Monday, April 30, 2018
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
'Jacinda-Mania': Sure, Some of the Gloss has now Worn Off, But Folks, There's a Perfectly Good Reason, There Really Is: Various Reflections and Observations Upon the First 100/175 Days of New Zealand's 'new' Coalition Government
Seemingly incapable of putting a foot wrong for some considerable time, we're now informed by all and sundry - of the media commentariat, political pundits, never mind all those politicoes with a vested interest in the question - that New Zealand's 'new' Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has now lost some/much of her initial gloss/*'stardust'; the 'glory' which has hitherto attended her unconventional rise and rise and rise to the top of Aotearoa's political landscape, and up to recently appeared a seeming, virtual 'given' to accompany her way on into and beyond the political sunrise.
That may well be so (i.e. the diminishing of the glitter), especially in light of the previous few weeks of scandal, supposed indiscipline in the ranks, and increasingly controversial decisions in the environmental space in particular. As happens for every newbie government, invariably, though admittedly for the Labour-NZ First-Green Coalition Government this has occurred somewhat more readily, certainly than the previous John Key walk-on-water Government, anyway. Although four-and-a-half months or so is otherwise a pretty good innings for most NZ Inc Governments, especially of the MMP variety, to so seamlessly maintain their political honeymoon.
And 'Jacindamania', like Canada's equivalent 'Trudeaumania', can really only last so long: political 'glory' and stardom, as we all know, has a built-in use-by date, however unknown till hindsight's benefit eventually discloses the truth. A sentiment, incidentally, Americans have been realizing each and every new day as they awake once more to yet another instalment in the ongoing, 'Give a Little' saga - or rather fiasco - better known to ye average punter as the Trump Presidency. Political 'celebrities' really do come in all shapes and sizes these days, don't they... .
But first, let's take a breather to reflect upon the first 100 days of our Jacinda Ardern, Labour-led Coalition Government. The following, then, is the personal assessment (scribbled months ago) of a long-time/lifetime political 'junkie'/Political Studies (and English) graduate on Prime Minister Ardern's personal performance, as such - only; and not upon the Government as a whole (much less the policies either merely advanced/advocated thus far, or already implemented).
A double, even triple A-plus. Not for her - (nevertheless) quite outspoken and commendably open - on-the-public-record support for stuff I personally regard as wrong, bad, or just plain awful, such as yet more 'progressive' social legislation - such as euthanasia and even more liberalized abortion law. But at least these issues do tend to be voted upon separately as 'conscience' issues, enabling MPs to avoid being simply 'whipped' into line as otherwise occurs; though it's a worrying trend of recent years and of governments of both, but especially the left persuasion, that these are more and more being treated as **purely party political matters.
But as I say, what I really do and very much appreciate about our new P.M. is that at least she's completely open and honest thereabouts: one knows precisely where she ultimately stands upon such issues, and why. However unwelcome discussion of such matters might ordinarily be to career-minded (and ***poll-driven fruitcake) politicians.
Which is conspicuously unlike our now former Prime Minister Bill English, who, despite his one-time, even lifetime, ****strident and implacable opposition to all manner of legislation advanced as part and parcel of the last Helen Clark-led Labour Government's grocery shopping list of social reform - The Matrimonial Property Act; Prostitution Decriminalization Act; Civil Unions Act; and the 'Sue Bradford Smacking Ban' - and more recently (under John Key's Government) his supposed (firm as steel) opposition to the (Homosexual Marriage-enabling) 'Marriage Amendment Act'; upon acceding to the prime ministerialship, Bill English jettisoned his longstanding opposition to *****'gay' marriage almost overnight.
Which, again - please overlook my old-fashioned values if you must - does look oh so conveniently like, to re-work the description of the comic book hero (of my youth), Luke Cage, 'Hero for Hire': 'Bill English, Politician for Rent' (to the highest bidder). Sure, not all that big a deal, I readily concur, since that's pretty well your average politician's middle name/modus operandi/job description (if you will), is it not? Indeed.
But for someone whose 'moral principles' were ever such an intrinsic part of his particular political brand and appeal - to effectively sell those selfsame 'bedrock fundamentals' out, and at the very earliest opportunity - smacks of either political cowardice or at least insecurity (in arguing his own 'corner' once the nation's political leader), or just of sheer political expediency at its most basic, and I would add, despicable.
Sure, political observers like myself are well aware that much/most of what our politicians do is for strict public consumption - and thus the phrase 'swallowing dead rats' to describe their tendency to occasionally not only tolerate but even vote for stuff that otherwise they'd have no bar of, simply to progress their particular party's overall agenda - but there's even an acceptable limit to that, surely? Especially when the matter in question goes to the very heart and soul of why that individual politician supposedly stood up for elected office in the first instance.
And so, yes, we can readily see how such a political tactic might well have been employed by English so as not to alienate the ever-more-vocal and politically active GLBT (Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender) lobby/voting bloc. Why, Mr English - if I remember rightly, not necessarily a certainty unlike my 'photographic memory' brother - even attended the past year's annual 'Big Gay Out' in Auckland (though doing so while effectively 'holding his nose'). Yes, even regular attendees could see he felt uncomfortable, being essentially conflicted, yet (some there) seemed to enjoy, even revel in the discomfort the spectacle created for the thoroughgoing ******Catholic, 'morally conservative' *******English.
*A term employed by the naturally somewhat envious then-P.M. Bill English in the run-up to the last election.
**Though this opinion piece, as I mentioned, will not deal with policy concerns, I'll still note here the worrisome advancing of Winston Peters' 'waka jumping' pet project, the so-called 'Electoral Integrity Bill', whose provisions would quickly relegate NZ Inc to a position alongside the likes of Zimbabwe in terms of parliamentary freedom, and which has accordingly been termed a concerning development by virtually all independent legal eagles in this land. Though at least Mr Peters himself did walk the walk 25 years ago or so when he left the National Party and forthwith sought re-election as the New Zealand First Member of Parliament for Tauranga.
***A memorable term once employed by that unforgettable Prime Minister of yesteryear, David Lange.
****How could this social conservative ever forget some of those very vociferous parliamentary debates, including (ofttimes) then National Party leader Bill English's part therein, especially when listening in while gardening via my trusty transmitter radio?
*****Again I am reminded of the title of a book I've consumed over recent months, Tim La Haye's The Unhappy Gays: What Everyone Should Know About Homosexuality.
******Chancing shortly thereafter upon an ofttime independent general election candidate - who I'd myself stood alongside and against, incidentally, in a one-off similarly independent candidacy in Dunedin South in the 2008 General Election - at the (streetside) Speight's 'watering-hole' (for pure water fiends and freaks), he let me know in no uncertain terms that such openly-avowed apostasy (especially of someone in Bill English's position) from such fundamental tenets of the Catholic faith, effectively meant he really wasn't a real Catholic anymore.
