Sunday 29 March 2009

Paul Henry MCP round-up

There's been rather a lot of Blogland writing about this, including (in reverse chronological order):

*Paul Henry's views - james, Editing the Herald
*Precisely why Paul Henry's judgyness is unacceptable to me - Julie, here
*I don't get these people - Julie, here
Paul Henry defends his right to act like a child - Anna, here
You can has entitlement issues - Queen of Thorns, Ideologically Impure - a must read
Sack Henry Now. - Tane, The Standard
Moustachegate - Bridget Saunders (yes, you read that right), Stuff
Guest post: Paul Henry makes a bad bad choice - Gina, here
Morning Sickness: NZ's Real Life David Brent - Catherine Delahunty, frogblog
*Paul Henry Insults Breakfast Guest - Ana Samways, Spare Room
If I've missed your post please add in it comments.

*Also, there's a Facebook group, if that's how you roll.

Say Nothing and Nothing Changes
1. Make a complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA)
You can do this online at http://www.bsa.govt.nz/complain-formstandard.php
(Thanks to Lex in comments for this info.)

2. Email the head of TVNZ with your views
Here’s TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis’ email address - rick.ellis@tvnz.co.nz
(Hat tip to The Standard)

3. Let the relevant Breakfast advertisers know why you won't be watching the show and thus their adverts
  • Heritage Hotels are the main sponsors and their media enquiries should go to susang@heritagehotels.co.nz
  • Nivea recently gave away some stuff on Breakfast
  • Telstra Clear have an ad on their webpage at the TVNZ site
Anyone have any idea who else advertises on the show?
(Hat tip to Anita at Kiwipolitico)

If you're not sure what to write I recommend the comment thread on Gina's post which has some great points. Even a sentence that says something like you are appalled at Paul Henry's irrelevant comments about Stephanie Mills' appearance and want Henry to apologise publicly/be sacked/whatever, would do the trick. Do remember to include what you want as an outcome in your message.

Meanwhile, over in other parts of Blogland Henry has his defenders (and Mills her nasty detractors):
The Houstache - Cactus Kate (rather unsurprisingly) knights Henry for his actions.
Paul Henry - King of Un-PC - Busted Blonde goes even further

I'll update this all as opportunity arises. *'s indicate newish content - most recently updated 2.20pm Monday 30th March.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooh, I do like Catherine Delahunty's post on this!

Julie said...

It is awesome, isn't it?

illuminatedtiger said...

Excellent. Lets hope they fire that dickhead.

The Silent Majority said...

"Ooh, I do like Catherine Delahunty's post on this!"

I actually much prefer Stephanie Mills reaction to this. She has shown herself to be above petty squabbles, she has swiped him off brilliantly, she has not succumbed to being a victim.

She has just jumped in my estimation one hundred fold as a human being.

I might even listen to her next time she speaks.

And I suggest if you don't like Paul Henry, stop watching him. If enough people do so, then the inevitable will happen.

Anna said...

Why didn't you listen to Stephanie Mills previously, SM? Because of her appearance?

The Silent Majority said...

Anna,
What on earth does someones appearance (men or women) have to do with whether we listen to them, with whether we respect their intelligence and their passion?

I think that is one of the more bizarre questions I have ever been asked.

Julie said...

And Silent Majority wins the prize for least self-aware comment of the month.

Anna said...

That's exactly what I'm asking you, SM. Why did it take Paul Henry to ridicule Stephanie Mills before you said you 'might even listen her' now (implying you didn't listen to her before)? And if you think people with intelligence and passion be listened to, why do you think that Paul Henry mocking her appearance, instead of taking her views seriously, is no big deal? If you don't think it's OK to dismiss someone's views because of the way they look, disagreeing with Paul Henry's behaviour would be a good start, no?

Anonymous said...

And I suggest if you don't like Paul Henry, stop watching him. If enough people do so, then the inevitable will happen.

Just like it did with another Paul, Mr My-Show-Gets-Better-Ratings-When-I'm-Not-Actually-On-It Holmes? The one who keeps, for reasons that elude me, getting appointed as a "commentator" on TVNZ's political shows?

Besides which, *my* watching or not watching Paul Henry isn't the whole point. The fact is that there are plenty of people who will agree with him - look at the commenters on The Standard saying it's Stephanie Mills' fault for not waxing in the first place! Nobody ever changed public attitudes by staying at home and covering their ears. And not everybody has the privilege to do so.

SHG said...

I thought Henry's comments were hilarious and strangely insightful. I emailed Rick Ellis calling for Henry's retention.

James said...

I agree with SGC. I say TVNZ should keep Paul Henry on board. What he did the other day was tell the truth. That women with moustaches are actually aliens from out of space. I had never actually seen a woman with facial hair before and obviously neither had Paul. Like Paul, I was scared and felt that this woman was laughing at my manhood.

What's more I agree with people who say you haters need to lighten up and see Paul's comic genius. We obviously know nothing about comedy. Up until the show the other day, I hadn't laughed for 45 years. I'm only 32. But what Paul often does is laugh on our behalf, which is clearly the actions of a generous comedian.

It's clear that Paul was only saying what we were all thinking...that there was a woman from out of space, laughing at our manhood. Everyone's manhood. Manhood is important for the wellbeing of manhood

Keep Paul Henry on board TVNZ. He offers a different perspective. Manhood.

james said...

Sorry, I meant SHG, not SGC.

Julie said...

James, not sure whether you are the same James as the other James who I've had to delete comments from the last few days, but I think that's satirical genius.

Julie said...

Anon, we are not going to host your hate, even if it is so absurd as to be unintentionally funny.

StephenR said...

You don't recommend Cactus Kate's post then? ;-)

Scroll down a few:
http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/

James said...

Not the same James.

