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Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Paul Holmes, Brian Edwards, Gavin Ellis and a Gadfly all walk into a bar



Apparently my comment about Paul Holmes have ruffled some middle class feathers over at the Kiwi Journalist Facebook page...

For his services to middle class racism - arise Sir Paul Holmes - one very short knight after decades of cheeky darkies

Former Herald editor and Auckland University lecturer Gavin Ellis was not amused...

Unbecoming, Bomber. Just for a moment imagine yourself in his precarious health position and ask yourself how you would react to such bitterness if it were directed at you.

...the veritable Jim Tucker tsk tsked my churlishness while Fran O'Sullivan heaped gravy bowls full of platitudes upon the little Knight for his services to broadcasting.

Even the godfather of the left, Brian Edwards claimed to have been disgusted by my remark and his comment section was abuzz with my inhumanity.

How precious of everyone.

I don't wish ill upon a dying man. His passing, whenever it occurs will be deeply felt by his whanau, his friends and the wider NZ community, but I for one simply can't go along with the ridiculous narrative that underpins most of this posturing.

Yes Paul Holmes was a large fish in a tiny pond and he is friends with much of the established media, but that can't inoculate him from criticism or a far more sober review of his legacy.

Paul Holmes may have been funny and talented and a clever broadcaster, but for a man with so much ability and so much influence, what did he do for NZ?

His race baiting set the standard for everyone else, he legitimized and justified a garden variety bigotry as a broadcaster. From his cheeky darkie comment, to his bewildering planting of a tree on One Tree Hill despite the cultural sensitivities to his openly racist Waitangi Day column, Paul Holmes didn't challenge the ignorance of his audience, he feed it...

Waitangi Day produced its usual hatred, rudeness, and violence against a clearly elected Prime Minister from a group of hateful, hate-fuelled weirdos who seem to exist in a perfect world of benefit provision. This enables them to blissfully continue to believe that New Zealand is the centre of the world, no one has to have a job and the Treaty is all that matters.

I'm over Waitangi Day. It is repugnant. It's a ghastly affair. As I lie in bed on Waitangi morning, I know that later that evening, the news will show us irrational Maori ghastliness with spitting, smugness, self-righteousness and the usual neurotic Maori politics, in which some bizarre new wrong we've never thought about will be lying on the table.

This, we will have to address and somehow apply these never-defined principles of the Treaty of Waitangi because it is, apparently, the next big resentment. There'll be lengthy discussion, we'll end up paying the usual millions into the hands of the Maori aristocracy and God knows where it'll go from there.

Well, it's a bullshit day, Waitangi. It's a day of lies. It is loony Maori fringe self-denial day. It's a day when everything is addressed, except the real stuff.

Never mind the child stats, never mind the national truancy stats, never mind the hopeless failure of Maori to educate their children and stop them bashing their babies. No, it's all the Pakeha's fault. It's all about hating whitey. Believe me, that's what it looked like the other day.


...his willful ignorance after being a broadcaster in this country for the period of time he has is not acceptable. It's beneath an educated person.

And this, this is simply vile...

No, if Maori want Waitangi Day for themselves, let them have it. Let them go and raid a bit more kai moana than they need for the big, and feed themselves silly, speak of the injustices heaped upon them by the greedy Pakeha and work out new ways of bamboozling the Pakeha to come up with a few more millions.

...now I accept that this may have been another editorial failure of the NZ Herald akin to Garth George's terrible column on global warming and John Armstrong's misjudged attack on bloggers, but the fact remains that Paul didn't slaughter sacred cows, he milked them.

I remember watching my very first Holmes program. It was exhilarating. Dennis Conner had been so rude and mean spirited when he had drunkenly abused our America's Cup team. Paul asking him repeatedly if he would apologize until he walked off stage in a tantrum was the first time I ever felt the media was on my side. Holmes had so much talent, it makes his later descent into needless race baiting all the more sad.

Many will trumpet and salute his eventual passing. I won't. Sure, I'll give him a thumbs up when the hearse drives by, but a broadcaster as talented as he was should have done so much more for our cultural narrative rather than reinforcing prejudice.

He was good, but he could have been great.

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15 Comments:

At 8/1/13 7:34 am, Blogger Paul said...

Reading Holmes Herald comments again makes me incredibly angry and I am not a Maori. I can only imagine how the article makes them feel. New Zealanders should have zero tolerance to racist rants such as this.

From my point of view, anyone who writes like that is just scum. Well done Bomber, once again you have shown the courage to speak against this sort of revolting bigotry.

