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Sunday, August 12, 2012

Worst NZ Herald editorial ever?



I know that is a huge claim to make, the NZ Herald has been the voice of the refined capitalist slave owner since 1863. In its history it has forced the country to suffer its editorial outbursts against Maoris, trade unions, vagrants and crime with all the insight of a self interested corporation making money from heat and not light, but yesterdays editorial defending John Key's decision to skip the funerals of two soldiers for his son's baseball game has surely got to be the worst editorial in NZ Herald history.

It's not that it's poorly written or as venomous as their historical diatribes against Maoris, unions, beneficiaries, boy racers and Maoris but for a newspaper that unquestioningly worships the military and ANZAC Day with such flag blinded patriotism, defending Key's no show at the funeral of two soldiers is like Christians defending crucifixions.

Key is the Prime Minister, he has obligations and paying his respects at the funeral of those he has commanded is the barest minimum required of the office. To bugger off and watch his son play baseball is jaw dropping, it really is.

If it's such an issue for him, why didn't Key put his own hand into his $50million pocket and chart a private jet there and back so he could have met his obligations at the funeral and then flown and seen his son? Even if he missed the game, he could have shared the after experience with his son, for someone so happy to use military transport when it suited him, this kind of decision to not show is not only offensive, it's terribly hypocritical.

In the wake of Nicky Hager's damning book 'Other People's Wars', the NZ Defence Force have had to lift their propaganda spin with the media, and I have been amazed by the swift response by the military to the news of the deaths. The morning the casualties were announced, TVNZ Breakfast had a voice piece on defending the occupation in terms of it being positive for women's rights.

Apparently the M-16 is a tool for gender equality.

There are no military solutions in Afghanistan, but there are military casualties and Key's decision to remain in this war means he's responsible when they have to be buried.

To suggest Key's son has made sacrifices when two family's just made the ultimate sacrifice is the insult and the NZ Herald's editorial justifying it is the injury.

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7 Comments:

At 12/8/12 9:30 am, Blogger marie price said...

Agree with you 100%. When John Key decided to get into politics and take the top job - he should have recognised that the country comes first. I think his actions and words reflect the values of a shallow man.

 
At 12/8/12 10:08 am, Blogger DebsisDead said...

Quite frankly I couldn't give a fuck if anyone turns up at the mercenaries' funerals. That is what these blokes were - mercenaries. At no time in their decision to join the military would they have considered having to kick invaders outta the King Country or the Manawatu or anywhere else in NZ.

By the time these wanna be killers joined the army it was obvious to them all that GWOT was where they would be deployed. Killing indigenous people to secure the rights of fukusi to take whatever they want when they want is what they signed up for and they got killed by people fighting for the right to determine their future for themselves in their country.
I know who I stand next to in that argument and it isn't with a mob of kiwi tossers who want to take their shit out on others cause dad shot thru or any of the other silly reasons young men choose to sign up.
NZ has yet to be in a conflict we have any business being in. The two generations before mine in our whanau got killed and/or generally fucked up when they went off killing for the rich and it really pisses me that younger kiwis don't see this bullshit for what it is.

 
At 12/8/12 10:51 am, Blogger Nix Hikoreta said...

Tika tahau ehoa, kei runga koe te huarahi tika ana. Ana ka tika Hone Kii

 
At 12/8/12 10:53 am, Blogger Nix Hikoreta said...

Ae e whakaae ana ahau ki āu korero kua takotohia! Ka tika Hone Kii.

 
At 12/8/12 12:10 pm, Blogger Johnny B said...

While I concur with the essence of Debsis Dead's comments I acknowledge the point of the blog ... the Prime Minister of New Zealand is a pusillanimous, dishonest, duplicitous psychopath (i.e. devoid of natural human feelings) and needs to be held to account. Right or wrong these soldiers were plying their trade. They died on the job and John Key is obliged to show respect to the office he holds. Another disgraceful chapter in the career of this trans-national corporate glove puppet.

 
At 12/8/12 2:45 pm, Blogger Frank said...

Johnny B - I concur.

http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/john-key-and-his-priorities/

 
At 12/8/12 8:24 pm, Blogger Trevor at BehaviourSkills.com said...

Well said, this would be the most disgraceful thing an NZ PM has ever done. Whether you agree with the Kiwis being in Afghanistan or not, the fact is that was where they were sent. Secondly Key is the PM, he is NZ's official representative - yet decided a Baseball Tournament was more important than the lives of two of our boys.

Incredibly, from what I am told the tournament lasts a week, so he could have also attended the funerals - but decided not to. In other words, there is obviously some other reason he just had to be there (in the USA) for rather than just Baseball, that he doesn't want anyone knowing about.

 

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