I just came across a post on the Facebook profile of Asenati Lole-Taylor. It is a post about the story that Stuff carried recently. The story starts like this:
Former prime minister Jenny Shipley’s involvement with the latest Chinese banking giant to set up shop in New Zealand has been described by Winston Peters as “economic treachery”.
Needless to say, the use of the word treachery is always going to get people’s emotions up. But when it comes to issues of policy, we should all try to stay calm and reasonable.
Asenati posted a link to this article on her Facebook Profile.
Now nothing wrong with what she has posted so far.
Her first comment has the typical New Zealand First xenophobic undertones. However, if that is not bad enough:
We have all made mistypes in posts, it is something that happens, even Asenati has. I don’t think comments like “go back to school and learn how to spell” are acceptable responses for MPs when discussing issues. Sure, politely point out the misspelling, but using it as a reason to not engage with someone is not something an MP should be doing. Add to this the instructions to “get those brains working and to some primary school smart representatives”
The abuse continues through the whole thread of the conversation.
Now those involved did resort to some abuse of their own, which does weaken their case. However with Asenati, once the abuse starts, there is no point in continuing the conversation. She has a track record of abusing people and throwing around accusations to deflect from comments.
If you are an MP you should be willing to engage with voters, have informed debate. Now I know other MPs fail this test as well, and I try to call them on it, when I see it, but Asenati has a track record of this.
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