I appreciate your sentiments MT, which probably accounts for the frustration I feel about where we're heading as a country and blatant disregard for human decency and for those whose reality was borne of generations of inequities that we had started to right but now subject to regressive policy.
The difference is our eyes are wide open and we are watching, like you do at the movies, as it all unfolds.
What I believe is that staying silent is not an option. No matter what side of the political divide we sit on, I do believe that most know what is right. That's why I love your mahi e hoa. You do a fantastic job of finding the best way to articulate the issues you see. I just wish more people get to see it and learn a thing or three outside the bite size quotes they might get from TV or radio news (that helps them firm their views!)
Good you're working through how you can maximise the platform. Your subbies will follow I'm sure :)
Lovely read. I try to figure things out too Tui and I can not, for the life of me, understand why New Zealand has been so ripe for the planting and nourishing of such harmful rhetoric. I feel like I am living in an alternate universe. How can so many be harmed by so few. I have to remain hopeful that there will be a tipping point and that the good in people will shine through. Reading like minded souls work like yours is a big help. Arohanui.
I think that Labour left their defences wide open and the Seymour / Luxon team with their Jordan Williams, Groundswell, Plunkett etc. attack forces were able to do a very, very effective hatchet job on them.
I believe $ wise, National/ACT outgunned them at least 10 to 1, and their attack groups are heavily, heavily funded - that means they can run attack ads and slogans not only on NZME but on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.
That stuff counts.
Not only that, their attacks were out of context, hard, harsh, and unfair* - but impactful i.e. people remember easy soundbites e.g. Labour are wasting your money!
Because they have a plethora of groups - they are strong i.e. they have NZME and The Platform to rile audiences, they have Taxpayers Union and Groundswell to run huge outreach campaigns and spread out of context stories, they have in Parliament figures & double the momentum with ACT and National as separate mouthpieces
*And why do I refer to it as "hatchet jobs"?
Out of context, uncaring, unserious, impactful but only caring to create negative soundbites e.g. cycle lanes cost 1% of entire transport budget in the past. Yet heavily hammered as incompetence and wasteful waste - giving an impression it's a cause of large taxpayer money loss.
Another example - they knew the gang funding for drug reform was initiated by National and why it was recommended as a way to reduce crime - yet they played with it as "Labour is giving our money to gangs (inferring funding for gangs)"
The examples are endless.
As to what happened to NZ?
People are manipulateable and understandable if they listen to one version of events or if political messages are crafted to take advantage of peoples' not knowing.
And when this Coalition got into government, their influence is now heavily amplified - they know how to create headlines. They effectively own / are shielded by sympathetic corporate media. e.g. NZ Herald not broadcasting Casey Costello and the tobacco tax cuts despite loving a good rage bait.
Traditional media is dying, and National celebrated the demise of Newshub (too "fearless")
ALL their forces are intact and remain very well funded and with things like the Treaty Principles Bill and the "smart rhetoric" used by people like Seymour - it can only get worse for now.
"I have to remain hopeful that there will be a tipping point and that the good in people will shine through." - Same. And that's why our own friendships and communities - and our inner well being will matter more than ever.
Part 2 of Answer (Substack cuts off at a certain point) :-)
As to what happened to NZ?
People are manipulateable and understandable if they listen to one version of events or if political messages are crafted to take advantage of peoples' not knowing.
And when this Coalition got into government, their influence is now heavily amplified - they know how to create headlines. They effectively own / are shielded by sympathetic corporate media. e.g. NZ Herald not broadcasting Casey Costello and the tobacco tax cuts despite loving a good rage bait.
Traditional media is dying, and National celebrated the demise of Newshub (too "fearless")
ALL their forces are intact and remain very well funded and with things like the Treaty Principles Bill and the "smart rhetoric" used by people like Seymour - it can only get worse for now.
"I have to remain hopeful that there will be a tipping point and that the good in people will shine through." - Same. And that's why our own friendships and communities - and our inner well being will matter more than ever.
Me too in the sense I try to figure out what drives those I perceive to be charlatans and their acolytes. Sadly I have found fact checking them one on one sees me blocked and without doubt my name underlined in their domesday electronic blue black electoral rolls in notional ink; red or green or turquoise .
My salient take from the T v H debate is the fake smile of the man who is afraid to debate again. My fear now is the man who replaced Tweets with a capital X will carry the day like the inventor of propaganda did for the Nazi Party
"Politics was and is only ever about the people to me. It was never about left, right or centre - rather, just the impacts on people." Definitely: Totally agree. It is about holding all our politicians to account. It is not just what they say. It is what they do (or don't do).
