Tag Archives: Faux outrage

Apr 22 2012

The one with and anger monkeys #1


New Zealand 2007

New Zealand 2007 (Photo credit: Szymon Stoma)

There are a couple of “things” that seems to be lighting up my twitter timeline, newspaper opinion pages, and left and right-wing bloggers.

Mostly its anti-government sentiment, anything that the current National government do seems to be not well received. Mostly by people who voted Labour in the election and had their politicians fail to gain enough votes to make it into government, such is life. So their angst is one of a poor loser, calling foul and crying wolf over pretty much everything, sometimes with justification, mostly it’s just whingeing about how their lot would do it better or not at all.

But there are a couple of things that are very raw and sore points, this is one;

#1 Crafar Farms. Shock Horror and Xenophobia we’ve sold some farms to some Chinese corporation.

It’s not a problem to sell farms to James Cameron on the proviso he comes here for 10 days every other year, of to allow Shanaia Twain to buy a chunk of land. Or various other sales to countries of other nationalities

But a few clicks on the interwebtubes brings forth this;

Currently, it is our forest plantations where much of the foreign ownership is found.However, the only comprehensive statistics I have found are from the FAO document database and relate to 1999. At that stage about 72% of our pine forests were foreign owned, with United States companies owning about 35% and Asian companies about 12%. More recent data is incomplete but foreign ownership appears to have further increased.

Our wine industry is also predominantly foreign owned. Montana is owned by French giant Pernod Ricard. Nobilo, Selaks, Kim Crawford and Monkey Bay are owned by American company Constellation. Well known brands such as Cloudy Bay, Matua and Wither Hills are all foreign owned. Although many other wine companies are still Kiwi, they tend to be the small companies, and on a volume basis about 70% is foreign owned. The foreign owned companies have their own estates and then purchase additional grapes from Kiwi contract farmers

Or this

In 2005, the OIC approved the sale of 149,473 hectares of rural land to foreigners, of which about 100,000 hectares was from one foreign investor to another. Foreign owned land covers more than one million hectares or about 7% of our commercially productive land area

However, this current outrage and angst comes down to  two reasons and It’s because

They’re Chinese,

and

The National party have indicated that they are going to partially sell some of the few remaining assets we have – such as power generation.

The furore in this is the almost laughable outrage that this has generated as if it’s a first time thing, and that no one has every done this ever. Fact is that NZ has sold off almost everything it has to private ownership and frankly there are only a few things left worth anything to anyone. Fait play to the ‘opposition’ on this who’ve stirred up wild fears and  a catch-cry of “tenants in our own land” hysteria.

Also laughably Sir Michael Fay has come out swinging about how poor this is, which to most people is the pot calling the kettle black, Fay-Ritchwhite having done nicely out of New Zealand in the past. It’s obvious that the aim of Sir Fay is to force the public sentiment into a position where he can take advantage of a purchase of some assets, and then chop and shop them around making a tidy profit on the way through. Anyone who thinks he’s being altruistic is being naïve in the extreme. Ok so past history does not predict future behavior and I could be wrong. I won’t be.
There is such polarization over this issue that’s it’s difficult to get to a sensible conclusion. All the arguments have inherent truth, however it’s a special point-in-time truth that ignores the past, and comes for an instant position taking that only the outraged have. It’s not a yes/no question.
And from those that seem to think they’re being disadvantaged I wonder where they were when the rest of the silverware was being spirited away by the bad guys?
Related articles
Jan 20 2012

Megaupload – Faux Outrage


I might be seeing this wrong.

If it was Bernard Madoff, Sir Allan Stanford, Nick Leeson, Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, Dennis Kozlowski & it was a $500 million alleged financial fraud, & they were arrested in NZ you’d probably be thinking “good job” and be in general support.

I think the thing is there are two issues:

1. The fact that Kim Dotcom has been arrested or held at the behest of the FBI in New Zealand. This seems to be counter to most people’s expectations of a fair and free existence, and seem to trample on our sovereignty and right to police our own country. A sort of  “How dare they!”

The NZ ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has this handy document on Extradition. “The Act does not require a foreign country to have a treaty to request extradition from New Zealand”

or

2. That most of the tech-savvy may have at one time or another used the services facilitated by Megaupload, or one of the many other similar services, such as PirateBay, LimeWire, Rapidshare, and that we don’t collectively see this as a ‘theft” or “fraud” issue.

Megauplaod upload exists to facilitate the movement of large files in a direct download model between users, on an often anonymous basis. Someone uploads a file and then others can pick and choose to download that file – in total- as they choose, or not.

To drag someone back to the USA to face a media storm and circus seems a little odd. But then financial fraud and crime needs to be dealt with in a far more seveer manner than most other crimes.

Bit of a pigs ear then, the “authorities” could have closed down the business, and frozen assets under various RICO and money laundering / income from crime statutes I imagine without the drama of extradition and display, which in the end would result in one man in jail for a few years for being a visionary, albeit a bit of a dodgy one.

Related articles
Dec 29 2011

In the court of public opinion – #1


In the case of a 16yo in Turangi A particularly tasteless sex crime against a girl 5.

Thankfully public opinion and sentiment isn’t the deciding factor in what if any punishments are due. There isn’t much doubt about guilt, the teen, by all accounts, turned himself in, and is in custody, bail declined, for the duration.  The story will be one of why, and how. And we will all have an opinion on that.