*******Nevertheless the long-serving public servant Bill English gave an obituary - I mean, valedictory - like few others have in recent times, and I'll give my own take on that in due course (after re-listening to it on-line etc). Suffice to say for now, he 'went out' (of Parliament and politics) not only in some self-assured style but - what's infinitely more important - in real substance. Yes, a polished performance in every way, as commentators pretty well unanimously agreed.
Part Two: Various Other Reactions, Musings and Stances of NZ's Jacinda Ardern:
Whether Jacinda Ardern is - I mean, was - the perfect foil to National's Bill English, or simply Labour's answer to John Key, matters little; she simply has that essential pizzazz apparently critical to any modern-day leader hoping to be more than a one election 'show pony'. Call it charisma - or whatever - it is that indefinable sense, which, notwithstanding *vociferous critics to the contrary, is an intuitive, instinctive sense/ability to not only correctly judge, but - much more importantly - to embody/'incarnate' that innate/inherent sense of what the nation and its citizenry want; what pleases and displeases them, and without even so much as trying (to suss this out).
I.e. it just comes quite naturally, almost accidentally. Ardern's a 'spontaneous act' if you will, there's no forcing of a smile etc...everything happens without conscious effort or any self-consciousness, being oftentimes simply the most appropriate reaction to events and issues she is suddenly confronted with or has thrust upon her. Such as a whole host of various and sundry 'stuff' of recent months. Be they:
D J Trump's **one-time foolhardy ratcheting up and escalating of the North Korean nuclear missile crisis/standoff awhile ago with his temperamental alter ego Kim Jong Un (I believe it is), through unwise words of personal oneupmanship and locker-room style boyhood banter and macho bravado; perhaps no big deal in their place (and out of the public arena, no doubt), but when a deadly nuclear face-off might well result, it's clearly high time the boys in the cot put down their toys and toned down their language. Ms Ardern - without a minder or one of Trump's teleprompters to assist her - ***simply responded promptly, decisively and adroitly to his childish antics, in a firm and serious, tacitly dismissive "Let's be adults here, folks!" rejoinder befitting the occasion.
Then we have her perhaps unexpected and extraordinarily self-possessed, articulate and un-politically correct reaction to the long-term Aussie numbskull interviewer/media personality Michael Worsley (I believe), who's since been pilloried from pillar to post by all and sundry in ****New Zealand's 'Who's Who' of media personalities and political commentators. This was of course in response to an interview in which her pregnancy and the precise circumstances thereof were subjected to all manner of petty probing and impertinent inquisitioning; a situation which, in another time in not-too-distant history, would've simply seen the fellow *****delivered a not too touchy-feely clip to the ears!
The supremely self-effacing manner in which P.M. Ardern summarily dismissed well-intentioned concerns expressed on her behalf as actually not ones she happened to share, was indeed a spectacle to behold, verily a sight for sore eyes in this day and age of faux, trumped-up media-led outrage, shock and horror; whereby anyone happening to diverge - in whatever way - from the Western World's once sacredly-cherished value of free speech, in regards to certain groups that said media has deemed simply off-limits and sacrosanct, is forthwith summoned to a public flogging by all and sundry and given a lesson they'll never forget.
Jacinda Ardern conceded that it was perhaps her upbringing in small-town Morrinsville that gave/allowed her such a (generous) perspective, and not to be overly sensitive, an indirect if quite unintentional but nevertheless well-deserved and welcome slap in the face, an indirect serve to all those folk - especially among the present-day university population throughout the Western World, who, by dint of their constantly being on their guard and so very precious over perceived indignities and insults and slights to their political sensibilities, over-sized egos and super-thin skins; which characteristic has earned them the monicker 'snowflakes', an insult in itself in my book to that most exquisite of natural delights the humble, ever unique and individuated flake of snow.
And last but by no means least, while she spoke at Waitangi Day commemorations up at the Treaty Grounds this year, refreshingly positively inviting honest and robust feedback from Maori whenever they happen to feel the Government of the day has gotten the wrong end of the stick about some situation and/or simply to air grievances they might well have from time to time.
Labour's Well-Aired Youth Camp Scandal: Much Fury But Little (En)Light(enment):
In terms of the Labour Party's youth camp scandal, these are my own simple comments. So reputation rules, right? Supposedly. 'Victims' rights' the number one concern? Yeah, right (as the tui billboard says)!
Do I say this in regards to the Labour Party's handling of said scandal? Actually, no; not at all. But rather upon the ongoing, seemingly endless media beat-up about it (over a number of weeks).
Why? Because my opening two paragraphs (immediately above) actually apply not to the Labour Party's - and especially not to the P.M.'s - ******supposed poor handling thereof, but rather to the actual, nitty-gritty focus of the pollsters and political pundits, the media commentariat, the supposed experts on and off the cyber- and blogger-sphere...whose #1 concern - correct me if I'm wrong - appears to be: the way the whole deal reflects upon the new Government (and its reputation, its good name if you will); and especially its popular as Prime Minister. I.e. its 'political management' as such.
Not the rights of the actual victims involved. Surely the most important, nay, the one and only worthwhile aspect to justify getting one's knickers in a knot over, surely? No, I mean, really and truly! And these are supposedly the sorts of concerns that 'anti-PC' especially National Party politicians and self-styled media 'pundits' such as Kate Hawkesby and her self-righteous husband, the irrepressible (though admittedly often brilliant and incisive) Mike Hosking, supposedly care about.
These self-styled, self-righteous media elites - eat yer heart out, Lisa Owens - in making a song and dance upon Jacinda Ardern's Government, in raising merry hell thereupon - actually reveal, not the Govt et al's lack of ethics, but instead their own abject, scurrilous race-to-the-bottom-of-the-pit; and indeed into the subterranean regions thereof. For, let me simply repeat - what I, anyhow, see as the one essential aspect in the whole matter: the victims of this sexual abuse (if such it was and amounted to, rather than unwanted physical advances nipped off at the bud, however distasteful and unpleasant: not to condone such in any way, shape or form, simply to get things into some perspective in light of the kinds of incidents that we hear about all too frequently in New Zealand and around the world in this day and age) themselves evidently requested that the matter be taken no further.
And, quite frankly, if their well-considered views and deep-seated concerns don't matter, are judged irrelevant, don't you dare talk about how important *******'victims' rights' are to you. You're simply using them to have a rather cheap, even shabbily tawdry, shot at the Government.
Yes indeed - when(ever) it suits their own particular political purposes and partisan politics. While on this topic, like vultures circling in for the kill on a fresh piece of carrion, having smelt the faintest whiff of blood upon the ground, they're instantly in and at it like hammer and tongs, like there's no tomorrow... .
