One of the universal attributes of left-wing politics is how people are used and then discarded when they are no longer useful. It is the practical manifestation of “useful idiots” that Lenin talked about and it is remarkable how there is a seemingly never-ending group of people who line up to be the next idiot.
The latest example is The Project on TV3 which has been axed with numerous job losses. For six years it dutifully served up Labour Party propaganda: a kind of daily infomercial for the Ardern regime. They also regularly had her appearing on their show to demonstrate to everybody how “nice” she was, and what an appalling meanie anyone who criticises her must – by definition – be. So there!
Although not a regular viewer of The Project, due to it being at the wrong time for me – too busy trying to get the children to bed – whenever I did watch, what struck me was how shameless they were about what was taking place. According to The Project there was a single valid opinion – Jacinda Ardern’s – and anything else was illegitimate: evidence of your moral failings. Even more of a concern was the annoying habit of a Kanoa Lloyd prolixity somehow constituting “the news”; it was embarrassing, unprofessional and thankfully now is at an end.
Worse, was the typical Auckland habit of finding the most ignorant group of people imaginable and having them all showing off to see who could drop the most amusing joke; Oh! chortle, chortle (see how witty we are?). Often this required them to actually point out to the audience when you have to laugh – that a supposed joke had been made – which meant it wasn’t exactly John Cleese-quality humour.
Oh, and it was all eleemosynary funded under the guise of ‘public interest journalism’. Except it wasn’t; it was simply the Labour party buying a nightly infomercial, buying loyalty; and what was given could be taken away in an instant if they didn’t get their money’s worth. The corruption of a TV network in a shameless fashion, with no conscience about it; the same mindset of a sex offender who believes his victim just had the time of their life.
Now with a change of government, the end of handouts by the new chums – not exactly sympathetic towards those who put them through the experience of election night 2020 – has required TV3 to face reality. Advertising revenue has tanked, and focus group feedback showing conservative New Zealand views the show as ‘toxic’, must have sent a huge alarm bell ringing. So The Project comes to a thankful and unlamented end.
So where are Chris and Jacinda in all of this? I suspect Jesse, Kanoa and Jeremy find those two unaccountably busy when they try and call and find themselves frozen out by the Labour Party. The useful idiots are no longer of any use; so hey can be discarded. They can try to pay their mortgages on the dole.
Those three were too stupid to realise they were being used in the first place, too stupid to realise all the bad stuff was being undertaken only by the left-wingers, and too stupid to know any better, I suspect – and it’s the sign of a brilliant con game – they won’t get the message as to why they are no longer getting access to Ardern and Hipkins.
I also suspect it’s merely the first domino to fall; many other Labour apparatchiks are also for the high jump.
