As Though We Were Scum
Parallel protest in New Zealand, identical media misconduct.
Yesterday I mentioned a documentary film premiering in New Zealand this week. River of Freedom demonstrates numerous parallels with Canada’s Freedom Convoy protest.
In both countries, national politicians behaved liked tyrants, rather than elected representatives of the people. In both countries, the police behaved disgracefully. And in both countries, exceedingly diverse crowds of good natured, peaceful protesters were scorned and smeared by journalists.
Below is a different 4-minute trailer for that film. At 3 minutes, 40 seconds we hear someone on government-funded Radio New Zealand dismiss the 10% of Kiwis who declined COVID vaccines as “a very small, very fringe element…I’m starting to wonder if perhaps we could just ignore them...”
According to government statistics 11% of New Zealand children under the age of 15 are disabled. That sounds a bit high, but my point is this: How often does Radio New Zealand declare the concerns of that one-tenth of the population irrelevant?
LGBT+ individuals are 5% of the New Zealand population. How often does the media describe that group of people as a “very small, very fringe element”?
If you’re having trouble with the accents, click the CC at the bottom of the screen.
Below is one last trailer. At the 26-second mark, a filmmaker talks about how jarring it was to be misrepresented by the media. Then we see footage of a rude, hostile journalist interacting with protesters. “Do you read conspiracy theories?” she asks one man.
A bit later, at the 1:40-minute mark, a protester says to this same journalist: “Omicron is just one part of our life. What about the rest of our lives?”
At the 2:42 mark, a young woman talks about the media in words that might have come from the mouth of a Canadian trucker:
They just smeared us completely. Calling us fascists, Nazi, white conspiracy, anti-Maori [aboriginal]…far-right.
They would set us up and gaslight us. We’d respond in love and unity, and they’d go on anyway to report as though we were scum.
New Zealand also uses the term “fringe minority” and responded with police brutality similar to JT. Strange coincidence! Could it be someone higher up had a script for JT and all other world leaders?
Something interesting https://vaccineinjurysupport.ca/en
I wonder if the government offering compensation for vax injuries and deaths is to reduce number of law suits expected? Don’t believe for a second it is to help Canadians. But I am going to share this website with my vax loving friends.. perhaps it will cause them to think.
Trial begins this week for Tamara and Chris Barber.....I'm seeing those 'scare quotes' every day in the papers, trying to make Freedom Convoy look like a fake thing, not a real thing. Is it time to write all our daily papers asking why they use quotes around that phrase? I wrote to the Hamilton Spectator about this during the Roleau enquiry - not published. I'd LOVE to see a wave of letters appearing everywhere.