Hard News by Russell Brown

Read Post

Hard News: The Spiral of Events

198 Responses

First ←Older Page 1 4 5 6 7 8 Newer→ Last

  • Suze Vermeer,

    Danielle,
    I wouldn't dream of telling your how to do your feminism. Didn't intend to be homophobic either. I suppose I am interested in the semantics of it all and the idea that thoughts and actions might follow on from words. I know that's the theory. Some men, though, can talk the talk and use all the appropriate language and are still the biggest misoges this side of Playboy Mansion. I have friends around whom I avoid using the c word because I know it offends them, though it doesn't offend me.

    Deborah, Dyan
    Thanks for your comments. I think personal insults in any discussion are out of place, whether they have a gender basis or not.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 29 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Chris Trotter's table thumping style wins him few friends in the modern world, he's so 70s people power revolutionary

    Hmm. I think Trotter is as much old left as new left.

    All I ever do is try to empty the sea with this teaspoon; all I can do is keep trying to empty the sea with this teaspoon.

    My friend tells a story about how she wants to be the person who picks up starfish from the beach and throws them back into the sea. And when someone comes along and asks why she's saving starfish when there's thousands of them washed up on the beach, she'll never be able to save them all, she picks up another one and throws it back into the sea. "Saved that one" she says.

    Which feels more positive than your teaspoons, but I guess it's eye of the beholder.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Do you think those descriptions back in the day of Blair bending over for Bush (with the implications of sodomy) are men-hating?

    Hum... I can't speak for Deborah, but I find it (blackly) comic how supposedly 'progressive' types went to town caricaturing Blair either getting sodomised by Bush, or licking his arse. (And there were also some truly nasty images doing the rounds two years back of Joe Lieberman in blackface getting butt-fucked by Bush. Homophobic and racist -- really makes you thankful for the invention of Photoshop, doesn't it?)

    Said more about the people who lapped it up than Blair, in my opinion. But I really feel queasy about people who think playing fast and loose with seriously loaded imagery like that is an acceptable mode of campaigning having any influence over legislation that might just have a serious impact on my life.

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

  • Islander,

    A person who loves starfish (and all echinoderms) and hates waste
    (the second time I ever hit an adult - I've hit 5 in my lifetime, and 2 children)was whacking a person with the butt of my rod who was xatxhing kahawai and leaving them to gasp their life out and when I asked why he wasant bleeding them (which is whatyou do when you are going to eat kahawai) said "Fuckers arnt worth eating" "Why are you catching them then?" "They geddin the way of my hooks" SMACK)*

    right, where were we? A person who loves all life will search out a proper environment for the starfish, and then gently reintroduce them. Because there are starfish & starfish

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • zip drive,

    "Even if you assume one is as credible as the other, I still don't get how Clark sits on this until yesterday. "

    Anyone who has ever worked a day in their life KNOWS implicitly, you NEVER open your mouth until you know what the shot is.

    It would have been completely foolish for Clark to breath a sound about this before she'd heard all sides, and collected as much info as she could.

    It seems that the public expectation is that just because John Key and every overexcited news reporter in the country is all up in a blue funk about something, that the Prime Minister is duty bound to rail off about every gossip and rumour that comes steaming up from the gutters of Parnell.

    The PM is not accountable to the leader of the opposition, nor to an immature press gallery. The PM is accountable in the first instance to the principles of natural justice and in the second instance to the people of NEW Zealand. Bill English and Lockwood Smith have done a fine job of showing how much trouble shooting one's mouth can create. They, and their media apprentices are clearly lamenting she didn't do the same.

    auckland • Since Aug 2008 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    What Craig said.

    Different metaphor, same thought, Kyle. I like the domesticity of teaspoons.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    The PM is not accountable to the leader of the opposition, nor to an immature press gallery.

    Well, that would be wrong. I thought that one of the critical features of the Westminster style of parliament is that the job of the opposition is to hold the government to account.

    "Immature" press gallery? There's some reporters there who look fairly long in the tooth to me. And some of the younger ones are very impressive indeed.