David Seymour is as yet to make the transition from being the provocative leader of a small party in opposition, to a serious Minister of the Govt. In opposition he was very effective because he understands that if he says rude, stupid comments then our 'gotcha' MSM come running and Boy David can safely assume there will be little actual analysis about what he is saying. But he still operates in this mode - chasing the headlines! Once you are a government education minister you are expected to take things seriously. To do the mahi that actually makes a difference for our young people - May not make the headlines but it is a privilege and we really need good leadership in education. I agree with your laughter comment and wish I could say "David you're funny" but when I see his antics like 'teachers eating kids lunches' line I just find him seriously annoying on so many levels!
David Seymour is very arrogant but of course arrogance only conceals deep inner pain and insecurity.
That all said, he is not only annoying, he is a deeply damaging person - trained in the art of deception and "lobbying" i.e. he can make the undesirable sound positive because that's his whole personality
i.e. his real job is to get favourable-to-his-backers policies through, regardless of impact, in my view.
If one watches his videos from Atlas Network - when he argues against unions or public transport - you can see how rigid and unskilled he was back then.
Even after becoming an MP he was quite robotic and scripted. But he's "matured" into the role and deepened his "skillset" so he can talk more naturally.
That said he's not that good. He refuses to give interviews to mainstream press and only hides in NZME and with Sean Plunkett.
He has tells e.g. if and when asked a hard question, he pivots by ignoring the question and asking an entirely new - and often - unrelated question. He intones authoritatively and slowly to give himself an air of credibility.
He is also heavily protected within this government e.g. I watched a Select Committee where Labour and Greens both asked good questions but he was protected by the National MPs around him.
So I agree with everything you say and most enthusiastically - "To do the mahi that actually makes a difference for our young people - May not make the headlines but it is a privilege and we really need good leadership in education."
That's what drives genuinely good educators and people.
Unfortunately he is not of that type. Nor are his fellow Cabinet Ministers from what I'm seeing.
Regarding point No 1. Yes, we all live, to a certain extent in our own echo chambers. Part of the echo chamber is what is reflected in the media, whether that’s traditional or social. Currently that is the paradigm of the current government.
The main thing that might make Mr and Ms Public aware that all is not rosy, is when it happens to them, or someone close to them. It might be there local coffee shop closing down, a family member is made redundant, they have to wait 8 hours with a sick child at ED. Then they might start to question, what’s actually going on?
Stephen - will add. Where National are most vulnerable is on two fronts:
1. Economy
2. Law and Order (This is why they paid off Sunny with $3.6mn over 2 years I think it was to head a committee to talk about crime, rather than appearing on TV)
Great point Stephen. What I've seen hence far is that many of these problems are due to "Labour's bungling of things - and National is merely doing their best to mop up!"
Example - "the big health deficit was caused by Labour hiring 14 layers of non-existent management!" - never mind Luxon admitted it was not even true and the evidence confirms it.
The first headlines are extremely effective.
And so are the mouthpieces of NZME etc.
Another example - the government refused to fund the GPs per David Seymour's promise to enable them to stay afloat. But the government "allowed" doctors to increase fees to make up the funding shortfall.
i.e. they effectively asked sick Kiwis to make it up (hence why their tax breaks are really for show in my view, the amount they've taken/caused far exceeds it)
These GP increases are a direct result of the government breaking promises, and yet most people won't connect the dots.
But surely, if given enough time, people might clue on.
It is all about ego and getting ahead, life is hard and do not be ashamed about your struggles, I see this where I work in a low decile (no longer decile but you understand) we can only do our best for all our students and there will be hunger and more trips to the dairy for junk food.
Thanks for your considered thoughts, Mountain man. I always appreciate your opinions, even when they can sometimes be a hard read as you pick apart the shambles of a government we found ourselves with. I see Seymour as National and NZF's Trojan Horse. They allow him to lay the groundwork for policies they would like to introduce, but are savvy enough to realise that even their voter base might find them a bridge too far at this stage. I feel confident in saying that they will have internal polling, focus group feedback and simply ears to the ground to inform them of how/whether the worm is turning and will have no hesitation in adopting ACT's ideology if it serves to keep them in power and retains their support base.
