BBC hack has a go at Japan’s “passive reporters” Humbug Corner No. 23: Rupert Wingfield-Hayes Radio NZ National News, Friday 27 December 2013, 6 a.m.
At this time of year, Japanese prime ministers have traditionally visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo—an act of homage which, because the shrine holds the remains of twelve notorious war criminals, outrages people in China, Korea and many other countries.
Some of the loudest protests, however, have come from people who themselves are incorrigible apologists for state aggression. Noam Chomsky has written trenchantly about the hypocrisy of U.S. ideologues selectively condemning the gall of JAPANESE leaders….. http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199508–.htm
Yesterday, Shinzo Abe became the first Japanese prime minister for seven years to visit the Yasukuni shrine. This of course provided the perfect opportunity for critiquing not only the brazenness of Japanese politicians but also the uselessness of the Japanese media.
This is how the BBC’s Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes began his piece about the latest provocation:
Some of Rupert Wingfield-Hayes’s listeners no doubt have a more well developed sense of irony than he does, and will have shaken their heads in wonderment at the gall of a BBC reporter condemning Japanese reporters—-or indeed any reporters—for being passive.
Quelle mortification! This is what happens when one listens to the radio while half-asleep. I thought at the time that the formulation “confronted by passive reporters” didn’t quite make sense—but I went ahead and published anyway! And now comes the well deserved bollocking.
My apologies to Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, and to my loyal readers at the Standard. As they used to say in Greece: even Homer nods. Or as they still say in Japan: even monkeys fall from trees.
@ Moz… RNZ is in holiday mode. That means its a bit more like weekend mode. The perfectly ‘work-life balanced’ lady with isssssssyous (that ‘incisive’, well-respected, hugely-experienced ex-parly arment gallery reporter – still down with, and in touch with the new breed – able to ‘get across’ all newz stories, unaffected by cronyism and nepotism with collegial appointments – INDEED, the perfect specimen any sort of public service radio host should try and model themselves on) ….. AND the nicest man on Earth are having their well-deserved break. Why the nicest man on Earth might even keep in touch with the people by serving in some fast food outlet somewhere, or perhaps repainting a Marae he once daubed with an horrific, and disliked colour scheme as atonement for participating in Public Service TV reality programming.
What it means though is its relatively safe to listen to Natrad ’24/7′
I wonder if the nicest man on Earth ever worries about whether Matinee Idle would be preferable to the stale, trite, hackneyed, mashed potato slop that gets dished up daily – equipped as it is with all its pre-programmed talking heads and audio pus.
I share your positive views about Matinee Idle, Tim. And I’m happy about most of the morning programme—except for one thing, and it’s a bit of a major obstacle, I’m afraid: I find Noelle McCarthy utterly insufferable. The fact that she was outed as a plagiarist a few years ago is the least of her sins.
I really enjoy and look forward to Matinee Idle – but heard (I think) today that their allotment of programmes has been cut back this year. Was only half listening at the time.
Going back to the vacuous Mora, I still have clearly stuck in my mind a remark he made about three years ago prior to Christmas. A remark to the effect that “But everyone has a ham at Christmas!”.
Sure, Mora, beneficiaries can really afford a ham at Christmas – only about the cost of two or more weeks’ total food bill for one ham?
Hate to be really prickish, but as a kid growing up, what most of us kids grew up with was mutton-hams. I think it would have been the early 70’s before hams as such became affordable to alot of kiwis. But with the price of lamb/mutton today, even that is probably unrealistic. Why is it that New Zealand producers expect New Zealand consumers to pay a premium for goods produced here in New Zealand, while overseas customers get the benefit of all the tax advantages that the New Zealand Government can throw their way. It seems National takes great delight in screwing the New Zealand consumer regardless.
I really enjoy and look forward to Matinee Idle – but heard (I think) today that their allotment of programmes has been cut back this year. Was only half listening at the time.
As do I. I did think that the complete works of the Topp twins was a trivial over the top today. There is only so much nasal spray that I can stand whilst driving. The rest of the show was pretty damn hilarious.
and this is the preferred-destination for new zealand for the randite-neo-libs (from both national and labour) who have been systematically shredding the social net/contract..
Labour had the opportunity to have a good clean out in it’s 9 years in power, but they couldn’t achieve that. If Labour do win, there are some who will want to hang on for another 3 – 6 or 9 years, just because they think they can. The problem facing Labour today, is Labour is full of too many middle class people, and too many academics. Poverty to them is an “exercise”, not something they actually relate too.