Re Brian Edwards, it is clear that he is biased towards his clients. I also dont think he is as clever as he is given credit for. He was shown up as a bit of a clown over his articles on anonymous bloggers. Gavin Ellis, Im not sure who he is other than hearing him on RNZ, his comments are consistent with an racist old pakeha.

Well done Bomber, you've got plenty of back up supporting your view.

 
At 8/1/13 9:27 am, Blogger tko said...

Ralph Hotere summed him up with his Thin white drip. I thought the Denis Connor thing was a lazy shock jock nonsense at the time, and I guess a portent of things to come

 
At 8/1/13 9:35 am, Blogger Annelise said...

I believe this Herald article was the subject of a successful Press Council complaint. So you can't call Paul Holmes a racist just because he's dying? Bloody hell. How precious some people are.

 
At 8/1/13 9:48 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As journalists they should realise the problems associated with someone’s credibility to front a state network’s flagship political news and commentary programme, TVNZ’s Q&A.

Since TVNZ is a state owned broadcaster, I consider they have a greater responsibility to provide quality impartial programming.

How can such a programme be deemed credible if it’s hosted by someone tainted with a history of well publicised, racially discriminatory remarks?

Maoridom has a prominent role in this country’s politics, how can we rely on such a host to act as a fair and balanced moderator for such discussion?

Holmes didn’t renew his contract with TVNZ following the Annan fiasco and accompanying public outcry. I was bewildered that he was allowed to continue his role on Q&A even though he sabotaged his integrity with the infamous NZ Herald column.

While some of the comments in reply to the blog post may have been nasty, they are comments from the public and carried no socially discriminatory hallmarks. They don’t carry the weight that one can expect from a respected broadcaster.

My comments centred on my pet peeve with titles reintroduced in the honour system, but with a left-leaning blog that can’t be unexpected, if anything it’s healthy democratic debate.

While it’s unfortunate that Holmes is afflicted with a severe illness, we can’t simply gloss over his flaws; after all they hurt many people. If anything, nasty comments are an expression of that pain; although it’s unwise that they could be insensitive.

Because of his flaws, I think Holmes will have a divided and polarised legacy amongst the public.

Besides I suspect there is a generational difference in reaction and veneration amongst the public. I believe many from the older generations sympathise more readily with Holmes’ role as a broadcaster than the younger generations.

 
At 8/1/13 9:59 am, Blogger Hypatia said...

The "journalist" FB page is one I wish I'd never read ! Once seen .... What a bunch of self -important , self congratulatory , puffed up , twats !
Out here in the REAL world a lot of people hold no regard at all for the level of 'journalism' in NZ or for the quality of Journalists .here in NZ ( and all across the world I suppose ) these media types are nothing more than re-hashers of Press Releases, supporters of Right Wing policies and in many cases, over-paid 'info-tainers'.

We really are enjoying the proliferation of bloggers and independent news sites . My home page is set up with links to about 30 news sites, none of which is the Herald or the Dom Post

 
At 8/1/13 10:48 am, Blogger Morrissey Breen said...

Garth George's ignorant comments on global warming were ridiculous---but he's written, and said, far worse. George-watchers will remember his defiant "So what?" after he was outed by John Stephenson, live on television, as a plagiarist and a PR man.

 
At 8/1/13 12:25 pm, Blogger Tim said...

I could never understand Broin's wonderment at Paul H being such a good journalist and eminent broadcaster.
Certainly he changed things. But if being the foreskin of the leading question amounts to good journalism along with fake empathy (or at least instantaneous empathy - cos - as ya know I got a problem daughter too), then journalism and the entire concept of a 4th Estate has changed.

(The leading Question - and the likes of a Holmes speciality: to a rape victim, OR the victim of burglary.......
"I suppose you are feeling violated?"

Bryan - you've been conned.
NZ you've been conned.

I suspect Bryan's analysis is based on the concelt of how things have changed from the past insularity and control freekism that Holmes challenged.
Doesn't make it necessarily good journalism tho'.

OMG! I've been burgled, I FEEL SO violated! Lik lik, slurp slurp - and NOW I'm on proim toim TV too - oh well, that's a bonus.

No no Bryan - the guy's a self serving overly-ambitious little munter with the attitude and its assumed evidence by way of a van Graforst encounter......that Paul is good.

He was NEVER a good journalist. A populist broadcaster with an eye for the Main Chance motivated by ego and ambition - maybe.

Bullshit and Jellybeans!

 
At 8/1/13 1:34 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don’t journalists seek to find the truth? How great are these “journalists” if they find it appropriate to cover up the truth?

Respect is a two way system, give it, get it. Frankly, Holmes bankrupted his reserve of respect with his racist antics. It’ll be utterly naive to expect those at the muzzle end of his antics and those with a conscience to love him for it.

