Ryan Bridge: Is the work of activists making a difference?

Regular listeners will know, when it comes to free speech, I'm into it. 

How else do we get smarter but to debate ideas, put them through the ringer, shout and scream and reason and argue?

We've been doing it since we could talk - which is, well, a long time. 

When the MAGA mob came for Jimmy Kimmel, I defended him. On this programme. 

Many of you agreed. Some of you did not, which is what we call an argument, and that's okay too. 

So yesterday, when the telco OneNZ decided to pull those ads with the activist in them, I had a genuine moral conundrum. 

See I think people should be able to protest (not in work uniform, obviously), and not get the sack. I don't like cancelling people. 

In this case, the fact she gave out Winston's address on the internet probably crosses a line. 

But if we're being honest, did it need to take a crowbar through his front window, shattering glass, for the head honchos at OneNZ to take action?

She'd been plastered all over the news for sharing his address for days before crowbars hit glass. 

I don't like that she'd been cancelled, but I can see why they did it. 

And as for activists more generally, apparently there's a Shortland Street actor packing his bag for some flotilla somewhere - they're just annoying, aren't they? 

Same goes for the priests chaining themselves to electorate offices. 

Who doesn't need a lecture on geopolitics of the Middle East from a guy who wears a fake stethoscope for a living?

In most cases, the real subject matter is themselves. In most cases, they achieve nothing. And in most cases, they're ignored. 

The beauty of democracy, along with freedom of speech, is that we can.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Regular listeners will know. When it comes to free speech, well,
I'm pretty into it. How else do we get smarter
but to debate ideas, put them through the ringer, shout
and scream and reason and argue. We've been doing it
since we could talk, which is well, a very long time.
When the Maga mob came for Jimmy Kimmel and I
defended him on this program, many of you agreed, some
of you did not, which is what we call an argument,

(00:21):
and hey, that's okay too. So yesterday when the Talco
when one in Z decided to pull those ads with
the activist, I had a genuine moral conundrum. See, I
think people should be able to protest, not in work
uniform obviously, and not get the sack. I don't like
canceling people in this case. The fact she gave out

(00:43):
Winston's address on the Internet probably crosses the line. But
if we're being honest, did it need to take a
crowbar through his front window, shattering glass onto poor Kobe
the dog for the head honchos at one enz to
tank action. She'd been plastered all over the news for
sharing his address for days before crowbar glass. I don't
like that she's been canceled, to be honest with you,

(01:05):
but I can see why they did it. And as
for activists more generally, apparently there's a shortened street actor
packing his bag for some flotilla somewhere. They're just annoying,
aren't they. Don't you just find them annoying, whether it's
the pre set chaining themselves to an electrot office, just annoying.
You know, who doesn't need a lecture on gigo politics
of the Middle East from a guy who wears a

(01:26):
fake stethoscope for a living, Like, what do they think? Anyway?
In most cases the real subject matter, of course, is themselves.
In most cases they achieve nothing, and in most cases
they're ignored. And the beauty of democracy, along with freedom
of speech, is that we can do that. For more
from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News

(01:49):
Talks it'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.