It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you

When the Diva took over the running of Winston's motley band of malcontents immediately after his ignominous departure from Parliament - an appointment that, in the spirit of open government and accountability espoused by the pair, was at first blatantly denied till journalists found a lycra-swathed form sneaking up the back stairs one day - the office was quickly renamed "Paranoia Palace" by its inhabitants. Well, those who weren't informing on their workmates to the Diva in the hope of personal advancement, anyway.

Paranoia and the use of informants has always loomed large in Diva's modus operandi and, judging by a comment left to our last post, still flourishes:

Anonymous said...
ALERT! Heard at council today that the mayor's office has somehow got hold of private e-mails circulating between WAG and arts supporters about the River Queen premiere. i'll say no more because I suspect you know who frequents here but forewarned is forearmed. He's about to go public with them.
7:53 PM, January 09, 2006

Shock! Horror! What can these unreconstructed Trotskyite layabouts have been planning, we wondered? Molotov cocktails on the red carpet? Overturning vehicles and barricading the roads to the theatre? Kidnapping the stars and demanding a ransom in oil paints and modeling clay?

No, these emails - which went to multiple members of the Wanganui Artists Guild (WAG) merely canvassed the idea of some sort of low-level protest over the anti-arts climate being whipped up by the Mayor (movie making ironically being, in some eyes at least, an art form).

WAG - unlike the more outspoken SoS, which was unashamedly an activist group - have been involved in trying to reach the ear of the Mayor and councillors and the artists involved in the group are generally trying to focus on their work and not let the Mayoral-driven anti-arts juggernaut ruin not just their livelihoods but also their creative processes.

In short, a more harmless bunch of people one could not hope to meet, unless perhaps one attended a SciFi convention.

Anyhow, a WAG member posited the idea of some form of protest. Emails circulated debating the issue, with some saying it ought to be light-hearted.

Fortunately for the artists wiser heads prevailed and the consensus was the River Queen "premiere", whilst unashamedly being driven as yet another Mayoral Look-At-Me Day, was nonethless Wanganui's chance to celebrate a notable achievement and not the time and place for protest. Anything in the nature of a protest would look churlish, petty and ultimately be self-defeating. So there hasn't been and won't be any meeting, and no protest will be going anywhere near Mickey's Big Day Out.

So keep those emails, those accusations, and that paranoia firmly under wraps, Mickey. There won't be any reminders of how you talk up one part of the arts - the part that lets you join the parade - while talking down the other parts.

But what of the Diva's informant, we wonder? LawsWatch suspects this rat in the ranks is, as usual, someone well rewarded by the Diva in another sphere altogether who's then willing to act as a Fifth Columnist among their artist friends.

While most artist types aren't known for their sharp political instincts, how long can it be till the informant is outed? And then what? Tarring and feathering, but with oils and decoupage?

The moral of the story surely is, that if the Diva behaved like an elected official ought, and gave respect and consideration to the various groups within the community, recognising and attempting to balance their various and at times conflicting needs, Wanganui wouldn't need to be run like East Germany circa 1956.

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