Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Friday Music: Grey Fucking Area

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  • Sacha, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Fronting up to the media (and showing at least a smidgeon of good grace and baseline civility while you’re about it) is your damn job.

    Drinnan's media column notes the nearest thing we'll get to an apology:

    "I think it would be better if I had taken my reaction down by a couple of notches," Joyce conceded.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    When I was young I attended a respectable middle class protest where the chant was 'Hey hey, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?'. We hoped he heard as he drove past.

    Haven't today's media/political commentators ever held passionate views about anything political and expressed them collectively?

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    And now that towering political talent of our times Stuart Nash has chimed in:

    @chrishipkins v dangerous when megalomania meets disaffected. Totally irresponsible behaviour & no place for it in NZ politics - or society

    There's no place in our society for the disaffected to feel angry. Right. Fuck Stuart Nash.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant, in reply to Alex Coleman,

    Is a party only serious if it speaks to the centre?

    Parties are only "serious" if they speak to the old and the rich.

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    There are talented hard working people in the National party but we don’t get to see much of them and even less of the work they do – disappointing really.

    That's a very old song you're singing. When Barry Gustafson was defeated in Birkenhead in 1987 a member of his campaign team unloaded to the camera about how he'd been undermined by Muldoon, who had a track record of destroying 'quality people' in the party. She then gave examples, including Marilyn Waring. Now Muldoon may be dead, but it's not so long ago that David Farrar was happily telling one of his Kiwiblog contributors that Waring was never a National MP.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • parlane, in reply to Russell Brown,

    There hasn't really been much mention of that fact that the video is clearly edited, and the chanting is inserted into the middle of KDC's address, presumably to exaggerate the impression that there really is a "revolution" happening.
    Even the shot of him with the Key mask isn't necessarily from the same audio. Has anyone even confirmed that he was onstage when the Key chant was going on or was the audio from earlier and he was actually standing there while they chanted his name?

    auckland • Since Jun 2014 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    but it’s not so long ago that David Farrar was happily telling one of his Kiwiblog contributors that Waring was never a National MP.

    Seriously? Link?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    There’s no place in our society for the disaffected to feel angry. Right. Fuck Stuart Nash.

    There’s plenty of room for that, Russell. But I'd like to think there's legitimate questions to be asked about how politicians use that in campaigns. I know this seriously risks getting Godwin-ish, but you think the Tea Party GOP hasn't coldly and cynically used (rightly or wrongly) disaffected people? Whatever else you say about New Zealand politics, it's progress that Jamie Whyte's attempt at tea-bag race-baiting doesn't appear to be working.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Russell Brown,

    but it’s not so long ago that David Farrar was happily telling one of his Kiwiblog contributors that Waring was never a National MP.

    Seriously? Link?

    Can't do sorry, though I'm prepared to make the online equivalent of a statutory declaration that it happened. It was in around 2011. I'm sure that Farrar genuinely believed it to be the case at the time, and that he did concede his error. Of course Kiwiblog being what it is, it wasn't seen as a big deal.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Littlewood, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    When I was young I attended a respectable middle class protest where the chant was ‘Hey hey, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?’. We hoped he heard as he drove past.

    Vietnam was an utter tragedy on so many levels, and it also casts a massive shadow over the fact that LBJ was responsible for the most expansive social liberal legislative project in US history. LBJ was a sonofabitch, and flawed as hell, but his civil rights legacy stands. He risked a hell of a lot to push it through. But for Vietnam, he would be feted ever higher than FDR. Which is kinda like "Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" but still...

    Seeing as RB has expressed eloquently my own feelings about the Kim Dotcom hoo-ha, I will say that it's great Shihad's latest record will be one of their "hard" ones (they seem to alternate between more songwritery-based records, and tougher rock ones). Killjoy is still my favourite Shihad record, and it's still the one that punches the hardest every time I've seen them live. "Deb's Night Out" remains Toogood's most oddly moving song while "You Again" is a big, concrete-slab of a number in a live setting.

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Matthew Littlewood,

    while “You Again” is a big, concrete-slab of a number in a live setting.

    I imagine that these new songs will be absolutely massive live. Tbh, I haven't bothered too much with new Shihad albums for a while, but this one is a beast.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • phplad,

    Poor old dotcom. Failed by the digital millennium act, the us copyright lobby and even our media have compromised their professionalism as they hacked him to bits over books and hitler hats. I fear the public wont know a smear campaign from a news article soon. I was going to buy the paper this morning but I didn't want to take the bmw out in public. Just in case.

