The Quality of Prentice and The Standard

Speaks for itself really:

Ben Guerin: a dirty politics fuckwit

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By: lprent – Date published: 5:11 pm, July 13th, 2015 – 85 comments
Categories: spin, you couldn’t make this shit up – Tags: #dirtypolitics, ben guerin, brent hudson

That is curious, suddenly a website pops up “how kiwi are you”. (updated: site has been removed) Full of slurs against Chinese. WTF!

It has a Labour logo? But that is linked to the YoungNats.org.nz (see below).

Oh. It appears we have some young fool trying to make a name for themselves. Lets dig out who.

Someone called Ben Guerin…

Ok. So who is this young nat bozo? Linkedin shows him as being a young dickhead with a smirk.

And his current job?

Well apparently he works doing MP support at parliamentary services. Working for some unknown National list MP “Brent Hudson”. Perhaps he thinks he is Jason Ede’s replacement.

But I’d never take tech advice from him… Yeah, I can just see how this “supports” the MP who employs him.

FFS: Could someone inform the pathetic dickhead that Dirty Politics was so last year. That he shouldn’t reuse his old last years condoms because it is very very unhygienic. He should especially not leave his fingerprints all over the results of his pulling. Or even better still – just don’t play those stupid games. Especially when being employed by the taxpayer while working for a MP. They don’t add anything to the political debate.

Also that he is a complete fuckwit and so are his National party employers

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With people like this writing the main left blog, the political opposition in NZ appears to be in great shape.

Anger and activism on Facebook

If an injustice or an outrage has taken place, chances are that an official open letter of complaint will have been written. Often – though not always – by a journalist or a columnist or someone who derives income from their writing. Someone who you know has probably already posted it up on Facebook, and all the right people are liking it and commenting on it and sharing it.

What to do? How do I show my support?

If you’re moderately in agreement with the official letter of complaint, you Like it. (And you ARE, of course you are, because your friends are, and the authors of these things choose their medium well.)

If you’re somewhat more assuredly in agreement with it than a Like alone signifies, add a ‘hear hear’ or equivalent in the comments.

If the story and letter of complaint resonate strongly with you, perhaps through some outrageous or unjust experience of your own, you might add a hundred words or so, outlining your own struggle, to lend your moral support to the cause and to further illustrate the veracity of the complaint.

If you really feel quite strongly that the cause is just and must be carried forward, Share the official letter of complaint on your own Facebook page.

You can show how serious you are by adding an intro of your own, setting out just how important it is that others think like you do about this matter, as it is one of the utmost importance, and only through solidarity can we hope to prevail against the malign Other that is responsible for the outrageous injustice.

If the cause is one that’s already been close to your heart for a long time, you’ll have no trouble writing an essay of your own about it, which might even be nearly as good as the official letter of complaint.

In this way, trendy group-think circles the globe from Brooklyn to Eden Terrace and back in a matter of hours. Whatever it’s cool for people of a certain age to think, we’re thinking it, here. Us, too!

If you’re already contributing to a better world, free of injustice and outrage, by living a life that neither commits, nor permits injustice and outrage, you probably have your nose out of your phone, tablet or pc and are out there living it already…?

The Ponytail

I detest people who give wait staff shit in restaurants, and think they’re clever for doing it.

Those people work harder for their minimum wage, than you do for your money. Try to show a bit of fucking respect and human decency. You knob-ended, self-absorbed, utter utter pillocks.

John Key was a fucking dick for pulling the waitresses’ ponytail not once, not twice but 3 times, and his wife had to tell him so. But then, after a bit of reflection, he did what adults do when they realise they were a fucking dick – he went back, cap in hand, and apologised for his actions.

Sharing the story publicly on a rabid far-left political blog, is more something that angry unhinged political activist children with chips on their shoulders do.

Justifying this, with an assertion that some minor altercation the PM had with Joanne Bloggs in his own time on a Sunday morning is somehow a matter of public interest, is more something that angry unhinged political activist children with chips on their shoulders do.

