The big hit this month courtesy of some incoming links from much bigger blogs like Public Address:
Where those Kiwimeter questions came from
Here’s the thing – when I encountered the same questions one month later as part of the Kiwimeter quiz – which is framed very differently – I chose to stop participating. They struck me as far more wilfully slanted to get a specific reaction.
(I guess my well-filled-in comment box at the end of the precursor survey which noted this was a concern of mine got chucked in the trash.)
In response to some ongoing Twitter dramas and snark directed at the amorphous “Twitterati” gang:
When we talk, we create solidarity. There’s massive value in knowing that out there in the world is someone else who totally gets why you’re angry or how you’re feeling or what you’re going through. That kind of bond doesn’t just build movements, it literally saves people’s lives.
If you don’t think that counts as constructive, righteous, progressive social justice work, you need to go back to a dictionary and look up every single one of those words again.
Filed under “things which are still confusing me”:
What is going on with the local-government Right?
And now – and I’m still not entirely sure this isn’t a hoax – John Palino, the man most famous for running with the Dirty Politics crowd who exposed Len Brown’s extramarital affair and horrifically exploited the woman involved, Bevan Chuang, has decided he wants to go again. But he also wants to make it clear he’s moved past that whole thing, and has proven it by hiring Simon Lusk as his campaign manager, getting Cameron Slater to organise his media contacts, having Carrick Graham at his campaign launch and raising the Len Brown story at literally the first opportunity.
Filed under “things I’m never going to stop writing about”:
Make the bludgers pay their fair share
This is a conversation the left desperately need to stop running away from, especially if we keep letting the first question for any progressive policy be “but what will it cost?”
Let’s just stand up and say it. Yes. It will cost a hell of a lot to institute a universal basic income, or raise benefits to a survivable level, or rebuild our health system. But we won’t be paying for it – those dickheads over there, who have been bludging off other people’s hard work and living the high life through fancy accounting tricks will. Because for too long they’ve dodged paying their fair share and it’s time they took some responsibility.
And finally, a few perennial issues: language, framing, and how the Left talks about people of colour:
Migration, taps and growing pains
Beyond the narrative metaphor-building nerdery, though, there are two more tiny problems with this rhetoric.
The first is that it’s racist dogwhistling gutter trash.
The second is even if that doesn’t bother you, there are no votes in racist dogwhistling gutter trash as long as Winston Peters breathes.
I also blogged about how we talk about industrial action and the importance of words, plus a Twitter round-up for International Women’s Day. A number of you were also interested in what the Boots Theory is – thanks for stopping by, new readers.
Stephanie Rodgers 