🙋🏽♀️Only 2.5 mths of MT??? Well, I must have good timing because just as I decided to stop following every post & nuance of the US election cycle & concentrate on what is happening at HOME, Mountain Tui turned up on my radar somewhere 😂
As usual, agree with the content of this article - particularly about "politics being about the impacts on people" bit. Politicians are people themselves, and MOST are capable of doing some good and some not so good, so there is always room for me to HOPE someone like Seymour 🤬might accidentally or otherwise actually do something good for others at some time for some reason. On the other hand, a politician that seems to come from an empathetic place can also accidentally or otherwise put in place policies that do harm to the vulnerable, or not be 100% aligned with our own views on various important (to us) policies. 🤷🏾♀️
My experience of life in a wide variety of workplaces is that the empathetic person does much more good than bad, and often has the capacity to admit mistakes & try to fix them, whereas the a$$hole$ like Seymour et al are so steeped in their world view & so lacking in empathy, that they neither see the damage they are proposing/doing, nor have the humility to admit it, or the courage to try to fix it if they do recognise they are in the wrong.🤬
As for laughing at politicians? I still follow Jeff Tiedrich, Andy Borowitz, and the Saturday roundup Jay Kuo does "Just for Xeets & Giggles" on Substack, and of course Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show & SNL - to be fair they are preaching to the choir so to speak, but "the Choir" needs mental health breaks & while laughing at the absurdity, it also does alert you to things that the Corporate Media is not reporting.
I like the new term "sane-washing" to describe how the New York Times in particular has taken hours of incoherent ramblings by Drumpf & turned them into rational explanations, and these writers & comedians show that no, actually, they were NOT "rational" & contained some alarming statements & intentions that "sane-washing" hides from the voting public.
Not sure if Aotearoa media is so bad outside of the ones you name, because yes, I tend to follow people who come across as rational & sane & willing to call out harmful & egregious policies & expose the people who promote them, but also unfiltered "news" aggregations to make sure my "bubble" is missing the wider picture. However, I'm sure if Chris Hipkins promoted Charter Schools, or Ayesha Verrall promoted massive staff cuts in our health sector, ALL of my go-to's would call them out big time! In other words, "politics is about people" but so are the people I follow who are analysing Aotearoa politics, and not always agreeing with each other I might add! 🫢
Never apologise for what you're doing.
I appreciate your sentiments MT, which probably accounts for the frustration I feel about where we're heading as a country and blatant disregard for human decency and for those whose reality was borne of generations of inequities that we had started to right but now subject to regressive policy.
The difference is our eyes are wide open and we are watching, like you do at the movies, as it all unfolds.
What I believe is that staying silent is not an option. No matter what side of the political divide we sit on, I do believe that most know what is right. That's why I love your mahi e hoa. You do a fantastic job of finding the best way to articulate the issues you see. I just wish more people get to see it and learn a thing or three outside the bite size quotes they might get from TV or radio news (that helps them firm their views!)
Good you're working through how you can maximise the platform. Your subbies will follow I'm sure :)
Have a great Sunday.
Lovely read. I try to figure things out too Tui and I can not, for the life of me, understand why New Zealand has been so ripe for the planting and nourishing of such harmful rhetoric. I feel like I am living in an alternate universe. How can so many be harmed by so few. I have to remain hopeful that there will be a tipping point and that the good in people will shine through. Reading like minded souls work like yours is a big help. Arohanui.
Part 1 of 2
I think that Labour left their defences wide open and the Seymour / Luxon team with their Jordan Williams, Groundswell, Plunkett etc. attack forces were able to do a very, very effective hatchet job on them.
I believe $ wise, National/ACT outgunned them at least 10 to 1, and their attack groups are heavily, heavily funded - that means they can run attack ads and slogans not only on NZME but on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.
That stuff counts.
Not only that, their attacks were out of context, hard, harsh, and unfair* - but impactful i.e. people remember easy soundbites e.g. Labour are wasting your money!
Because they have a plethora of groups - they are strong i.e. they have NZME and The Platform to rile audiences, they have Taxpayers Union and Groundswell to run huge outreach campaigns and spread out of context stories, they have in Parliament figures & double the momentum with ACT and National as separate mouthpieces
*And why do I refer to it as "hatchet jobs"?
Out of context, uncaring, unserious, impactful but only caring to create negative soundbites e.g. cycle lanes cost 1% of entire transport budget in the past. Yet heavily hammered as incompetence and wasteful waste - giving an impression it's a cause of large taxpayer money loss.
Another example - they knew the gang funding for drug reform was initiated by National and why it was recommended as a way to reduce crime - yet they played with it as "Labour is giving our money to gangs (inferring funding for gangs)"
The examples are endless.
As to what happened to NZ?
