Was something as ugly as this always bound to happen? Is America that broken? – Mike Hosking
At a time when we have around 24,000 whānau on the social housing wait list and more than 2,000 whānau living in emergency housing motels, we will not look the other way when people abuse the privilege of living in social housing.”
The message to Kāinga Ora tenants is clear: if your actions are causing your neighbours to live in fear and misery, your time is up. Change your behaviour now or face the consequences. – Chris Bishop
Activists consider it possible and desirable to blend ethnic world views with science, presumably to make science more appealing to minorities. They seem to see no problem twisting science into an agent for activism.
Supporting social justice seems an obvious good, but scientists beware! The current Critical Social Justice philosophy is grounded in post-modernism (11). The post-modernist capture of the humanities in universities since the 1960s has produced such intellectual distortion that the British philosopher Sir Roger Scruton called for university humanities departments to be dismantled (12).
Post-modernism holds that there are no universal truths or objective realities (13, 14). It regards all knowledge as culturally constructed and determined by power differentials between “oppressors” and “oppressed”. Scientists endorse this outlook when they support “decolonisation” and other fad elements of Social Justice Activism. They then surely have a dilemma pursuing a science career that assumes science to be a valid, objective and fruitful search for the truth about the structures and processes of the natural world.
Post-modernism is an enemy of science, of Enlightenment thinking (which, among other things, brought an end to slavery) and of democracy (15). If scientists deliberately or unwittingly aid and abet the social justice take-over of institutions (which seeks to undermine imagined Western, colonial, patriarchal, oppressive power structures and narratives) what kinds of science careers, or science organisations, do they think will remain? Science has its own essential job to do for humanity and the modern world. It is universal, transcending cultures, and will be hijacked for local political agendas only at a cost. An admonishment comes to mind using the title of the book by American academic Stanley Fish: leave science alone, and “save the world on your own time” (16). – Brian Gill
At this time, we don’t know the shooter’s motive, and it should be pointed out that Trump often uses inflammatory language too.
Is there a lesson here for our political leaders, for the Chloe’s chanting river to the sea? The Māori Party calling Luxon a white supremacist, for David Seymour is doubling down on saying he fantasised about sending Guy Fawkes into the Ministry of Pacific Peoples.
The fact is, you don’t know what nutbar is out there listening and waiting for a cause big enough to prompt some sort of lone-wolf attack.
Here most attacks are pretty minor, a dildo to the face, lamington on the head. John Key was attacked by two men at Waitangi in 2009. – Ryan Bridge
So politicians here on the far left like Chloe and Waititi should take note and lower the tone of some of their attacks. Same with far-right keyboard warriors.
But I’d hate to see the day where our pollies can’t joke and take the piss and be forthright with their words just because some idiot might be at home with a shotgun harbouring hate.
The question for the U.S. now is – does this quell the extreme left and right, or will this bloodshed be answered with more bloodshed? – Ryan Bridge
You wonder if people feel that they haven’t got a platform to speak, that they’re not being heard, which results in this kind of anger and this kind of violence.
And I’m not just talking about this particular shooting, I’m talking about what’s happening the world over. Do people feel they don’t have the skills to be able to speak up and articulate how they’re feeling? Is that is that why we’re seeing so much violence? Literal violence and metaphorical violence.
Do people feel as soon as they speak their mind, they’re going to be shouted down and called bad people? You know, we used to be able to have differing opinions. We used to be able to talk about it. We used to be able to have passioned impassioned debates, and many of us still can.
But there are a group of people who either feel so misrepresented or completely ignored, or reviled, and who are unable to take a stand on a platform and have their say, express how they feel and be heard, that they resort to violence.
And it would be great if we could see this as a reset. I rather fear that than the US gun violence is so common. Not as common in the political realm, but you know, if you heard Richard Arnold, there have been plenty of examples of political shootings in recent times, not assassinations of former presidents, but certainly, as we saw with the the Republican baseball game, there have been political shootings.
It may be too late for the US, but I hope to hell it’s not too late for us. – Kerre Woodham
Political debate and competition will only end badly if they become seriously polarised and divisive. Ultimately, politics in New Zealand will have to become more securitised, with a major rethinking of the safety arrangements for politicians.
