Monday, October 01, 2012
Kim Dotcom exposes New Zealand Mickey Mousery
On the rare occasions that I go back -- briefly -- to New Zealand to visit family and the rare friends who still live there, I am often asked "Do you think you'll ever come back to live?" After I have recovered from the inevitable choking fit the question brings on, I usually reply with something like: "On the contrary, I am certain I never will. I would have to be at the end of the line to even contemplate it".
The farce surrounding the illegal spying on Kim Dotcom has established a new depth of Mickey Mousery in New Zealand politics and civil life. Just when one thinks "surely it can't get any worse", lo and behold it does. As Matt McArten, one of the brave people who has stayed behind to continue trying to make a difference, observed in a recent Op Ed in the New Zealand Herald, things have slipped a very long way since Helen Clark escaped to the United National Development Program. The Prime Minister, John Key, is increasingly appropriately referred to as DonKey, and he has earned the right to be regarded as the arch Mickey Mouse in the whole sorry set up.
Apart, that is, from the 49% who recently polled as saying they would return the same government. We seem to be looking at an entire country rushing full tilt boogie to embrace the ethos of Dumb and Dumber. It doesn't matter how implausible Key and his mob appear, a joke or two, a one liner or two, remains the default response. And -- surprise, surprise -- it generally works.
Notwithstanding the mass response, the current fiascos inspire some excellent critical journalism. It would be near impossible to up the ante on Chris Barton's lovely Herald piece of today, "Kim pulls off greatest dotcomedy of his career"
Enjoy. As a job lot the comments are pretty good too.
The farce surrounding the illegal spying on Kim Dotcom has established a new depth of Mickey Mousery in New Zealand politics and civil life. Just when one thinks "surely it can't get any worse", lo and behold it does. As Matt McArten, one of the brave people who has stayed behind to continue trying to make a difference, observed in a recent Op Ed in the New Zealand Herald, things have slipped a very long way since Helen Clark escaped to the United National Development Program. The Prime Minister, John Key, is increasingly appropriately referred to as DonKey, and he has earned the right to be regarded as the arch Mickey Mouse in the whole sorry set up.
Apart, that is, from the 49% who recently polled as saying they would return the same government. We seem to be looking at an entire country rushing full tilt boogie to embrace the ethos of Dumb and Dumber. It doesn't matter how implausible Key and his mob appear, a joke or two, a one liner or two, remains the default response. And -- surprise, surprise -- it generally works.
Notwithstanding the mass response, the current fiascos inspire some excellent critical journalism. It would be near impossible to up the ante on Chris Barton's lovely Herald piece of today, "Kim pulls off greatest dotcomedy of his career"
Enjoy. As a job lot the comments are pretty good too.
