Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

The Fundy Post 20 July 2005 – Tammy Bruce Special

The Fundy Post 20 July 2005 – Tammy Bruce Special

This is what Bishop Brian Tamaki had to say about the bombing of London: "What people in New Zealand don't realise is we have been enduring a type of terrorism of another kind - acts of terrorism against the family."

The Vast Left-wing Conspiracy: an update

So, who or what or why is Tammy Bruce? In case you did not notice, Ms Bruce visited our shores and made some media appearances. Then she went home. According to some, this was an event of great importance. No less a media eminence than Herald columnist Sandra Paterson announced that "New Zealand needs to be having the kinds of discussions she will no doubt provoke." Ms Bruce, you see, has a Message, that we should Heed. Its a message about how feminists and gays and the 'left elite' are taking over America (the Beautiful).

We are told by Ms Paterson that this Message is particularly telling because it comes from a woman who was once a feminist apparatchik (head of the LA chapter of the National Organisation of Women, no less) who may be Pro-Guns, but is also Pro-Choice. She is also, apparently, a Democrat, although of the kind that voted for Reagan and Bush. She is also a Liberal, although one of the kind who appears on Fox TV regularly and never says anything Liberal, or Democratic.

She is also nuts. Neither Ms Paterson nor any other Tammy Bruce supporter has mentioned that she left the National Organisation of Women after refusing to apologise for some racial comments she made about O J Simpson. She then went on to make a radio broadcast about Camille Cosby, wife of comedian Bill.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

The Cosbys' son had been murdered, while changing the wheel of his mother's car, by a Ukranian immigrant with a history of racist activity. Mrs Cosby suggested in a newspaper article that it was America that made him racist. Ms Bruce reacted with an on-air tirade, saying that Mrs Cosby was unstable, paranoid and delusional, as well as at fault for having lent her son the car. She also said that Bill Cosby was a philandering, impregnating friend of O.J. Simpson.” The radio station reacted by apologising, profusely and at length.

Ms Bruce's media career continues on Fox TV, which never apologises. She is employed as a token Liberal but really she is a Fox Democrat, the kind who aim to be more right-wing and conspiratorial than anyone on Fox TV's hand-picked team of right-wing conspiracy theorists.

Ms Bruce is also the author of The Death of Right and Wrong, in which she "takes you inside the chilling world of the Left - a place where morals and decency have been turned on their heads and the crisp definition between Right & Wrong has been blurred into a mushy, grey mess."

Apparently, "in this world, the Gay Elite exploit our children - under the guise of tolerance and education - to satisfy their sexual obssessions...the Black Elite laud convicted murderers as community heroes and award-winning "artists"...the Feminist Elite..." etc, etc. There is a Left Elite as well, which has captured the word Liberal from decent folks. There's probably also an Elite Elite, who control everything from their castle in the Carpathian Mountains.

If you still think that Tammy Bruce might be worth a listen (this, despite knowing that she appears on panels with Leighton Smith and Alan Duff), here is her interpretation of the AIDS crisis. According to Ian Wishart's well-adjusted magazine, Investigate, Tammy Bruce believes there is 'a deliberate desire to spread AIDS wider into the community and, perversely increase the virgin power of the gay lobby:

"On the right side of the Looking Glass, this idea sounds incomprehensible. Unfortunately in the context of trauma, malignant narcissism, and projection, it makes all the (deadly) sense in the world: Victimhood is your empowerment - hence the desire to become infected and infect others. You work to have AIDS become normal and inevitable by leading a life that spreads the contagion, thus forcing society to assimilate with you. You then demand that all the world accept your behaviour and suppress judgement, perpetuating moral relativism."

The reason, argues Bruce, that gay activists are attempting to infiltrate schools is ultimately to convince some teenagers, already struggling with an overload of sexual hormones, that being gay is not only "OK", but their destiny. The only safe way for a promiscuous gay adult male to have unprotected sex, she writes, is with a teenage virgin.'

You may be struggling with the logic of this argument, but let it pass and move on. Instead, marvel that this woman was able to take time off from fighting all those the Elites to come to little old New Zild and ask who might have brought her here. Sandra Paterson has the answer: "So who invited this dynamo to our shores? Destiny church? The Maxim Institute? No, Joanne Reeder - a Hamilton grandmother who leads a relatively quiet life helping to run her husband's medical practice".

Well, up to a point, Lord Copper. Ms Paterson is being a wee bit coy about the facts. As one of the Herald's real journalists revealed, Joanne Reeder's relatively quiet life has included being ACT candidate for Hamilton. In organising the 'Tammy Tour' she was helped by Andrew Davies, also an ACT candidate (from the 'give them liberty or give them death' wing of the party) and by property developer John Sax. It was Sax and his wife Alma who organised the letter signed by Dick Hubbard, Alan Duff and others late last year against the Civil Unions Bill. Just for once, the Maxim Institute may not have been involved, but they gave Tammy's visit their support. So they should, because Grannie Reeder has helped them before: she organised a talk by Maxim's Greg Fleming to the Hamilton Liberal Forum in September.

