First of all, I'll admit that Your Views hasn't had my full attention lately. So it came as a surprise to me when I browsed the topic "Can Rodney survive this perks scandal?" (which was originally posed as "Are Rodney Hide's travel expenses justified?") and found that I had missed the creation and subsequent closure of a thread concerned with Maori Party MP Hone Harawira's own "perks scandal" and supposedly "racist" comments made in an email to former Waitangi Tribunal director Buddy Mikaere. I'm not sure how long the thread was up, or what the question posed by Your Views was - the only trace of the thread's existence appears in a statement on the naughty Rodney thread:
"The other debate about Hone has now been closed because, regrettably, it degenerated into a racist rant instead of a constructive debate."
This statement reflects that the Your Views editorial team believe that the section encourages users to engage and debate in a constructive fashion, and that in this case, the thread was taken down because it was not representing this kind of engagement. Also, by claiming to remove the thread due to its "degenerat[ion] into a racist rant", they make it seem like they actively seek to stamp out any traces of racism in Your Views. Yeah right!
Argh, I took my eye off the ball for a couple of days, something really interesting happened in Your Views and I missed the lead-up! Ah well, there's still been plenty of intriguing responses to the "Has Rodney really done it this time?" question:
Kingi (Auckland)
Hide is married and not divorced. Taking his girlfriend overseas at taxpayers expense is wrong.
I don't mind politicians spending money frivolously, but by god, could they do it whilst upholding the principles of marriage?
katie k (Auckland)
Rodney doesn't deserve praise for his apology, the only thing he deserves is a good clip around the ears. He is two faced the only thing he is sorry for is that he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar
Strewth, that cheeky chappie Rodney deserves more than just a slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket, we all bust a gut to put food on the table and his actions just take the piss.
This week Your Views also raised the question "Should TVNZ have axed Dancing with the Stars?"; another addition to its list of crucial politically-engaged topics. And as if a whole thread about Rodney wasn't enough to satisfy the Hide-haters of this world, a couple also used this thread to bag the ACT leader, who appeared on the show a few years back:
Pigs snout out (Churton Park)
Yep makes people like Rodney popular. Unless they bring Rodney back and drop him on his head. I'd donate to see that.
Wouldn't we all...
Showing posts with label The forum editor speaks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The forum editor speaks. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
One man's trash is another man's treasure
Auckland artist Dane Mitchell's work "Collateral" won the Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Award 2009, an award with $15,000 in prize money. According to the Herald, the competition is known for its "challenging" and "controversial" entries. Stories with any hint of controversy are usually linked quick-smart to a Your Views question and this one was no exception. Nothing like a stimulating debate in which users get to discuss the complex nature of contemporary art. Your Views asked: Is this creation art or trash?
Dark_Nyt (Helensville)
As the saying goes "one mans trash is another mans treasure", which seems to be the case here. Although this trash is just that, trash. True artists take time and commitment to create a piece of beauty, not sucker others into tipping rubbish into a pile and calling it art.
Hold on a second there Dark_Nyt. First you say we can all have an opinion on contemporary art, or indeed anything fitting the trash/treasure turn of phrase I guess. However, then you rule that Mitchell's work is simply "trash" leaving no room for it to be considered a "treasure"!
Alisha091 (Auckland)
TRASH! Who were the judges? The locals on K road?
I love how emphatically Alisha091 jumps at the chance to respond directly to the Your Views question, using capital letters and an exclamation mark to emphasise her choice. If we excuse the "locals of K road" comment, she does point towards the inadequate coverage of the event by the Herald through asking who the judges were.
