Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. – Samuel Johnson

I got it on first reading;what’s wrong with you?

Hahaha. Said like someone with no appreciation for language or the arts.

Very good point. It appears some still hold onto the illusion that Labour is a left wing party. Being “in opposition” to a right wing party does not make you left by default, nor does the presence of so-called “left wing” support. The only reason the Labour corpse is still sucking air is the absence of a viable representative alternative.

So why don’t the opposition Labour Party make the same sort of criticisms of the government that Catton does?

This is why:

Labour’s finance spokesman, David Parker, says his party’s policies on oil, gas and mineral extraction are close to those of the Government.

“I don’t think we are much different from National,” Parker said. “They’ve continued on with the programme that we started in respect to oil and gas,”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10822510

“…you don’t explain why her words have the right running scared, other than to state that Eleanor has “a legitimized power to disrupt the mainstream Medias’ narrative,”
RAYCH

Hi Ray, I thnk it is self evident why the Right are running scared. It is in the last part of the quote from Catton which sucinctly skewers these traitors to humanity, with laser like precision as only a good writer could:

“…They care about short-term gains. They would destroy the planet in order to be able to have the life they want. I feel very angry with my government.”

As the saying goes: “The truth hurts”. If Eleanour Catton had only said, they are “neo liberal”, “profit obsessed”, “shallow” and “money hungry”, and stopped there, she would have been ignored. This is the sort of work-a-day criticism that the opposition Labour Party make of the government all the time, and it is water off a ducks back.

If you want to know how exactly accurate Ellenor Catton’s critism of the true nature of our political leaders is, then go to the link below:

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/so-far-2015-is-pure-dystopia?utm_source=mbfb

pretty sure the truth in general sends the right running scared yo. Not everything I write is perfect and most of what I say has flaws, but Im willing to admit that and continue to learn.