Hard News: New Zealand Weekend Television
142 Responses
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It's okay, John Key looked behind the couch and found another $320,000 for the Kids Can Stand Tall Trust and MP's are redistributing a little less of our 'wealth' by flying cattle class to Australia.
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There is nothing wrong with charity. It makes people feel good about themselves, it makes then feel OK about the shitty things they do to sate their avarice and it's tax deductible (which is the Govt.'s way of saying "good on ya"). Then there's Sponsorship. That makes institutions and businesses feel good about themselves and their customers feel good by association. There is, on the other hand, something wrong when a Government gives millions to private schools and tax cuts for the wealthy yet there is still a need for charity to help the worst off members of a society.
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3410,
I'm not sure if everyone snarking at the tackiness has the same attitude, though.
What I described as "tacky," was specifically the corporates' massive and endless self-promotion during their charity efforts. To differentiate, Telethon as a whole is, IMO, cheesy , which is fine.
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I saw a bit of Telethon, and was glad that it raised as much money as it did, but I wasn't driven to sit down and devote my entire weekend to it. I think it was a mix of all the stuff that's been touched on above, including that making an arse of yourself is now SOP for TV personalities, Telethon or not.
Having never seen a Telethon before, the word had fauxstalgic properties for me, and I expect a few people at least tuned in with a kind of retro sensibility in their heads. They must have been disappointed to encounter something that was so contemporarily cheesy, without the forgiving lens of nostalgia with which they remembered (or pretend-remembered) earlier, equally cheesy Telethons.
The constant presence of corporate promotion was irritating, but there's at least the presence of a good cause to soothe the itch, as opposed to the massive proliferation of advertising everywhere else on TV at the moment.
Despite Telethon being itself a symptom of fundamental disorder in our society, the soul of soulless conditions, the heart of a heartless world, et cetera, I'm going to go for $2 million extra in Kids Can's coffers being a win on points. Granted that it oughtn't be up to charity to meet this particular need, as many have said, but that's true of so many things. Once we've done as much as we can to persuade politicians to solve a problem, we can either do what we can to make a difference, or we can curse the darkness until the next election...
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In the meantime, the "best" of Your Views on the topic...
There is something wrong with the Telethon in New Zealand. In most countries I have lived in, the Telethon is used for mucoviscidosis and orphan illnesses. There is a rotation from a year to another and the money goes to the specific association for children who are in desperate needs of a new health and life. Not children who are in desperate needs of breakfast, shoes and clothes. If the parents who receive the dole and the allowances fail to provide their children with the basics, then take their children away and cut off the aids.
Erm...
Agree with Philippa. think the cause could have been a fund raiser for educating parents how to provide the basics for children and It's case of give a man a fish he will eat for a day.The real problem is some families having too many kids they can't afford to raise.
Without adequate resources, time and care many of these kids will never reach their potential - becoming the next generation relying on handouts, not contributing fully or fairly to society or any sense of civil duty and that's not fair for anyone!... the telethon perpetuates bad parenting by reinforcing the message to the bad parent that there are suckers out there who will donate their hard earned money and give it to them for free.
There are capable parents out there who have fallen on genuine hard times. However, I beleive for every dollar I donate to the telethon only a very small percentage will get through to those people, with the rest going to the bludgers. Consequently I didn't donate on this occasion.
Didn't watch and won't donate a cent. As a childless poerson I am already paying charity to every parent collecting Working for Familes.
I was one of those kids who went to school everyday of the year in bare feet, sure it was cold in winter and not that enjoyable however i still have all my toes, I think we have a tender nature to cotton wool some of our kids these days, we are becoming a nation of softies.
And the Sir Truby King Memorial Award for Well-Meaning Eugenics goes to... "McV" of Auckland!
Wonderful event, wonderful cause - however, are we not just entrenching the problem? Is this just another attempt to deal with the symptom not the cause of child poverty? When are we going to do something about the bad parenting in NZ?
Being on the welfare system in NZ still puts people in the top 7% of wealth on a global baisis - so more money for benefits is not the answer. Are we going to admit that people who are least capable of being good parents are the ones breeding the next generation of poverty stricken children.
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The main problem with Telethon for me was that it generally wasn't very good television. If we weren't going to an ad break, we were pausing to shine a light yet again on the sponsors. And what was in between was frequently dull.