Pretending that this event constitutes sexual assault, or something to do with a wider “rape culture” is more something that angry, unhinged political activist children with chips on their shoulders do.

For goodness’ sake, grow up and get some perspective. He was a dick. He apologised for being a dick. I don’t think it’s a sacking offense. I don’t think he’s a rapist.

I very much doubt that John Key’s ignorant of the misogyny young women face in today’s society. A few months ago there was a pop song explicitly advocating that John Key’s daughter be raped. Student radio played it. Student magazines defended it. The political left pretended not to notice it. Or insisted that you had to look deeper and try to understand the injustice that could make someone so angry. If you want to make a distasteful political point, the daughter of a right politician is fair game. Apparently.

[Psycho Milt explains:
If you’re thinking he didn’t say he was going to rape her, you’re missing the point.  Here’s the rape culture involved:
1. The most obviously rapey bit is that whatever interest or distinct lack of interest Stephanie Key might have in letting this ambulatory excrement within touching distance of her apparently isn’t relevant from his point of view.

2.  The less obvious, but far worse, rapey bit is the matter of why this turd-on-legs wants to fuck Stephanie Key – not because of her appearance, her personality or any of the other, mundane, trivial reasons two people might fuck.  No, the reason he wants to fuck her is he thinks squirting semen in her would be a suitable gesture of contempt for her father.  That’s rape culture right there, folks. Attitudes to sex and to women don’t get much more poisonous than this – quite an achievement for a self-proclaimed Green voter…

Alison Mau somehow sees victim-blaming in the backlash against the waitress. Personally I haven’t seen or heard ANYONE blaming the waitress for Key’s actions – although I have read plenty criticising her for her own actions afterwards. Perhaps if you are A VICTIM of something you should get a free pass to behave however you want?

The flag – Suddenly, the Facebook left cares about how taxpayer’s money is spent?

I have fairly mixed reviews about the writings of Manawatu Standard columnist Liam Hehir.

At his worst, he can be so abrasive, inflammatory, flippant and irreverent that I’d almost call it trolling.

But when he’s good, he’s good:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/68235057/multiple-reasons-not-to-change-the-flag

He is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT that it has been ASTONISHING to see smelly hard-left groups who usually can’t wait to tear down any manifestation of the old, colonial-derived, “pakeha” establishment and bring in something new and uniquely us; now swearing until they are blue in the face that this flag referendum business is a waste of time and money that would be better spent helping [insert cause here].

Welcome to caring about what the government does with your tax dollars, lefties! You may find it’s quite addictive…. the more you do it, the more you want to keep doing it! 😉

And Hehir is also ABSOLUTELY CORRECT that the main principle at work here is more  “If John Key’s for it, I’m against it” than anything else… exhibit 1: The removal of our ability to appeal to the Privvy Council. If a Right government had proposed this, you don’t need much of an imagination to visualise what Facebook would have been full of: It’s a police state. THEY want to be free to fit you up / lock you up. Fight tha Powaa… But the labour Govt just voted it straight through the house, no referendum, no nothing.

Less robust oversight of the state’s power to lock you up. But that was ok, because Saint Helen.

And now, John Key wants to change the flag, and THAT’S got them out of the woodwork and screaming. Interesting priorities..

[Personal disclosure – flags:

I was quite strongly against changing the flag, mainly on the grounds that a) you can only throw your history away once, and then it’s gone,  and b) our ancestors fought other people’s wars and died under that flag, therefore it’s not just a marketing banner to be re-branded at a whim.

But then Pete George and others pointed out that NZ war graves feature the silver fern, and the silver fern design is therefore a lot more than just the All Blacks emblem… and that removed my main objection. Like it or not, the Silver Fern is a great logo, already instantly recognised around the world. I would put it on a dark blue background like the old flag though, just to differentiate the state from the top-tier team of the state religion… ]

“Thousands line the streets to pay their last respects to King Richard III”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11421830

I love how the video clip opens with “Thousands pay last respects to Richard III”…

Seriously? Last respects …wtf?

