Short shots

Last week was so busy that I (clearly) didn’t have time for blogging. When that happens, I inevitably miss out on things I’d otherwise comment on. So, here are a few that slipped by:

Repeal this Laws

Michael Laws, the mayor of Wanganui, was criticised this week for reacting badly to letters from some 11 and 12 year old schoolchildren urging him to reconsider his opposition to spelling the town’s name, correctly, as “Whanganui”. Laws responded: "When your class starts addressing the real issues affecting Maoridom—particularly the appalling rate of child abuse and child murder within Maori society, then I will take the rest of your views seriously."

Pardon?! What do those issues have to do with the spelling of the town’s name? And why on earth would he think it was appropriate to blast kids with his redneck adult views?

I’ve always thought Laws was a dick, and just this proves it. His problem is that he thinks he can treat everyone in the world like they’re a caller to his rightwing talkback radio show. That, and he thinks he’s King of Wanganui.

Stories like this always bring out the rednecks and racists to pontificate and impart their infinite and pure knowledge of everything that’s wrong with Maori. Those are the people who love Michael Laws. New Zealand can do without both.

Sunday, money Sunday

Readers of the Manawatu Standard—as well as some folks from other parts of the country—sent the paper letters supporting the owner of three local Mitre 10 hardware stores who refuses to open his stores on Sunday. He claims that, while he’s religious, the issue is fast-paced modern life: "It's go, go. We have no time just to go and switch off anymore."

Not everyone shares that view, since small communities like that often have no similar place to shop. I know what they mean: When we lived in a small town, many local shops were closed on Sundays (some were closed all weekend). DIY projects are usually done on the weekend, and when you need a part you need it right then. So, we’d drive to bigger towns to do our shopping there. The local business lost out, not us.

Personally, I don’t care about this guy, his opinions or those of his supporters since they don’t affect me. What I find fascinating is how his supporters say things like “it is often the lower-paid employees who end up giving up the weekends to work and miss out on family time”. The right always argues that workers can negotiate with their employers about whether they’ll work on weekends or holidays, but this sentiment seems to suggest that they know such negotiation isn’t realistic. Cognitive dissonance?

WaPo is sorry—sort of

Last week, the Washington Post ran a PR puffery piece on the head of the National Organisation for Opposite Marriage, a profile so fawning and downright sycophantic that I couldn’t even read the whole thing. Others, however, did, and the writer was deservedly roasted in blogs and emails.

The paper’s ombudsman has now admitted some of the (many, many) shortcomings in the story. It’s not exactly an apology, but it’s about as close as most newspapers will go.

The Washington Post has been drifting steadily rightward for most of the past decade, and I just thought this PR piece was in keeping with their current editorial slant. Apparently, "The lesson is to always, in some way, represent the other side." You’d think they wouldn’t need that “lesson” considering the media’s obsession with providing “balance” on any favourable story about GLBT people. Or did they not realise they should “balance” portrayals of the far right?

This is a topic in itself, but I think journalistic “balance” is illusory under the best of circumstances. The idea that fundamental human rights for GLBT people has to be “balanced” by the opinions of the right offends me. Do they insist on “balancing” discussions of religious people by talking to atheists? Do they insist on “balancing” discussions of African American civil rights with the opinions of a representative of the KKK?

Still, I suppose that’s better than allowing the far right to froth on unchallenged, as the WaPo story did, so I can tolerate their obsession with “balance”. I just hope the WaPo has really learned their lesson.