Words still matter

Two years ago New Zealand suffered its worst terrorist attack. 51 people died. 40 were injured. It was horrific.

The day after the attack I sat down to write my column for the Herald. I didn't know what to say. I had to write about the terror attack. There was nothing else I could write about. But what could I say? It felt like to me that words didn't matter.

But then as I sat and thought about it, I realised that words mattered. They matter very much. I wrote a column to that effect. That the impact of words can be world changing.

That bad words can very easily lead to bad events. And that it is absolutely incumbent upon us to call out those bad words for what they are.

I gave an example of when I didn't call out bad words.

"When I flew from New Orleans to San Diego many years ago, the man in the seat next to me asked if this was my first time in "N'orlins". "Yes" I said. "It was and I loved it." He smiled. "I hope you had fun up Bourbon Street!" then he leant over and spoke almost conspiratorially. "But I hope you didn't go too far up Bourbon Street, because that's the fag end of town."

I was uncomfortable but I said nothing. I just buried my nose in my book. I should have said something. Because words matter."

My life is littered with other examples like that. The time I went into a suit store and the owner made racist comments about having Thai slaves out the back to make them cheap. Or the friend who made a racist joke on the cricket field.

It's hard to call out words from people. Especially people we know.

I was surprised this morning to read a piece in the news about how gun crime has gone up since the gun law changes came through. The piece - which you can read here - seemed written by the gun lobby. With ACT's gun-supremo Nicole McKee front and centre saying that - and I shit you not - "the unintended consequences of doing that [the gun law legislation] are starting to be realised, and of course the effects that we're seeing are a less safer community."

It's the 2nd anniversary of a terrorist attack in New Zealand. The 9th worst mass shooting in recent history and the gun lobby and ACT are out there arguing that our gun law changes have made us less safe.

I'm surprised that news editors decided that today would be a good day to run those stories. You could have held it a few days surely?

This is all playing out in the background of National (or really Simon Bridges') attempt to start a culture war here in NZ. Criticising "cancel culture” and calling the Police Commissioner a "wokester". It's all just words. Shitty words.

Former National Press Sec Ben Thomas wrote about it better than I could here.

The latest "cancel culture" craze has been around the cessation of printing some Dr Seuss books for questionable racism. National MP Barbara Kuriger thought she was hilarious posting:

"Alas they've come for Dr Seuss, they wish to hang him with a noose"

Aside from using questionably racist imagery herself in that line, if people had bothered to check they would have seen that it was the outfit who publish the Dr Seuss books themselves that had decided to stop printing some. Publisher, cancel thyself!

At the end of my Herald column about words I made a commitment to speak out if I heard bad words.

"As the father of a daughter, the husband of a wife, the child of two parents, as a goddamn human being regardless of who I'm related to, I'm responsible for this too. I do not want to live in a world of hateful words and hateful actions. I will speak out.

"We need to take responsibility for calling out violent and discriminatory language. Our leaders cannot use words that separates the "us" from the "them". There is no "them". There is us. There is people."

I think I've fallen short a few times, so I'm re-making the commitment. Shit words create shit events. I'm coming for you if you say shit words.

[You can read the whole Herald column here, it's not behind a paywall]