“I remember him when he was a boy… lovely wee chap he was…”

“He did so much for our community… the council never USED to mow our berms, but our Richard looked after us…”

What “respects” has ANYBODY who is alive today, got to pay to a minor historical leader whose main contribution to our history was getting the fcuk out of the way of it? (Besides inspiring a bloody tedious play by Shakespeare that was basically a first draft for MacBeth, and a brilliant TV series by Rowan Atkinson…)

I love the British royal weddings, funerals, coronations, etc etc but this is a complete and utter load of BS.

Those people watching Richard III pass by are there to see a show. Not to pay anyone any “respect.”

Shut up and you might learn something

Some days it seems as though the internet has been largely taken over by young activists and precocious 24-year-olds; a self-selecting cadre of illuminated and enlightened souls who want to tell you what’s good and what’s bad, tell you how you should behave, and what you should think.

Which makes it all the more wonderful when you read somebody who has knowledge truly worth sharing. And two of these on the same day is something to mention here.

Oliver Sacks on learning he has terminal cancer:

Graeme Wood of The Atlantic on what the Islamic State really is, and what it really wants:

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

The end of the debate

On The Left has just declared The End Of The Debate about inequality.

Because the OECD has just reported that inequality has grown slightly in New Zealand.

The political left is therefore THE WINNER of the argument, and the government should now implement radically-increased tax and redistribute policies.

Because our God, an unimpeachible higher authority said it would increase growth. Therefore, let’s not even question whether plundering  the (slightly) wealthier in order to raise (slightly) the growth rate of the People’s   Glorious State is a good thing or a moral thing to  do. Let’s just immediately do it. The debate is over. We are right. Amen.

http://ontheleftnz.com/2014/12/10/the-end-of-the-inequality-debate/

Chris Rock on Fergusson, presidential elections, and the utter bloody political correctness of some people

One of my many pet peeves is the vox pop – when the news media attempts to enlighten us about some reasonably involved matter of politics, science or technology, by sending a reporter out to stop the first dreadlocked non-conformist, the first black-suit-wearing businessman, or the first young mother doing it hard that they meed on the side of the street, depending on the answer they want to get, and ask him/her for their worldly opinions about it like those opinions are somehow newsworthy. On the other hand, every once in a while, someone who I don’t strongly associate with politics will be asked (or interviewed) about political matters; and their views are such a breath of fresh air, such a wonderful respite from the endless partizan gobshite of the politicians, the political nutters and the journalists, that it is like the grey clouds of tribal political BS have briefly parted, and down shine a few precious, insightful words of commonsense upon the miserable old world of people writing and talking about politics. This interview with Chris Rock by vulture.com is just such a thing. I especially liked this excerpt about how appallingly PC the educated yoof in American Universities have become:

V:What do you make of the attempt to bar Bill Maher from speaking at Berkeley for his riff on Muslims?3 CR:Well, I love Bill, but I stopped playing colleges, and the reason is because they’re way too conservative. V:In their political views? CR:Not in their political views — not like they’re voting Republican — but in their social views and their willingness not to offend anybody. Kids raised on a culture of “We’re not going to keep score in the game because we don’t want anybody to lose.” Or just ignoring race to a fault. You can’t say “the black kid over there.” No, it’s “the guy with the red shoes.” You can’t even be offensive on your way to being inoffensive. V:When did you start to notice this? CR:About eight years ago. Probably a couple of tours ago. It was just like, This is not as much fun as it used to be. I remember talking to George Carlin before he died and him saying the exact same thing.

