Addendum: The F#$%ing News
A couple of after thoughts on yesterday's deranged piece, plus a few thoughts on Paddy Gower's memoir This Is The F#$%ing News
As you may have seen yesterday, I wrote at length about my disgust with ACT party leader - and sitting Deputy Prime Minister - David Seymour’s attempts to shame critics of his Regulatory Standards Bill; you can read the piece from yesterday here, but to sum up, he referred to critics of the bill as victims suffering from ‘Regulatory Standards Derangement Syndrome’.
The posts on Seymour’s own Facebook page are little more than attacks on well-regarded experts in their fields, former MPs, and even sitting MP Willie Jackson, and an attempt to avoid any good faith discussion around the bill.
Naturally, Seymour said it was just a joke. Sigh.
Anyway, after the post went live yesterday, I went back to Seymour’s Facebook page to see if there’d been any updates, only to find that the ACT leader - who had just engaged in bullying via social media - only to find him singing the virtues of a new committee looking into
(checks notes)
As a reminder, Dr Parmjeet Parmar sought advice on having the leaders of Te Pāti Māori imprisoned over the haka they performed in parliament.
That isn’t really relevant to this committee. I just think it’s fucked up.
My point is, this is yet more shameless hypocrisy from Seymour, and only backs up what I said yesterday: like most abusers, Seymour and the ACT party believe it’s only abuse if you do it, it’s only social media harm if you do it, it’s only an intimidation tactic if you do it.
Disgraceful.
As an aside, I was also interested to read yesterday that question have been raised about how the posts were created, after it came to light that the ACT party engaged Parliamentary Service staff to create the posts.
Parliamentary Service is a group within government who provide admin and support services to MPs, and can be “used for ‘parliamentary purpose’ such as legislating, scrutinising and engaging with the public”:
Labour, the Greens and Dame Anne assert that doesn’t include social media posts attacking members of the public, but a spokesperson for Seymour said it did fit within the rules, because it was helping people engage with the legislation.
Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said parties can use Parliamentary staff time at their discretion, and would not comment on whether the posts fulfilled a “parliamentary purpose”.
The most galling part of this?
Parliamentary Services is a taxpayer funded service - which means that technically we paid for those posts to be created.
I’d like my fraction of a cent back, please.
As I dwelt on all this yesterday, it struck me that the Chris of a decade or two ago probably would have sided with Seymour, agreeing that it was all a joke and it was no big deal and ‘it’s just social media, harden up’ and ‘if you can’t take someone telling you to shut up, you shouldn’t be posting on the internet’.
The Chris of a decade or two ago had a lot to learn.
Thankfully, I ended up married to someone who prodded me to do so. And even though we’re separated now, I am still incredibly grateful for that.
I was also encouraged by journalist and all-around good guy Paddy Gower’s memoir This Is The F#$%ing News, released in September last year and outlining his life both before and after landing on television and earning the nickname Oversharer-In-Chief. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Gower himself, and finished it around the same time I was writing the piece yesterday.
It was a bloody good yarn, to be honest. I’m not going to recap his life or anything, but there are plenty of great moments featuring some of the names you’d be expecting to read about: politicians like John Key and Winston Peters, fellow journalists like Duncan Garner and Corin Dann, and even a cameo from legendary All Black centre Conrad Smith, who went to high school with Gower.
But the reason I found the book so encouraging was that I saw myself in Gower’s story. The way he confronted change was relatable to a man like myself, born in 1981 and stuck between the Boomer ideas of my parents’ generation, and the Millennial/Gen Z beliefs of those younger than me.
The past decade or so has been an onslaught of new ideas and beliefs. I’ve tried to keep up as best I can, a constant process of unlearning and re-learning who I am and how I relate to the world around me. My views on almost every social issue have changed in that time, in addition to confronting my own mental health problems and doing something about it. Or trying to, anyway.
Gower details how he came around to confronting demons within himself, first rejecting the input of people around him before eventually getting to their point of view and enacting real change within himself. And throughout the book, he talks about coming to understand his own mindset, recognising what he wanted for himself, and turning into the clever and entertaining raconteur he is now.
I have found in my life that I’m kind of alone in this among my friend group. The people I grew up with haven’t been through the same journey I have, still holding onto outdated beliefs about gender and racial identity, climate change, the role of government, all that. And so I’ve often felt isolated, bristling against the idea of change and a need to just be one of the guys.
Gower’s book showed me that I’m not alone in this extended period of personal change. I found that to be a precious gift. Thanks, PG.
This Is The F#$%ing News is in stores and available from your local library.
I’ll be back tomorrow with My Week In Music.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Mā te wā, Chris xo