In this thread of comments, the Forum Editor gets involved in order to give Anne from Glen Eden a bit of a telling off:
Anne (Glen Eden)
DR (Ellerslie) the problem with this ?work? is that I define art as ?human creative skill?.concerned with production of imitative and imaginative designs and expression of ideas?.contrasted with scientific technique or principal?. ?Art? has, in the modern world, become synonymous with social activism, like most other things. This ?work? may be social commentary. It is not ?art?. There may be those who think that?s a valid artistic pursuit. The art world has been clearly consumed by the concept or just by anything that?s weird or eccentric but I still prefer ?art? to be beautiful, to require toil, creativity and skill. It has nothing to do with socialism. It has everything to do with finding enough ugliness in the world and looking to ?art? to lift the human spirit. All that can be derived from this ?work? is, as someone said, that we would all be enlightened by taking a picnic lunch and bottle of wine to the local landfill for a day of reflection to marvel at the apparent creativity of those who generated it and those who dumped it. Whatever someone believes, there?s nothing imaginative or creative in this or in the social facts to enjoy
FORUM EDITOR'S NOTE: Anne, this is how your emails appear to us when they arrive. If you type you message directly into the Herald's message box, rather than cutting and pasting from another program, then the '?' marks will appear as apostrophes - as they should. Also, please check how long you messages are. 90 per cent of them cut off mid-sentence.
As a none-time poster but long-time reader of Your Views, I can say this is the first time I've seen such a thing! Poor Anne is publicly shamed in front of her fellow Your Views users. Surely the forum editor could have sent her an email? The inclusion of this note on Anne's post not only undermines what she has to say, but it makes visible the role of moderation in the forum and therefore serves a reminder that the Your Views editorial team have the ultimate say in how user responses are represented.
Dark_Nyt (Helensville)
As the saying goes "one mans trash is another mans treasure", which seems to be the case here. Although this trash is just that, trash. True artists take time and commitment to create a piece of beauty, not sucker others into tipping rubbish into a pile and calling it art.
Hold on a second there Dark_Nyt. First you say we can all have an opinion on contemporary art, or indeed anything fitting the trash/treasure turn of phrase I guess. However, then you rule that Mitchell's work is simply "trash" leaving no room for it to be considered a "treasure"!
Alisha091 (Auckland)
TRASH! Who were the judges? The locals on K road?
I love how emphatically Alisha091 jumps at the chance to respond directly to the Your Views question, using capital letters and an exclamation mark to emphasise her choice. If we excuse the "locals of K road" comment, she does point towards the inadequate coverage of the event by the Herald through asking who the judges were.
In this thread of comments, the Forum Editor gets involved in order to give Anne from Glen Eden a bit of a telling off:
Anne (Glen Eden)
DR (Ellerslie) the problem with this ?work? is that I define art as ?human creative skill?.concerned with production of imitative and imaginative designs and expression of ideas?.contrasted with scientific technique or principal?. ?Art? has, in the modern world, become synonymous with social activism, like most other things. This ?work? may be social commentary. It is not ?art?. There may be those who think that?s a valid artistic pursuit. The art world has been clearly consumed by the concept or just by anything that?s weird or eccentric but I still prefer ?art? to be beautiful, to require toil, creativity and skill. It has nothing to do with socialism. It has everything to do with finding enough ugliness in the world and looking to ?art? to lift the human spirit. All that can be derived from this ?work? is, as someone said, that we would all be enlightened by taking a picnic lunch and bottle of wine to the local landfill for a day of reflection to marvel at the apparent creativity of those who generated it and those who dumped it. Whatever someone believes, there?s nothing imaginative or creative in this or in the social facts to enjoy
FORUM EDITOR'S NOTE: Anne, this is how your emails appear to us when they arrive. If you type you message directly into the Herald's message box, rather than cutting and pasting from another program, then the '?' marks will appear as apostrophes - as they should. Also, please check how long you messages are. 90 per cent of them cut off mid-sentence.
As a none-time poster but long-time reader of Your Views, I can say this is the first time I've seen such a thing! Poor Anne is publicly shamed in front of her fellow Your Views users. Surely the forum editor could have sent her an email? The inclusion of this note on Anne's post not only undermines what she has to say, but it makes visible the role of moderation in the forum and therefore serves a reminder that the Your Views editorial team have the ultimate say in how user responses are represented.
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