This would be highly unfortunate. The distance between our MPs and the public is already growing fast and will just get even greater. Somehow, we need to avoid following down the same path that the US is currently on. Part of this will be learning to debate and disagree on race relations, which continues to be the most polarising issue in the country, with the biggest potential for creating ugly conflict.
So, if there’s one good thing to come out of the assassination attempt on Trump, it would be a good faith public debate in countries like New Zealand on how we do politics and democracy better, without the toxic polarisation. – Bryce Edwards
Auckland CBD, once renowned for its vibrant atmosphere and bustling commerce, is now in the fight for order and control with methamphetamine.
From petty thefts to violent assaults, the drug’s presence is seen throughout the city. The correlation between meth use and criminal behaviour is undeniable, but these are people trapped in the cycle of addiction, supporting the addict to recovery will ultimately reduce crime and reduce the victims of crime. – Wayne Brown
Effecting meaningful change requires a concerted effort from all. Government agencies, community organisations and healthcare providers must collaborate to address the methamphetamine issue.
This means further enforcing our police to target organised crime and drug dealers and expanding access to treatment programmes, increasing funding for support and recovery programmes, and implementing targeted interventions for vulnerable populations. – Wayne Brown
When an angry majority is demanding change, defending the status-quo is an extremist position. – Chris Trotter
Slowly and reluctantly, I have come to the conclusion that Britain is a very corrupt country indeed – worse than, say, France. It is corrupt, of course, in its own way, that is to say, slyly, indirectly, surreptitiously, and with a good leavening of hypocrisy. Outward forms of institutions are often maintained, more or less, but they are eviscerated of their meaning. Perhaps the best model is American philanthropic foundations, whose purposes in the hands of their staff often end up as diametrically opposed to those of their founders.
It is true that most people in Britain still go through life without having to pay a bribe to anyone and this in itself, in the context of world history, is a remarkable achievement. Financial corruption of the kind that most people think of when they think of corruption – for example bribery or kickbacks for the award of contracts – no doubt occurs, as it has always occurred, and probably, given the trend, more now than in the last century or two. But this kind of corruption is, within limits, of far less significance than the kind of moral, psychological, administrative and intellectual corruption from which Britain now suffers. Corruption of the financial kind is, at least in theory, easy to extirpate. It is straightforwardly illegal. The problem with corruption on the modern British kind is that it is legal, and indeed has been – dare I say it – institutionalised, even compulsory. It is all-pervasive and affects almost every sphere of life. It is so hydra-headed that even to try to think of a solution is enough to give one vertigo. One feels that the whole country is becoming a Post Office scandal on a vastly greater scale. – Theodore Dalrymple
Everywhere one looks, one sees evidence of things not done properly, but nevertheless expensively. It is as if the real purpose of public expenditure were first to assure the pensions of those working, or ever to have worked, in the public sector, and to assure the employment of hordes of consultants, special advisors and the like. – Theodore Dalrymple
Notwithstanding the employment of large numbers of bureaucrats, large numbers of ‘consultants’ are also employed, from the so-called private sector. Many of these are little more than a year out of university, and a friend informs me that what they lack in knowledge or experience, they make up in numbers. Their main activity is to call meetings where they hold forth. His ministry regularly wastes tens of millions of schemes and projects that, all too predictably, do not work. – Theodore Dalrymple
In short, there is a near-palpable atmosphere of decay and collapse in the country, despite the fact that there are still millions of people in it who are intelligent, hard-working, conscientious, obliging and so forth. There seems to be a contradiction or a paradox here that requires explanation. – Theodore Dalrymple
By turning the upper reaches of the public sector into pretend-businessmen, who spouted managerialese as the geyser of Yellowstone Park spouts hot water, all sense of transcendent public purpose was lost, except for dishonest rhetorical purposes.
But this happened at a time when there was a withering of any sense of what the public purpose should be, thanks in large part to the expansions of the universities which turned out huge numbers of ideologically indoctrinated young people who nevertheless had to be employed in some way or other.
