20-year-old communications graduate living in the Waikato, New Zealand. Currently working in internal communications at a technology company in Hamilton. Sharing what I'm learning and contemplating weekly––often related to happiness, productivity, and making the most of our lives.
I've been surprised by how many people think the recent attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump was a set up.
Did Trump and his advisors decide they were willing to take the life of an innocent bystander, leave two others with critical injuries, and end the life of one of the conspirators, all for a photo opportunity that was vulnerable to multiple points of failure, required the involvement of many people who must be trusted never to disclose what they were a part of, and could have gone wrong at any moment?
I was less surprised to see the finger-pointing, 'us vs. them', commentary around the assassination attempt. It's easy for Kiwis to look at the wild, faraway place that is the United States, and gape at how different things are over there.
But New Zealand isn't free of political hostility. Our own political environment is becoming similarly toxic and polarised. While we can be pleased that physical violence isn't a major feature of our politics, it would be complacent and naïve to believe that something like what happened in the US couldn’t happen here.
And so, with his permission, I wanted to share a piece my friend Seamus Lohrey wrote this week.
Trump's Attempted Assassination is a reminder of New Zealand's Rising Political Hostility
The attempted assassination of Donald Trump has stemmed from a rapid rise in political hatred, which has already found its roots in New Zealand’s political landscape.
An attendee at the Trump Rally in Butler aptly stated, “It shows you how much hate and hostility is in our world today.” With ACLED finding a 27% rise in global political violence events in recent years, it is hard to argue with her.
In our own domestic response to the shots fired at Trump, I have witnessed many New Zealanders tut-tutting the United States for being so politically barbaric and emotional, while reducing such violence to a lack of gun regulation. However, it is simply hypocritical to do so.
In the 2023 local election, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster believed things were “edgier” than they had been in past elections with people being “more anxious, more angry.” This was echoed by The Disinformation Project's Director, Kate Hannah, who stated, “Very vulgar violence and violent expression” were normalised in the latest election. New Zealand's political fabric is now defined by animosity and hostility.
Unfortunately, you do not have to look far to confirm that this is true. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, at the time a 21-year-old Te Pāti Māori candidate, had her fence vandalised, rubbish searched through, and her house burgled, all while on the three-month campaign trail.
The stories of political violence, both physical and psychological, do not stop there. Former MP Angela Roberts was slapped and told to “enjoy being in Opposition.” Seventeen-year veteran MP Nanaia Mahuta, who had “seen and experienced it all,” was among a number of Māori candidates who were astounded at the racist abuse directed towards them on the 2023 campaign trail. National candidates Siva Kilari and Mahesh Muralidhar recounted a volunteer being abused “down a driveway” by four men while being threatened with a punch “if they turned around.”
Our national political landscape is more polarised than ever before. It has become part of our political identity to hate the other side and reduce them to the “bad guys”, while blindly elevating the political parties we support to the status of heroes.
What accentuates this polarisation, and contributes to the increase in violence mentioned above, is emotion taking the place of policy as our starting point for choosing which team we support. Researcher and author Lilliana Mason correctly surmised that the polarisation we currently see “is based on our feelings for each other, not on extremely divergent policy preferences.”
Slogans like "tough on crime" and "we’ll lock them up and throw away the key" against teenage offenders, who have their whole lives ahead of them, give us a sense of emotional satisfaction, quashing genuine fears of our community becoming victims of ram-raids once again.
Or perhaps the promise of reducing Te Reo Māori and the influence of iwi eases the discomfort my Pākehā community feels about embracing an unfamiliar culture and seeing fewer people like them in power, bringing them back to a place of solace.
Our political scene is increasingly driven by emotion. We gravitate towards statements that ignite our passion on issues that provoke anger or unease, prioritising how these make us 'feel' rather than their likelihood of providing a solution to the bigger picture.
Those shots directed at Trump have been heard around the world. Their echo serves as a conspicuous reminder of the hostile, polarised political landscape emerging in democratic nations, a landscape where New Zealand is no exception.
Ben here again.
I think Seamus makes some powerful points. Political hostility is not just isolated to the US, and emotion-driven conflict is rising across New Zealand's political landscape.
Last week, the co-leader of Te Pati Māori, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, claimed “We’ve got a Government that is genocidal, ecocide, we know that they are white supremacists”. When interviewer Jack Tame challenged Ngarewa-Packer about whether the National-led Government is really “genocidal” towards Māori, she replied, “There’s no if, they are”.
As Bryce Edwards writes in his excellent newsletter, Democracy Project, many would argue that rhetoric like this "escalates tensions, increases polarisation, and makes political violence more likely". Politicians need to be careful using more violent and provocative language, particularly in areas where New Zealand politics is most polarised, like ethnicity, racism, and Te Tiriti.
🎟️ Event - I've been organising an event with the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) and the University of Waikato's Management and Communications Students' Association (MCSA) over the past few weeks. We held the event on Monday and it went great! It was a panel-style informative and inspiring event with recent graduates sharing their experiences on entering the industry and tips and tricks on how to get a job and succeed as a graduate. We had over 30 people attend and lots of happy faces (especially when the free pizza arrived).
Panel host Sebastian and our awesome panelists: Charlotte, Annika, Olivia, and Cushla.
📝 Blog post - While doing research for an assignment at university, I came across a really interesting blog post, Inside the eye of the storm, by Hamilton City Councillor Louise Hutt. Louise wrote about her experience of abuse, harassment, and violence as a young woman serving in local government. Louise's well-written story demonstrates the reality of our current political environment, where politicians often can't hold their views safely.
🧗🏻♂️ Rock climbing - On Wednesday evening, Gabby, Anna, Joel, and I went indoor rock climbing in Hamilton. It was my first time trying it out. After the first few climbs, I got used to the heights and relying on my partner to belay me and started to really enjoy it. Going to head back soon for another go!
📰 News article - The University of Waikato's $55 Tauranga campus is struggling, Harriet Laughton reports. The University aimed to have 1,800 students at the campus by this year, but the roll was at just 1,467 by June. The Waikato Students' Union hears a lot about the unaffordable parking and unreliable transport around the campus, which is compounded by general cost of living issues. The article includes some interesting comments on the lack of student nightlife in Tauranga and the differences from Hamilton - the Tauranga university experience will inherently be different than the Hamilton one, but it seems like it also doesn't quite line up with students' expectations.
"A great relationship is not only finding the person you have fun with, but also finding the person you want to be bored with. The beauty of long-term relationships is often hidden in boring, ordinary moments."
20-year-old communications graduate living in the Waikato, New Zealand. Currently working in internal communications at a technology company in Hamilton. Sharing what I'm learning and contemplating weekly––often related to happiness, productivity, and making the most of our lives.
