Drinnan on uneven responses on “rape culture”

John Drinnan writes in the Herald:

It has been intriguing to see the reasoned response of opinion-makers to the Kill the Prime Minister song, and compare it with the witch-hunt against John Tamihere, which led to the broadcaster being sacked from RadioLive.

In this latest case, there have been questions about taxpayer support for the band @Peace, though this was unreasonable since the NZ On Air support was for the band, not the song. There was some chiding over the sexual references to the Prime Minister’s daughter, Steffi Key, and the obligatory cries of FFS. But overall, it was a sane response.

This was in marked contrast to the media storm that blew up over Tamihere, with the left approaching advertisers to withdraw from RadioLive and attacking Tamihere, Willie Jackson and anyone who dared suggest there were freedom of speech issues involved.

That issue came down to whether Tamihere asked the wrong questions of an unnamed young girl who called in to his and Jackson’s radio show over the Roastbusters allegations. While this person – Amy – has disappeared from sight, it appears that she was actually known to the broadcasters.

The transgressions were much less direct than those by @Peace. Admittedly, there wasn’t much that could be done to the band, which now seems to see how crass the song was. But songwriter Tom Scott is a talented individual and the telling off was all that was required.

However, when you compare the case with that of Tamihere, you can’t help but think the vigilantes are more concerned about who does wrong things, not their actual transgressions.

I agree. Tamihere and Jackson faced a massive backlash, an advertising boycott campaign, and worse.

While when it comes to the far far worse actions of @peace, the same suspects have just said they think the song is bad, but under no circumstances should they be ruled ineligible for taxpayer funding for their other songs. No boycott for them.