An interesting interview with Jacinda Ardern

[zqwerty]

"quite prepared to lie, cheat, and fight mean and dirty to get their way"

Yes Trump the Simplifier is a good example.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Newsroom also has an interesting opinion piece. No doubt the hard nosed will love it.

[heisenberg]

I think there is this idea too that kindness is a weakness, and a government with that as a mainstay is also weak - or possibly communist.

It is though the same kind of thinking behind support for militarisation, for strong border maintenance, for limiting or selecting refugees, and for internal tough on crime stuff. Unfortunately, it also finds the race to personal wealth building admirable, even when it becomes patently a symptom of mental illness, and celebrates othering in order to bolster self esteem.

Lots of things wrong with the way we as a species operate. Thank goodness though we can still be optimists. Even if some days that takes effort.

well her favourite word was comrade..comrade

[jim157]

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9rsxFaq6Ig

[king1]

Comrade literally means "Friend"

[heisenberg]

Comrade literally means "Friend"

she says friend a lot at that communist gathering

[Praktica]

Are you a sock puppet of jim's? You're here a lot when he is...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I think there is this idea too that kindness is a weakness, and a government with that as a mainstay is also weak - or possibly communist.

It is though the same kind of thinking behind support for militarisation, for strong border maintenance, for limiting or selecting refugees, and for internal tough on crime stuff. Unfortunately, it also finds the race to personal wealth building admirable, even when it becomes patently a symptom of mental illness, and celebrates othering in order to bolster self esteem.

Lots of things wrong with the way we as a species operate. Thank goodness though we can still be optimists. Even if some days that takes effort.

well her favourite word was comrade..comrade

Nah. It was 'wellness' actually. 

Do you remember Paula Bennett? She was a communist in her student days. Among other things.

I don't think many New Zealanders really have the faintest idea was communism really is. But they throw the word around easily enough...

[Praktica]

well her favourite word was comrade..comrade

I don't think many New Zealanders really have the faintest idea was communism really is. But they throw the word around easily enough...

That's because they're brainwashed...well, what passes for their brain...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Bit like the way many Americans have no idea there is a world beyond their borders. Sometimes what passes for education really isn't.

[Lilith7]

We're a really foolish species sometimes, at this stage of our development...with luck we may yet evolve further & improve at some point...

[heisenberg]

Bit like the way many Americans have no idea there is a world beyond their borders. Sometimes what passes for education really isn't.

americans are wonderful people they just have no idea thereÔÇÖs a big world out there

[Oh_hunnihunni]

A fair few of them travel, it's the baggage some of them bring with them that turns them ugly. I was amazed when I was roading tripping in the US, how many commented on my accent and asked where I came from. When I queried them in response most thought New Zealand was somewhere in the north. Around Alaska.

I blame Peter Jackson for that.

Mind you, the Poms are worse. I reckon just about everything wrong with this world can be traced back to them and their empire building.

Maybe that's the evil, not the people, but their need to build empires. Perhaps we should put that in that Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders thing and stamp it out a whole lot earlier.

[Lilith7]

A fair few of them travel, it's the baggage some of them bring with them that turns them ugly. I was amazed when I was roading tripping in the US, how many commented on my accent and asked where I came from. When I queried them in response most thought New Zealand was somewhere in the north. Around Alaska.

I blame Peter Jackson for that.

Mind you, the Poms are worse. I reckon just about everything wrong with this world can be traced back to them and their empire building.

Maybe that's the evil, not the people, but their need to build empires. Perhaps we should put that in that Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders thing and stamp it out a whole lot earlier.

That sounds an excellent idea, & perhaps include that awful need some humans have to collect more & more money as a sub category since amassing wealth is often the motivation...

The world is a weirs place. And humans are crazy...

[king1]

Maybe that's the evil, not the people, but their need to build empires. Perhaps we should put that in that Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders thing and stamp it out a whole lot earlier.

 and their need to build Legacies - nothing could be worse for these people than being forgotten.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Forget statues you fools, have grandbabies...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

New York Times comments on the doco Prime Minister - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/movie...L5701D_g0Q