By Anon, do you mean me? I'm offended. I was being unintentionally unfunny when you thought I was being accidentally unintentionally funny.

Joke:
But seriously, I saw a women the other day with jeans on. It was hilarious. I've never seen such a thing.

Unfortunately that's not mine...it's one of Mr Henry's. The man deserves a medal.

Julie said...

StephenR you might want to actually read the post before assuming I hadn't linked Cactus on the matter. The link is there in all it's dubious glory, and has been since I first posted this.

James, nope I didn't mean you when I mentioned an Anon whose comment I had deleted.

You may wish to make your handle a bit more specific to avoid confusion with a James who is quite a troll in a number of places. and if you are the James from Editing the Herald you could even link to yourself in your pseudonym...

two beach - half moon said...

Just like Paul Holmes with his "cheeky darky" line, I suspect Paul henry gets a kick out of shocking viewers, exactly as any other immature person would.
It was just a matter of time until he was going to spout something beyond the pale. And just for the record... I'm a full blooded male and I find Stephanie's upper lip rather sexy.

StephenR said...

My apologies Julie, I just read the first list and assumed that was it. Odd to put another list at the end of the post but my fault for not reading it all I spose.

Cactus Kate said...

Okay so now we have got the over-reaction out of the way....anyone read that Mills herself could not care less about the fuss and is proud of the way she looks?

Julie said...

You mean as already mentioned by someone in comments Kate?

Mary-Lou said...

I chose to ignore Stephanie and what she says because I don't agree with her nor ever have agreed with her.... until now.

She showed maturity and grace that makes me think less of Paul and more of her as a person. Why don't you women CELEBRATE the positive attitude shown by Stephanie instead of dragging this embarrassing incident on and on and on.

It is typical really. You will attack men for asshole points of view and encourage action, BUT as soon as a female doesn't subscribe to your opinions you'll push it in another direction. Stephanie has moved on - so should YOU.

Anonymous said...

My mother told me, before the time of 'politically correct' that if I had nothing nice to say about someone, I should say nothing. The treatment of Helen Clark, in the politically correct climate)in her nine years (and continuing) taught me differently.

Manners maketh the man. Henry has no manners; he has become the very persona that he regularly denigrates. He has no sense of occasion. Who is protecting him?

This actually has little to do with Stephanie Mills, Silent Majority, but rather to do with the way we want our society to be. Do we want him as a role model for men to reduce women to some sort of nonentity?

James, actually I'm laughing at the men who consider Henry to be a male worth emulating. Seriously, do men really think he is the ideal man?

James said...

Henry wins by virtue of the fact he's got you all with your panties in a bucnh over him....you are all to thick to see it.

SM was right....Mills has handled this very well and deserves respect for that....unklike the termanily offended who keep fanning the flames....and Henrys star rising..

This has gone from a hysterical bit of comic rudemesss to a battle between the PC and the liberated masses....

The only ctitism of Henry is that he should have savaged Mills for what she did say....which was nonsense.

James G said...

Anon: Henry is the ideal man, I think, just simply because he's the fastest wit slinger in the West. The guy's got IT. And half the time we, and by we I mean YOU, just don't get what IT is. So, yeah, he is the ideal man: he's a new man, he's an old man, he's a man of men, and he's all men to all man. In short it's one small step for man, it's one huge leap for Paul Henry. Let me give you an example: if I get fat and ugly, so be it. But if any woman gets fat or ugly, then I'm sorry, they're from out of space and they have to play by earth rules.

James just above me, on top of me, gets it don't you James? There's a reason you're called James and I'm called James, and that's coz were the sames. Because WE know that only stupid people keep coming back to this thread to fan the flames, to make thick comments.You don't see us in this thread, do you James? Nope, cos we're not here. We're somewhere else, in liberation land, drinking whisky sours. There's a war on James, and no doubt we're on the same team. Make that a war between the liberated Jameses (actually, i've got an idea for our uniform should the war become a reality, maybe you and I could meet up for lunch and discuss?) and those living under PC rules.

Thank God I'm liberated.

Julie said...

James, that's pretty close to the wind in terms of our rules. I'll let it stand as James G has responded wittily and it would be a shame if that no longer made sense because your comment was gone.

James said...

His post was witty...? How?

James said...

Ps....julie.. EVERTHING is pretty close to the wind by your rules.Its so sanitised it borders on lobotomised.

Julie said...

If that's truly what you think then you wouldn't bother to hang around would you James?

Until your arrival we've had one other persistent troll who I've deleted comments from, who went away after a few days, and then there have been a handful of spam comments and maybe 20 other comments that have broken our rules and thus have gone too. We've been operating for over a year and have had thousands of comments. We've worked hard to promote a good comment environment which allows disagreement but with respect. You are clearly aiming to wreck that. Which means you are going to have to go.

Dolan said...

James said...

"Keep Paul Henry on board TVNZ. He offers a different perspective. Manhood."

Also:

"Unfortunately that's not mine...it's one of Mr Henry's. The man deserves a medal."

James,

Firstly Paul Henry's perspective has nothing to do with manhood. I am a man and he sure as bloody hell does not represent me or my perspective so it might be nice if you speak for yourself in future.

Secondly, I think the only person who deserves a medal is your mother and/or partner who no doubt has to put up with your phalocentric chauvinistic clap trap on a daily basis.

You might get banned from here but their suffering will go on.

My deepest sympathies go out to them.

James G said...

Dolan:

Now let me tell you, that Manhood, is a hooded man, like Robin, the hooded man. I never claimed that this to be all men. To be men of the hood, men would have to be both the figurative AND literal phallus. Luckily for fans of Paul Henry, he IS both! In other words, Paul Henry is kind of like a penis. That's what's so great about him. Do you see where I'm coming from here Dolan?