Hard News: Essay Question
161 Responses
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__Discuss in 500 words or less the poster's rationale for putting forward this question without mentioning his own pro-Labour bias. You have 30 minutes starting now. Eyes down please.__
Huh?
It's this new rule that was passed in urgency at 11.58 last night. Whenever you post on a political topic in the world these days, you have to finish your post by putting who you last voted for in brackets.
Kyle [Green]
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And the Ralston column is hackneyed, inconsistent, wrong on facts and one of the worst things he's ever written.
Quite an achievement! He'll be taking on Jane Black next.
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Thanks Ben and James. obviously I'm the type that gets strung out over the finer points. Set me off searching for a word emphasizing the similarities, which I found to be 'compare', at least in the dictionary.com thesaurus with this
emphasizes the similarities between or among things, though not losing sight of the differences; contrast emphasizes the differences
this really upset me. 'this is as heavy as that?' better qualifies as a comparison than 'this is heavier than that?' ye gods.
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emphasizes the similarities between or among things, though not losing sight of the differences
It's about looking for patterns among diversity, and seeing when things do the same thing but in different ways. Such as noting that despite their different size, weight and design, all these cars are essentially sports cars, but one achieves sportiness through aerodynamics, one through power, one through having go-faster stripes and a spoiler. That sort of thing.
So one might look at all the editorials and say that they might all still have the Herald's underlying right-wing agenda, but that the tone is wavering between full-blown support, concerns that they're going too far, and nervousness that they're risking a backlash through being too hasty. Perhaps.
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so why not call comparatives contrastives?
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Well, I can quite clearly compare and contrast item c) in your list -- it's an editorial column, and I hope is no more required to toe an editorial line than my pieces for Public Address Radio. (For the record, folks, the only editorial line I get from Mr. Brown is 1) keep the colloquialisms within bounds that won't attract the attention of the Broadcasting Standards Authority, 2) nothing that will end up seeing everyone concerned sued for defamation or contempt of court, and 3) bring it in to time.)
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What next? "Ansel Adams' greatest place-kicking tips"? "You too can tackle like Marti Friedlander!"
Heh.
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...in contrast to the Lada VAZ-2101, which is unlikely to ever achieve the mildest semblance of sportiness to even the laxist of croquet sideliners... ok, I think I'm getting there, thanks Tom.
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And the Ralston column is hackneyed, inconsistent, wrong on facts and one of the worst things he's ever written.
Why do his articles never carry a byline concerning his connections with the National Party in general and its parliamentary leader in particular?
I have no problem with his articles,especially when they achieve a modicum of literacy and thought...but it is more honest that folk are aware that he has a foot in the camp.
I would appreciate a byline on all journalists articles if they have an association with the topic they are writing on...
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Meanwhile, the Commerce Commission filing proceeding against thirteen airlines -- including Air New Zealand -- for allegedly engaging in price fixing worth hundreds of millions of dollars wasn't worth front page, above the fold coverage in the Herald this morning.
An (admittedly adorable) moppet shopping for a Christmas tree was.
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I got the impression the Ralston column was written with the main goal of simply pissing people off. More generally, isn't that the aim of most opinion pieces in our broadsheet in type but tabloid in inclination national daily papers now? I think the general tactic is to have a group of columnists who have such outlandish views that hopefully the audience will be drawn back in outraged fascination, as if Bill Ralston is a gruesome intellectual bruise you can't help pressing.
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Meanwhile, the Commerce Commission filing proceeding against thirteen airlines -- including Air New Zealand -- for allegedly engaging in price fixing worth hundreds of millions of dollars wasn't worth front page, above the fold coverage in the Herald this morning.
Well, they wouldn't want to upset the advertisers, would they?
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Tom: You might want to sit down, and check on three-headed calves have been born in your vicinity, but you're right. I'll put it this way: If your not a total US politics junkie, which name would you recognise without recourse to Google -- George F. Will or Ann Coulter? It probably won't be the thoughtful one.
And sorry for sounding like I'm flogging a dead and decomposing horse, but would Chris Trotter be the go-to media leftie if he wasn't such a reliable source of turbo-charged hyperbole? Not that Hooters is any better...
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Well, they wouldn't want to upset the advertisers, would they?
