September 13, 2024 • 9 mins
As Kevin Milne watched the US Presidential Debate this past week, one comment reminded him of a similar scaremongering scandal from his youth in Christchurch.
Donald Trump, in one of his tirades against immigration, accused Haitian migrants in Springfield of eating other people’s pets – an accusation with no basis or evidence, just like the one Kevin remembers from 1950s Christchurch.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News talksb.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Come on, Jack, I'm addicted to radio, so maybe banned radios? Eh? Oh,
for goodness sake, come on, we're only doing your good.
Radio doesn't do your bad, doesn't do your harm, does it?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Jack?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Come on? This is just a precursor to the banning
of information across the board. The state only wants information
that's approved to reach anyone, not just young people. This
is the thought police. This is an angle to get
us under control nineteen eighty four, says Adrian. I think
that's a bit extreme, Adrian. So I just asked Libby,
who is a Genzia gen z producer of the show.
(00:45):
I said, would you support given you you've only known
the Internet age, you can't remember a time before smartphones,
would you support banning social media for kids under fourteen
and parental consent up to sixteen? And Libby said yes. See,
this is the curious thing. If they did the study
in the US where they asked young people. The Surgeon
General in the United States ask young people, do you
(01:07):
support banning social media? And they said no? And they
said do you want to get off social media? And
they said no. And they said, would you want to
get off social media if all of your friends were
off social media? And everyone said yes. Interesting ninety two
ninety two. If you've got some thoughts on that, Jack
at newstalksz'db dot co dot z. Kevinmil is with us
(01:27):
this morning kilder Kevin.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You get morning Dagna me he or wiki or terrel.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
MARII no, He'll do with Mary then quick, Kevin, very good. Yeah,
it's it's two Wiki with the eel Mary kicking off?
Now are you What do you think about banning social
media for young people?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I don't like the idea of banning anything, right because
because banning's so often unsuccessful.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well except that, except that if you think about it
with like booze. Right, So people under the age of
eighteen are banned. Now, of course many of them can
still access they can still access alcohol. But it sets
a collective standard and it certainly makes it more difficult, right,
Like if we imagine if we didn't have a band
for under eighteens on alcohol, Yep, yeah, it would probably
(02:13):
be different, right, So yeah, yeah, I get your point.
I'm actually not a big bander myself, but I do
think there is Meriton at the very least regulating social media.
Speaking of social media, it was a wash this week
with the many memes that came out of the US
presidential candidates debate, and that most memorable line of all
(02:33):
has reminded you of a scandal in your christ Church childhood.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I'm astonished, Jack, really that I sometimes bet on what
I think you're going to talk about, and this was
the easiest one. This was the easiest one. You're the
highlight of your week must.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Have been the debate after the show? Absolutely, no, the
debate was It was incredible. It was an incredible thing
to watch, and yeah, remarkable to see the fallout.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I'm not even really politico, and that's sense that I
was sitting in front of the TV on what was
at Wednesday and waiting for it to come on, like
I was waiting for a test match. Yeah, and it
was just so exciting. And then, of course, and we're
going off piece here, but Trump's story about the pets
being eaten in Springfield, Ohio? Was was that? Because I
(03:28):
think you're quite an expert in this area, and in
fact came on the TV later on to talk about this,
But do you think that was the most, the sort
of the a bigger political calamity for him than anything
Biden said or did during his previous debate.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Ah yeah, well it was almost what Biden didn't say
or do in his last debate that was the problem,
wasn't it? Like he was sort of so incoherent in
that debate. And when I watched the Biden debate, I
mean I came on the show the next morning and
said instantly that I thought Biden would never be president again.
I thought that was it. I thought I thought it
was unrecoverable. I don't think that Trump's eras are unrecoverable.
(04:07):
I don't think this will stop them necessarily from being president.
I don't think it helped him, But it was certainly
a wild thing to say. Put it this way, I was.
I was clipping up the little the key moments of
the debate, and the moment I heard him say they're
eating cats, they're eating dog, I said, okay, edything, we're
going to need this, yeah, hello, hello, yeah yeah. And
(04:32):
so it reminded you of christ Kevin?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, well yeah, I was reading about the fact checkers
that established that the story had started with I think
a single social media post from some kid, Was that right,
Jack from a kid? I think, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Was on Facebook. It started on Facebook, Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
But it never offered any evidence. The story was never
verified and no complaint was ever lodged, and Springfields officials
went in a position to say that they believe it
never happened. The story. He went on to say that
there's a history of totally incorrect stories from all over
the world involving new immigrants eating other people's pets. And
(05:17):
I suddenly get this flashback tack something I'd forgotten for years.
I remember as a kid in christ Church, I was
about ten, I think, hearing a story many times about
dead cats being found in the rubbishman of one of
christ Church's first Chinese restaurants. It was a fantastic story,
(05:39):
but I believed it because I eventually got to hear
the same story so often it had to be true.
I passed the story on myself many times. Back then
in christ Church, very very few people ever went to
a Chinese restaurant. They were scared of them. Who knows,
you know, what was to be served up. And it's
only now, after all these years, does it occurred to me.
