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    Re: What happens to this petition now that Saint Jacinda has resigned? Morrissey -Who is St Jacinda? Archived Message

    Posted by Morrissey on January 24, 2023, 3:38 am, in reply to "Re: What happens to this petition now that Saint Jacinda has resigned? Morrissey -Who is St Jacinda?"

    That's a very good note you sent to Morning Report, John, and I endorse it completely. Regarding your other points, I'll address them one by one.

    1) Who is St Jacinda? Why put the slur in here, Morrissey?
    That's my take on the general adulation that she was, and largely still is, accorded by the media. Sadly, I'm the only one who uses it; it's another of my failed attempts at labeling, along with "The Lackey Country" for Australia, and the ACT cult, as opposed to ACT party. Calling her a saint is hardly a slur, it's more of an ironic, or sarcastic, quip. Saints are exemplars of moral courage; a saint would not have caved in to the bullying of US government thugs re granting asylum to Julian Assange and would not have caved in to the NZ Defence Force and refused to bring witnesses to testify against its crimes.

    2) She's never claimed that title for herself, it's a cynical ad hominem...

    She kept repeating "Just be kind". It started after the Christchurch massacre, and carried on during the pandemic. Of course that's a fine sentiment, but she betrayed that sentiment in the most brutal fashion when she snorted "No" to a reporter who asked if we would grant asylum to a political dissenter. With that flippant and callous reply, she sounded and acted just like Helen Clark during the darkest, most vicious stage of her character assassination campaign against Ahmed Zaoui a generation earlier.

    A cynical ad hom, by the way, is the kind of trash that talkback radio hosts and National Party drones routinely repeated, and still do, about her. Perhaps my favorite example of that kind of idiocy was provided on the afternoon of her resignation, when RNZ conducted a vox pop to gauge public reaction to the news. A woman somewhere in Canterbury wailed: "She made it unbearable to be a farmer!"

    3) Maybe a few Jacindamaniacs equate her with sainthood, I really don't know,

    More than a few do. And to be fair, during the pandemic in 2020-21, she deserved to be adored. She provided leadership in the most stirring way, and deserved the international stardom that ensued from that.

    but right-wing opponents of fair and sustainable society are very clever at inventing put-down monikers like this, "Narcissistic Assange", "the Nanny State" or "Eco fascists".

    Those monikers are not clever at all. The only reason they have any currency is because those drones and dullards repeat them incessantly.

    4) "St Jacinda" is another prime example.

    No it is not. Not even slightly. My disappointment with her is based on her moral and political cowardice and cynicism. The National Party and its media mouthpieces hate and fear her for the good things she did, and for her popularity, which they can only dream of.

    5) You shouldn't so thoughtlessly repeat them.

    I do not thoughtlessly repeat unfunny and untrue National Party talking points. I leave that to Radio New Zealand, the Herald, and the rest of that shower.

    6) If you're unhappy with her attitude to Assange, so am I,

    I'm not unhappy, I am disgusted and enraged by it.

    as I am also with 99% of other politicians...

    You and me both, John. But Jacinda Ardern has been held up as some shining light of morality---yes, as a secular saint, you might say. She had so much moral and political capital behind her, and a few words of heartfelt sympathy or an expression of anguish at Julian Assange's captivity and torture would have been extremely influential. Instead, when she had the chance to say something decent and serious at that press conference, she chose to theatrically pause and then scoffingly dismiss him.

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