Spot the Hippies in the List!
This weekend the Green Party will be holding their Annual General Meeting in Auckland and I am looking forward to another well organized event. If it is anything like all the past meetings I have attended it will be full of robust and informed debate, useful workshops and great food.
It amuses and sometimes frustrates me when the media representation of these same meetings often goes to great length to confirm myths about the party rather than report on important policy development or serious announcements.
While I admit there have been times when we have fed some of these myths ourselves by some interesting activities early in our history, like the infamous Morris Dancing, it does seem odd that years afterwards it is still referred to while grossly racist comments at other party conferences (for example) are quickly forgotten. Television footage of our meetings in recent years have revealed a strange magnetic power that the few bearded or ethnically dressed delegates have over news cameras. With hundreds of people to choose from at our meetings I can almost guarantee that random interviews will aways include someone with a beard or wearing a cotton dress with an ethnic pattern. While those same people would have interviewed well it does mean the diversity of our membership is ignored.
The skills, work experience and knowledge base of our highest ranking candidates is impressive so I thought I would list some of the occupational backgrounds or qualifications within our Party list:
- Lawyer
- University Researcher
- DHB CEO
- Diplomat, NZ Foreign Service, Fulbright Scholar
- Regional Councillor, Environmental Consultant
- Business Advisor/Company Manager
- Development Manager
- Horticulturalist
- Media Advisor, Rhodes Scholar
- Transportation Consultant
- Forestry Management Services
- Union Organiser
- Business Strategist
- Senior Policy Analyst
- Scientist/Research Team Manager.
- Army Officer
- Teacher
For a closer look here is our full ranked list and biographical details and I will let you play the media game of "Spot the Hippie", too.
Comments
And remember those "hippies" you seem to dilike are a large base of our voters!
I was just trying to comment on the fact that we are still labelled as a party of hippies yet our membership is much more diverse than that.
If you got the message that I am anti-hippy from what I wrote, perhaps i should do some serious editing... :-(
The hippy reference will never entirely leave us but I think we will never have broad acceptance when there is a perception that the inspiration for our policies comes through the consumption of marijuana and lentils. It is important we emphasize the breadth of our membership and the credibility we can display through our qualifications and occupations. Our policies come out of sound research, robust debate and ongoing review.
We should never give up our beliefs and the spirituality, that drives many of our members, because this is what makes us distinct from other parties (you are quite right, Brooklynne) and there are more important things than politics. The history of the green party could probably be traced to many involved with the hippy movement of the past and many hold those connections with some fondness (as do I), but a party of hippies we are not.
If you tell someone 'Don't think of an elephant', what do they think of?
I also recommend you read this book by George Lakoff, Dave.
S'easy!
How about 'Look before you leap'
or
'Simple mistakes I'll never make again'.
That's blogging for ya!
The title generates interest in reading the blog and hopefully through that, challenging some inaccurate preconceptions.