Thus, the purpose of local government became not to administer streets, roads and public facilities, a humble task much below the dignity of many of the newly-intellectual graduates employed, but to secure what is now called social justice, a wonderfully moving target with so many requirements. Here is a statement I found recently on a borough’s website:
By leveraging their position of power, [the council] aims to ensure that outside businesses demonstrate their commitment to approved values before being commissioned. This proactive approach reflects their dedication to fostering an inclusive and equitable environment in the borough.
By elevating political considerations above efficiency, the council happily creates the need for many bureaucrats. Supposed political virtue coincides with the interests of apparatchiks and their nomenklatura.
Walking through the borough, one has the impression of walking through a Central American garbage dump. Only the vultures are missing. But of course, social justice is so much more important, interesting, and lucrative, than sweeping the streets. – Theodore Dalrymple
They speak for perhaps one in six Māori. The vast majority of New Zealanders, including the vast majority of Māori, want nothing to do with their race fanaticism. – David Seymour
I can’t tell the Reserve Bank Governor what to do, but you don’t need an economics degree to see people are hurting, inflation is going down fast and relief is required. – David Seymour
They are also not off the hook on candidate selection. Having a one stop are you a nutter, will you embarrass us clause is not enough to safeguard yourself, as we have seen time and time again with this lot.
They actually have to dig and ask a few questions.
So if Tana’s skin is thick enough, she collects the money, passes go and laughs at us.
And the Greens, well surely if this is them at their most decisive, Chloe’s dream of overtaking Labour is about as well thought through as their candidate selection process. – Mike Hosking
Those who live a long time will see incredible change. Last century, some lives encompassed both the first controlled flight by the Wright brothers and the moon landing. In 2024, some of us hope to live long enough to see the resolution of the Darleen Tana saga. – Ben Thomas
First, there is no, or little, sense to the argument that the Greens would be hypocrites for invoking the waka-jumping legislation. The Greens are hypocrites for voting for the waka-jumping law in 2018. That particular waka has already sailed, and so the Greens may as well enjoy a day out on the water. – Ben Thomas
Swarbrick and her colleagues can be satisfied that they would not be acting to crush dissent, or stamp out democracy, or out of any known animus against Tana. They would be acting in the interests of their voters. And if they don’t want to use the law to crush principled dissent in the future, they can just – not. They can exercise discretion and leadership, and that remains one advantage human politicians have over AI, at least for now. – Ben Thomas
If the party leaders believe in the integrity of the report – a report which took the best part of four months to produce – then I think they have little choice but to instigate the waka-jumping legislation which they so publicly despised, and expel Darlene Tana from Parliament.
Let us not forget, the main reason the Greens opposed the waka-jumping legislation is not for situations like this. The main reason they opposed it was so that if an MP held a different position on a really important policy to that which was being whipped by their party, they could take a moral stand and dissent.
This ain’t that. – Jack Tame
This should have been a week when the Greens were laser-focused on the Government’s climate plans. This week of all weeks should’ve been one where they represented their constituents in opposition. Instead, they’re still answering questions about the character of MPs who were until very recently part of their caucus.
The Greens have swallowed a rat in the past. After all, they voted to pass the waka-jumping bill into law. But I actually don’t think many people would resent them if they swallowed another in this case. If Darlene Tana won’t quit on her own accord, and they believe in the integrity of the report, the Greens should cop a few days of criticism for their hypocrisy, push her out, and move on. – Jack Tame
It always surprises, and depresses, me how often people suppose that the lengths to which a person is prepared to go in support of a cause is some kind of evidence of the moral rectitude of the cause itself. This supposition is an incitement to invincible self-righteousness, itself one of the two emotions that can last a lifetime and will never let you down – the other being resentment. – Theodore Dalrymple
In the early 1970s, we were afraid of the earth’s cooling (quite recently, the Lancet, not a journal known for its questioning of modern orthodoxies, published a paper claiming that 17 times as many people died of exceptional cold as of exceptional heat, no doubt a questionable figure, but one rarely referred to in the general press).
At that time there were confident predictions, too, that there would soon be famines, and that it was too late to avert them. In the next few years hundreds of millions of people would die of starvation and nothing could be done to save them. There was even the slight insinuation that nothing should be done to save them, for they were permanently surplus to the world’s ability to feed them, and if they were saved, it would only be for them to die of famine a little later.
