Monday, November 13, 2017

Can't disagree with any of this

Arrived in my inbox. I didn't steal it.

From The NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW October 27th 2017

The Limits of Cleverness versus Capitalism

Hidesight  -  Rodney Hide

I have concluded our new prime minister Jacinda Ardern is clever stupid.
She's quick, has good analytical skills and communicates well. There's no doubt she's clever.
    But she's stupid on how the world works and lacks thought-through principles and values. She bobs along on feelings and sounding good and thereby perfectly in tune with a media that emotes rather than reports and analyses.
    By her own account she grew up Mormon but jumped to socialism, becoming president of the International Union of Socialist Youth. She substituted one whacky religion for another. Her work experience is university and Parliament, first as a Labour Party staffer, then as an MP.
    She's driven by belief, not understanding. She can't argue ideas and must dismiss her opponents as uncaring or not yet enlightened. The shortcoming in opposing ideas is not the ideas themselves but the moral deficiency of those expressing them.
    When asked if capitalism had failed low-income New Zealanders, the prime minister-designate said: "If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, that's a blatant failure. What else could could you describe it as?"
    "Hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive." That  means "hundreds of thousands of children" dying because of material want. It's nonsense. There would be UN relief missions and international popstars having concerts to aid New Zealand were her claim true.
It isn't.
    It's part of the media-manufactured Jacindamania that such rubbish claims are passed over. She cares, that's enough. It's as if her nonsensical hyperbole underscores the extent of her caring. "Yes, she might have been out by a few hundred children, and yes, they're not exactly not surviving, but her heart is in the right place."
    The problem of poor and neglected children is not the fault of capitalism but of welfarism.  Generations of handouts have robbed too many of any sense of personal responsibility even for the  care and upbringing of their own children.
     It's perfectly respectable now not to provide for yourself, nor house your family, nor commit in any way to your partner in child-making and to have children without the ability to provide or care  or them.
    It's not your fault. You're a victim. Capitalism has failed.
    Ms Ardern's blinkered, if not blind, view of the world sees her advocating more of the policies causing the very problems concerning her rather than treating the cause.
    No facts, no analysis, no experience would shift her view. Her socialism is her religion.
    I'm a white, privileged male. I would say all of the above, wouldn't I ? I'm threatened by a female in charge and fear that my greedy exploitation of the poor is at an end. There, I dismissed my argument myself to save her supporters the effort.

4 comments:

KG said...

Brilliant! Brief and devastatingly accurate.

Anonymous said...

The real victims of Sepuloni's delusions will be the new generation of children growing up with no aspirations to achieve a meaningful and comfortable living. They will be exposed to the detritus of their community living with violence, drug abuse, obesity, poor health, and lack of spiritual opportunity as companions. At great cost, capitalism will eventually rescue a percentage. What a waste, all through the arrogance this woman and her enablers exude.

MarcW

Anonymous said...

"She's driven by belief, not understanding. She can't argue ideas and must dismiss her opponents as uncaring or not yet enlightened."

That's the key issue and why she will fail miserably when attempting to deal with reality on the world stage - she's been spoiled for ever and is only now coming up against people who are powerful, tough and will say "No" and mean it. Pouting and whining won't sway them like it did Mum and Dad.

Quadrant made sense of all this the issue before last in an article on the political divide in the US. At least in the US you can find a state that suits your style and to some degree associate with like minded people.

3:16

Anonymous said...

Gold.. good write up. I dont dislike J. Just worry about the future of nz with children thinking they can just put there hands out..