Interestingly, it seemed at its strongest when its least jaded crowd was in -- the children's programming on the Sunday morning wasn't plagued by the strained levity and thin crowds of the night's broadcast.
It also needed an anchorman -- someone who was demonstrably on-camera for most of the 23 hours, not Tier 2 presenters pulling shifts in pairs.
But, mostly, is it no longer possible to produce an event like this without the constant high-profile presence of the sponsors? I hope Sella.co.nz paid a pretty penny for its marketing presence. And I wasn't thrilled to see the Trillian Trust -- a gaming machine charity -- there so prominently. What exactly was its contribution?
And now I feel like I'm carping. It had its moments, and I'm not questioning the goodwill of those involved ... but it wasn't so great.
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Retro is at its best when it’s less forced.
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The Herald quote I published earlier was clear that the sponsorship money was used to defray costs. However I suspect the barrage of advertising reduced the amount of donations.
I agree Trillian seems a dodgy choice - although I know some folk are also unimpressed with the Warehouse's contribution to destroying local retail and manufacturing jobs.
the Sir Truby King Memorial Award for Well-Meaning Eugenics
Bless the Your Views massive. I knew there must be enother way of interpreting the problem.
Tier 2 presenters pulling shifts in pairs
NickD and Shavaughn did an admirable job during the part that I saw in the early hours. The "news" segments seemed uncomfortable and I'm not sure that a responsible adult presence throughout would have fitted any better.
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I had a closer look at the KidsCan Trust and where its money goes.
Not impressed.
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fauxstalgic
Word O' the week... so far.
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Is this just another attempt to deal with the symptom not the cause of child poverty?
Yeah. Dem po' kids should get a job. Don't we have chimneys anymore?.
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And I wasn't thrilled to see the Trillian Trust -- a gaming machine charity -- there so prominently. What exactly was its contribution?
Come now Rusty. You would be among the first to expound on their contribution to chlid poverty, surely?.
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And I wasn't thrilled to see the Trillian Trust -- a gaming machine charity -- there so prominently. What exactly was its contribution?
Come now Rusty. You would be among the first to expound on their contribution to chlid poverty, surely?.
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Word O' the week
+1
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Word O' the week
+1
I'm flattered folks, but a quick Google reveals how many people have had the same idea.
Oddly one of the Urban Dictionary definitions for fauxstalgia defines it as "thinking the past was better than it was, simply because your future hasn't turned out the way you wanted it to", which I'm pretty sure is simple nostalgia. Make sure you know before you portmanteau, kids.
Oh, and I've been dumpster diving at YV again so y'all don't have to:
I watched the telethon i didn't think it was a very good cause to support . You are only lining the pockets of these kids's parents so they can't support their own kids by providing the money for drugs alcohol and gambling. Not all kids will benefit from this 2 million dollars. i have a question: will all kids in ALL schools get free shoes and raincoats and free food?
Absolute rubbish. Watched it for 5 mins. Even the cause is questionable. Is it not just a way of getting the more well off to give their money to the less well off? Are we not taxed to do this already? Do we not already have huge (and costly) social welfare safety nets in place?
I find it very hard to believe that parents or caregivers cannot afford a few Weetbix for their kids, and cheap shoes and clothes to wear. The whole thing is absolute BS.
Do I sense a pattern here?
The charity is questionable all it does is encourage useless parents to continue being useless and for them to keep using the money that they should spend on their kids to spend it on booze fags gambling while taxpayers and the generous cloth and feed their kids.
How about the crap useless parents take responsability for their own children and dont leave it for others to do.
Yup, as is now obvious there is a whole ocean there of righteous presumption about the poor and the children of the poor. A few people are obviously trolling the topic but depressingly everyone else seems quite sincere in their towering judgments.
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Oh, and I've been dumpster diving at YV again so y'all don't have to:
The climate change discussion there is lighter reading. Ian Wishart thinks he should be able to debate James Hansen. Because, clearly, they are equally expert ...
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Indeed it is.
Early yet, but I think the new thread asking if too many people are wasting their time at uni should be a goodie.
In before "We're producing too many eggheads wrapped in fluffy cotton wool pushing their social engineering agenda from ivory towers", etc.
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