Rather precious

Michael Dobson writes at The Huffington Post:

Danyl Mclauchlan is a smart guy. Funny guy. Smart, funny guy. So I guess if he’s feeling sad after reading Max Harris’ new book The New Zealand Project, well, that’s his prerogative. But he’s also being a jerk about it, and that’s just bad spon-con. After reading his article I will now no longer be using LifeDirect by TradeMe for my life insurance needs this election year. A left wing thinker tearing down another left wing thinker in an article bemoaning the left’s inability to motivate people behind leftist ideas is folly of a type that literally makes Hooton’s case for him. It deserves to generate no brand loyalty.

I’m not sure what is funnier. Demanding that no left winger ever disagree in public with a fellow left winger (while doing exactly that himself) or his statement that he will stop using LifeDirect because they sponsor the section of The SpinOff which published McLauchlan.

I also enjoyed his conclusion:

capitalism is an unrelenting machine of environmental destruction and human exploitation that can only be safely controlled – maybe – through democracy.

I love the maybe. Funny how since India and China embraced capitalism several hundred millions people have been lifted out of extreme poverty. Previously though they were not exploited – they were just starving.

I should note that I think it is a great thing that Max Harris has written a book which is sparking conversations about values. I might not agree with his conclusions but we need more people writing about what they want New Zealand to be.