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The Ardern Cult of Personality is steaming the undies of the media elite, from Melbourne to London. But, then again, so did Hugo Chavez.
Jacinda Ardern came along at just the right time, really: cashed-up lefties who once cheered on the Venezuelan socialist desperately needed a new idol. After all, it’s hard for even so willfully blind a mob as the left-elite to keep up the fanfares once the victims of socialism are reduced to eating their pets to survive.
Expect the adoring headlines to disappear once the magnitude of Ardern’s incompetence and failure eventually become clear, even to the media luvvies.
When it comes to Covid outcomes, New Zealand shouldn’t be compared to countries in Europe or the US.
Unlike Europe or the US, New Zealand is an isolated, small place.
Its situation is more comparable to somewhere like Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory, which has had no cases. Why? Because both are remote islands hours from their nearest neighbours with more sheep than people. They would also be two of the safest places in the world in the event of a nuclear holocaust due to their remoteness, and because there are no worthwhile targets – unless a nuclear nation decided to take out a large chunk of the world’s lamb supply.
The great lie of the media left is that, unlike wicked Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, Ardern has “put people before money”.
The claim of putting ‘people before money’ would be laughable if it wasn’t so terrifying. Despite the pro-lockdown lobby’s bleating, Boris Johnson hasn’t put money before anything as we officially enter the worst recession on record.
It’s easy for Ardern to sneer at competent politicians who actually take a passing interest in the economies under their stewardship, because as far as she’s experienced, money is something only other people have to worry about. Hence her cavalier destruction of New Zealand’s economy – and that was before the Wuhan plague.
When the Covid crisis struck, Ardern decided to cripple the country even further. She is keeping New Zealand’s borders closed and destroying tourism in the process[…]
In June, New Zealand entered recession for the first time in 10 years, suffering the biggest contraction in 29 years. The economy is clearly in trouble. And yet, after a mere four cases were discovered, Auckland has been locked down once again. It’s just as well Ardern doesn’t think much of economic growth, because shutting down its largest city for less than a handful of cases is financially unsustainable.
Why should she care? The cost of her actions will have to be paid by someone else, long after she’s vanished from the NZ political scene and swanned off to another publicly-funded sinecure at the UN.
As for her prattling about “kindness”, that doesn’t exactly square with the often brutal reality of the lockdown(s) she imposed. Ask a Kiwi forbidden to visit dying relatives about the “kindness” of the Ardern government.
The biggest hypocrites, though, are the Ardern cultists. The Guardian and The Project savaged Donald Trump for merely suggesting delaying an election because of COVID-19 – then gushed praise for Ardern for actually doing it.
But the Cult of Ardern has long form in praising their idols for what they damn in others. The same crowd who cheered on open borders for hordes of illegal immigrants are now cheering on as their idols slam down the borders in a COVID-induced panic.
Many have pointed out how the lockdown debate has started to resemble the battles over Brexit, with support for the EU tallying with support for the lockdown. From Alastair Campbell to #FBPE [pro-Europe] cultists, the lockdown hardliners demand ever-tougher government measures to enforce isolation.
The New Zealand Labour government, which the #FBPE crowd so admire, has not only pulled up the drawbridge to outsiders, it has also adopted quarantine policies developed by the right. The government has decided to charge ex-pats and tourists NZ $3,100 (£1,565) for mandatory quarantine upon arrival – a policy first proposed by Judith Collins’ National Party and excitedly supported by the national populists of New Zealand First[…]
What is motivating British liberals who are singing the praises of New Zealand? It can only be hypocrisy, or just plain ignorance.
Or both. Never underestimate the boneheaded mendacity of the left. Especially when it’s not their skin that’s in the game.
Liberals virtue-signalling their praise for a leader who ‘puts people before money’ are like those who praise Venezuela or Cuba – they don’t have to deal with the misery caused by their idols.
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