*Such as my beloved brother ever was of John Key, P.M.. Incredibly, a politician with whom said bro has shared an uncanny facial resemblance of recent years.
**These days it'd be hard to find anyone, except inveterate Trump-haters and political partisans - and admittedly, a fair proportion of Western women generally (for obvious reasons) - who'd not be willing to give 'the Donald' credit upon North Korea, anyhow. As folk say, 'it takes one to know one', and thus the secret magic of DJT's dealings with such rogue despots as Jong Un and Putin to name the two most worrying.
***Indeed, P.M. Ardern's forthright and unambiguous response to reporters' questions then (in February I believe) vis-a-vis President Trump's then 'injudicious' (to state it mildly) remarks re the North Korean leader were - alongside her quite refreshingly unpolitical request, during the Waitangi Day commemoration, for Maori to thenceforth tender herself and the Government honest feedback about their various gripes and grizzles - as a breath of fresh air. All the more with the backdrop of both recent 'poll-driven' governments in view, and completely unlike P.M. Clark's (and 'Minister of Everything' Stephen Joyce's) ever measured political focus group-driven (or ever-so-closely-calibrated and nuanced) comments on so many matters to pass the acceptable muster for public consumption.
****Though the (decidedly left-wing) respected British 'Guardian' featured such a critique as well.
*****In days gone by not only did Sir Bob Jones, but (Sir) Rob(ert) 'Piggy' Muldoon did just such to various protesters outside public meetings in Dunedin, as well as punching one-time Race Relations Conciliator and All Black Chris Laidlaw at an international Gleneagles Summit.
******Though, it would appear, the way their Party Secretary dealt with matters might well have left somewhat to be desired.
*******However, having now raised that whole matter of the victims of sexual abuse (and physical/emotional) abuse in this land, the 'new' Government does not get off so lightly in regards to another matter currently 'doing the rounds' in the media spotlight, and destined to stay there for some considerable time to come. But more upon that another day...
That may well be so (i.e. the diminishing of the glitter), especially in light of the previous few weeks of scandal, supposed indiscipline in the ranks, and increasingly controversial decisions in the environmental space in particular. As happens for every newbie government, invariably, though admittedly for the Labour-NZ First-Green Coalition Government this has occurred somewhat more readily, certainly than the previous John Key walk-on-water Government, anyway. Although four-and-a-half months or so is otherwise a pretty good innings for most NZ Inc Governments, especially of the MMP variety, to so seamlessly maintain their political honeymoon.
And 'Jacindamania', like Canada's equivalent 'Trudeaumania', can really only last so long: political 'glory' and stardom, as we all know, has a built-in use-by date, however unknown till hindsight's benefit eventually discloses the truth. A sentiment, incidentally, Americans have been realizing each and every new day as they awake once more to yet another instalment in the ongoing, 'Give a Little' saga - or rather fiasco - better known to ye average punter as the Trump Presidency. Political 'celebrities' really do come in all shapes and sizes these days, don't they... .
But first, let's take a breather to reflect upon the first 100 days of our Jacinda Ardern, Labour-led Coalition Government. The following, then, is the personal assessment (scribbled months ago) of a long-time/lifetime political 'junkie'/Political Studies (and English) graduate on Prime Minister Ardern's personal performance, as such - only; and not upon the Government as a whole (much less the policies either merely advanced/advocated thus far, or already implemented).
A double, even triple A-plus. Not for her - (nevertheless) quite outspoken and commendably open - on-the-public-record support for stuff I personally regard as wrong, bad, or just plain awful, such as yet more 'progressive' social legislation - such as euthanasia and even more liberalized abortion law. But at least these issues do tend to be voted upon separately as 'conscience' issues, enabling MPs to avoid being simply 'whipped' into line as otherwise occurs; though it's a worrying trend of recent years and of governments of both, but especially the left persuasion, that these are more and more being treated as **purely party political matters.
But as I say, what I really do and very much appreciate about our new P.M. is that at least she's completely open and honest thereabouts: one knows precisely where she ultimately stands upon such issues, and why. However unwelcome discussion of such matters might ordinarily be to career-minded (and ***poll-driven fruitcake) politicians.
Which is conspicuously unlike our now former Prime Minister Bill English, who, despite his one-time, even lifetime, ****strident and implacable opposition to all manner of legislation advanced as part and parcel of the last Helen Clark-led Labour Government's grocery shopping list of social reform - The Matrimonial Property Act; Prostitution Decriminalization Act; Civil Unions Act; and the 'Sue Bradford Smacking Ban' - and more recently (under John Key's Government) his supposed (firm as steel) opposition to the (Homosexual Marriage-enabling) 'Marriage Amendment Act'; upon acceding to the prime ministerialship, Bill English jettisoned his longstanding opposition to *****'gay' marriage almost overnight.
Which, again - please overlook my old-fashioned values if you must - does look oh so conveniently like, to re-work the description of the comic book hero (of my youth), Luke Cage, 'Hero for Hire': 'Bill English, Politician for Rent' (to the highest bidder). Sure, not all that big a deal, I readily concur, since that's pretty well your average politician's middle name/modus operandi/job description (if you will), is it not? Indeed.
But for someone whose 'moral principles' were ever such an intrinsic part of his particular political brand and appeal - to effectively sell those selfsame 'bedrock fundamentals' out, and at the very earliest opportunity - smacks of either political cowardice or at least insecurity (in arguing his own 'corner' once the nation's political leader), or just of sheer political expediency at its most basic, and I would add, despicable.
Sure, political observers like myself are well aware that much/most of what our politicians do is for strict public consumption - and thus the phrase 'swallowing dead rats' to describe their tendency to occasionally not only tolerate but even vote for stuff that otherwise they'd have no bar of, simply to progress their particular party's overall agenda - but there's even an acceptable limit to that, surely? Especially when the matter in question goes to the very heart and soul of why that individual politician supposedly stood up for elected office in the first instance.
And so, yes, we can readily see how such a political tactic might well have been employed by English so as not to alienate the ever-more-vocal and politically active GLBT (Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender) lobby/voting bloc. Why, Mr English - if I remember rightly, not necessarily a certainty unlike my 'photographic memory' brother - even attended the past year's annual 'Big Gay Out' in Auckland (though doing so while effectively 'holding his nose'). Yes, even regular attendees could see he felt uncomfortable, being essentially conflicted, yet (some there) seemed to enjoy, even revel in the discomfort the spectacle created for the thoroughgoing ******Catholic, 'morally conservative' *******English.
*A term employed by the naturally somewhat envious then-P.M. Bill English in the run-up to the last election.
