Hard News: The Next Act
149 Responses
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Bart Janssen, in reply to
Holmes was blind to many things, including, quite often, himself. But neatly portraying him as a neoliberal icon, I think, misses the mark.
+1
Apart from the very real problem we have of only hearing/reading/seeing a public persona I feel like we are looking only for the things that reinforce our prejudice of the man. He was after all human with all the faults we have. He did however, do some very good things in his life, I'm not normally one to forgive and forget but perhaps less focus on the bad is in order.
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Joe Wylie, in reply to
But it would also have been possible to construct an entirely different picture with quotes like that with which Chris Trotter concluded his farewell to Holmes last week
When it comes to a pissing-up-the-wall pomposity contest you can't beat Trotter's shallow & sonorous pseudo-biblical tosh.
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Rob Stowell, in reply to
Instead, Holmes ended the programme’s coverage with these words: “No New Zealander, frankly, could have watched proceedings today without a sense of pride, without being gripped by the heart, could have watched it – without love.”
Holmes isn't easy to sum up, granted.
But again: the exclusion of any other viewpoint leaps out. If you watched the day unfold with anger, dismay, bewilderment or indifference- you're "No New Zealander".
RB's Listener article hits the point smack on:Holmes often engages people – and he has always been frank about it – by provoking an emotional response. But he has rarely, if ever, I point out, talked about making people think.
“I wouldn’t be so pompous or so grand as to say I want to make people think. I actually don’t have the self-importance to say to people that I, Paul Holmes … I wouldn’t have the pompousness to say that, frankly. I just assume that when people laugh or cry or get angry, they’re doing some thinking. Of course, I want to make people think, but I don’t want to say my great intellect is now going to put together the options that will really cause you to sit down and really think this out. That’s bullshit, don’t you think?”
Yet, he isn’t above telling his audience how to feelTV isn't generally great with ideas (it CAN be, but that's another debate!) but it can grab the emotions- and that (advertisers have also always believed) is more influential in changing behaviour. I think Holmes was being honest- but also perhaps a tad disingenuous- when he says he feels it'd be pompous or arrogant to think he could make people think.
He favoured emotion over intellect- a great strength, but also a fatal flaw. Makes him sound like an Aristotelian hero- and in that larger than life way, it's probably not too wide of the mark. -
Scott Chris, in reply to
forming with Henry, Lhaws, and their ilkthe fraternity of uppity nigglers.
Much as I appreciate the humour here - I feel we are stepping into the arena of those we are condeming for their failed humour.
Didn't fail for me in the case of the latter example. Love that Stephen Colbertesque edgy irony.
Holmes was blind to many things, including, quite often, himself.
Part of the human condition. Everyone lives in a bubble in my experience - the only one you can't see is your own. Pays to float around a bit, even if you encounter the occasional prick...
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Joe Wylie, in reply to
Yet, he isn’t above telling his audience how to feel
This is the guy who back in 2003, without a hint of irony, led off an item on a Bay of Plenty Waitangi claim with "Get ready to go ballistic on this".
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Rich of Observationz, in reply to
For somebody that has a mic in their face hours a day, going out live you've gotta give them a bit of slack.
Cn I just give a big Happy Birthday to Radio Active breakfast host Redbird Jnr, who manages a three hour show every morning (albeit with music) and has never had a single burst of racist Tourettes,
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As I have mentioned several times previously here, my son has been a great fan of Paul Holmes for a couple of decades - probably since the beginning of the Holmes programme when my son was still a preschooler.This special interest extends to playing his CD (which somehow in the last 13 years was signed by PH himself, and amazingly is still in one piece) as de-stressing music every day on arriving home from work. Each Q&A programme was recorded and watched several times. He knows that this enthusiasm is not held by anyone else in the family (in fact the opposite). I thought it might have started as a rebellious/independence child v parent thing - such as when children have an innate ability to become fascinated by something the parents actively dislike (like children of atheist parents becoming fundamentalist Christians).
But I asked him this week just what it is about PH that appeals to him. He grinned and I got a list of adjectives that sounded like a CV: entertaining, funny, silly, unpredictable. So even though it completely missed me, there really must have been something about PH that was like comfort food and gave pleasure to an enormous number of people.
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andin, in reply to
comfort food
Do fries go with that shake!