    New Zealand • Since Aug 2014 • 17 posts Report Reply

  • llew40, in reply to Tom Semmens,

    Agree with you Tom, but I would also ask the counter-factual, is it bad for National? -I suspect that they also benefit from the more conservative undecideds.

    Since Nov 2012 • 140 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens, in reply to llew40,

    IMHO the "Fuck John Key" mini-tornado is not a vote shifting issue for middle class voters. The battle this election isn't over the middle class. They are long gone. The three B's (Bach, Boat, BMW) middle class wouldn't vote Labour now even if Christ was leading it. John Key runs the country for people like them, and they appreciate him for it. Like many other countries with huge wealth disparity (Thailand, Chile) the political action is now between the top third who think they are entitled to run the country and an alliance of the disaffected. To my mind, this is where the IMP becomes so subversive to the elite, and why the Internet/Mana hook up makes more sense than the establishment pretends it does. Both parties are not business as usual, a re-arrangement of like minded middle class MPs. And unlike the "traditional" left, it has got money. Lots of it. It might actually get enough of the missing million disaffected voters to make a difference on September 20th. And the reaction from NZ political/media establishment shows it isn't used to a fair fight on a level playing field from people who are not just like them.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Stewart,

    As the IM party is not chasing after the (ahem) 'mature voter', I feel it is entirely appropriate that they uploaded the video to social media. That is the forum where their target demographic gets their info and that is exactly the sort of thing that disaffected young people, possibly considering voting for the 1st time, will relate to.

    Ergo, uploading it, while distasteful to some of the crustier elements, was appropriate.

    IMO, of course.

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report Reply

  • Matt Crawford,

    The worst part about this is the screeching faux outrage from Labour luminaries Chris Hipkins and Stuart Nash.

    It's a pathetic stunt. Seeing Labour MPs howling that free speech shouldn't be tolerated in our society or politics is the definition of entitled petty authoritarianism.

    The problem is that both Hipkins and Nash are far too wrapped up in the 2015 leadership contest already, and attitude towards the "radical-left" [Greens, Mana, IP] seems to be the key litmus test for their faction.

    Week after week this Labour caucus shows just how fucking worthless they have become.

    Vote positive is really sticking in my craw this morning. Hipkins' attitude towards political expression especially disgusts me.

    Wellington • Since Dec 2006 • 58 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Matt Crawford,

    Attachment

    Hipkins’ attitude towards political expression especially disgusts me.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Nearly all of them are doing it. Fuckwits.

    Stuart Nash's N*A*S*H Billboards round Napier are particularly tone deaf too - what is he saying?
    That he thinks politics is a comedy?
    That Hawkes Bay is like the Korean War?
    Which character does he want us to think of?
    All I see is Frank Burns not Hawkeye...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    Fuck John Key? No, thanks!

    It's not a question Geoff. Its a statement, and proving quite effective today. Frankly I see a similar response to when I was a punk rocker in !978/9 in NZ and the same in OZ from then onwards. We could do nothing right. I found NWA to be considered controversial when I was listening to them too but I could feel what they meant through their lyrics. The audiences always responded with Fuck the Police!

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to ,

    I think Internet Mana are making the other Parties (all of them) look rather old and out of date. My arguments with Davis by email had him repeating "I make no apologies..." I'm telling him my friends in his Electorate don't vote because "no one cares about them. They are not the farmers. One hopes they take views on board but it doesn't really feel that way. Hipkins is young. If he cant understand the reasons behind IMParty, he's not connecting. I've asked that he sees a bigger picture than just his conservative view. :) Thing is if we had a mash up of the Left leaning parties we could get a wonderful compromise for many.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    there are legitimate eyebrows to be raised

    While there have been occasional pretenders, as any Australian Liberal Party grandee will assure you, there has only ever been one pair of truly legitimate eyebrows.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Matt Crawford,

    Week after week this Labour caucus shows just how fucking worthless they have become.

    I don't think they are worthless but maybe they have lost their way. I think they are trying to please everyone without offending anyone. They could just accept they are not in it alone.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    occasional pretenders

    some low-brow contenders here, too...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Bryce Edwards has a good roundup of it all.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Went and got the Shihad album today, ripped it to lossless and have been playing it. It is thunder.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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