**Though this opinion piece, as I mentioned, will not deal with policy concerns, I'll still note here the worrisome advancing of Winston Peters' 'waka jumping' pet project, the so-called 'Electoral Integrity Bill', whose provisions would quickly relegate NZ Inc to a position alongside the likes of Zimbabwe in terms of parliamentary freedom, and which has accordingly been termed a concerning development by virtually all independent legal eagles in this land. Though at least Mr Peters himself did walk the walk 25 years ago or so when he left the National Party and forthwith sought re-election as the New Zealand First Member of Parliament for Tauranga.
***A memorable term once employed by that unforgettable Prime Minister of yesteryear, David Lange.
****How could this social conservative ever forget some of those very vociferous parliamentary debates, including (ofttimes) then National Party leader Bill English's part therein, especially when listening in while gardening via my trusty transmitter radio?
*****Again I am reminded of the title of a book I've consumed over recent months, Tim La Haye's The Unhappy Gays: What Everyone Should Know About Homosexuality.
******Chancing shortly thereafter upon an ofttime independent general election candidate - who I'd myself stood alongside and against, incidentally, in a one-off similarly independent candidacy in Dunedin South in the 2008 General Election - at the (streetside) Speight's 'watering-hole' (for pure water fiends and freaks), he let me know in no uncertain terms that such openly-avowed apostasy (especially of someone in Bill English's position) from such fundamental tenets of the Catholic faith, effectively meant he really wasn't a real Catholic anymore.
*******Nevertheless the long-serving public servant Bill English gave an obituary - I mean, valedictory - like few others have in recent times, and I'll give my own take on that in due course (after re-listening to it on-line etc). Suffice to say for now, he 'went out' (of Parliament and politics) not only in some self-assured style but - what's infinitely more important - in real substance. Yes, a polished performance in every way, as commentators pretty well unanimously agreed.
Part Two: Various Other Reactions, Musings and Stances of NZ's Jacinda Ardern:
Whether Jacinda Ardern is - I mean, was - the perfect foil to National's Bill English, or simply Labour's answer to John Key, matters little; she simply has that essential pizzazz apparently critical to any modern-day leader hoping to be more than a one election 'show pony'. Call it charisma - or whatever - it is that indefinable sense, which, notwithstanding *vociferous critics to the contrary, is an intuitive, instinctive sense/ability to not only correctly judge, but - much more importantly - to embody/'incarnate' that innate/inherent sense of what the nation and its citizenry want; what pleases and displeases them, and without even so much as trying (to suss this out).
I.e. it just comes quite naturally, almost accidentally. Ardern's a 'spontaneous act' if you will, there's no forcing of a smile etc...everything happens without conscious effort or any self-consciousness, being oftentimes simply the most appropriate reaction to events and issues she is suddenly confronted with or has thrust upon her. Such as a whole host of various and sundry 'stuff' of recent months. Be they:
D J Trump's **one-time foolhardy ratcheting up and escalating of the North Korean nuclear missile crisis/standoff awhile ago with his temperamental alter ego Kim Jong Un (I believe it is), through unwise words of personal oneupmanship and locker-room style boyhood banter and macho bravado; perhaps no big deal in their place (and out of the public arena, no doubt), but when a deadly nuclear face-off might well result, it's clearly high time the boys in the cot put down their toys and toned down their language. Ms Ardern - without a minder or one of Trump's teleprompters to assist her - ***simply responded promptly, decisively and adroitly to his childish antics, in a firm and serious, tacitly dismissive "Let's be adults here, folks!" rejoinder befitting the occasion.
Then we have her perhaps unexpected and extraordinarily self-possessed, articulate and un-politically correct reaction to the long-term Aussie numbskull interviewer/media personality Michael Worsley (I believe), who's since been pilloried from pillar to post by all and sundry in ****New Zealand's 'Who's Who' of media personalities and political commentators. This was of course in response to an interview in which her pregnancy and the precise circumstances thereof were subjected to all manner of petty probing and impertinent inquisitioning; a situation which, in another time in not-too-distant history, would've simply seen the fellow *****delivered a not too touchy-feely clip to the ears!
The supremely self-effacing manner in which P.M. Ardern summarily dismissed well-intentioned concerns expressed on her behalf as actually not ones she happened to share, was indeed a spectacle to behold, verily a sight for sore eyes in this day and age of faux, trumped-up media-led outrage, shock and horror; whereby anyone happening to diverge - in whatever way - from the Western World's once sacredly-cherished value of free speech, in regards to certain groups that said media has deemed simply off-limits and sacrosanct, is forthwith summoned to a public flogging by all and sundry and given a lesson they'll never forget.
Jacinda Ardern conceded that it was perhaps her upbringing in small-town Morrinsville that gave/allowed her such a (generous) perspective, and not to be overly sensitive, an indirect if quite unintentional but nevertheless well-deserved and welcome slap in the face, an indirect serve to all those folk - especially among the present-day university population throughout the Western World, who, by dint of their constantly being on their guard and so very precious over perceived indignities and insults and slights to their political sensibilities, over-sized egos and super-thin skins; which characteristic has earned them the monicker 'snowflakes', an insult in itself in my book to that most exquisite of natural delights the humble, ever unique and individuated flake of snow.
And last but by no means least, while she spoke at Waitangi Day commemorations up at the Treaty Grounds this year, refreshingly positively inviting honest and robust feedback from Maori whenever they happen to feel the Government of the day has gotten the wrong end of the stick about some situation and/or simply to air grievances they might well have from time to time.
Labour's Well-Aired Youth Camp Scandal: Much Fury But Little (En)Light(enment):
In terms of the Labour Party's youth camp scandal, these are my own simple comments. So reputation rules, right? Supposedly. 'Victims' rights' the number one concern? Yeah, right (as the tui billboard says)!
Do I say this in regards to the Labour Party's handling of said scandal? Actually, no; not at all. But rather upon the ongoing, seemingly endless media beat-up about it (over a number of weeks).
Why? Because my opening two paragraphs (immediately above) actually apply not to the Labour Party's - and especially not to the P.M.'s - ******supposed poor handling thereof, but rather to the actual, nitty-gritty focus of the pollsters and political pundits, the media commentariat, the supposed experts on and off the cyber- and blogger-sphere...whose #1 concern - correct me if I'm wrong - appears to be: the way the whole deal reflects upon the new Government (and its reputation, its good name if you will); and especially its popular as Prime Minister. I.e. its 'political management' as such.
Not the rights of the actual victims involved. Surely the most important, nay, the one and only worthwhile aspect to justify getting one's knickers in a knot over, surely? No, I mean, really and truly! And these are supposedly the sorts of concerns that 'anti-PC' especially National Party politicians and self-styled media 'pundits' such as Kate Hawkesby and her self-righteous husband, the irrepressible (though admittedly often brilliant and incisive) Mike Hosking, supposedly care about.
