Yah boo sucks
It seems ordinary individuals are now enjoying the privileges previously confined only to groups en masse - Raetihians, Stratfordites, people from Christchurch... and most recently, the entire nation of Tonga who are apparently all "drones" and the Department of Statistics, who are all "f***wits". A particularly intemperate spray from the Diva this morning purports to know who's behind LawsWatch.
As we've pointed out before, Watchers are everywhere. True, many are presently enjoying better weather than can be had in Wanganui (i.e. are pretty much anywhere else) and this blog is in "summer mode" while there's not much news about.
An obsessive focus on two or three people - whether accurately or not - is a fairly standard modus operandi for a politician like the Diva. The idea being that if the targets you hit aren't the right targets, well it'll damn sure put the willies up the people you'd like to hit, if only you knew who they were. And maybe, just maybe, they'll decide they're not going to wait around till his sights are trained on them.
It is, in fact, very much like the way Saddam used to run things - carpet bomb enough civilians and you might hit the target you're after, or you might miss but scare them off, or the terrorised civilians might offer you up the people you're after if only you'll leave them alone. And don't worry about the innocents who might get maimed along the way.
Fact is, the only people who spend the day obsessing over Michael Laws are... well, just Michael Laws, actually. Thankfully there are enough Watchers to share the burden of the three or four hours a day (including writing, artwork and comment moderation) that this blog takes. And plenty more where they came from. Because, as Saddam has discovered, despots will always get their comeuppance.
And it fits perfectly with the bread and circuses strategy. Commenters alleged many months ago that the Diva "knew" who was "behind" the blog. So why wait till now to float this particular kite? Simple, readers - distraction. Roman Emperors used to throw people to the lions as well as provide less gory entertainments. And while the citizenry were transfixed by the spectacle (and thanking the various Gods it wasn't them being mauled) the Emperor got on with the dirty business of politics - in this case a buy-election.
And as today's effort proves, politics don't get much dirtier than when practiced by Michael Brian Laws.
Update: The Chronicle are understandably wary of publishing any of the Mayor's potentially defamatory dribble, and so, courtesy of Sean Hoskins, we can reveal that at least one of the Diva's targets isn't about to take the latest spray with the alacrity of some of his other victims. And it seems the Diva wasn't being entirely truthful, either. Now there's a surprise. (Note: This is an 88kB pdf file, and we've masked contact details to protect the privacy of individuals)
Comments on this post are now closed.
7 comments:
Thanks for the free advertising Michael.
I must say though that I am somewhat embarrassed by the suggestion that I am an "author" of this blog. The Watchers do it so much better than I would.
These recent comments are very damaging for the reputation of Wanganui, as our figurehead the Mayor should be more careful about what he says to the wider NZ public and our nominated Government representatives. Let us hope that the Statistics people can carry out their census duties effectively, without consequential uncooperation from the public - resulting from his negative and unconstructive comments.
We just like the fact we can come into this blog and read postings that are not generated by the spin political mistress of Wanganui's mayor. Who ever you are, keep going.
Who is this prat below??
These recent comments are very damaging for the reputation of Wanganui, as our figurehead the Mayor should be more careful about what he says to the wider NZ public and our nominated Government representatives. Let us hope that the Statistics people can carry out their census duties effectively, without consequential uncooperation from the public - resulting from his negative and unconstructive comments.
7:29 PM, January 12, 2006
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The mayor is perfectly entitled to tell Statistics that they have their head up their arse on Wanganui's population figures and suggesting this city is in decline. Good on him!
As someone who has attended and reported on several council meetings as part of the "roster" of watchers for blog I wonder where Michael gets the idea that it's only a couple of people whom he knows by name. Then again, perhaps it just suits him to point the finger the way he does rather than acknowledge the truth.
Note to anonymous who posted @ 9.14 pm:
We tried to post an amended version of your post with a link to the story to which you referred rather than the lengthy text in the comment, as we'd been asked previously by readers not to allow commenters to clutter this section with long quotes - and we lost the entire comment. Our apologies.
If you'd care to post it again, please do so, and include the link this time. If you don't know how to do that, cut and paste the URL from your browser and we'll fix it up for you.
I’ve been talking to people here for the UCOL summer school and it’s surprising that they know about the blog - and they know more about what’s going on in Wanganui than lots of residents who just read Mickey’s spin in the Chronicle. It’s little wonder he’s trying to shut down LawsWatch.
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