actually a strategy in my opinion to whip up anti PC sentiments to make people vote more right by being disgusted with the spectacle.
It might also help the Natz because the Maori party has served their purpose to the Natz and that union is on the wane, so Natz can try to divert their terrible economic and social performance to a race based emotion charged Maori vs Pakeha, rich vs poor, youth vs age so that immigration in particular and other issues are buried next election.
The division and diversion strategy worked for housing to get just one issue on the table – the Natz unitary plan – it’s a winner. But how many times will the media and other political parties fall for it?
in this context launch themselves into looking like out of touch fools more concerned about a 23 yo outraged at the injustice of a flip comment and what context he said it in (a joke or as a loosely affiliated Klan supporter or something in between) rather than real issues facing the majority in this country.
Now we have a new phrase to digest “casual racism.”
WTF is that?
Is it a round about way of saying a teeny weeny bit racist, not quite full blown racist though, so will not attract a penalty?
It’s either racism or it isn’t! No grey areas.
Or does “casual racism” only apply to card carrying Natz approved members of society?
Don’t read ‘the sellout’ by Paul Beatty then MARY_A, because some there is such a thing as satire… and increasingly that is becoming the political way to critique the establishment on racism….
it’s perfectly possible that Leitch was actually using satire (as an observation) when he called Waiheke a white man’s Island…. of course the journalistic standards are so low in this country that MSM take everything so literally but won’t understand or report on serious issues on racism in this country….
It comes as no surprise to me that this kind of non event story can be a false lightening rod for all that is wrong for the left of politics.
There is muttering of PC gone mad and sandal wearing greenies and lets bring back the good ol’ days that I think dominates voters in this country. I have even heard the same illogical nonsense of Auckland Transport buying electric trains. They only brought them because stupid Green supporters forced this upon us ratepayers. Yep it’s not because they are far quicker, far more long life or reliable, nah, it’s anti old school, back in my day shit and that is bad.
The Herald will have intentionally outraged good centre right voters with this beat up of a man like Leitch and encouraged them to vote more of the same. In that respect this is quite clever but awfully dark.
I expect more non event “news” items leading up to the election to corral the masses into an anti PC hysteria not seen since Helen Clark, which will always have negative effect on anyone but National and it’s puppet party’s.
ha ha …enjoyed that post Bomber Bradbury
Does anyone see the irony of Peter Leitch, the Mad Butcher, being called out as a racist? Here is a man who has profited enormously from the suffering, abuse and violent death of animals and in this respect is in the same league as that other great New Zealander Sir James Tolley and many others throughout Western history since the invention of the slaughterhouse in the 1890s , or even since the railroad barons in America demanded and enabled the slaughter of the bison. Leitch is the worst sort of human being in this respect and, given the historical and existential similarity between the slave trade and the meat trade, being called out as a racist is entirely fitting, though his light hearted ‘banter’ racism pales in comparison to his absolute, totalising and murderous speciesism. Animal liberation is, of course, a cause the left has yet to embrace since nearly all of us are party to the exploitation and abuse that allows such men to become rich. But what has been revealed finally about the Mad Butcher with this fiasco is this – those who abuse and show disrespect for animals also show disrespect for humans in fairly equal measure.
Oh now the casual racists are coming out in droves on the daily blog. Well done Martyn for coming out and getting others to come with you.