People are manipulateable and understandable if they listen to one version of events or if political messages are crafted to take advantage of peoples' not knowing.
And when this Coalition got into government, their influence is now heavily amplified - they know how to create headlines. They effectively own / are shielded by sympathetic corporate media. e.g. NZ Herald not broadcasting Casey Costello and the tobacco tax cuts despite loving a good rage bait.
Traditional media is dying, and National celebrated the demise of Newshub (too "fearless")
ALL their forces are intact and remain very well funded and with things like the Treaty Principles Bill and the "smart rhetoric" used by people like Seymour - it can only get worse for now.
"I have to remain hopeful that there will be a tipping point and that the good in people will shine through." - Same. And that's why our own friendships and communities - and our inner well being will matter more than ever.
Arohanui.
Part 2 of Answer (Substack cuts off at a certain point) :-)
As to what happened to NZ?
People are manipulateable and understandable if they listen to one version of events or if political messages are crafted to take advantage of peoples' not knowing.
And when this Coalition got into government, their influence is now heavily amplified - they know how to create headlines. They effectively own / are shielded by sympathetic corporate media. e.g. NZ Herald not broadcasting Casey Costello and the tobacco tax cuts despite loving a good rage bait.
Traditional media is dying, and National celebrated the demise of Newshub (too "fearless")
ALL their forces are intact and remain very well funded and with things like the Treaty Principles Bill and the "smart rhetoric" used by people like Seymour - it can only get worse for now.
"I have to remain hopeful that there will be a tipping point and that the good in people will shine through." - Same. And that's why our own friendships and communities - and our inner well being will matter more than ever.
Arohanui.
MT, you have delivered salvation that MSM has not - "liberation from ignorance or illusion". Thankyou.
Me too in the sense I try to figure out what drives those I perceive to be charlatans and their acolytes. Sadly I have found fact checking them one on one sees me blocked and without doubt my name underlined in their domesday electronic blue black electoral rolls in notional ink; red or green or turquoise .
My salient take from the T v H debate is the fake smile of the man who is afraid to debate again. My fear now is the man who replaced Tweets with a capital X will carry the day like the inventor of propaganda did for the Nazi Party
"Politics was and is only ever about the people to me. It was never about left, right or centre - rather, just the impacts on people." Definitely: Totally agree. It is about holding all our politicians to account. It is not just what they say. It is what they do (or don't do).
David Seymour is as yet to make the transition from being the provocative leader of a small party in opposition, to a serious Minister of the Govt. In opposition he was very effective because he understands that if he says rude, stupid comments then our 'gotcha' MSM come running and Boy David can safely assume there will be little actual analysis about what he is saying. But he still operates in this mode - chasing the headlines! Once you are a government education minister you are expected to take things seriously. To do the mahi that actually makes a difference for our young people - May not make the headlines but it is a privilege and we really need good leadership in education. I agree with your laughter comment and wish I could say "David you're funny" but when I see his antics like 'teachers eating kids lunches' line I just find him seriously annoying on so many levels!
David Seymour is very arrogant but of course arrogance only conceals deep inner pain and insecurity.
That all said, he is not only annoying, he is a deeply damaging person - trained in the art of deception and "lobbying" i.e. he can make the undesirable sound positive because that's his whole personality
i.e. his real job is to get favourable-to-his-backers policies through, regardless of impact, in my view.
If one watches his videos from Atlas Network - when he argues against unions or public transport - you can see how rigid and unskilled he was back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6fwZPcT238
Even after becoming an MP he was quite robotic and scripted. But he's "matured" into the role and deepened his "skillset" so he can talk more naturally.
That said he's not that good. He refuses to give interviews to mainstream press and only hides in NZME and with Sean Plunkett.
He has tells e.g. if and when asked a hard question, he pivots by ignoring the question and asking an entirely new - and often - unrelated question. He intones authoritatively and slowly to give himself an air of credibility.
He is also heavily protected within this government e.g. I watched a Select Committee where Labour and Greens both asked good questions but he was protected by the National MPs around him.
So I agree with everything you say and most enthusiastically - "To do the mahi that actually makes a difference for our young people - May not make the headlines but it is a privilege and we really need good leadership in education."
That's what drives genuinely good educators and people.
Unfortunately he is not of that type. Nor are his fellow Cabinet Ministers from what I'm seeing.
Thank you for your comment, Mark!
Tautoko MT.
Love your work! Don’t be downhearted - your contributions help us to know we’re not the only ones who suffer from despair……
Regarding point No 1. Yes, we all live, to a certain extent in our own echo chambers. Part of the echo chamber is what is reflected in the media, whether that’s traditional or social. Currently that is the paradigm of the current government.