These self-styled, self-righteous media elites - eat yer heart out, Lisa Owens - in making a song and dance upon Jacinda Ardern's Government, in raising merry hell thereupon - actually reveal, not the Govt et al's lack of ethics, but instead their own abject, scurrilous race-to-the-bottom-of-the-pit; and indeed into the subterranean regions thereof. For, let me simply repeat - what I, anyhow, see as the one essential aspect in the whole matter: the victims of this sexual abuse (if such it was and amounted to, rather than unwanted physical advances nipped off at the bud, however distasteful and unpleasant: not to condone such in any way, shape or form, simply to get things into some perspective in light of the kinds of incidents that we hear about all too frequently in New Zealand and around the world in this day and age) themselves evidently requested that the matter be taken no further.
And, quite frankly, if their well-considered views and deep-seated concerns don't matter, are judged irrelevant, don't you dare talk about how important *******'victims' rights' are to you. You're simply using them to have a rather cheap, even shabbily tawdry, shot at the Government.
Yes indeed - when(ever) it suits their own particular political purposes and partisan politics. While on this topic, like vultures circling in for the kill on a fresh piece of carrion, having smelt the faintest whiff of blood upon the ground, they're instantly in and at it like hammer and tongs, like there's no tomorrow... .
*Such as my beloved brother ever was of John Key, P.M.. Incredibly, a politician with whom said bro has shared an uncanny facial resemblance of recent years.
**These days it'd be hard to find anyone, except inveterate Trump-haters and political partisans - and admittedly, a fair proportion of Western women generally (for obvious reasons) - who'd not be willing to give 'the Donald' credit upon North Korea, anyhow. As folk say, 'it takes one to know one', and thus the secret magic of DJT's dealings with such rogue despots as Jong Un and Putin to name the two most worrying.
***Indeed, P.M. Ardern's forthright and unambiguous response to reporters' questions then (in February I believe) vis-a-vis President Trump's then 'injudicious' (to state it mildly) remarks re the North Korean leader were - alongside her quite refreshingly unpolitical request, during the Waitangi Day commemoration, for Maori to thenceforth tender herself and the Government honest feedback about their various gripes and grizzles - as a breath of fresh air. All the more with the backdrop of both recent 'poll-driven' governments in view, and completely unlike P.M. Clark's (and 'Minister of Everything' Stephen Joyce's) ever measured political focus group-driven (or ever-so-closely-calibrated and nuanced) comments on so many matters to pass the acceptable muster for public consumption.
****Though the (decidedly left-wing) respected British 'Guardian' featured such a critique as well.
*****In days gone by not only did Sir Bob Jones, but (Sir) Rob(ert) 'Piggy' Muldoon did just such to various protesters outside public meetings in Dunedin, as well as punching one-time Race Relations Conciliator and All Black Chris Laidlaw at an international Gleneagles Summit.
******Though, it would appear, the way their Party Secretary dealt with matters might well have left somewhat to be desired.
*******However, having now raised that whole matter of the victims of sexual abuse (and physical/emotional) abuse in this land, the 'new' Government does not get off so lightly in regards to another matter currently 'doing the rounds' in the media spotlight, and destined to stay there for some considerable time to come. But more upon that another day...
Friday, April 6, 2018
Thursday, April 5, 2018
Just For Peoples' Interest (vis-a-vis my two previous Ed Sheeran concert-related blogposts)
Firstly, I was unable to access my major blogpost (of Easter Monday) today (in terms of editing it) when I came onto my computer, and so I decided, wanting to publish my retraction/mea culpa asap, I'd simply post an addendum (extra blogpost) as I just have.
Secondly, which folk reading this may well regard as rather odd, I've decided to leave - as opposed to delete - that earlier blogpost...despite the issues now outlined. Why? Essentially because I'm rather attached to said piece - despite its 'issues'; but having now explicated my bulls-up (in a detailed blogpost just posted) I don't see the need to; and moreover, perhaps it'll serve - for anyone reading it, anyhow - as a rather salient object lesson in the perils of simply believing and running with everything you hear...without and before first checking it out.
Nuff said...I'm off for some rest.
POSTSCRIPT (December 2nd):
Due to the inordinate interest, evidently, in this particular blogpost - from way back yonder - I now feel the need to insert an addendum (to these self-deprecating comments of mine)...not least in view of a certain traffic source/referring site/URL (I've noticed of late) suggesting I might be one of those who traffics in those much-canvassed 'false facts' of our peculiar era...-although admittedly such a site with the word 'boobs' in its address...could mean something else altogether, I well appreciate...
Guess what, folks? To adopt for my own purposes here what ye 'ole song put so beautifully and tunefully: hey, Yours Tru-ly was right all a-long...Yours Tru-ly was right all-a-long...
-Vis-a-vis the Dunedin Ed Sheeran concert, apparently...as my brother mentioned a couple months back (concerning not only that item I'd commented upon, but as regards another - where it initially appeared, post-script, that I was well and truly up the creek without ye proverbial paddle - as well)...
So - and I'm just suggestin', folks - you're perfectly entitled to do what ya want with my observation - perhaps you could do a whole lot worse than regularly consult this (and my other blogsite)... for the real doss upon what's really happening in our mixed-up, present-day world...
...for indeed Dunedin (retail and other) workers were evidently verily treated shabbily during that (multiple) concert time...as I later heard upon RNZ National, following my brother reading about the same in our local rag - The Otago Daily Time (otherwise oft-known as The Odious Daily Slime)...
...that is, in terms of being required - with their arms tied behind their individual and collective backs as it were - to work during the regular, long-established, statutory Easter holidays provided for in law...at the cost of their jobs/positions...
P>S> I believe I did a couple months ago make reference to these updated facts upon this blogsite ...but blown if I can find it, having now spent quite enough time trying to do that very thing!
Good - and moreover, profitable - reading upon this blogsite, folks...-KEEP IT UP!
Secondly, which folk reading this may well regard as rather odd, I've decided to leave - as opposed to delete - that earlier blogpost...despite the issues now outlined. Why? Essentially because I'm rather attached to said piece - despite its 'issues'; but having now explicated my bulls-up (in a detailed blogpost just posted) I don't see the need to; and moreover, perhaps it'll serve - for anyone reading it, anyhow - as a rather salient object lesson in the perils of simply believing and running with everything you hear...without and before first checking it out.
Nuff said...I'm off for some rest.