That's just a little too tidy, Idiot/Savant. More like "horribly complicated story without a convenient 'it bleeds, it leads' hook"; though to be fair, aviation reporter Grant Bradley did have a reasonably useful story buried back on page B1 .
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What happens if you get the answer wrong? Is there punishment such as public humiliation or parental fines?
Or maybe there's a plan to provide extra educational support for those who have difficulty answering 'compare and contrast' questions? -
And yes, I know it is written by different people on different days, but it is presented as the voice of the paper and should demonstrate a reason degree of consistency.
And by that rationale the Herald should have run a front page editorial under the byline Democracy Under Attack, and promised to publish monthly the photos of those who voted for the urgency motion.
But credit where it's due, the HoS editorial is well written.
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I suppose I should answer this properly ...
Is your personal TV Station payment for your support of Operation 8 & the extended police powers?
That's an absurd suggestion of the kind generally associated with lower-quartile Kiwiblog commenters.
I do not have "a private TV station", although that would be cool. I host a TV show, which is still pretty cool.
And although I have explained extensively my view that the activities of a number of those arrested in October last year warranted the attention and intervention of the police, I am very much concerned about the general police surveillance of groups like Greepeace, as revealed in the Sunday Star Times. On the face of it, it's an unacceptable fishing expedition into legitimate protest groups.
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And by that rationale the Herald should have run a front page editorial under the byline Democracy Under Attack, and promised to publish monthly the photos of those who voted for the urgency motion.
Or at least offered something a little stronger than the hilariously half-hearted phrase "not on".
But credit where it's due, the HoS editorial is well written.
It is.
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I think the general tactic is to have a group of columnists who have such outlandish views that hopefully the audience will be drawn back in outraged fascination
A standard tactic of talkback, for sure - and certain subeditors handling letters to the editor. Capital Times' indulgence of the frothing H Westfold comes to mind.
I am very much concerned about the general police surveillance of groups like Greepeace
I'm told by an activist acquaintance that the infiltrators are easy to spot, as they're the ones who suddenly show up and push hardest for the most direct, extremist action. It's not just fishing... it can annd does go further into planting or entrapment.
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Or at least offered something a little stronger than the hilariously half-hearted phrase "not on".
From too much hyperbole to not enough? And, yes, I feel rather dirty engaging in devil's advocacy on behalf of that giant sheltered workshop for the aliterate and terminally dumb. Yes, my default position on urgency is extreme scepticism and you don't have to try hard to find endless examples where the public good was the last consideration. But I'm obviously the only person who thinks democracy doesn't need to be hooked up to the mains and shocked back into life either.
I am very much concerned about the general police surveillance of groups like Greepeace, as revealed in the Sunday Star Times. On the face of it, it's an unacceptable fishing expedition into legitimate protest groups.
And considering what a shitpile the last round of spying allegations that appeared under the by-line of Messers Hubbard and Hager, I certainly hope the SST's new editor is a little less credulous than his predecessor. This is one story that better be absolutely water-tight.
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And the Ralston column is hackneyed, inconsistent, wrong on facts and one of the worst things he's ever written.
Why do his articles never carry a byline concerning his connections with the National Party in general and its parliamentary leader in particular?
He discussed that issue in a recent post in his blog at stuff. As he sees it, he himself has nothing to do with the National Party, but his wife, Janet Wilson, her company does work for Key, so technically he only has a connection through her is his argument.
That's the gist of it - read his post for further elaboration. -
I'm told by an activist acquaintance that the infiltrators are easy to spot, as they're the ones who suddenly show up and push hardest for the most direct, extremist action. It's not just fishing... it can annd does go further into planting or entrapment.
Reminiscent of J Edgar Hoover's COINTELPRO unit from the Cold War.
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Reminiscent of J Edgar Hoover's COINTELPRO unit from the Cold War.
There are no shortage of tinfoil hat wearers on the Internet who will tell you that it was never disbanded.
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And meanwhile NZ bumbles into pissing off a major trading partner with a bit of arrogant Uncle Tom-ism, which has made me ashamed of my country.
I've blogged about it here if anyone cares.
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3410,
There are no shortage of tinfoil hat wearers on the Internet who will tell you that it was never disbanded.
Why is that so unlikely?
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