Let’s both be one-eyed

The latest opinion piece, in the Bay of Plenty Times, from ex-Labour MP Bryan Gould, is a very one-eyed view of Margaret Thatcher.  Let’s use his words with a simple Ardern/Thatcher substitute. (Strikethrough and italics added.)

It was 40 years ago last Friday, May 3, 2017 that Margaret Thatcher Jacinda Ardern won the British was given the general election of 1979 2017 and became the UK’s NZ’s first pregnant woman Prime Minister.

For her devoted followers, it was an opportunity to celebrate, marking the dawning of a new era.

For most of the rest of us, however, it was the date that ushered in what is today called “neo-liberalism” socialism – the belief that government should not have only a limited role, that individuals should not be encouraged to pursue their own interests. […]

Whatever the merits or otherwise of these tenets, we should be careful not to elevate “Maggie” Thatcher “Cindy” Ardern to the status of world-changing pioneer and innovator.

The truth is that her role in bringing about the neo-liberal socialist revolution was that of time-server and hand-maiden rather than heroine and prime mover. The doctrines she made her own were on the whole the product of other people’s thinking such as International Socialist Youth, Greenpeace and school children. […]

Where Thatcher Ardern came into her own is that her very limitations as a thinker made it easy for her to drive through the programme that others had devised for her.

She was not assailed by the doubts that might have given pause to a more thoughtful person.

Her strength was the simple force of her media personality that allowed her to dominate a male Cabinet[…]

Whether the ideas were hers or not, her supporters will maintain that their implementation made a huge difference – and a difference for the better.

Even today, they will argue that her tenure as Prime Minister heralded a national revival and reversed what was becoming a national decline.

Sadly, these romantic notions have no foundation. […]

On the wider world canvas, her contribution was equally negative. Her collaboration with Ronald Reagan Emmanuel Macron (hardly an intellectual giant) helped to convince onlookers that neo-liberalism social media control was the way of the future and that it could not, and should not, be resisted.

Their joint decision to remove exchange controls censor social media was a major step – indeed, the major step – towards a global economy control. […]

Even as a standard-bearer for feminism, she was a disappointment, She espoused what RH Tawney called “the tadpole” philosophy; when she finally made it to the lily pad as a frog, after all the other tadpoles had fallen victim to predation, she croaked “There’s nothing wrong with this system – I made it!” donned a hijab, the ultimate symbol of female subjugation.

Yes, we should mark and understand the significance of the 40-year anniversary Ardern’s control – but whether it was is something to be celebrated is much more open to question.

A newspaper

Bias is easy – balance is much harder.  Perhaps that is why the media have given up on balance?