Statler & Waldorf (ex animal)
19.2K posts
@Humour_ous
I have not the rhythm to drum. a favourite muppet.
HALF the price of petrol is tax in NZ, cut the tax Even Ardern did it! Ardern's government cut the fuel excise duty by 25 cents per litre in March 2022 @mangonui08 @winstonpeters x.com/i/status/20330…
Personal attack politics aimed at Chris Hipkins shows an old 2014 playbook that no longer works A familiar pattern has resurfaced online over the last year. A cluster of fringe conservative government lap-dog micro-bloggers pushing personal attacks aimed at Labour leader Chris Hipkins and hard working Kiwis just trying to get by. It follows a playbook that will look familiar to anyone who watched New Zealand’s political blog wars a decade ago. Anonymous or semi-anonymous accounts attempt to drive narratives through personal jabs, social media pile-ons and insinuation rather than reasoned debate over policy. The problem is that playbook belongs to another era. In the early 2010s, a handful of aggressive blogs and Twitter accounts could shape political conversations by amplifying attacks and pushing outrage cycles. The technique relied heavily on blurring the line between legitimate political criticism and personal targeting. But the environment has shifted this time round. Voters today are far less tolerant of smear-style commentary designed as political analysis. And when attacks drift into personal territory rather than policy or leadership decisions, the reaction is usually swift and negative. Criticising a political leader’s record, policies or decisions is fair game. That is the ideals of democratic conversations. But dragging personal matters into the conversation adds nothing to public understanding and undermines the credibility of those pushing the attacks. What we are seeing now aimed at Hipkins is a recycled strategy pulled from a decade-old ripped up shaggy-looking book. The pages are worn out and the tactics are predictable. The public has largely moved on from the drama-days. New Zealand politics is better served by robust debate about policy and leadership and direction. Because right now our leader, Christopher Luxon, and the rest of the clowns in the coalition do not care about lived experiences everyday Kiwis experience. Tired personal attacks from an expired playbook are boring. #nzpol
