Author Archive
Black hat – the (shudder) ethics of spin
We’ve discussed ‘Black hat’ web ‘marketing‘ tactics before, in the context of so-called experts selling punters hyped-up snake oil like the Shaun Stenning-fronted Geekversity and, once that had collapsed, the Twalk and Snipr equally hyped and ill-fated enterprises that the Stenning performing troupe hawked around Asia like a cargo cult until the wheels fell off […]
Against expectations
Watching the Wallabies go down to Ireland in their Rugby World Cup pool match last night one couldn’t help thinking, Oops, that’s not what the Australians expected. Full credit to the Irish, and the inspirational, courageous Brian O’Driscoll. – P
An apology should cost you something
Wow. Things have been going off the rails for Johann Hari since he got ‘busted’ massaging quotes in his interviews. Now he’s issued an apology and given an explanation (again) for his lack of truthfulness, and touches on some of the points I try to make here now and then about the generalised loss of […]
Getting to be a habit
Enough with politics! Contention can become addictive. Here’s Diana Krall, looking every bit as good as the right-wing vixens I referred to earlier … but sounding way better.
David Farrar showing WhaleOil how it’s done
Bloggers* David Farrar and Scott Yorke gave a master class in fair and reasonable political discourse and commentary on Jim Mora’s Afternoons show on Radio NZ National yesterday, which I listened to using the Radio NZ iPhone App late last night. In the context of my conversation with Cameron Slater (via our blogs) — where […]
Claims of ‘Integrity’ in the anti-MMP Campaign accompanied by smear tactics
Are smear tactics compatible with claims of ‘integrity’? I don’t think so. Especially if you piously declare you’re ‘above’ smear tactics and won’t use them … before you do. In context of an earlier discussion about allegations of ‘secret funding’ (Tribalism), I found myself again considering the lobby group Vote For Change Campaign, dedicated to […]
The likability of ‘Teflon’ John Key
I’ve only seen John Key when his ‘show face’ has been on, but even then he seemed to me to be what this interviewer, Adam Dudding, calls ‘Teflon’. It’s claimed in Nicky Hager’s book The Hollow Men that Key gave an assurance of support to Bill English for the National Party leadership but switched his vote […]
Off the agenda
Alec Baldwin makes a point about what September 11 has pushed off the agenda. I think what he says is good. I believe what has been lost since 9/11 is any real discussion of peace as a component of our foreign policy. You almost never hear anyone talk about peace now. I understand that there […]
Unforgettable images of ‘state repression’ – right here at home
Chris Trotter’s commentary on charges being dropped against some [alleged, not even that now] Maori radical ‘terrorists’ — The Operation That Failed — is worth reading. (And so is the comment stream.) I fully agree with his line: When “Operation Eight” was finally launched on 15 October 2007 the images it supplied – of armed […]
Tribalism
One of the perennial themes of this blog is an exploration of the ‘reasons’ for prejudice and conflict between different groups. See my 2009 post Q: Where does conflict come from? which records Tajfel’s social psychology experiments … Henri Tajfel is perhaps best known for his minimal groups experiments. In these studies, test subjects were divided arbitrarily […]
Is there anything you’d like to share with the group, Cathy?
Was/wasn’t ACT list candidate Cathy Odgers (Cactus Kate) recounts the wearying psychological impact of poor opinion poll results on ‘tribal’ political party volunteers … from her own direct experience as a student volunteer in the early days of the minor right wing party (currently running something like 1.7% in the polls). Fine, emotionally honest writing […]
Conservatives have more fun. Eh, what? THOSE conservatives?
Photo by Dave Weigel, last mentioned at ThePaepae.com when he resigned from The Washington Post after being exposed as having opinions (gasp!), see: Do your opinions invalidate your reporting?. Weigel now writes at Slate with today’s piece Sarah Palin’s Big Day Out. That sugared John Le Carré-style honey trap (‘Conservatives Have More Fun!’) is kinda undermined by the regulation […]
An inside view of the political madhouse
This is totally worth reading: Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult Saturday 3 September 2011 by: Mike Lofgren, Truthout | News Analysis … To those millions of Americans who have finally begun paying attention to politics and watched with exasperation the tragicomedy of the debt ceiling extension, it […]