The main thing that might make Mr and Ms Public aware that all is not rosy, is when it happens to them, or someone close to them. It might be there local coffee shop closing down, a family member is made redundant, they have to wait 8 hours with a sick child at ED. Then they might start to question, what’s actually going on?
Stephen - will add. Where National are most vulnerable is on two fronts:
1. Economy
2. Law and Order (This is why they paid off Sunny with $3.6mn over 2 years I think it was to head a committee to talk about crime, rather than appearing on TV)
Great point Stephen. What I've seen hence far is that many of these problems are due to "Labour's bungling of things - and National is merely doing their best to mop up!"
Example - "the big health deficit was caused by Labour hiring 14 layers of non-existent management!" - never mind Luxon admitted it was not even true and the evidence confirms it.
The first headlines are extremely effective.
And so are the mouthpieces of NZME etc.
Another example - the government refused to fund the GPs per David Seymour's promise to enable them to stay afloat. But the government "allowed" doctors to increase fees to make up the funding shortfall.
i.e. they effectively asked sick Kiwis to make it up (hence why their tax breaks are really for show in my view, the amount they've taken/caused far exceeds it)
These GP increases are a direct result of the government breaking promises, and yet most people won't connect the dots.
But surely, if given enough time, people might clue on.
It is all about ego and getting ahead, life is hard and do not be ashamed about your struggles, I see this where I work in a low decile (no longer decile but you understand) we can only do our best for all our students and there will be hunger and more trips to the dairy for junk food.
Excellent piece!
Thanks for your considered thoughts, Mountain man. I always appreciate your opinions, even when they can sometimes be a hard read as you pick apart the shambles of a government we found ourselves with. I see Seymour as National and NZF's Trojan Horse. They allow him to lay the groundwork for policies they would like to introduce, but are savvy enough to realise that even their voter base might find them a bridge too far at this stage. I feel confident in saying that they will have internal polling, focus group feedback and simply ears to the ground to inform them of how/whether the worm is turning and will have no hesitation in adopting ACT's ideology if it serves to keep them in power and retains their support base.
Thanks Robbo. And yes I don’t disagree.
🙋🏽♀️Only 2.5 mths of MT??? Well, I must have good timing because just as I decided to stop following every post & nuance of the US election cycle & concentrate on what is happening at HOME, Mountain Tui turned up on my radar somewhere 😂
As usual, agree with the content of this article - particularly about "politics being about the impacts on people" bit. Politicians are people themselves, and MOST are capable of doing some good and some not so good, so there is always room for me to HOPE someone like Seymour 🤬might accidentally or otherwise actually do something good for others at some time for some reason. On the other hand, a politician that seems to come from an empathetic place can also accidentally or otherwise put in place policies that do harm to the vulnerable, or not be 100% aligned with our own views on various important (to us) policies. 🤷🏾♀️
My experience of life in a wide variety of workplaces is that the empathetic person does much more good than bad, and often has the capacity to admit mistakes & try to fix them, whereas the a$$hole$ like Seymour et al are so steeped in their world view & so lacking in empathy, that they neither see the damage they are proposing/doing, nor have the humility to admit it, or the courage to try to fix it if they do recognise they are in the wrong.🤬
As for laughing at politicians? I still follow Jeff Tiedrich, Andy Borowitz, and the Saturday roundup Jay Kuo does "Just for Xeets & Giggles" on Substack, and of course Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show & SNL - to be fair they are preaching to the choir so to speak, but "the Choir" needs mental health breaks & while laughing at the absurdity, it also does alert you to things that the Corporate Media is not reporting.
I like the new term "sane-washing" to describe how the New York Times in particular has taken hours of incoherent ramblings by Drumpf & turned them into rational explanations, and these writers & comedians show that no, actually, they were NOT "rational" & contained some alarming statements & intentions that "sane-washing" hides from the voting public.
Not sure if Aotearoa media is so bad outside of the ones you name, because yes, I tend to follow people who come across as rational & sane & willing to call out harmful & egregious policies & expose the people who promote them, but also unfiltered "news" aggregations to make sure my "bubble" is missing the wider picture. However, I'm sure if Chris Hipkins promoted Charter Schools, or Ayesha Verrall promoted massive staff cuts in our health sector, ALL of my go-to's would call them out big time! In other words, "politics is about people" but so are the people I follow who are analysing Aotearoa politics, and not always agreeing with each other I might add! 🫢