POSTSCRIPT (December 2nd):
Due to the inordinate interest, evidently, in this particular blogpost - from way back yonder - I now feel the need to insert an addendum (to these self-deprecating comments of mine)...not least in view of a certain traffic source/referring site/URL (I've noticed of late) suggesting I might be one of those who traffics in those much-canvassed 'false facts' of our peculiar era...-although admittedly such a site with the word 'boobs' in its address...could mean something else altogether, I well appreciate...
Guess what, folks? To adopt for my own purposes here what ye 'ole song put so beautifully and tunefully: hey, Yours Tru-ly was right all a-long...Yours Tru-ly was right all-a-long...
-Vis-a-vis the Dunedin Ed Sheeran concert, apparently...as my brother mentioned a couple months back (concerning not only that item I'd commented upon, but as regards another - where it initially appeared, post-script, that I was well and truly up the creek without ye proverbial paddle - as well)...
So - and I'm just suggestin', folks - you're perfectly entitled to do what ya want with my observation - perhaps you could do a whole lot worse than regularly consult this (and my other blogsite)... for the real doss upon what's really happening in our mixed-up, present-day world...
...for indeed Dunedin (retail and other) workers were evidently verily treated shabbily during that (multiple) concert time...as I later heard upon RNZ National, following my brother reading about the same in our local rag - The Otago Daily Time (otherwise oft-known as The Odious Daily Slime)...
...that is, in terms of being required - with their arms tied behind their individual and collective backs as it were - to work during the regular, long-established, statutory Easter holidays provided for in law...at the cost of their jobs/positions...
P>S> I believe I did a couple months ago make reference to these updated facts upon this blogsite ...but blown if I can find it, having now spent quite enough time trying to do that very thing!
Good - and moreover, profitable - reading upon this blogsite, folks...-KEEP IT UP!
Completely Getting The Wrong End of the Stick: A Serious Mea Culpa vis-a-vis my last blogpost
As popstar Elton John so profoundly sang, and his co-creator Bernie Taupin wrote, 'sorry' does indeed at times 'seem[.] to be the hardest word' It ain't here, though I do nevertheless need to be devouring some rather serious humble pie. So perhaps it's just as well that apparently next to nobody at all (especially here in NZ) reads my blogposts. A terrible admission, I well realize, but nonetheless quite true, and as I say, just as well, or I could be in for some serious defamatory/libel action - by local authorities. Again, that is, if anyone even cared less, which perhaps they don't or wouldn't!
Nevertheless, in the interests of that wonderful and increasingly lonely 'thing' known as journalistic integrity - something I've ever tried to maintain since my high school days in the dim, distant past as reporter upon and later Chief Editor and finally Editor of our once famous *KVHS school newspaper 'Mercury', let me say the following:
In this day and age of 'fake news', though I wouldn't go as far as to put my offering several days ago quite into that invidious category - although who needs facts when one's opinions can carry the day (and everything in their path)?; and we've all heard at some time that old saying about 'My mind is made up; I won't let the facts get in the way of a good opinion!' - how very easy it really is to get half the (particular) story, from a partially reliable source, and then go off half-cocked to share it with one and all, supposing you've got a real scoop in your precious little lap.
And so I was misled, no, not so much perhaps by Jim Mora's **weekday Panel discussion - though I do now upon reflection feel and believe that Jim et al got mighty exercised over what was really the proverbial storm in a teacup. But quite clearly I simply wasn't paying proper attention at the time (to the aforementioned radio chat), that's all I can conclude.
But none of that gets me off the hook from not having done my proper research and background investigation for my strongly-worded opinion piece about the recent Ed Sheeran concerts in my hometown of Dunedin. Essentially paragraphs three through six are out of order...in that evidently local workers of all sorts were apparently not required to work over the special Easter 'holy-days' (as some would see them), i.e. Good Friday and Easter Sunday in particular...which as I stressed (to the nth degree) in said article/blogpost would've indeed been a violation of those peoples' (and their families') right to observe (away from work, with their loved ones) such annual days of special spiritual significance (to many people).
No, I discovered today (at the local library, since we stopped getting the ODT delivered probably a good decade ago now) that the only real fuss over Ed Sheeran's concerts was over the cost of a mural done in his honour (about which I won't comment, even if it indeed was a gross mis-expenditure of local council monies, as some might justifiably claim). In terms of my own pointed remarks, however, I frankly care not about the particular hours purveyors of death and destruction (i.e. local liquor shops and bars) were allowed to open on either of the two major days, since this is an ongoing saga of musical chairs effectively each and every year throughout New Zealand: vis-a-vis opening hours and days for Good Friday and/or Easter Sunday, and prosecutions undertaken - or not as the case may well be - as a consequence of outfits across the land or at least in special tourist hotspots often openly (and without repercussions) flouting such laws.
Sadly such alcohol-fuelled carnage and mayhem - filling hospital emergency departments on a regular basis - seems likely to continue unabated, irrespective of rather arbitrary limitations essentially 'around the edges'...and hey, since supermarkets became 'open slather' vis-a-vis alcohol sales two decades ago or so, what difference if certain places have certain restrictions placed upon them on what are essentially 'bits' n' bobs' of the greater picture? And after all we're hardly likely to see prohibition revisited in our lifetime; though I did chance upon an interesting bit of historical info awhile ago in which it was stated how there had been no-one before the courts one year (a hundred years ago or so) in Invercargill due to its being one of several 'dry areas' in NZ.
But more majorly, as I've already alluded to, locals were not required to work on those two days...unless bus drivers and other transport operators (such as shuttle drivers to and from the airport etc) were indeed required to. However, the ODT seemed to indicate that Good Friday was not involved for transport providers (and indeed there was no concert then), and local bus operators were only slotted on Easter Sunday afternoon, though of course that could well have posed issues for some workers and their families, I have little doubt (and am not denying that).
*Kaikorai Valley High School, now Kaikorai Valley College, in Dunedin.
**Unfortunately I've also long since 'lost' the date that that particular discussion took place.
Post Script: Please, somebody, help (as the Beatles once famously requested)...I need somebody, help! So any and every opinion will be well considered and seriously reflected upon - just give me some, a little feedback, d'ya hear?!?!?! That's what the 'Comments' section is all about. No, I mean, really!
Especially - pretty please - if you happen to share the same name as a pen-pal I once had by the name of Toni...
Nevertheless, in the interests of that wonderful and increasingly lonely 'thing' known as journalistic integrity - something I've ever tried to maintain since my high school days in the dim, distant past as reporter upon and later Chief Editor and finally Editor of our once famous *KVHS school newspaper 'Mercury', let me say the following:
In this day and age of 'fake news', though I wouldn't go as far as to put my offering several days ago quite into that invidious category - although who needs facts when one's opinions can carry the day (and everything in their path)?; and we've all heard at some time that old saying about 'My mind is made up; I won't let the facts get in the way of a good opinion!' - how very easy it really is to get half the (particular) story, from a partially reliable source, and then go off half-cocked to share it with one and all, supposing you've got a real scoop in your precious little lap.
