Lindsay Perigo
The Politically Incorrect Show - 11/10/2001
Music - Die Fledermaus
Good afternoon, Kaya Oraaaa & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show for Thursday, October 11, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd, the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit & excellence against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.
[Music up, music down!]
Today, a short editorial about ... these editorials. It's also an opportunity to talk personally to all of you who've been kind enough - & dare I say wise enough - to sign up for them.
I've just had a complaint from someone about the number of NZ-specific editorials I have written lately. With so many international subscribers, it was suggested, I run the risk of turning them off with content that is not relevant to them.
First, even when I had a daily radio show & was broadcasting these editorials to a New Zealand audience, I made sure I varied the content in such a way that both New Zealand & international topics were covered. I also made sure that whether the topic was NZ-specific or international, I made clear its broader, universal philosophical significance. The CONCRETES of each editorial, that is to say, led to ABSTRACT conclusions that were relevant to everyone everywhere on the globe. That is still my policy.
Second, my current day-job has me based in New Zealand's Parliament. In other words, I am in the thick of New Zealand politics. And - many subscribers here ARE New Zealanders. This means that when momentous events are occurring in NZ politics, as they have been this past week, it would be peculiar & remiss of me NOT to deal with them - NZ subscribers, I am sure, would have found it very odd, for instance, had I ignored the leadership coup in the National Party or the government bail-out of Air New Zealand. The higher-than-usual number of NZ-specific editorials has quite simply been a reflection of what has been going on here, just as the higher-than-usual number of editorials about Islam & religion generally has been a reflection of the terror attacks on the United States. But again I say, in both cases the message has been of universal relevance & import. The leadership coup & the Air New Zealand bail-out are case studies & object lessons in the evils of power-lust & statist interventionism respectively, which can be added to the arsenal of any freedom-fighter anywhere on earth. Or has love of freedom suddenly become parochial?
So when you find the topic doesn't, on the surface, immediately concern you, I would urge you to persevere for the mere three or four paragraphs each editorial contains. Of course, I recognise & respect your right to hit "Delete" or sign off altogether, but I also have expectations of you & preconceptions about you. I don't see my editorials as an active/passive exercise where I give & you simply dormantly receive. I assume you are prepared to make the minimal effort required to embrace new weapons for your armoury, new information to back up your case, so that when you're arguing with an adversary about government interventionism, for example, you'll be able to say, "Take the example of what they did in New Zealand with their biggest private airline" & cross-reference it with what you already know about similar bail-outs in America.
I hope you find each editorial entertaining as well as informative. To that end I write from the heart as well as the head, partly because that's the way I am & partly because I think the Objectivist/libertarian cause is diminished by a surfeit of advocates who write from the head only & bore everyone witless. I don't recognise a head/heart dichotomy any more than I recognise a New Zealand/world dichotomy. Just as reason & freedom are supreme values everywhere, so too should they be promoted with logic AND love by everyone.
If you enjoyed this, why not subscribe?