Is it really such a big deal that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shoved a sign language interpreter out of the way, with a hip-and-shoulder worthy of Robert Dipierdomenico? (I realise that may lose in tans-Tasman translation: instead of a real football player, New Zealanders can insert whatever rugby player does the hardest tackle.)
Well, as Bilbo Baggins would say: no… and yes.
Incredible footage has captured the moment Jacinda Ardern appears to push a sign language interpreter out of her way during a nationally televised Covid press conference.
There’s no “appears” about it: Ardern blatantly shoves aside whatever human obstacle is blocking her retreat.
To be fair, though: she was trying to make room for Grant Robertson. That’d necessitate a hasty retreat for even the most nimble-footed among us.
The moment hasn’t been well-received by Ms Ardern’s constituents, who pointed out that the oblivious move was ‘rude’ underneath the video.
‘What a bully! Wolf in sheep’s clothing,’ one person said.
‘So disrespectful. I used to think she was cool but far from it now,’ added another.
However, others were quick to point out the interaction wasn’t intentional.
‘She was just moving out of the way for the other speaker to come on, she even smiled at her afterwards.’
Well, eventually, she did. By my stopwatch, a full seven seconds elapsed before Ardern’s smile-and-nod. Even that was only when the interpreter sidled back into her field of vision. One wonders whether she’d have bothered even acknowledging the inconvenient minion, otherwise.
All in all it seems rather at odds with Ardern’s endlessly-proclaimed “kindness”. When a person continually tells you how kind they are, you might expect that they’d show it.
On the other hand, no such generosity of interpretation is extended to New Zealanders who find themselves on the wrong side of the media party.
Former Breakfast, Good Morning and Radio NZ presenter Liz Gunn released an emotional video on Saturday.
She claimed that mandatory vaccinations were ‘rape’ and that Friday’s earthquake was ‘Mother Earth’ rising up against a tyrannical leader.
Daily Mail
The implication here is that Gunn is a complete, “emotional” whackjob. To be fair, her rhetoric is so purple that it would make the late-formerly-known-as-Prince flush with envy. But, under the hyperbole are some spot-on criticisms.
Ardern’s vaccine passport will divide the nation. Don’t take Liz Gunn’s word for it. Derek Cheng directly asked Jacinda Ardern if she was creating “two different classes of people”.
“That is what it is, yep,” Ardern replied.
Breitbart
There you go, straight from the horse’s mouth.
As for Liz Gunn, is her hyperbole really so nutty, by the standards of today? After all, this is a time when feminists claim that “stare rape” is a genuine thing, academics claim that taniwhas cause earthquakes, and New Zealand courts hear serious arguments that a river is an “ancestor” of living people.
Babbling about “jab rape” and earthquakes being “our mother… explaining to us” is, by contrast, almost the voice of cold reason.
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