Politicians, media are giving life to bloggers who deal in degradation and obscenity, writes Pauline Wetton
I am a 74-year-old student of politics at the University of Auckland, so I am not uninformed or naive about politics and politicians. In spite of my distaste for the attitudes expressed, I have occasionally checked out the Whale Oil blog as part of my studies. In spite of this, a lot of the material quoted in Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics made me feel literally sick. It was not so much the dirty politics that affected me - even though that was pretty disgusting at times - it was the tone of the conversations on Facebook and in the emails that really struck home.
Seldom can a group of political "activists" - although that gives activists a bad name - have displayed such sniggering callousness and cynicism. The quotations Hager included revealed the frequent use of sexual obscenities and innuendo - at times in every second or third word. The overall effect is to degrade the idea of the poor and anyone who opposes the policies they espouse. The whole thing is reminiscent of the Nixon tapes in which obscenities were equally frequent and equally offensive.
But the section I found most difficult to read included the comments about Christchurch after the earthquake, in which people's pain and misery were held up to scorn. It should be beyond any comprehension that in a time of national tragedy, these "activists" were prepared to use politically biased invective against the very people who were suffering the most. Calling those who lived in the worst-affected areas scum, and saying National should let them rot, shows an appalling lack of empathy or any feelings not based firmly in self-interest that are typical of many of the quoted passages.
My father, when I was growing up in Taranaki in the 1940s and 50s, used to repeat what he saw as useful sayings to help us discriminate between good and bad behaviours. "You made your bed, now you lie in it" meant that we must take responsibility for our actions; but the two that come to mind as being particularly relevant were "Birds of a feather flock together" - meaning that people with poor attitudes or behaviours would stick together and should be avoided by any sensible person. The second meaning was, I think, biblical, stating we are judged to a large extent by the people we choose as friends so we should be careful about the types of people we mix with.