And so I was misled, no, not so much perhaps by Jim Mora's **weekday Panel discussion - though I do now upon reflection feel and believe that Jim et al got mighty exercised over what was really the proverbial storm in a teacup. But quite clearly I simply wasn't paying proper attention at the time (to the aforementioned radio chat), that's all I can conclude.
But none of that gets me off the hook from not having done my proper research and background investigation for my strongly-worded opinion piece about the recent Ed Sheeran concerts in my hometown of Dunedin. Essentially paragraphs three through six are out of order...in that evidently local workers of all sorts were apparently not required to work over the special Easter 'holy-days' (as some would see them), i.e. Good Friday and Easter Sunday in particular...which as I stressed (to the nth degree) in said article/blogpost would've indeed been a violation of those peoples' (and their families') right to observe (away from work, with their loved ones) such annual days of special spiritual significance (to many people).
No, I discovered today (at the local library, since we stopped getting the ODT delivered probably a good decade ago now) that the only real fuss over Ed Sheeran's concerts was over the cost of a mural done in his honour (about which I won't comment, even if it indeed was a gross mis-expenditure of local council monies, as some might justifiably claim). In terms of my own pointed remarks, however, I frankly care not about the particular hours purveyors of death and destruction (i.e. local liquor shops and bars) were allowed to open on either of the two major days, since this is an ongoing saga of musical chairs effectively each and every year throughout New Zealand: vis-a-vis opening hours and days for Good Friday and/or Easter Sunday, and prosecutions undertaken - or not as the case may well be - as a consequence of outfits across the land or at least in special tourist hotspots often openly (and without repercussions) flouting such laws.
Sadly such alcohol-fuelled carnage and mayhem - filling hospital emergency departments on a regular basis - seems likely to continue unabated, irrespective of rather arbitrary limitations essentially 'around the edges'...and hey, since supermarkets became 'open slather' vis-a-vis alcohol sales two decades ago or so, what difference if certain places have certain restrictions placed upon them on what are essentially 'bits' n' bobs' of the greater picture? And after all we're hardly likely to see prohibition revisited in our lifetime; though I did chance upon an interesting bit of historical info awhile ago in which it was stated how there had been no-one before the courts one year (a hundred years ago or so) in Invercargill due to its being one of several 'dry areas' in NZ.
But more majorly, as I've already alluded to, locals were not required to work on those two days...unless bus drivers and other transport operators (such as shuttle drivers to and from the airport etc) were indeed required to. However, the ODT seemed to indicate that Good Friday was not involved for transport providers (and indeed there was no concert then), and local bus operators were only slotted on Easter Sunday afternoon, though of course that could well have posed issues for some workers and their families, I have little doubt (and am not denying that).
*Kaikorai Valley High School, now Kaikorai Valley College, in Dunedin.
**Unfortunately I've also long since 'lost' the date that that particular discussion took place.
Post Script: Please, somebody, help (as the Beatles once famously requested)...I need somebody, help! So any and every opinion will be well considered and seriously reflected upon - just give me some, a little feedback, d'ya hear?!?!?! That's what the 'Comments' section is all about. No, I mean, really!
Especially - pretty please - if you happen to share the same name as a pen-pal I once had by the name of Toni...
Monday, April 2, 2018
Upon Much More Mundane Matters, But Embracing Some Important Principles: My Hometown Dunedin, NZ's Recent Dealings Vis-A-Vis Easter Weekend Working Requirements (for superstar Ed Sheeran)
All our city was effectively done and dusted, broomed up and made ready as for a certain pop sensation over the Easter break. Though *not a fan of the British superstar Ed Sheeran - all truth be told I'd hardly heard of him till recent months when advertising already undertaken was stepped up in deadly earnest - I've been made well aware (like the rest of the town) that this really is (now was) a really big deal for Dunedin, N.Z., Inc. What I mean is, like a really, really, really, big, super-dooper deal. And all the rest!
That aside, and trusting the seeming myriads of folk driving and being driven in and out of the city, from accommodation provided (from Balclutha to the south all the way through Oamaru to Dunedin's north) for up to 100,000 people evidently - I mentioned this as being a very big deal; Dunedin's normal population is only 100,000 after all, topped up for nine-ten months each and every year by around 20,-25,000 (locally-, nationally-, and internationally-sourced varsity) students - throughout Thursday, Saturday and (Easter) Sunday to see Sheeran perform at one of his three concerts in our newfangled Forsyth Barr Stadium, were actually really well-served by his performances there...
Yes, assuming that (positive glean on/view of events/proceedings) to be the case...and I've no reason to think otherwise - but then how would I even know, having neither read newspaper accounts thus far nor heard from (do I even know any?) *actual fans (bar the daughter of parents providing me a very appreciated hitchhike ride back to Dunedin late Saturday afternoon)...yes, assuming all of that to be the case, I still regard it as utterly reprehensible and abhorrent that Dunedin city councillors (or so I understand) had the gall to put their feet down and require workers (of whatever sort, background and/or industry) to work throughout said Easter break completely irrespective and regardless of selfsame workers' (and their families' and loved ones') personal convictions, however strongly held and deeply cherished, as to the rights and wrongs of their so doing.
Hey, who appointed the D.C.C. as our conscience or moral guide? Who indeed! And it matters not whether one believes in Easter or not, let alone the biblical history upon which the observance is reputedly (and arguably) based - and much genuine dispute exists upon that front, I am only too well aware (and am certainly not indifferent or insensitive to).
But any tier of government seeking to intrude its nosey beak into areas of private conviction and heartfelt conscience - in however tentative, incremental and minimal a fashion (as it may well be argued) - is thereby intruding into areas of peoples' lives that are truly sacrosanct and inviolable, and quite frankly, ought to be respected and treated with due deference. At the very least. Assuming, that is, that we still live in a truly free society - itself a moot point these days I'll concede.
Moreover those steadfastly pursuing this sort of 'City Hall knows best', interfering approach in the lives of their citizenry - as is the case in this small and seemingly insignificant but notable instance - are, I believe and respectfully suggest, taking the first, however tentative and hesitant steps, upon a path that will in the not too distant future - actually, in an essentially similar if far more international (and religio-political) context altogether - see the biblically-prophesied 'abomination of desolation' 'standing where it ought not'...i.e. '[with]in the [very] holy place' of the God-given conscience sacredly entrusted to humankind, to every individual person (child or adult) upon Planet Earth.
