We know it because we lived it. The rest of the world can again deify her as much as they want but we know the truth. I repeat: We lived it. We know the truth.
After torturing us for close to six years with her appalling leadership of the worst and most hypocritical Government in New Zealand’s history, complete with her regular ‘bumper sticker’ type slogans and appalling massacring of the language with her dreadful diction while delivering pathetically immature inanities and preaching down to us like children, the self-honoured Dame Jacinda Ardern has produced a book that appears to be full of even more inanities, hypocrisies, ‘bumper sticker’ type slogans and factual misstatements.
The most positive thing I can say about it is that we don’t have to hear or see her delivering the drivel. Except that…she keeps popping up in unexpected places on social and mainstream media telling us how wonderful she was (and clearly thinks she still is). I don’t particularly want to be mean about her but, if you leap into the fire, you’d better expect to get burnt. She could have faded into obscurity and become just a bad memory. Instead, here she is, appearing all over the place with glitzy self-promoting interviews. Remember, intended or not, hypocrisy remains hypocrisy and perhaps the Oxford Dictionary definition of the word might be useful: “behaviour that does not meet the moral standards or match the opinions that somebody claims to have”. You know, like: ‘leadership with kindness’.
As if we needed reminding of just how out of touch with reality she was and how much she and her government damaged so many people during her time in power. She remains totally oblivious to (or uncaring about) the damage her policies and draconian Covid rules did. It’s a graphic example of rewriting history (or believing your own PR).
I haven’t read the book. I had little interest in what she had to say when she was prime minister and I’m certainly not going waste time that I can never get back reading a work of fiction posing as fact and written by someone who was significantly out of their depth and whose basic general knowledge is pretty much around below average.
The media hype and self promotion say it all. From Amazon.com:
From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world’s youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to a new generation of leaders.
What if we could redefine leadership? What if kindness came first? Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th prime minister of her country, she commanded global respect for her empathetic leadership that put people first. This is the remarkable story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made political history and changed our assumptions of what a global leader can be.
Or here’s a quote from her Oprah promo interview that turned up on X – thanks to Bob McCoskrie. I transcribed it for you, but if you’d like to see the full facials and dramatic pauses for effect, follow the link (caution – you may need a bucket):
Or we have the option….. of blaming others…. of saying that the cause of the insecurity you feel or the financial insecurity you feel is this group or this group… and that is a quick and easy way to do politics… incite fear…. It’s the oldest trick in the book.. but it is the most harmful and the most damaging... and… I talk openly about the alternatives because they exist... there are leaders who champion... empathetic leadership... who actually wanna solve the problems... but what we see spotlight more often is that alternative… and, and I… I wish so much that we can turn… towards those more optimistic hopeful and inclusive responses to problems… rather than the fear… that we see people reach to.
https://x.com/bobmccoskrienz/status/1930784119090475488
Gag me with a spoon!
Christchurch journalist Chris Lynch nails it here:
Chris Lynch
