Just so's there's no misunderstanding on this topic, I want to be perfectly clear: I'm not looking for the right to smack anyone. I have no problem with a law saying that it should be illegal to discipline children by hitting them, provided it's fairly and rigorously enforced.
What I object to about Sue Bradford is the way she has hijacked a party I approve of for her own, unrelated, agenda. She's costing us votes. But that doesn't bother her, because she's not interested in what the rest of the party thinks it should be about. She's a one-woman argument against minor parties: a two-faced, controlling, authoritarian bitch who is more than willing to sacrifice the entire Green vote if it means she gets her way on the things that matter to her.
Of course, the easiest way for her to do that is to keep herself in the limelight. Which was why I was so exasperated, last night, to see her all over the news again.
The reason this time? Someone has been making "death threats" against her on - wait for it - Twitter.
Quite.
Let's see a sample of these "threats":
"Sue Bradford is STILL a good candidate for NZ's first political assassination.(watch sue run to the police because of a death threat, stupid cow)."Seriously. That's what the police are investigating.
Honest to goodness, if that were a threat then I'd be long dead. Is there anyone who hasn't been on the receiving end of something at least that nasty, over this "Internet" thingy?
People blow off steam online. In the comfort of what they think is an anonymous medium, they say all kinds of things they'd hesitate to say in person (although seriously, I've heard worse "threats" than that in a country pub on a Saturday night, and nobody turns a hair).
Of course, Bradford is milking the opportunity for publicity. And John Key, of course, is happy to play along, because it makes him look positively statesmanlike in contrast to her ridiculous publicity-whoring. And the media - well, they've got time to fill. To blame any of them for their roles in this would be like blaming a goat for stinking - they're all just acting according to their nature.
But the police, now - they should know when they're being manipulated by these whores. Bradford didn't get as far as she has by being thin-skinned. If the police had the sense God gave a starfish, they'd tell this drama queen to grow up.
2 comments:
I can't say I blame the police here - all it takes is one of these types of incidents to result in a death for people to be up in arms about why the police didn't investigate the matter in the first place. To me, they're in a no-win situation. Damned if they do & damned if they don't. This is more of a result of our hypersensitivity and ultra-PC attitude that we have as a species nowadays, which unfortunately is here to stay for the time being.
In case you missed it, there's this little nugget from here in the States: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0303091mcnugget1.html, the result of which caused the US to adopt a new slogan: America - Don't Try To Out-Stupid Us.
Nah - try as I might, I can't see a statement like that - made on Twitter, f'r Chrissakes - as a "threat".
Seriously, during your presidential campaign, how many people said "If Obama wins, he'll be assassinated"? Did the Secret Service interview everyone who said that?
I remember hearing about the McNugget Lover, but in that case the police did act correctly and proportionately.
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