And when that moment arrives, folks, when that critical juncture is reached - yep, you guessed it - we're to quite literally 'head for the hills'. For our very lives (for both time and eternity) will verily depend upon it.
*And as I told a bank teller in town the other day (Thursday) while ***all downtown was astir for his - no, not Jesus the Messiah's long-anticipated Second Advent, but this singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran's - (physical) coming to Dunedin. I hadn't really heard any of his music (except telecast 'trailers' for his upcoming three concerts here) and hoped I wouldn't, instinctively/intuitively sensing I simply wouldn't be into it - yet withal not really wanting to dis this popstar of the up-and-coming (and, anyway, is that the Y or the X?) generation, and/or, even in my own small way, discharge bucket-loads of cold water (or worse) on the town's festivities - let alone be a party-pooper. Not that I could really care either way, much bigger issues are at play here.
***Reminding me of observing lines, or rather a succession of seemingly endless groups of Fleetwood Mac fans locked arm-in-arm, wending their ways through the same streets just a couple years ago, my noting at the time that it was evident who the actual fans/concert-goers were as opposed to those other city street strollers simply ambling their various ways back and forth upon everyday outings and to and away from workplaces and other such. Itself recollective of my own attending my one and only ever 'pop concert' just a couple years prior to that, for the Seekers' 50th reunion concert in my birthplace of Christchurch.
Whereupon - just as with those town-dwellers (in that ancient fairy tale) totally transfixed under the Pied Piper's spell, or, similarly, as with the innumerable species of animal drawn inexorably towards and into Noah's celebrated Ark as if by magical unseen hand or supernatural guidance - the hordes and huddles of died-in-the-wool devotees characteristically made it clear - if completely unintentionally and even as it were subconsciously - that they were bone-of-their-idols'-bone and flesh-of-their-idols'-flesh; and quite unashamedly so.
**And a local bus driver who filled me in upon many such details later Thursday told me the $400 odd cost (?of all three concerts) - naturally, depending upon the particular deals folk managed to get - would make attending Ed Sheeran's shows way out of the question for ye average university student here. As one Alabaman student I chatted with on my way to Centre City that day fully attested.
That aside, and trusting the seeming myriads of folk driving and being driven in and out of the city, from accommodation provided (from Balclutha to the south all the way through Oamaru to Dunedin's north) for up to 100,000 people evidently - I mentioned this as being a very big deal; Dunedin's normal population is only 100,000 after all, topped up for nine-ten months each and every year by around 20,-25,000 (locally-, nationally-, and internationally-sourced varsity) students - throughout Thursday, Saturday and (Easter) Sunday to see Sheeran perform at one of his three concerts in our newfangled Forsyth Barr Stadium, were actually really well-served by his performances there...
Yes, assuming that (positive glean on/view of events/proceedings) to be the case...and I've no reason to think otherwise - but then how would I even know, having neither read newspaper accounts thus far nor heard from (do I even know any?) *actual fans (bar the daughter of parents providing me a very appreciated hitchhike ride back to Dunedin late Saturday afternoon)...yes, assuming all of that to be the case, I still regard it as utterly reprehensible and abhorrent that Dunedin city councillors (or so I understand) had the gall to put their feet down and require workers (of whatever sort, background and/or industry) to work throughout said Easter break completely irrespective and regardless of selfsame workers' (and their families' and loved ones') personal convictions, however strongly held and deeply cherished, as to the rights and wrongs of their so doing.
Hey, who appointed the D.C.C. as our conscience or moral guide? Who indeed! And it matters not whether one believes in Easter or not, let alone the biblical history upon which the observance is reputedly (and arguably) based - and much genuine dispute exists upon that front, I am only too well aware (and am certainly not indifferent or insensitive to).
But any tier of government seeking to intrude its nosey beak into areas of private conviction and heartfelt conscience - in however tentative, incremental and minimal a fashion (as it may well be argued) - is thereby intruding into areas of peoples' lives that are truly sacrosanct and inviolable, and quite frankly, ought to be respected and treated with due deference. At the very least. Assuming, that is, that we still live in a truly free society - itself a moot point these days I'll concede.
Moreover those steadfastly pursuing this sort of 'City Hall knows best', interfering approach in the lives of their citizenry - as is the case in this small and seemingly insignificant but notable instance - are, I believe and respectfully suggest, taking the first, however tentative and hesitant steps, upon a path that will in the not too distant future - actually, in an essentially similar if far more international (and religio-political) context altogether - see the biblically-prophesied 'abomination of desolation' 'standing where it ought not'...i.e. '[with]in the [very] holy place' of the God-given conscience sacredly entrusted to humankind, to every individual person (child or adult) upon Planet Earth.
And when that moment arrives, folks, when that critical juncture is reached - yep, you guessed it - we're to quite literally 'head for the hills'. For our very lives (for both time and eternity) will verily depend upon it.
*And as I told a bank teller in town the other day (Thursday) while ***all downtown was astir for his - no, not Jesus the Messiah's long-anticipated Second Advent, but this singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran's - (physical) coming to Dunedin. I hadn't really heard any of his music (except telecast 'trailers' for his upcoming three concerts here) and hoped I wouldn't, instinctively/intuitively sensing I simply wouldn't be into it - yet withal not really wanting to dis this popstar of the up-and-coming (and, anyway, is that the Y or the X?) generation, and/or, even in my own small way, discharge bucket-loads of cold water (or worse) on the town's festivities - let alone be a party-pooper. Not that I could really care either way, much bigger issues are at play here.
***Reminding me of observing lines, or rather a succession of seemingly endless groups of Fleetwood Mac fans locked arm-in-arm, wending their ways through the same streets just a couple years ago, my noting at the time that it was evident who the actual fans/concert-goers were as opposed to those other city street strollers simply ambling their various ways back and forth upon everyday outings and to and away from workplaces and other such. Itself recollective of my own attending my one and only ever 'pop concert' just a couple years prior to that, for the Seekers' 50th reunion concert in my birthplace of Christchurch.
Whereupon - just as with those town-dwellers (in that ancient fairy tale) totally transfixed under the Pied Piper's spell, or, similarly, as with the innumerable species of animal drawn inexorably towards and into Noah's celebrated Ark as if by magical unseen hand or supernatural guidance - the hordes and huddles of died-in-the-wool devotees characteristically made it clear - if completely unintentionally and even as it were subconsciously - that they were bone-of-their-idols'-bone and flesh-of-their-idols'-flesh; and quite unashamedly so.
**And a local bus driver who filled me in upon many such details later Thursday told me the $400 odd cost (?of all three concerts) - naturally, depending upon the particular deals folk managed to get - would make attending Ed Sheeran's shows way out of the question for ye average university student here. As one Alabaman student I chatted with on my way to Centre City that day fully attested.
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