John McLean: Honesty

One distinct oddity in our strange world is that the darkest actors are often the more honest.

So when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced (late in 2021) his intention for Russia to invade Ukraine, outsiders should have taken him at his word. And when Chlöe Swarbrick chants “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”, we should harbor no doubt that Chlöe sincerely wants to see an end to the State of Israel.

And when the insane Swarbrick came to the ardent defence of fellow Green MP Benjamin “Bussy” Doyle over his social media posts sexualising children, we must necessarily presume that the Green Party co-leader honestly believes that such sexualisation is acceptable.

For all practical purposes, the New Zealand Greens have abandoned any pretense of concern for the environment in favour of Critical Social Justice crusading. In defending Bussy Doyle’s unnatural attitudes towards children, the NZ Green Party has simply tapped its globalist Green roots. The German Greens of the 1970s and 80s proudly supported paedophilia, including legalising “consensual” sex between adults and children. Through Swarbrick’s honesty, we now know for sure where the Greens stand on sexualising children.

Likewise, when Māori Party (Te Pati Māori) co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer incessantly claim that all New Zealanders who claim Māori ancestry constitute a burgeoning separate nation, we should proceed on the basis that they honesty believe, and hope for, precisely that.

The Greens’ and TPM’s disarming honesty is societally useful. From their frank admissions, we know that the Greens are paedo adjacent, and that TPM seeks an undemocratic Ethno-State. We can now be under no illusions that Chloe is sympathetic to de-stigmatizing “Minor Attracted Persons”. And neither can we sensibly doubt that Rawiri and Debbie, and the rest of the Māori Party and its racialist supporters, honestly want New Zealand to be rent asunder along racial lines. Their sincerity is staring us straight in the face. We know exactly where they - and we - stand.

But there’s a difference between honesty and truth, particularly as far as Māori separatists are concerned. The incontrovertible truth, based on the concrete historical evidence from the English and Māori language versions of the Treaty of Waitangi and transcripts of 1840 discussions between Māori signatories, is that the Māori signatories knowingly and willingly ceded sovereignty to a central government for all New Zealanders. It is an absolute truth that New Zealand’s unitary democratic government is a legitimate reality.

But there are lead actors in New Zealand’s South Pacific Passion Play who outwardly appear less honest than the Green and TPM Thespians. Actors like New Zealand’s current Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon. At a press conference on 9 September 2024, PM Luxon said, in relation to the David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill, "There is nothing in this bill that I like". The Treaty Principles stated in Seymour’s moribund Act were as follows:

Click to View

Luxon could understandably have not liked Principle 2…that, to the extent that the Treaty of Waitangi rights of hapū and iwi Māori differ from everyone’s rights, they only have extra rights if agreed in Treaty claim settlements. Luxoflex could also reasonably have not liked Principle 3…it’s arguable that the stated legal equalities should have been subject to any special rights afforded hapū and iwi Māori in legislation or Treaty settlements.

But unfortunately, for Luxo to be able to honesty announce, “There is nothing in this bill that I like”, he necessarily has to dislike Principle 1…that the New Zealand Government has full power to govern, and that Parliament has full power to make laws in the best interests of everyone and in accordance with the rule of law and the maintenance of a free and democratic society.

No-one committed to one Government for all, Parliamentary democracy and the rule of law can truthfully assert there’s nothing to like about Principle 1. Which means that Luxon was either lying (or, less likely but still possible, he hasn’t much of a clue about NZ’s form of government).

As exposed by Brave Ryan Bridge, Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lied when she claimed her Government had not requisitioned COVID rapid antigen tests ordered by, and otherwise destined for, private sector agencies. Hence my question to COVID Inquiry #2:

Click to view

Ardern also provided a prime example of the revealing usefulness of honesty. During a press conference in October 2021, Ardern acknowledged that New Zealand's COVID policies would create a two-tier society divided between vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens. When asked if the policies would lead to two classes of citizens, she responded, "That is what it is". From that crucial juncture, there could be no rational doubt that New Zealanders were in the white knuckled grip of an antiscientific Medicauthoritarian. (Don’t watch this clip if you still suffer Ardern Trigger Syndrome.)

Jacinda Ardern admits New Zealand will become a two-tier society between vaccinated and unvaccinated | News | Independent TV

According to the 2024 Trust in News in New Zealand survey by Auckland University of Technology, trust in NZ news plummeted from 42% in 2023 to 33% in 2024. Faced with New Zealand’s media trust freefall, journalism academics remain remarkably sanguine about journalists telling lies.

In a recent interview with Michael Laws on media outlet The Platform, former Massey University journalism lecturer Dr Grant Hannis encouraged listeners to accept (as inevitable) that ideologically-driven journalists will lie to advance their causes.

But we needn’t and mustn’t accept journalistic lying. I’m no journalist, but have written opinionated Substacks on all sorts of controversial topics. And I’ve never been threatened with any defamation action. For the simple reasons that I don’t lie, and take pains to get my facts straight. It’s not hard when you try.

If Jim Grenon succeeds in taking control of NZME’s board and his sole achievement is to instill a journalistic taboo on lying, he’ll have done New Zealand’s media and general public a great favour. Because the biggest New Zealand mainstream media lies of all are that they don’t lie, and the lying has not been their ruination. As it stands, myriads of New Zealand journalists lie constantly - by commission and omission – with the complicity of those who run mainstream media channels. That’s no sh*t.

John McLean is a citizen typist and enthusiastic amateur who blogs at John's Substack where this article was sourced.