    Of course, the press is another of the fundamental institutions of our democracy, and actually, part of their job is to hold the government to account.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • zip drive,

    The younger ones are NOT impressive at all. Their questions are not questions, they are attempts to disparage and humiliate, they are not searching and reveal nothing. They are highly immature in their approach to the profession and in their journalistic acumen.

    The Press is a fundamental institution of democracy which is why it is so important that maintain a non-partisan approach to their reporting, and why it is critical that they refrain from reporting from the perspective of personal opinion, a mode which has become the standard in New Zealand. To call the younger members of the press gallery impressive is naive in the extreme, but I suspect being in Adelaide you don't suffer form the same over exposure to the breathless Guyon Espiner and the Garnering Duncan.

    In an election year it is imperative the opposition tell the voting public honestly and openly what it is standing for, not to throw up a smokescreen over it's dearth of policy.

    auckland • Since Aug 2008 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    I really feel queasy about people who think playing fast and loose with seriously loaded imagery like that is an acceptable mode of campaigning having any influence over legislation that might just have a serious impact on my life.

    Can't have art impinging on one's precious politics can we.
    I'm with Gerald Scarfe on this one:

    "I've always been accused of taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut, of overdoing things. But I think sometimes my cartoons aren't hard enough."

    To illustrate this last point he cites an encounter with Tony Blair, during which the cartoonist mentioned that he was sometimes accused of cruelty. The Prime Minister said he didn't find Scarfe's drawings cruel. "I said, 'I must try harder in future.'"

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    The PM is not accountable to the leader of the opposition, nor to an immature press gallery. The PM is accountable in the first instance to the principles of natural justice and in the second instance to the people of NEW Zealand.

    Agree.

    The Press is a fundamental institution of democracy which is why it is so important that maintain a non-partisan approach to their reporting, and why it is critical that they refrain from reporting from the perspective of personal opinion,

    Agree

    Can't have art impinging on one's precious politics can we.
    I'm with Gerald Scarfe on this one:

    Like that too.

    Hey Joe, I notice that whenever I paint, it is generally because of some needless event in my time so far. It may be war, tsunami, Presidents ( I haven't liked :-) ) but, what I have found interesting is someone will generally complain that "it's a bit___too__ graphic or one I especially appreciated was "but, I prefer the NZ one. The English one has too much red" not noticing it was an experience on 7/7/5 (london burning!) but I know I constantly think, must try harder ;-)

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

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Can't have art impinging on one's precious politics can we.

    Oh, Joe, if you're going to pull that one you better buy me dinner first and promise to call me in the morning. Are Shylock and Fagan two of the greatest characters in the cannon of English literature. In my estimation, yes. Doesn't change my view that they're also two poisonously anti-Semitic caricatures.

    And since you brought up Gerald Scarfe -- he's someone I regard very highly as a caricaturist (and his work for theatre is not as esteemed as it should be, IMO). Doesn't change my view that many of his caricatures of Margaret Thatcher had a sexualised (and rather sadistic) edge I find creepy. And would find so if the object of his scorn was Hillary Clinton with a missile poking out of her twat, or Helen Clark as a sow, suckling her front bench.

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

  • Craig Ranapia,

    By the way, Joe, sorry for showing my "precious politics" (and Godwining myself) but I wouldn't defend this or this as "art". Worth preserving as historical and sociological records of Nazi Jew-hatred. But I really fail to see any artistic values on display.

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

  • giovanni tiso,

    IMO) I have to admit, I don't know what that means.

    In my opinion. Although I much prefer your dictionary's definition. (I never said that! I was simply quoting the International Maritime Organisation!)

    Can anyone point me to a more Blog friendly abbreviation dictionary

    The Urban Dictionary for this kind of thing, Acronym Finder for everything else.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Meanwhile, Michael Laws rides in on his donkey -- the ever reliable Pancho Villa to Winston's Don Quixote.

    AT WHAT POINT has the media become our moral conscience? The answer is: never.

    Indeed it has been my experience that most individuals who work within the industry suffer the same morality quandaries as the rest of us. Very possibly, more. Because they are routinely required to lie, deceive and chisel to get their best stories pretending to be friends when they are not, pretending to care when they don't. The front page, or the breaking story, is always their mistress.