What about the Message, then? Ms Paterson again: "According to Bruce, the Left has thoroughly intimidated the media, so it will be interesting to see what kind of coverage she gets. A couple of outlets have already indicated they are not interested - but I think, in the end, she will be hard to ignore." Nope, it wasn't hard at all. Ian Sinclair trashed her arguments on Close Up at Seven and Susan Wood had some fun with Tammy's pronunciation of the word 'Maori.' At the time of writing, New Zealand has not been shaken to the core by Tammy's revelations. Ms Paterson, though, is fuming: in her next article, she spluttered about Mr Sinclair and his 'disapproving and patronising' body language.

Oh, and did I mention that Tammy Bruce is a lesbian? No need, because her supporters cannot stop mentioning it: a real live lesbian who is not a femi-Nazi. According to Sandra, she is "the lesbian version of John Tamihere," a chilling image if ever there was one. Ms Bruce takes her position as a lesbian seriously: "as a lesbian, I have a special duty to expose the hypocrisy of those who claim to be the defenders of minorities and the marginalised, who then use our issues to stamp out individual freedom and increase government control."

As a wacko conspiracy theorist who uses her sexuality as a marketing tool, Ms Bruce has the special privilege of talking rot and being paid for it.

However, when all is said and done, the final word should go to Tammy's New Zealand fan club:

'Support for Tammy’s message of personal freedom and individual responsibility resonated far and wide. More than once people said that “even if you did not totally understand what she was saying you knew she was right.”'

Our Arts Correspondent Writes

Readers may remember that the Maxim Institute Student Poetry Contest was announced in the Fundy Post a couple of issues past. Readers were invited to imagine themselves as a Maxim Institute staffer and write a poem on either the title of last year's Maxim Essay Contest or the title, 'Why do Girls Hate Me?'

It seems that the imaginative leap necessary to write like a Maxim munchkin was too much for most readers. Four entries were received. So without further ado, here are the finalists:

From Mr Xavier Goldie, a haiku:

Why do girls hate me? Clean cut conservative white I should be perfect

From Mr Conor Roberts, an example of what might be called 'Method Poetising'

I pondered the thought, why do girls hate me? I think it ought due to my poetry

I wish I had a lady who stared back at me and said I like a man that’s shady now lets go to bed

No that is not true she would not be so bold hey that was déjà vu. an empty bed is cold

I want to have a girlfriend so why would girls hate me? I’ll need to make a amend this email forwarded has caused grief to thee

I have not answered the question of why do girls hate me? it leads me to depression maybe its subjectivity

I am not bald or fat or ugly I don’t speak in a southern drawl I am a little snugly yet I am not rich or tall

I am not sure what it is then as I ponder at the bar I ask a bunch of women ‘dress sense would go far’

It must be that I’m horrible a bit too over bearing my crassness can be deplorable good girls are made for sharing

You might say this is chauvinist I tend to disagree but that’s why I’ve never been kissed and that is why girls hate me

Also from Mr Roberts (who didn't read the instruction to answer only one question on the paper) a terse response to Maxim's question, which was "No generation exists in isolation. Our present culture, laws, institutions and values are all built upon the ideas that have held sway in the past. What role does Civil Society play in preserving and passing on heritage? Can progress and preservation of virtues in society co-exist, and if so, on what basis? Discuss with reference to New Zealand society."

Roses are red Violets are blue Civil Society is rubbish And so are you.

Finally, from Mr Simon Russell:

Dear fellow humanist, I am a scribbler of poems. I always forget to send them to likeminded folk. Hope you enjoy. Simon Russell.

The judges applauded the high standard of entries to the contest and confessed that it was difficult to choose a winner. However, since we are thoroughly Post-Modern, we decided to give the award to Mr Russell. His entry challenges, in a very real sense, the hegemony of poetry as an artistic form.

We were particularly impressed by the playful defiance of conventions: having announced that he is a poet, he then tells us that he always forgets to send his poems and then, paradoxically true to his word, does not send a poem. Tantalisingly, he raises our expectations of enjoyment, only to leave them unsated.

This masterful juxtaposition of form and content and contradiction of theory and praxis are themselves questioned by the possibility that Mr Russell was not entering the contest at all. Perhaps he did intend to send some poems; perhaps it was merely coincidence that he wrote while we were holding a poetry contest. Will we ever know?

Website of the Week

http://www.teenangstpoetry.com/poems/

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.