The sight of New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key hamming it up on a cricket pitch, rubbing shoulders with such luminaries as that model of piety Shane Warne and looking for all the world like the reincarnation of Stan Laurel, seemed quite incongruous in light of the disaster that Japan finds itself central to right now.
Gravitas, Mr Key. And timing. Not on the cat walk and not in a basin.
Monday, March 14, 2011
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22 comments:
A rather mean-spirited comment regarding a fantastic day which was for a good cause. Put the tiresome "John Key/National sucks" aside and grow up.
Well said Mark
http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2011/03/oh-robert.html
As one of the people from Christchurch that is living through our disaster I can say that the match and particularly the spirit of the match was very much appreciated.
At least John Key cares and is committed to the recovery of our city. He and the rest of us care about what has been such a tragic disaster in Japan.
I wont comment about other politians, but I am absolutely rapt that John Key is our Prime Minister and pleased with the very genuine efforts he is making to help.
Most of us a getting really sick of the idiots out there who have nothing postive to say.
A bit of advice for you. if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything!
Mike D
'Laurel Hardy' isn't a person.
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, however, were a comic duo during the early to mid twentieth century.
While one doesn't expect much intelligence in your blog, I thought some of the smarter readers might appreciate the correction.
You are a sad wee man Robert.
You are totally tasteless. In fact, you are displying such a selfrighteous attitude.
You seem to think that because john key decided to do something to HELP QUAKE VICTIMS and was looking all sad, that he is somehow not concerned about Japan?
What a jerk you are robert.
I think you should think about your attitude towards others and stop trying to force your "way" of doing things or expressing yourself on how others should react.
Get a life.
We will honor you forever for your humanitarian work Peter.
The world shouldnt stop everytime something happens. It should recognise it tc, but then carry on with other matters of life while at the same time doing what it can to help others.
Was it not people like you who were crying that everyone had stopped talking about other things because of the Christchurch earthquake?
And yet now, because it is being done by someone other than those you like (eg John Key) suddenly it is wrong?
Get rid of the double standards.
Righto Mark - I don't doubt it was a fantastic day - good on everyone concerned. I'm not sure why anyone who isn't a supporter of Key should put aside their thoughts just because he played a celebrity cricket match!
MikeD - a blogger can only blog positive things about the Government? I'm not sure you quite understand the idea of 'freedom of expression', especially where someone 'expresses' on their own blog :-)
Peter - I can hardy believe I made such a stupid mistake! I just can't under stan it! Corrected.
I would be interested to know what your expectation was in regards John Keys' behaviour and attitiude on the day of the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
He "grinned like a loon", which is a fair comment for one enjoying himself, but you fail to mention how you wanted him to behave and to what standard you would find acceptable?
PS. I went outside and was painting the house, grinning like a loon with Springsteen on the music box.
Is that acceptable?
That's an excellent question that Gerrit has posed Rob; looking forward to your answer. Were you expecting Key to turn up in a suit and tie, and show a bit of stiff upper lip? Or were you expecting him to stare Shane Warne down, as Helen Clark famously did to the "little creep" John Campbell?
You often have well-meaning advice for me Robert, so here's some well-meaning advice for you; take heed to what your readers are saying. Oh, and open your mind to the possibility that John Key might actually be a decent, regular bloke like yourself first and foremost, and a politican second.
Good to see Robert finally getting challenged for his selfrighteous, inappropriate, pathetic, childish, purely intolerant rants.
I'm with Ha - great to see someone standing up for John Key, defending Him against my scurrilous attack! The nerve of some people - making light of a man of John's stature. The very idea that he might be using a celebrity cricket to raise his own stellar status is beyond imagining.
Gerrit - far be it from me to comment on the way you spend your weekends, smile or the music you choose to annoy your neighbours with. The only difference (and it's a small one admittedly) is that Key is Prime Minister of NZ and you are not. His deportment during times of significance matters, yours doesn't (so much).