    They have another, collective, mission and it is that motive that reduces any genuine hope of worthiness. For the media's prime intent is to make money. Indeed this is the great truth that most news media prefer to fudge. They are in business: not to change the world, but to profit from it.

    Meanwhile, could someone remind us why Laws resigned from Parliament again?

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

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    .

    IMO) I have to admit, I don't know what that means.

    .And, PAS can also mean Pretty and Saxxy, IMO,
    WTF? OMG! I STFU :-) or :-( or :-0 or ;-) or % )(happy,sad, surprise,kidding and cross eyed) so SNAFU ;-)

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

  • Paul Williams,

    __I live at altitude in a place called Mounting Women.__

    Is that anywhere near Dickhead Central?

    Probably, Dickhead Central is a popular place to live in 'Straya.

    Meanwhile, could someone remind us why Laws resigned from Parliament again?

    Oh me, ask me, I know... but was it lying about his wife's interest in a company he contracted or misleading Parliament which finally tipped the balance?

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Can anyone point me to a more Blog friendly abbreviation dictionary, than my Macintosh inbuilt?

    Actually, Wikipedia's quite good for that sort of thing.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    And since you brought up Gerald Scarfe -- he's someone I regard very highly as a caricaturist (and his work for theatre is not as esteemed as it should be, IMO). Doesn't change my view that many of his caricatures of Margaret Thatcher had a sexualised (and rather sadistic) edge I find creepy. And would find so if the object of his scorn was Hillary Clinton with a missile poking out of her twat, or Helen Clark as a sow, suckling her front bench.t

    Presumably you've seen his 1960s effort of Harold Wilson's cabinet as a bunch of pigs, eating one another's excrement. I thought ot was rather good. If I could be bothered exercising myself to take the barely-living caricature that "Lady" Thatcher has become half-way seriously, I'd probably find her a little creepy.

    Oddly enough Scarfe appears to be rather proud of his work for Disney's Hercules. I thought it sucked.

    Meanwhile, Michael Laws rides in on his donkey -- the ever reliable Pancho Villa to Winston's Don Quixote.

    That'd be Sancho Panza.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite,

    On starfish and teaspoons...

    There's a nice saying from Voltaire - "The greatest crime is to do nothing because we can only do a little."

    Well, actually, he didn't say that. He said something in French that meant that.

    Anyway, I think it's a worthy retort to critics who fling about terms like "hypocritical" or "faux" because the application of one's virtues does not appear - to them - to be all-encompassing to the point of practical absurdity.

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    That'd be Sancho Panza.

    Bah... quite right.

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

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Pancho Villa/Sancho Panza, Yes Craig, All us Hispanics look alike! ;-)

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

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Pancho Villa/Sancho Panza, Yes Craig, All us Hispanics look alike! ;-)

    OK, I don't deserve to ever live that down - but, ouch! :)

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

  • Kerry Weston,

    Who was Pancho Villa then? See, I've been so impressed with Craig's literary recall, i took it as fact. :)

    Manawatu • Since Jan 2008 • 494 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    I should fess up that I have trouble distinguishing Emiliano Zapata from Pancho Villa. Unlike Quixote & Panza they're irredeemably associated for me with refritos and enchiladas, not to mention armadillos. Then there's that vile urine-colored beer that's supposed to be accompanied by a slice of lemon, when it's obvious that even a slice of beetroot would improve the wretched stuff. That's what Michael Laws reminds me of - flat warm Corona beer with beetroot. Thanks Craig.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    Then there's that vile urine-colored beer that's supposed to be accompanied by a slice of lemon, when it's obvious that even a slice of beetroot would improve the wretched stuff. That's what Michael Laws reminds me of - flat warm Corona beer with beetroot. Thanks Craig.

    My nomination for comment of the day. Priceless.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

First ←Older Page 1 4 5 6 7 8 Newer→ Last

Post your response…

Please sign in using your Public Address credentials…

Login

You may also create an account or retrieve your password.