Just shows how out of touch journalists in the MSM are. Then again in this new age of media, censorship is probably fully enshrined in the culture, profits before truth.

Brian Edwards - establishment leftie, out of touch with the real world.

 
At 8/1/13 1:46 pm, Blogger Ovicula said...

I never thought much of Holmes as either a journalist or a human being, and terminal illness doesn't improve him. However, attacking him now can be seen as a bit tasteless in a New Zealand that likes to pretend to adhere to norms of civilised behaviour. The guy has almost gone and whoever takes his place will probably be even worse. Goodbye and RIP.

 
At 8/1/13 6:27 pm, Blogger Unknown said...

Tasteless is just why it was appropriate. Holmes embodied it for all New Zealand.

 
At 8/1/13 6:30 pm, Blogger paul scott said...

Bomber says
"Many will trumpet and salute his eventual passing"
My God Bomber what is wrong with you

 
At 8/1/13 7:09 pm, Blogger Nitrium said...

I guess the Paul Holmes knighthood must firmly cement the eventual "Sir Paul Henry" too. Oh, and "Sir Mike Hosking" is probably inevitable as well. The very notion of "Sir Paul Holmes" really does diminish the whole Honour system doesn't it?

 
At 9/1/13 12:43 pm, Blogger DebsisDead said...

Altho I'm willin to bet jonkey threw the garter at Holmes only when he was sure Holmes was about to kark it, I'm sorta pleased they gave the creep of the year award to NZ's biggest creep. (name one knight of NZ who isn't a creep. I can't & I bet no one else can either)

With any sort of luck Holmes will have a bit of a remission and be forced to churn out bile to support his parasitical lifestyle once more.
The first few pieces will be anodyne which he'll get away with it cause it'll be sold as "holmsie is back" blah blah retch.
Eventually tho he's gonna hafta to justify his big price tag by writing something that peeps will actually want to read/watch i.e. be 'controversial'.

So he'll bash a brownfella (metaphorically of course) and jonkey Corp will be in more shit than a mangere duck with half of NZ for knighting a racist.
With any sort of luck the pommie slapper will get dragged into it too. Now the nat changes to NZ's honour system have put her back in charge of dishing em out and revoking em.
Her indoors has been pulling the plug on a few englander knights so it must be about time for her to rip the feather cloak back off a kiwi.
I've been watching the procedure & it seems all that is required is for enuff NZers to write to her saying that if she's gonna get about the joint honouring racism it must be time for Aotearoa to become a republic. That sorta talk usually gets the old trollop doin what's best.

Come to think of it a new precedent has been created with the Jimmy Saville ("I don't know why everyone else knew - the BBC certainly didn't" LOL listen to stand up comic Jerry S from back in 1988 at https://soundcloud.com/phreakdown/jimmy-saville-1988 )

Back to this knight - if holmes karks it too soon alla the publicity seeking C- listers he hung out with looking for a poke, will queue to sell their story & yet more evidence of his sociopathy will surface. Now that betty has de-knighted one dead louse broadcaster, kiwis could campaign to have her de-list another.

 
At 10/1/13 9:33 am, Blogger Shona said...

Onya Bomber! Glad to see the level of support you've generated in the comments section on this one. Holmes is indeed an overrated overly ambitious self serving creepy little bigot. He never had an ounce of credibility in our house, our kids aleays watched Home Improvement all those years ago if they had finished their dinner. We turned the egotist off after the first week.

 
At 11/1/13 10:29 pm, Blogger blueleopardthinks said...

Yes, I too am glad to see many comments of support are here.

I have respected what Mr Holmes did with interviewing in the past, not always in agreement with his stance, yet he did ask gnarly questions at times and created interesting interviews for doing so. I however do not forgive the foul-minded opinion piece he wrote last year and think it a travesty that one who wrote such trash would then be knighted.

I am glad to discover that the complaint against that crap was upheld.

Perhaps Debs is Dead is correct that all that knighthood has turned into is a creephood(lol!) I think it a shame that an honours system has degenerated so badly that they wouldn't check out the behaviour of someone before awarding them...because surely had they, they wouldn't have...would they?

I thoroughly agree with the first comment here by Paul, and also what "David" had to say on Brian Edwards page. What a shame that Mr Edwards discrimination is so distorted when it comes to his friends.

I'm sorry to here of Mr Holmes poor health, I do hope he will apologize for his poor opinion piece before he meets his maker.

Thanks again Bomber, congratulations on pissing people off who support this shitehood, Great article. Keep up the good work.

 

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