Why do we give knighthoods to losers?
Ever since the likes of Roger Douglas and Bob Jones received knighthoods I’ve wondered why on earth we give knighthoods to losers.
This time it’s John Key.
What has that man done to deserve a knighthood? Was it the pulling of ponytails? Was it the flag referendum? Was it the lies about mass surveillance? Was it the hundreds of thousands of our kids he left in poverty? Was it the failure of the housing market? Was it the exponential rise in electricity prices? Was it for running down the public health system? Was it for underfunding education? Was it for screwing the poor?
No – none of these.
He got it for the huge tax cuts he gave to the rich in 2010 (he had to borrow the money to do it) He got it for the untaxed capital gains for property speculators. He got it for the big profits to the Australian banks and other parasitic enterprises. He got it for writing our labour laws for Peter Jackson and Warner Brothers. He got it for backing farmers screwing the environment while the rest of us pay for the clean-up.
Just like Douglas and Jones Key has been rewarded for enriching the rich at the expense of the rest of us.
What a loser.
So who are the New Zealand heroes who deserve knighthoods?
For me it’s the mums and dads who live in cars, vans and caravans but keep their kids going to school clean and tidy. It’s the workers struggling on the minimum wage with no secure hours of work. It’s the families fighting p-addiction with no agency support.
We should reserve our highest honours for the decent families of New Zealand who maintain their dignity in the most appalling circumstances visited on them by market failure and uncaring governments.
Key supported Empire.
1. He increased the reach for multinational corporations ( although his pet project the TPPA has stalled)
2. He allowed our citizens to be spied on by US spy organisations. The passing of spy laws gave powerful corporate and government agencies access all NZers data.
3. He made NZ more supportive of the military aims of the US, sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Key was a willing puppet for the establishment and his knighthood is due reward for his loyal service.
People saying he didn’t deserve the award forget who hands out the prize.
Well said, Paul.
I would add making it easier for folk to carry on their immoral hiding of wealth in dodgy off shore tax havens.
deals that the former dear leader boasted would bring nz $26 million in accountants and lawyers fees.
Normalised the housing shortage.
Helped Peter Jackson do Warner bros bidding for them.
Has assisted in copyright becoming an extraditable(?) offence.
Yes, the problem is that nowadays most people think of King Arthur, chivalry, and the Knights of the Round Table. To the extent they existed, they were the exception, not the rule.
Knights were the private armies serving the rich, and as such, a knighthood is a highly appropriate and traditional reward for his service in increasing the wealth of the realm and making the peasants even more downtrodden.
Of course, knighthoods should be obsolete in NZ. Oh, wait, they were for a while….
‘What has that man done to deserve a knighthood?’
He served the short-term interests of the REAL owners of NZ, the international bankers and ‘old money’, the corporations and opportunists, the scam artists that cheat and lie to transfer wealth upwards, from those that have little to those who have far too much.
The awarding of a knighthood (or other ‘honours’) to scumbags is standard practice in the corrupt empire we live in (endure): it is recognition of a job ‘well done’…..further fucking up of the local environment and global environment, and further fucking up of the society we live in, for the sake of more digits in computer systems somewhere else in the world.
They only own NZ because we let them.
My understanding is that the honours are official titles used on official occasions. No private citizen must use them. Titles are in the same category as the national anthem – no private citizen must stand when it is played. You can choose to notice the honours and the anthem, or ignore them.
Another symbol, the flag, is also part of the system to keep people in order. This from, Arundhati Roy, is apt, “Flags are bits of coloured cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.”
They are all part of the out-dated class system which some people seem to see as useful to help them seem worthier than others. We are told we show respect for our country if we tug our forelocks as our betters go by, stand on cue to a piece of music, and get dewy-eyed when the flag unfurls.
It is more likely we show respect for our fellow citizens when we challenge the unjust behaviour of those in power. Any reward system which separates some from the rest is bound to be unjust because the system is limited in how many awards can be granted, whereas the number of worthy people is huge.
To avoid drawing attention to themselves, I suspect budding terrorists would use honorifics, gustily sing the anthem as the flag is displayed, all the while standing with hand over heart. The true patriots are liable to be seated and displaying a studied indifference to the manipulation.
