George
“How to clean your messy car” is just one of the simple-minded headlines I discovered on Stuff yesterday. I didn’t read the rubbish as I have figured out all by myself how to clean a messy car. Verity Johnson, Stuff opinion journalist, on the other hand, has described those of us who turn Ardern literature upside down as “That Guy”. This is what she thinks of us.
A well-established specific type of guy who is a prize boor. Someone who draws his personality traits from an exotic menu of the aggressive, sexist, competitive and/or petty. Basically that dude who’ll come to your party, get drunk, make loud rape jokes, drop the N-bomb and go on about banging your mum. A lad. A bro. A dick.
Stuff
I have to admit Verity managed to extract every “ism” known to socialism in that one paragraph. For a moment there I thought she was talking about “that guy” who attended the Labour Party Youth Conference or possibly “that guy” who works closely with Ardern on the ninth floor, but no, the act of turning over a magazine with Ardern’s image is “that guy”. This comment gave me a good laugh. But in the same article, I came across this. The author of “Jacinda Ardern”, Michelle Duff, promotes her book thus: “The Story Behind An Extraordinary Leader”. I laughed so much I nearly peed myself, I fact I seriously considered racing down to the nearest incontinence supplier so I could indulge in a well-deserved belly laugh.
I then abandoned Stuff to return to the real world. It has become abundantly clear why there are no buyers for this publication. They at Stuff don’t care about losing jobs or finding a buyer as they have predicted that the world will end soon due to global warming, and with contributions like those above, either the end of Stuff or the end of the world can’t come a day too soon. How has journalism disintegrated to such depths? It must be a pitiful reality when you awaken each morning only to realise that you’re a journalist for Stuff.