I’m not sure if all of them are the 1% – aren’t you trying to get in there? It seems to me that perhaps a small percentage of them are the 1%, like maybe 10% of them
Stoked by his Wall Street success, Lampert plunged headlong into the retail world. Undaunted by his lack of industry experience and hailed a genius, Lampert boldly pushed to merge Kmart and Sears with a layoff and cost-cutting strategy that would, he promised, send profits into the stratosphere. Meanwhile the hotshot threw cash around like an oil sheikh, buying a $40 million pad in Florida’s Biscayne Bay, a record even for that star-studded county.
Fast-forward to 2013: The fairy tale has become a nightmare.
Lampert is now known as one of the worst CEOs in America — the man who flushed Sears down the toilet with his demented management style and harebrained approach to retail. Sears stock is tanking. His hedge fun is down 40 percent, and the business press has turned from praising Lampert’s genius to watching gleefully as his ship sinks. Investors are running from “Crazy Eddie” like the plague.
Rand talks about success as if the successful were superhuman, but capitalism will find those necessary to meet market needs and if you not it, someone else will be, and its therefore backwards to talk about winners making them the essential initiators of wealth. Hitler did something similar with evolution. Religion also makes the same mistake, putting humanity on top. It requires merging ignorance and distortion of origins and then apply a intellectual argument that otherwise would hold.
She of course doesn’t represent all libertarians. In fact surely we are all libertarians when we believe in liberty, which I hope we all do. The civil libertarians defend, even for example, nazi’s right to free-speech, go figure. I’m wary of anyone who say libertarianism is wrong, just as wary as anyone who say every libertarian is right.
Its certainly true now, that having proponents of free market theory on your board is going to hurt shareholder value.
During the Spanish Revolution, the POUM referred to themselves as libertarian communists. Reading Homage to Catalonia was my first experience of the concept of libertarianism and it did my head in a bit later when I saw it hijacked by people like Brash, Hide, and Perigo. While the POUM believed in liberation of the human spirit through collective endeavour, and a few puffs on the electric puha if that turned you on, modern libertarians believe in liberation of their bank balances by way of a militarised police force and private prisons. I think of myself as reasonably libertarian, but I have nothing in common with any of the selfish wankers who have hijacked the term these days.
If that seems melodramatic, ask a libertarian/conservative this question: When will you know that your theory is wrong?
hah, love it because they’ll never accept that their “theory” is wrong. Unfortunately, the same can be said of most economists.
Lambert wanted Sears to teach the nation a lesson, and it did. Selfishness is one of the roads to dystopia.
The nation needs to be reminded of that as well from every left leaning political party. The RWNJs just don’t believe it though and so will keep rolling out the dystopia that their policies bring about.
Instead, the one consistent finding across all studies appears to be this: zones typically made money for one or more corporations, but the promised social benefit in jobs and income never materialized.
And that inevitably applies to deregulation across the board, The rich and the corporations do well but society is worse off.
The unaided needy. Selfishness run riot. A North America dotted with Third World colonies. And a blighted landscape where Others are subjugated to Owners.
Came to that conclusion about property rights years ago. Greater property rights will, inevitably, result in more oppression of the poor by the rich.
Humbug Corner No. 23: Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
Radio NZ National News, Friday 27 December 2013, 6 a.m.
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199508–.htm
http://casaofgila.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/butler.jpg
RNZ is in holiday mode.
That means its a bit more like weekend mode.
The perfectly ‘work-life balanced’ lady with isssssssyous (that ‘incisive’, well-respected, hugely-experienced ex-parly arment gallery reporter – still down with, and in touch with the new breed – able to ‘get across’ all newz stories, unaffected by cronyism and nepotism with collegial appointments – INDEED, the perfect specimen any sort of public service radio host should try and model themselves on) ….. AND the nicest man on Earth are having their well-deserved break. Why the nicest man on Earth might even keep in touch with the people by serving in some fast food outlet somewhere, or perhaps repainting a Marae he once daubed with an horrific, and disliked colour scheme as atonement for participating in Public Service TV reality programming.
Why is it that New Zealand producers expect New Zealand consumers to pay a premium for goods produced here in New Zealand, while overseas customers get the benefit of all the tax advantages that the New Zealand Government can throw their way. It seems National takes great delight in screwing the New Zealand consumer regardless.
The problem facing Labour today, is Labour is full of too many middle class people, and too many academics. Poverty to them is an “exercise”, not something they actually relate too.