My understanding is that the honours are official titles used on official occasions. No private citizen must use them. Titles are in the same category as the national anthem – no private citizen must stand when it is played. You can choose to notice the honours and the anthem, or ignore them.
Another symbol, the flag, is also part of the system to keep people in order. This from, Arundhati Roy, is apt, “Flags are bits of coloured cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.”
They are all part of the out-dated class system which some people seem to see as useful to help them seem worthier than others. We are told we show respect for our country if we tug our forelocks as our betters go by, stand on cue to a piece of music, and get dewy-eyed when the flag unfurls.
It is more likely we show respect for our fellow citizens when we challenge the unjust behaviour of those in power. Any reward system which separates some from the rest is bound to be unjust because the system is limited in how many awards can be granted, whereas the number of worthy people is huge.
To avoid drawing attention to themselves, I suspect budding terrorists would use honorifics, gustily sing the anthem as the flag is displayed, all the while standing with hand over heart. The true patriots are liable to be seated and displaying a studied indifference to the manipulation.
Don’t forget using a disaster to turn Christchurch into a mico-dictatorship under the premise it was the best remedy given the circumstances – then he and his fat buddy buggered it all up anyway.
Start a campaign to have his knighthood denounced based on his disgraceful conduct. It won’t stop it being awarded, but it will spoil the Hawaiian Snake Charmers day in the sun.
A serial liar being made knight by a serial lying monarchy covering up pedophilia and murders etc. . . . They deserve each other.
Criminals blessing their buddy criminals. A sick union serving corporate greed and serving themselves and encouraging inbred insanity beyond nobility.
Someone should start a petition to remove the knighthood from him. It wouldn’t achieve anything practical, but it would be interesting to see how many signatures it got and it would slightly rain on his parade as it would likely be in the many thousands.
Sir John
There is no answer to your question. But generally speaking the sillier the person the more likely is he to receive a Knighthood.
However the solution is to give every male the name Sir John. Every woman thereby becoming Dame Bronagh.
You have to remember Key brought the royal honours system back after Clark’s government abolished it. He could have rogered dead babies on live TV and he still would have got a knighthood just for that.
I totallly agree with John that:
“We should reserve our highest honours for the decent families of New Zealand who maintain their dignity in the most appalling circumstances visited on them by market failure and uncaring governments.”
Could we set up a People’s Honours list, a sort of cross between the various People’s Inquiries, and the Roger Award?
A despicable con man with a very dubious criminal history and connections.
I think living politicians should be excluded from the Knighthoods or any alternative honours. Only once they have had their run and are six feet under, once people have had time to digest the stuff they left behind, should they perhaps be confronted with some posthumous awards or so.
I like this last idea. Currently it is all set up to look after their cronies.
I like the idea of a ‘people’s award’ I can think of many deserving people who have stood up to be counted endless times in the face of the ongoing poverty and dreadful things that have gone on since 1986.
I don’t mean that crap that Kiwi bank do and pick the nzer of the year. They had Tindle one year, this is a man who studied Walmart (if you haven’t seen the walmart movie it is a must) and then set up a similar outfit here (the warehouse) and imports endless Asian junk to sell to sheeple. Little businesses were stomped on on the way. But of course the man ain’t silly he also set up a charitable organisation for which we are meant to be eternally grateful.
Why do we give knighthoods to losers? – Very Good Question.
It’s seems only rich crooks are knighted these days.
Why do we give Knighthoods FULLSTOP.
I resent this. Key has not earned a knighthood.
JK deserves a knighthood for at east one reason for the total deluge of abuse thrown at him while he was our leader. that would be the only reason I can think of really. It was not for telling families we will get your men out of Pike River mine, or the fact it is so unsafe to go in while sending people in any way, or for hiding what really happened, it was not for changing privacy laws, it was not for giving New Zealand people a better life, it was not for keeping the country debt out of control,it was not for increasing the homeless population, better health, better schools, cheaper housing, dealing with gangs and drug problems, it was certainly not for doing his job, which was….. working for all the people, not just the rich., It was not for the corparate controled earthquake rebuilds, but sir john please stand proud with your smiling face and beer in hand as the real sirs of this country do there work takeing on the Lions in battle for the good of all New Zeaands pride.