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Islander, in reply to
And irritated and hurt and (I think, willfully) at the increase of his smarmy self,
deliberately set up, in his writing & other media platforms, an enhancement of the
rightwing status quo...good riddance- -
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
rightwing status quo…good riddance-
I know where you come from, and I can see that, at the same time I don't judge that he is any less than say the destiny church.
A friend who works at TVNZ was at work today whilst the bus hired, took crew to the funeral. She stayed at work and the only two occasions she encountered Holmes was in situations that were uncomfortable so although she was used to him, felt she didn't know him so his funeral was not her place to be.I watched news of the funeral, snippets I can edit but I saw a couple of guys that liked him as a mate which must be true for most peeps in the world so there's nowt so strange as folk eh? ;) -
Islander, in reply to
Sofie - you're so much nicer (as in pointing out the niceities) than I am.
Heck of shitty month here - my best friend ever (for over 35 years) died and one of my sibs has bladder cancer. Forgive me if I sound crabby/nasty. I will arrange wee
babby cheesuses soon - all best to you 3 S's! -
I'm not sure why people care so much about Holmes, one way or the other. Apart from those close to him, obviously. He didn't hold public office, he didn't work for a cause. He happened to do a job which made him well-known. He seems neither more nor less good or interesting or valuable than most people.
People die all the time, usually before they've done all they wanted to do, and well before their friends and family are ready to let them go.
I've lost dear people who I grieve over, privately.
I didn't know Holmes, and I don't feel his life or death is anything to do with me, and his family's grief is none of my business. -
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
I’m not sure why people care so much about Holmes,
I'm not sure either, but I think it may have someit to do with his well known status. NZ'ers used to be really good at basically ignoring well knowns, then.... everything changed and not for the better imo. I'm with you on the peeps die all the time etc
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I quite liked the way Holmes died very publicly, on his own terms. Good to see the process of dying normalised.
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Jackie Clark, in reply to
I quite liked the way Holmes died very publicly, on his own terms. Good to see the process of dying normalised.
Me too. People were horrified, some were I know, at that interview. I thought, good for him. That's what dying looks like.
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
I'm sure the outpouring of grief is good for some just as it isn't for others. Just as it is being discussed right here right now. Perhaps the fact that Media is a global commodity now, and one can witness the outpouring of grief in many forms in different countries, perhaps we are experiencing a western interpretation of that? It has afterall been around for eva. I guess NZ now buys into all the hoopla that come with global awareness and reality TV is a good measure of how a person can become public property so in reality. peeps die publicly too. Only thing for me really is I don't like reality TV (although I am known to watch the odd bit of house porn which is designed to drag you into peoples lives) so like TV I guess its different strokes for different folks. I think i'll stick with watching house porn occassionally and celebrating life rather than the show of death. That can be in an own space for me for now. :)
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
– all best to you 3 S’s!
Chur.
Been a bit busy for the last few months....
See Here
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Islander, in reply to
YEA!YEAH!
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Apart from those close to him, obviously. He didn’t hold public office, he didn’t work for a cause.
Not officially, but he advanced New Zealand's understanding of AIDS substantially, and was involved with Paralympics.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Not officially, but he advanced New Zealand’s understanding of AIDS substantially, and was involved with Paralympics.
One of Holmes' better moments was when he took Michael Laws to task for being ableist.
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Not officially, but he advanced New Zealand’s understanding of AIDS substantially, and was involved with Paralympics.
Yes officially: he was patron of the Paralympics and they clearly believe he did them a lot of good.
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Cecelia, in reply to
I quite liked the way Holmes died very publicly, on his own terms. Good to see the process of dying normalised.
I've been thinking about this for a couple of days. I love your comment because it is so wise and humane.
I still have mixed feelings about the public way in which he died, craving the limelight until the end. But as you say, that was the whole point: that's who he was. By seeing his mixture of courage, honesty, fear and denial, we learn what it is like to face our mortality.
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BenWilson, in reply to
Been a bit busy for the last few months….
Nice work. Curious what YouTube offers as videos one may like after this - 3 out of 6 were Zombie based first person shooter walkthroughs.
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Rob Stowell, in reply to
3 out of 6 were Zombie based first person shooter walkthroughs.
They’ve got you nailed :) (Just kidding. But Google increasingly ‘personalise’ everything they do. Don’t like it, myself!)
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