When NZ First’s Shane Jones called Ihumatao protest leader Pania Newton a “young Putiputi” (a young flower) it was only to be expected that the legacy media would twist and turn like a really twisty turny thing to try to turn a very innocuous comment into “sexism”, “misogyny” and at the very least a “putdown.”
It was hardly a “grab them by the pussy” kind of comment and only in today’s politically correct times would referring to a young woman as a young flower be construed by media as an insult.
It was really quite clever of Jones, who grabbed media interest by using the term and got the opportunity to expand more on his thoughts in the below interview on Radio New Zealand.
I can see NZ First’s election strategy already. Winston needs to refer to Coalition leader Jacinda Ardern as Tane Mahuta (a giant kauri tree) and Shane Jones could call Simon Bridges Pakupaku (little) Bridges. The Green party could be described as the Porangi (crazy) Greens.
Imagine the fun that could be had explaining on radio that “Tane Mahuta” means Lord of the forest and is a term of respect, not that it means that she is thick as two short wooden planks. Then there will be the accusations that by calling her “Tane” Winston was assuming her gender and therefore being insensitive.
Calling the Greens Porangi would be even more fun as it will give NZ First the opportunity to bring up all the examples from the past two years where the Greens have hurt New Zealand with their anti-prosperity legislation.
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