Cheap And Nasty

I wish to clearly emphasise that I have had quite enough with certain people's constant degradation of Helen Clark on the basis of her looks. It has been happening ever since she entered the political limelight and although this disrespect is not at its peak at present (it has been notably worse in the past), it is a particularly inappropriate time at which to engage in such petty, childish monologue. With the election now just two full days away, it is a time for all New Zealanders of the voting age to act their age and be engaging in some serious consideration of the real magnitude of the situation.

Keeping that in mind, you can probably understand that I am -- to put it in a straightforward manner -- disgusted and infuriated by the total disrespect that Helen received from student supporters of National and ACT at Canterbury University when she spoke there yesterday. Regardless of whether I agree with a given politician's ideology or not, I expect people to treat them with respect. Nobody should ever have to contend with hateful and malicious attacks of the sort that were directed at Helen in this instance. The Herald article addressing this story quoted two of the anti-Helen placards that were present as saying "Nice teeth" and "Speed kills and so do your looks Helen". The photo accompanying the article also appears to show another sign saying "She's so hot right now".


I simply don't have any comprehension of how the students involved can live with themselves. Their actions at Helen Clark's rally clearly do not show to us any kind of political merit on their part. Rather, as has been relatively commonplace among detractors of the Labour government throughout its two terms in power, these wannabe-politicos have chosen to engage in the unintellectual and farcical practise of attempting to discredit Helen on the basis of physical appearance. These tactics really are among the lowest of the low that we have seen wielded in the context of politics over the past few years.

It has been bad enough that this kind of demeaning talk about Helen has been carrying on in the background -- and for these students to bring it forward at a rally like this and rub it in her face is disgraceful to a monstrous extent. Without a doubt, there was nothing that was going to be achieved through these students' actions other than showing utter disrespect to Helen and causing her emotional hurt. It's highly probable that these were the students' intentions. Having been queried about this, she insists that it has not bothered her, however she was reportedly very shaken up following her experience with the abusive students, and personally I would not be surprised if damage has been done. It's time for everybody who has talked smack about Helen in regards to her looks to show some maturity and shift their focus more onto more important aspects such as her political personality and ability to lead this country. Besides, I really am baffled as to why people have tended to be so derogatory towards Helen when there is nothing wrong with the way she looks anyway.