This made me think of my experience in my mid 20s, of moving from Auckland to Wellington. Akl being a properly cosmopolitan city, and Wlg being a small, white provincial university and government town full of small, white university students who are so politically correct and so twisted out of shape over ethnicity issues that, just as Chris Rock said, you’d be a pariah if you mentioned the black kid at the back of the class, he’s the guy with the red shoes or he’s nothing. Spending a few years in Akl where at least half of my friends and peers were Chinese, Malaysian, PI and Indian was an amazing time – and it opened my eyes to the fact that it’s really only white people who are all bent out of shape about ideas of race and ethnicity and identity. So afraid of putting a foot wrong, that it becomes completely and utterly taboo instead. Whereas the rest of the world seems to be made up of 6 billion people from other cultures that know who they are, and know how to interact with one another, and know how to acknowledge who someone else is, without being obnoxious and without getting offended on somebody else’s behalf. I have always had some respect for the way in which the politically correct strive to combat utter bloody rudeness, racism, homophobia, all those bad things. But too much of anything always leaves one wanting a bit less, and it is regrettable the way political correctness hamstrings so much that could be said quite reasonably…

Why the Left wing blogosphere is in such bad shape: Exhibit 1

I got my first comment!

And it’s by none other than the editor-general of The Standard. Here is an excerpt:

So what else are you prepared to ignore? Rape? Torture? Buggering sheep? Because it sounds like your pychopathic wee personality would find a reason to excuse those if people on the left called others on it as well. Of course if it was foul arsehole like Whaleoil against it then I’d expect that you’d be the first to pillory them?

BTW: how is the ban from TS going? I see that you have taken my general advice and started a blog. Now the fun starts. The generating of posts. Dealing with commenting pricks. And of course I will be here with a shockrod for the teeny target of your genitals…. I like to encourage bloggers to get angry and carry on.. 🙂

With people like this in charge of the country’s main political left blog, it is perhaps no wonder the political left is so far into the wilderness at the moment. Thanks for the offer Lynn but I’d rather you didn’t touch my genitals with anything. Perhaps I should add an overly PC comment about how you appear to be ok with sexual violence when it suits your agenda? Nah.

I would note that at the time this comment was received, I have done absolutely nothing to publicise this blog. I have not posted any links to this site anywhere, as far as I am aware none of my user avatars on other blogs link to here. So presumably Mr Prent was bored one evening and spent a brief time-out googling “rrm blog” or some such?

I should probably write a commenting policy, just on the off-chance anyone ever comments on here again. The main tenet of it will probably be “Didn’t your mother teach you manners?”

Roger Sutton – am I the only person who doesn’t know it all?

A State Services Commission investigation into Sutton’s alleged behaviour upheld the complaint, but apparently the investigators did not consider any of his behavour amounted to a sacking offense. Sutton nevertheless resigned from his role.

First impressions based on what is in the media, suggests that everything was conducted professionally, the complainant was heard, and her anonymity was preserved. Roger Sutton made a few public comments purporting to be his side of the story – there has been nothing from the complainant, but then, her name hasn’t been publicly associated with undetailed and generalised allegations of sexually-charged workplace harrasment, and Suttons’ has, so it doesn’t seem unfair to me that he has said something.

We in the general public really know very little about what Sutton did or didn’t do. And the State Services Commission’s investigation system, meant to keep tabs on inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, appears to have worked as it should have…?

For the life of me I can’t see anything to justify the twittergasm of righteous indignation and moral outrage that is currently enveloping the social media. People seem to be very adamant that whatever it was, it was VERY, VERY bad.

Original Stuff coverage of the resignation:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/63259777/cera-boss-roger-sutton-resigns-over-sexual-harassment-claims.html

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/63292588/Roger-Sutton-resigns-with-regrets

Lyn Prentice at the Standard is pretty adamant Sutton’s public remarks are a big deal though (and predictably a number of commentors there get into a generalised decrying of bosses and men and how awful they all are..)

Roger Sutton needs the book thrown at him

Stephanie of On the left looks into this story and sees validation of everything the left has been saying about power relationships in the workplace for years, as well as everything the left has been saying in more recent times about the latest cause celebre du jour, Rape Culture:

http://ontheleftnz.com/2014/11/21/roger-sutton-and-deja-vu-all-over-again