So says the editor of the Sunday Star Times;
The Right has found a heavy club to beat the government with: a referendum on smacking at the next election. This is a brilliant ploy by the religious extremists of Family First. It will gather not only libertarians, Act voters and other motley fanatics of that kind, but many decent and ordinary people. It is as though the Brethren had found a cause that appealed to the mainstream. The political and social effects are likely to be large and wholly malign.
I voted ACT at the last election. I know I am not particularly ordinary (inasmuch as my ideas are not reflected by the majority) but I am decent.
It is this sort of labelling from the 'Left' (which is presumably where the editor's sympathies lie) that make debates turn nasty. And I have to say, in my relatively short time involved in politics, those on the Left are a lot better at it. That is because thinking people can defend their ideas without resorting to personally maligning detractors and there would appear to be fewer of them amongst the collectivists.
And look how little real tolerance there is among the liberal left. Freedom of belief has shut up shop. I am a non-believer but passionate about the right of others to have and hold and cherish their faith. Yet the secular Left increasingly characterise people with religious belief as evil fanaticists.
Finally, this beggars belief.
Family First was an active player at the last election, and it has found an ideal vehicle to drive through the next one. But do you really want to get in the passenger seat with them?
Over the page from this mean piece is a full page advert placed by none other than Family First. The paper will have an editorial policy and an advertising policy and no doubt, never the twain shall meet. Perhaps this column is the editor's lash back at prioritised commercial considerations. Whatever it is, I've had enough.
Unlike Family First I am not willing to pay people to insult me.
Dear Editor
Please cancel our subscription to your newspaper today. It is not without regret that I choose this course of action. News is important to me. Ideas are important to me. But today's editorial, which infers ACT voters, libertarians and people of faith are not "decent" people, is a more extreme view than those you profess to warn against.
Lindsay Mitchell
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Go to
www.unityforliberty.net.nz/documents/CirPetition.pdf
get the form , sign it and send it in.
Dont get mad, get even!!!
I am not willing to pay people to insult me.
Lindsay, I think if you asked them, they'd be quick to point out that the insults were provided for free.
Your payment is effectively the fee they charge to print your opinion in the letters to the editor.
Hope I've cleared up the confusion.
I've also made comment about this post too: Decent People
PS: Maybe you can borrow a used SST so you can at least counter their insults from time to time?
Ouch, that hurts.
The mere idea that I might not be decent is frightening. I'd have to find a quiet spot and kill myself.
Well done for cancelling your subscription. Stop funding the morons.
Good for you Lindsay. I remember reading how the PM responding to a group of gays who were complaining that Christians were still not accepting them. Her response was that she would ensure the christians were "margainalised" by constant criticism of the press.
HC has obviously achieved her goal and many in the press are somewhat oblivious to the effortless manner she manipulates them.
Her response was that she would ensure the christians were "margainalised" by constant criticism of the press.
Ah, I see. You've confused Helen Clark with Joseph Goebbels. Simple mistake - could happen to anybody with paranoid delusions.
It is this sort of labelling from the 'Left' (which is presumably where the editor's sympathies lie) that make debates turn nasty. And I have to say, in my relatively short time involved in politics, those on the Left are a lot better at it.
Can you at least admit this might just be a tiny bit subjective? My own subjective impression is that I've encountered very few right-wingers who've been willing to countenance the idea that a left-winger can be a decent person, but I'd never pretend that was an objective assessment.
Nice try Millty but when it comes to low down dirty tricks and bare faced lying you Leftys leave everyone else for dead.I suppose when you are defending lies and untruths constantly then you have no choice....the truth requires no fabrications to stand.
How are the boys at the Standard doing now that they have been outed on yet more fibs...?
Ah, that irrefutable argument, "James says so..."
Perhaps you've met very few right-wingers prepared to countenance the idea that a left-winger can be a decent person because very few right-wingers believe that.
The evidence says otherwise. We're not the ones prone to collectivist thoughts and deeds. We're not the ones who were until recently herding citizens into labour camps and we're not the ones willing to commit genocide in the name of an ideology.
Yup, gotta love them "decent lefties'--the only problem is finding one to love.
Er... you do realise KG, that what you're saying there is effectively that I'm right? That my viewpoint is not mere subjective opinion, but objective fact? I kind of feel like I should say thank you, but it seems inappropriate under the circumstances...
If you think I'm saying that effectively you're right, then the fault is mine for not expressing adequately (or expressing poorly) my loathing and contempt for the left.
Lindsay Mitchell
Obviously you don't check out Kiwiblog. I have been on there making statements I believe, and have been vilified. Join the gang. I was told to stop being so precious by Reid. I suggest you do the same.
Judging by these comments, you seem to be encouraging just what you were psyching over with the SST.
Lindsay Mitchell represents a level of civility in blog political discussion that allows some of us to visit her site more regularly than many others. Her postings are well researched, and she presents a point of view that that sometimes challenges what is already the conventional position. Her posts are always interesting. Lindsay neither attracts, nor deserves, insult. She does not need to harden up. She needs to be treated the way she treats others.
Whilst visits to Kiwiblog are essential, so many of the comments are so childish,smutty, or just plain sick, that their author's views are simply dismissed, or skipped over. Don't encourage that sort of participation here.
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