Author Archive
Unforgettable images of ‘state repression’ – right here at home
Chris Trotter’s commentary on charges being dropped against some [alleged, not even that now] Maori radical ‘terrorists’ — The Operation That Failed — is worth reading. (And so is the comment stream.) I fully agree with his line: When “Operation Eight” was finally launched on 15 October 2007 the images it supplied – of armed […]
Tribalism
One of the perennial themes of this blog is an exploration of the ‘reasons’ for prejudice and conflict between different groups. See my 2009 post Q: Where does conflict come from? which records Tajfel’s social psychology experiments … Henri Tajfel is perhaps best known for his minimal groups experiments. In these studies, test subjects were divided arbitrarily […]
Is there anything you’d like to share with the group, Cathy?
Was/wasn’t ACT list candidate Cathy Odgers (Cactus Kate) recounts the wearying psychological impact of poor opinion poll results on ‘tribal’ political party volunteers … from her own direct experience as a student volunteer in the early days of the minor right wing party (currently running something like 1.7% in the polls). Fine, emotionally honest writing […]
Conservatives have more fun. Eh, what? THOSE conservatives?
Photo by Dave Weigel, last mentioned at ThePaepae.com when he resigned from The Washington Post after being exposed as having opinions (gasp!), see: Do your opinions invalidate your reporting?. Weigel now writes at Slate with today’s piece Sarah Palin’s Big Day Out. That sugared John Le Carré-style honey trap (‘Conservatives Have More Fun!’) is kinda undermined by the regulation […]
An inside view of the political madhouse
This is totally worth reading: Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult Saturday 3 September 2011 by: Mike Lofgren, Truthout | News Analysis … To those millions of Americans who have finally begun paying attention to politics and watched with exasperation the tragicomedy of the debt ceiling extension, it […]
Psychic TV
Oh My God. I just watched the classic Bond movie From Russia With Love which finished just before half-past midnight. At the end of a satisfying, anachronistic and nostalgic motion picture experience, and as Matt Monroe started to croon through the theme song (er, no thanks Matt), I flicked around the other channels and came […]
Do journalists have a franchise on ‘news’? Nope.
I rate journalist Jack Shafer. He’s smart, he’s bold, he’s plain spoken. He shows you how he reaches his sometimes very tough conclusions. Here he is on CNN with Howard Kurtz discussing the way news, journalism and media criticism has changed and is changing — under pressure from economics, the explosion of internet media, and […]
Cactus Kate: ACT Hollow Man or Black Widow?
ThePaepae.com ISN’T a political blog. There are plenty of those, and this year being election year in NZ, we will all be swimming (drowning?) in political commentary soon enough. (God help us.) Nevertheless, I want to share some thoughts and attempt to put a punctuation mark at the end of Cathy Odgers’ (Cactus Kate‘s) supposed […]
Misinformation experts
Not a ‘Vast Right Wing Conspiracy’ This in-depth investigation conducted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund reveals not a vast right-wing conspiracy behind the rise of Islamophobia in our nation but rather a small, tightly networked group of misinformation experts guiding an effort that reaches millions of Americans through effective advocates, media partners, […]
How to channel frustration – Anne Hathaway raps on paparazzi
Here’s an example of identifying with your ‘enemy’ … Well worth a watch. Good skills. Who knew? (via The Next Web) Yo I’m a paparazzi I don’t play no yahtzee I go pop pop pop pop pop pop pop! My camera’s up your crotch See I tell the truth from what I see and sell […]
Write no early obituaries for Steve Jobs
Following up on the medical leave Steve Jobs took from Apple in January, this, today, while of course not unpredicted, is still a bit of a psychic bang. August 24, 2011 Letter from Steve Jobs To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community: I have always said if there ever came a day […]
Where Samsung says Apple copied the iPad from …
Apple’s patent infringement case against Samsung for ‘slavish copying’ of the iPhone and iPad and their trade dress, packaging etc is interesting for all sorts of reasons. What seems unquestionable is that there was no consumer product available in the past that resembled Apple’s iPad and that manufacturers like Samsung, HTC etc (ha!) were ‘inspired’ […]
Renting ‘The Mentalist’. For credibility?
ANZ Bank has just started running some TV spots featuring Australian actor Simon Baker in his fabulous Patrick Jane/The Mentalist role. (Tag: “I know what you’re thinking…”) It’s kinda odd, seeing and hearing him spruiking for the bank in character, but oh well. There’s been a small amount of backlash to the ads in Australia […]
Polygamy Porter. Why have just one!
My pal Ross brought this beer back from the US for me, following a discussion we had about the multiple marriages of certain church elders. It’s a dark beer called Polygamy Porter … and as well as the Rubens-esque label it carries the tagline: ‘Why have just one!’ (sic — no question mark.) Why indeed? […]
Trevor Mallard demolishes Cameron Slater*
Congratulations to Labour MP Trevor Mallard for good-naturedly wiping the smirk off Cameron Slater’s face. Well, temporarily. The result of the much-hyped (on Cameron’s part) 60 km bike race held this afternoon around Bucklands Beach was: Mallard won easily … by more than 20 minutes. I dropped over to Musick Point this afternoon and met Cam’s […]