That said, I really don't object to Key strapping on the pads and swinging willow. I did find the adulation overly saccharine though but again, big ups to John's Mob for coming over to straighten out the non-believer.
No wonder you are in local politics, only a politician would not answer a simple question.
If Joh Key acted, in your opinion, inconguously.
How should he have acted?
What is your expectation of how he should have acted.
Simple really, lets see if we get a real answer or will we get another politician answer!!
With decorum.
We've seen him in a clown suit, we've seen him mincing on the catwalk, we've seen him dancing with transvestites - while these things are fine and dandy for you and I perhaps Gerrit, the mantle of office is generally worn with respect and is mostly not made from chintz or tulle.
Criticism of Key now seems to be taboo - certainly where it has a mocking tone, disrespectful even.
You want a real answer Gerrit, but your question doesn't match my post - I said it looked incongruous in light of Japan's disaster. I didn't say he should have done anything different.
Japan collapsed under the weight of earthquake, tsumani and nuclear meltdown whilst Key played celebrity cricket - it looked incongruous.
Gravitas and timing - both absent, in my view.
It's not for me to tell Key what to do (you'll note I didn't) but it must be quite acceptable to comment on the incongruity of two events, surely!
Are you being too precious?
@ Robert - what part of
Gravitas, Mr Key. And timing. Not on the cat walk and not in a basin.
isn't telling Mr Key what to do? Perhaps you dispense so much advice to other people that you don't recognise that telling people what to do is exactly what you are doing.
Making out to be a real politician, how not to answer a question.
Well done, you will go far in the melting pot of political smile and wave nothingness.
Just what this country needs, another politician without candor, not.
Key rightfully gets critisized by the left and right (especially the right) and everything on the outside of those those two political positions, but at least those commentators make a statement about what he should be doing and what their expectatons are.
You have made a political mistake by not taking a position on what your expectations were when slagging off about the behaviour of the PM.
Right there in the Winston Peters book of shallowness.
Inv2 - if I want to tell Key what to do, I'd email him, send him a letter or go and see him face to face. I did that once (spoke to him face to face) and told him I didn't believe his claims about GST and the 'tax-switch' so I can tell the difference between telling someone something and advertising my thoughts.
Gerrit - you rightly point out that my post is shallow - of course it is! It's only a few words long, relies on visual images designed to mock and has no real message other than to express my feelings.
You seem to want me to write a treatise instead!
Can do, if you wish.
It puzzles me that you are infuriated so.
Mustn't be flippant, is that it?
I'm not infuriated at all, bemused more like.
Bemused by how much a politician you have become.
Sad really to not be able to answer a simple question with a one liner but instead, like the Winston Peters character, to inturn flounder around like a possum in the headlights.
Sad really, I expected much more from you.
I apologise Gerrit, for my lack of substance.
I'll have a go at it.
"How should he have acted?"
I don't belive he should have been on the field at all.
I believe he should have left to 'all-star' money-raising to the celebrities.
I believe the celebrity status he is developing is not in the interest of New Zealand.
Agree completely Robert. In the long term this is no good for our nation. In the short-term-money-trading-3-year-political-cycle it will do him well. It is a shame middle of the road nats are afraid of intellectual rigor and the associated gravitas of office. They label the liberal 'elite' as if it is exclusive, when really they are scared to join in the advancement of society through academic and applied knowledge because it exposes their lack of critical thinking. Then they label the liberal 'elite' as far-left-leaning to score cheap political points. Actually the liberal 'elite' are smarter than to take traditional sides and instead focus on what is good for the world as a whole. Not on what is good for arbitrary political lifetimes. Because three year plans, like celebrity politicians, are shallow.
I'm very pleased to hear from you Anonymous.
This thread was becoming something of a beat-up and I was the piñata.
Naturally enough, I agree with what you have said.
'The Shallow Men'.
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