But is you’ve been unfortunate enough to read some blogs then you’ll find things like this, all anonymous all ignorant and all rabid;

  • “Hopefully this scumbag will be jailed. He will last about 5 seconds in prison.”
  • “He should be fucking shot”
  • “he big pity is … the cunt is only 16 and  will create a feeding frenzy for lawyers, psychiatrist and the like all at our expence, besides that in jail nowadays most of the crims are in for similar shit, they will just fuck him.”
  • “16. Disgusting. And of course will likely not be convicted due to his age. Appalling.”
  • “I REALLY hope that the judge refuses name suppression in this case.”
  • “It’s well past time minors got automatic name suppression. Hang em high”
  • ime for a little social justice me thinks….Should get a lynch mob together outside Taupo youth court for a public castration and flogging. What a piece of trash cant wait till his lawyer (probably tax payer provided) blames his tragic upbringing.”

And that’s just from just one blog!

Twitter had is share of agony aunts and uncles, with one long and ill-informed back and forth about nature over nurture that I was (As was the whole of connected twitter) watching (or participating in).

Bottom line is not a one of us knows, and not a one of us will get to decide on this. The worst thing about this whole episode, in my opinion, is the level of faux outrage that  people have. The crime was sick and distasteful, all crimes against children are, but with a little nudge from the media and we have a circus born. And to the circus come the freaks, freaks with opinions, bloated, self-important or ill-informed, all there at one outlet or another.

This is the price we pay for democracy on the internet of course, we’re all allowed our say and we’re all at liberty to share it with who ever we like, where we like, and how we like.

Casting aside even our own sense of moral right and climbing on the high horse of public outrage doesn’t end well. We’re increasingly like a school of  sharks who encircle the next victim with a savage onslaught, only to move away quietly to the next victim, out faux outrage dissipated.

We’ve had this Faux Outrage at events such as, Pike river, Michael Laws, Garth George, The Tea Cup fiasco,  the Rena accident, and just about any time there is a child abuse case spread across the media.

It’s ok to be disgusted, and to be confused by events that you don’t have any control over, really it is, however it’s not ok to assume that you are the arbiter of outcomes. It just doesn’t work that way.

just saying.

Sep 18 2011

Not a good day to be a minor league tall poppy. #1 in a series.


Today we bring you  Rabon Khan  and  Rachel Smalley

(1) Raybon Khan. Who seems to set himself as Mr.People, some brainpower gifted individual who urbane toss-offs speak to and for the people.

Well he is a comedian, makes his money with humor, or a sort. The tweet is an inference, and that is all. It’s implied that it’s Germanic, therefore Nazi, therefore Jewish. And frankly that is indeed what it is. Doesn’t make it less humorous. Gallows  humor is important.
(2) Rachel Smalley
Rachel got confused about what she is, and what her tweeting account is. You can’t be both a corporate tweet and a person. You’re either for your or you are you. It’s no good having 999 tweets about good a talking head you are on TV if then in some kind of faux outrage pick a fight with someone, about something you know nothing of, but have formed an opinion on based on your privileged position of being “in” the media. Rachel Smalley is a talking head. She reads an autocue device for a living. That is all.
So what will happen?
Well Raybon will throw himself at the public mercy, “Don’t read it” he’ll cry, which makes him seem like he’s 11 years old.
Rachel Smalley. Well TV3 needs a talking head, she has broad appeal which equals money, and will bring out the same “It was me talking” line that isn’t really an excuse when 99.99% of everything else she tweets is for her not about her.
So two rather minor poppies who’ve brought a collective passing eye-roll towards them that has kept a small part of the nation occupied in the colonies. Nothing in their somewhat small and limited appeal career with change, they’re not people you get favors from or rely on to do you favors. They have passing and fleeting influence as a talking head, but that glitter fades quickly.
#FauxOutrage at it’s best then
Jul 21 2011

Faux outrage, Faux compassion and chipping in!


or slamming and damning, counselling and group grieving and how I learned to react in a group.

Led mostly by media snippets and reporting (often poorly repeated, and incomplete, inaccurate and angled for spin) the collective ‘we’ is often to quick to anger. Twitter is the new benchmark, Facebook pages would be next. You never hear of a TXT based outrage campaign though.

The hive mind is quick to pounce on indiscretion and verbalise their thoughts. Woe to anyone who swims against the tide. Someone often leads the charge and will whip a horse to death, but then we all have a ‘thing’ that does that to us (that’s a whole new subject).

We’re morally indignant about infidelity, as if we’re all whiter than white, we’re dumbfounded by misogyny, as if men have never leered at a woman of used a stick mag, and we can’t belive that a school would add a computing device to the compulsory list for stationery.

We definitely cannot belive  that the Israeli’s in Christchurch are tourists, although this seems to be a media hobby-horse and not a hive mind collective.

Anything the Government of the day announces can be negative, mostly negative. The twitterverse will be abuzz with the newly disenfranchised in minutes, spreading like a wildfire, it is to behold!

Similarly with a death. the hive mind seems to get it into its head to want to grieve. Mostly for people they never met, didn’t know and didn’t much care for before their death. particularly but not limited to children, young pretty females and young males. This is more a Facebook thing. But we’re all hectored and badgered into having to be part of a group that mourns, without really understanding why. Hey it’s a young person they died in some way or other and we should all feel some collective guilt.

Sure death is tragic, children dying is tragic, young people getting into situations where they kill themselves and others is tragic. It happens daily, worldwide, a lot. Old people die too, but then they had a life already get over it. I don’t need to join a Facebook group or have some faux emotion based on an out of context picture in the press or on Facebook. Ge over yourselves.

As for counselling. What an industry that is, we have to take into personal consideration the thoughts and actions of everyone. This will and does and can lead to sheeplike behaviours and group feelings. Individually no, group yes. Naturally I’m not a psychiatrist or behaviours expert but I’m happy to bet cash on this being true.

So Faux Outrage and Grief, the latest big thing, or just the big thing.

Makes it sound like I’m not on any bandwagon, trust me I get on them, and then I get off most of the, some I just sit on for the ride.