As we now know, the world’s principal nutritional problem is obesity rather than famine (not that famine could never return). – Theodore Dalrymple
We often wonder how fanatical Islamists can do what they do, such as blowing up ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan or the ruins of Palmyra in Syria. Savages, we think; and we also like to think that, as the title of Sinclair Lewis’s novel has it, it couldn’t happen here.
But it could, and increasingly it does. There are lots of little fanaticisms, as well as some large ones, in our societies, only too eager to destroy in the name of good, or virtue, or justice, or equality. And who can be against any of those things?
The one thing that the fanatics do not concern themselves with is civilization. They have been taught to regard the very concept of civilization with irony, and as suspect, because (of course) the great achievements of the past were built in conditions of injustice, inequality and so forth. Thus, they are tainted by their origins, and therefore of no moral value.
We now have the Taliban of climate change, and of several other causes, in our midst. Between the Mullahs of Afghanistan and the stickers of cloth on masterpieces there is an underlying resemblance, exteriors notwithstanding. Nor should we ever forget that it is delightful to destroy and difficult to create. The one is easy and the other difficult. Never mind climate change; vandalism is fun. – Theodore Dalrymple
Why are we so reluctant to identify and challenge pressure groups who operate in a clandestine manner and with self serving objectives during normal public discourse? – Clive Bibby
While l am not suggesting that these groups should be excluded from the public conversations, l am warning that many of their activities are designed around a motivation to overthrow the democratically elected authorities or at least change the way we operate until it is in lock step with their own ideological persuasion.
Their modus operandi is best described as “subtle” – so much so that, if we unintentionally allow their negative influence in mainstream activities, things have changed before we know it and we are left trying to undo rules and regulations that should never have appeared on the statute books in the first place. – Clive Bibby
Our destiny remains in our own hands but if we don’t recognise these clandestine operators for what they are then we can’t complain If they move into the vacuum that we have left. – Clive Bibby
Some of you may be wondering why I persistently post on the efforts of New Zealand to interpolate local superstitions and lore into science classes and other government endeavors. This is not because I hate New Zealand, but because I love it. I hate to see the country brought down, especially scientifically, by sacralizing the superstitions of the indigenous population. Yes, I admit that the local “way of knowing,” Mātauranga Māori (MM), does contain some empirical trial-and-error knowledge, though most of that knowledge should be conveyed in anthropology and sociology classes. But what’s going on in the country now is the world’s most pervasive form of “wokeness,” though it’s not purely performative because it actually damages the country. And the authorities have ensured that no objection to this ideological capture will be tolerated. – Jerry Coyne
From our perspective when we looked at how the Treaty was being applied we could see no material benefit to our people to Māori you know there was no cash injection.
To say that having the Treaty there was of benefit to Māori I think is somewhat misleading. – Malcolm Mullholland
J.K. Rowling, like pretty much every other woman alive, grew up in a culture that told her that part of being female was to be kind, gracious and accepting. And not to be aggressive, or shouty or rude. As that pink T-shirt and a million unicorns show, girls today are still given similar messages. They’re also told that they have ‘girl power’ and can be scientists and footballers and prime ministers if they want to, of course – just as long as they’re kind scientists and footballers and prime ministers.
This socialisation, a culture-wide pressure on half of humanity to accommodate other people – mainly the other half of the species – is at the heart of sex and gender debate. Time and time again, advocates of trans-rights policies that impact on the sex-based rights of women make a point that boils down to: why can’t you just be nice, and share your rights and status and places with people born male who want to be considered female? – James Kirkup
There is powerful voodoo around ‘be kind’ because, frankly, who wants to be seen as unkind? As a man, I’m not subject to that cultural norm of niceness, but I still thought long and hard about writing this column, because it risks casting me as someone who defends nastiness and praises anger. But in the end, some things are more important than being nice. Telling the truth is one of them.
And the truth is that J.K. Rowling, in her unapologetic, sometimes sweary glory, deserves even more praise and admiration than the world has already shown her. She’s not just taking on bad arguments for bad policies, she’s fighting even bigger and badder things – the cultural and social expectations that put girls into stupid pink T-shirts and the mental shackles of being ‘kind’. – James Kirkup
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