It's not about going back. It's about going forward

It's not about going back. It's about going forward - why NZ Greens irrelevent

The New Zealand Green Party seem ever so irrelevant these days. Their truth is that sustainability has gone beyond a lifestyle issue to one of global socio-political importance. It's not about going back - it's about going forward. No party, with the possible exception of the U.S. 'Clean Coal' Republicans, can ignore the need for pragmatic polices to address the issue. If not only because it is objectively necessary but that the weight of media - equivalent to billions of dollars globally to promote the issue shouldn't go to waste. And then there is the issue of nullifying the 'green' political agenda. It is one of the threads in my satirical novel Vanishing Act, the other is dolphins…awwww.

The other uncomfortable truth for the Greens is that we not only vote for ideas, we vote for people to represent them. Sue Bradford was a tireless campaigner for union members and people on low incomes. I have no doubt about her care and concern for folk. Not for a second. I utterly believe she believes. But, then again, I doubt there is anyone in parliament in New Zealand who doesn't feel the same way but might also have a different ideology. I'm not a big Gerry Brownlee fan but I'd bet on marginal odds that he loves his kids and doesn't want them or their children (etc) to come to harm. Sue Bradford introduced the Anti-Smacking Bill, in my mind wielding the club of Hercules to crush a gnat, it passed in a flurry of political correctness and the unintended consequence will be undisciplined teenagers/young adults who would never have been beaten by their parents but who quickly passed the meme through Bebo, facebook, Myspace and word of mouth that they could behave as they please without consequence. Bottom line - it was the same as taking away the fear of 'God' - wait till your father comes home. "Whatever".

So, in the interests of truth in advertising:

You can't discipline your kids, but you can encourage them to lack self discipline:

And, while the Green campaign says this:

This is who you are really voting for.

Comments

Johnny Bunko competiton

The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge from DHP on Vimeo . There's a young chap in Indiana, one Alec Quig , who has written to me about creating a career based on a polymathic degree, from which he has recently graduated. He's an interesting young man and his concerns about going forward in life are the anxieties we all face at crossroads in our lives when we are forced to make choices. Dan Pink's latest book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need might help: "From a New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Washington Post bestselling author comes a first-of-its- kind career guide for a new generation of job seekers.There's never been a career guide like it.the fully illustrated story (ingeniously told in Manga form) of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to parachute company Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early days as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to find a new job. St

Ze Frank thinks so you don't have to

Ze Frank appeared on my radar when I saw his presentation among the excellent TED Talks videos . This morning I was reading Russell Davies planning blog in which he referred to a clip by Ze Frank - Where do ideas come from. Here's the transcript: "...Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima [sic] writes, "Are you ever gonna break into song again? Are you running out of ideas?" Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima, that's a good question. I run out of ideas every day! Each day I live in mortal fear that I've used up the last idea that'll ever come to me. If you don't wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them. You can tell yourself that you don't have the time or resources to do 'em right. Then they stay around in your head like brain crack. No matter how bad things get, at least you have those good ideas that you'll get to later. Some people get addicted to that brain crack. And the longer they wait, the more they convince themse

Sexist Advertising and stereotypes

Advertising lives in the short-form world. Because mass media is so expensive the 30 second commercial is conventional and because there is so much clutter simplified signals are essential to 'cut through'. One form of communication short-hand used as a default is the stereotype - "A stereotype can be a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image, based on the assumption that there are attributes that members of the "other group" have in common. Stereotypes are sometimes formed by a previous illusory correlation, a false association between two variables that are loosely correlated if correlated at all. Though generally viewed as negative perceptions, stereotypes may be either positive or negative in tone." In the 1950's and 60's when men dominated advertising stereotypical impressions of women as inferior or subservient were not only commonplace but usual. It was normal to show women as housekeepers, largely because most wer

ThoughtSpurs

Search This Blog