Guestie: Another Fine Myth

Big thanks to Deb for sending this in - very topical! 

It had all the ingredients of a classic myth.

The young, astonishingly beautiful blonde hero pitted against the Forces of Evil: AKA King Larry the Ruthless and his henchmen Ozzie the Spit and Cunning Ainslie. The little New Zealand battlers versus Wealthy America. And we all loved it. Against all odds it seemed that our young hero would win. But of course, as the saying goes; old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill – and so it unfolded true to form.

The reality is we’ve been sold another male myth with the Americas Cup. Both teams are middle class white men. Both support crews are comprised mainly of NZers and both boats were built by NZers in Aotearoa New Zealand. And our dashing young hero is in fact a very rich man, who will continue to get richer no matter if he wins or loses, playing with other rich white men’s boats.

While our nation has been feasting on this bloke-fest, a true group of little battlers have succeeded against all odds on the world stage. A women’s team, The Football Ferns, claimed a memorable 1-0 victory over Brazil in the Valais Cup at Chatel-St-Denis a few days ago; making history as the first NZ team to beat world champions Brazil ever. That’s EVER. It hardly made the news.

So whilst New Zealand prepares the mourning rituals for the guys, let us not forget that we are a nation of strong women. WE win. We win every time a woman succeeds. Go you good woman thing! We rock.

The problem is violent greed

Not for the first time, the genius of Jacky Fleming shows how skewed our world becomes when we focus on the wrong end of power and oppression:

Since coming into power, this National government has been near obsessed with blaming beneficiaries and the poor in general for all manner of wrong-doing.  Apparently cutting benefits is the "kick in the pants" some need to take responsibility for ​other taxpayers ​ (my emphasis). Paula Bennett has been quick to tell people claiming benefits - even ones she previously accessed herself - that "the dream is over."  If you have to visit a food bank to have enough to feed yourself and your family, it's because you've made "poor choices."

And step out of line if you dare, because Paula Bennett will release your personal details to the media as “a bit of a lesson for what happens if you go out there and put your story,” even if that does breach Privacy Commission ideas of fair practise to the tune of $15,000.  Nope, it's beneficiary bashing all the way, thanks.

You could be forgiven for assuming beneficiaries and the poor are sucking up resources unfairly, completely to blame for our economy stalling and many New Zealanders feeling frightened and even so hungry they eat pig scraps.

But what happens if we focus on the wealthy?

Firstly, they are doing pretty well under National, as this handy graphic from the Green Party shows:



And they are doing pretty well at the expense of everyone else.  Just 9% of New Zealanders are in the top tax bracket, so those tax cuts really were just for a few of us.  And while our median income is falling, our average income is increasing, which is just maths geekery for saying rich people are getting richer even in these belt-tightening times.

We don't spend enough time talking about greed in this country, because National has us bashing people with very little.  It is greedy to make sure those with lots of resources have the chance to create more and more and more, without thinking of ​other taxpayers ​(my emphasis).

If we focussed more on stopping those determined to create unnecessary wealth at the expense of everyone and everything else - the greedy 1% - and less on judging and punishing those with very little, our world would be a very different place.

Now I just need Jacky Fleming to write a cartoon about it.  Oh look, she has.