STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

 

I access local sites on Neighbourly (Facebook) and am still surprised at the stupidity of on-line contributors who embrace conspiracy theories, have half-baked ideas on local and national politics and write and comment in the most appalling racist and reactionary ways.

The internet is arguably the most valuable tool that has been created allowing the average person instant access to information that, in many ways, has been in the past the domain of higher educated people - scholars, professionals, researchers etc. who have through vocation, profession, education, time, money or privilege been able to find and read thoughts, opinions, and analyses of 'experts' in various fields. Now, a keyword or direct question is all it takes on a search platform like Google or Facebook to bring up millions of answers. 

That's good right?

Well, generally yes but unfortunately, searches on the internet and discussions on Facebook unearth a  mass of misogyny, antisemitism, white supremacy, Islamophobia, conspiracy theories, anti-abortion sentiment, crazy religious beliefs, confused politics and economic naivety submitted anonymously. Not all of these are to be found on Robert the apathetic sanctimonious sinner, toilet cleaner, threatener of eternal damnation, music snob and sucker 's blog. They are far more reaching.

There are many 'black and white' thinkers operating on the web and its various forums. They think simplistically. They readily adopt conspiracy theories. They accuse any information that doesn't match their own beliefs as being 'fake news'. Things are either right or wrong with very little grey shading. Basically it's down to lack of sophistication and poor critical ability.

There's probably nothing new in this but what is new is the provision of a 'media' platform to express views that hitherto weren't available or outside their wants or abilities (writing letters to the editor, creating op-eds, publishing diaries etc) other than phoning in to talk-back radio. The average Joe can today get exposure in the new mainstream media and it's easy to become addicted to a Facebook group, or a forum, or a page that reinforces their opinions and fiercely held beliefs. People love to have their own ideas validated because it panders to their egos. The various forums, and Facebook and X are the worst, connect them to like-minded people and reinforce their ideas - adding fuel to the flames as it were. In the past, rabid and distorted beliefs might be contained and wither and die but when fuelled and shared they can become dangerous as we have seen with violent rallies, shootings, demonstrations and ultimately groundswell movements that can change governments.

Where am I going with this? 

Six years of a Labour Government was probably enough for the country and, as we've seen before, there is regular turnover between National and Labour Governments. Here's a table to show this. You like tables and graphs:

Generally I don't mind the turnovers because as I've said before, New Zealand is a politically centrist country. Slight swings to the left or to the right are probably healthy and end up satisfying the majority.

What isn't healthy though is the 'new' more radical left and right movements that are gaining more traction - fuelled I guess by the new media and given more oxygen from an increasing number of, let's be honest here. nutters who have found a voice.

Who are these nutters?

Unfortunately, given the number of them we all know or are related to some.

The first lot of nutters who were enfranchised after the introduction of MMP in 1996 were those who identified with ACT and NZ First. Regrettably I also include The Greens in this as, while I don't see them as nutters like many of the ACT and NZ First voters, they have consistently undermined the Labour vote. The Maori Party has also done this. I understand that they have differences and need to find representation for them but every vote not given to the bigger, Labour party is effectively another vote or half a vote for National - a party that does not have their wants and needs at heart. The same of course can be said about ACT and NZ First splitting the National vote. Now ACT, NZ First, The Greens and in a much smaller way, Te Pati Maori have become more mainstream.

Collectively they total 648,000 voters which is about 29% of the total vote (14% left leaning and 15% right leaning). It's massive. I know that it is very unlikely that we will ever see a 'First past the post' system again but if we did then our recent elections would have been different and future ones more certain.

These voting blocks are now established and will probably become stronger in future elections.

What I am more concerned about though are the nutters that are giving away their votes to new fringe parties. There have always been the silly fringe parties like the McGillicuddy Serious Party which was satirical and a few university capping type stunt parties that were amusing. The new fringe ones are not funny however and have cropped up because of the aforementioned social media warriors who collectively have found a voice.

This 2023 election showed that 'parties' like The Opportunities Party, NZ Loyal, NewZeal, Aot. Legalise Cannabis, Freedoms NZ, DemocracyNZ, Animal Justice, New conservatives, Women's Rights, Leighton Baker and New Nation got a lot of votes from stupid people who should have given their votes to the main two parties or, at worst, to the runners-up. 120,000 voters gave their vote collectively to these fringes! That's over 5% of the total vote - enough to get an individual party into Parliament. What the fuck are these people thinking?

Stupid is as stupid does I guess.