(06:02):
I bet that story was a lie to based entirely
on ignorance and racism. The only difference was I was
a ten year old nobody and the man that told
the lie about the Heiti the Haiti immigrants was running
for president of the United States. There were so many
(06:24):
things on that debate. Weren't that Jack that, you know,
the fact that he reckoned he could stop the the
Ukraine War even before it had got to office.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, well, I mean there's certainly some pretty bold and
sometimes outlandish calls. I mean, the thing that was interesting
with the with the cats and the dogs was that
it was pretty soundly robutted immediately, not just by the
moderators but by everyone else going and fact checking that story.
(06:56):
But yeah, I mean, yeah, it was kind of Donald
Trump and Donald Trump that The thing I always, you know,
would say, though, is that Donald Trump being Donald Trump
has won many tens of millions of votes in the past. Yeah,
that's right, you know, I don't actually, you know, I
think that maybe some people were a little too who
don't want to see Trump be president, were a little
too gleeful afterwards and have actually forgotten this guy's were
(07:17):
very successful by bucking the you know, the traditional political
trends and norms.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
You know. Yeah, no, I'd be one of those. What
did you think of those moderators? I was thinking when
I was looking at that guy, I thought Jack Camee
will be looking at that bloke and saying, I want
to be him. Honestly, he was like you. He was
like you, but with an American accent.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I think he's yeah, yeah, I think he's got a
little bit further in his career than I overwhell give him.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
But I wouldn't say I wouldn't. I wouldn't rule that out. Yeah, yeah,
but it's so cool, so cool.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, I thought. I thought they did a pretty good job.
I actually wondered if they should have fact checked that one,
given that sounded kind of seemed so absurd. I wondered
if they should have just let it past. Nick Carmeller
affected it if she wanted. But anyway, it has had
a lot of attention over the last few days. Thank
you for that, Kevin, and thank you for your text.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Jack.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
It's simple. Any kids who want to get around a
social media band will be able to use a VPN.
This is true, Ben. They will be able to use
a VPN. They will be able to use technological solutions.
Kids are industrious, kids are smart, but it still puts
another barrier in right and in order for them to
do that, it's going to be a real pain. And
the whole design of the Australian laws as they stand,
(08:30):
is that it puts the onus on the social media platforms,
so they've got to use their technology to verify the
age and identity of their users. Dean sent me a
note to say, Jack, as much as I'm a sent
to write libertarian, I agree with the proposed social media
ban for people under sixteen, much like I agree with
nationals band on cell phones for students during school hours.
There's plenty of evidence that social media has many, many
(08:50):
negative impacts on young people, not the least that they
distract them from doing more important things with their time,
like getting a decent education, which current statistics suggest isn't
happening ninety two to ninety two. If you want to
send me your thought
Speaker 1 (09:03):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
news talks it'd be from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News talksb.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Come on, Jack, I'm addicted to radio, so maybe banned radios? Eh? Oh,
for goodness sake, come on, we're only doing your good.
Radio doesn't do your bad, doesn't do your harm, does it?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Jack?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Come on? This is just a precursor to the banning
of information across the board. The state only wants information
that's approved to reach anyone, not just young people. This
is the thought police. This is an angle to get
us under control nineteen eighty four, says Adrian. I think
that's a bit extreme, Adrian. So I just asked Libby,
who is a Genzia gen z producer of the show.
(00:45):
I said, would you support given you you've only known
the Internet age, you can't remember a time before smartphones,
would you support banning social media for kids under fourteen
and parental consent up to sixteen? And Libby said yes. See,
this is the curious thing. If they did the study
in the US where they asked young people. The Surgeon
General in the United States ask young people, do you
(01:07):
support banning social media? And they said no? And they
said do you want to get off social media? And
they said no. And they said, would you want to
get off social media if all of your friends were
off social media? And everyone said yes. Interesting ninety two
ninety two. If you've got some thoughts on that, Jack
at newstalksz'db dot co dot z. Kevinmil is with us
(01:27):
this morning kilder Kevin.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You get morning Dagna me he or wiki or terrel.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
MARII no, He'll do with Mary then quick, Kevin, very good. Yeah,
it's it's two Wiki with the eel Mary kicking off?
Now are you What do you think about banning social
media for young people?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I don't like the idea of banning anything, right because
because banning's so often unsuccessful.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well except that, except that if you think about it
with like booze. Right, So people under the age of
eighteen are banned. Now, of course many of them can
still access they can still access alcohol. But it sets
a collective standard and it certainly makes it more difficult, right,
Like if we imagine if we didn't have a band
for under eighteens on alcohol, Yep, yeah, it would probably
(02:13):
be different, right, So yeah, yeah, I get your point.
I'm actually not a big bander myself, but I do
think there is Meriton at the very least regulating social media.
Speaking of social media, it was a wash this week
with the many memes that came out of the US
presidential candidates debate, and that most memorable line of all
(02:33):
has reminded you of a scandal in your christ Church childhood.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I'm astonished, Jack, really that I sometimes bet on what
I think you're going to talk about, and this was
the easiest one. This was the easiest one. You're the
highlight of your week must.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Have been the debate after the show? Absolutely, no, the
debate was It was incredible. It was an incredible thing
to watch, and yeah, remarkable to see the fallout.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I'm not even really politico, and that's sense that I
was sitting in front of the TV on what was
at Wednesday and waiting for it to come on, like
I was waiting for a test match. Yeah, and it
was just so exciting. And then, of course, and we're
going off piece here, but Trump's story about the pets
being eaten in Springfield, Ohio? Was was that? Because I
(03:28):
think you're quite an expert in this area, and in
fact came on the TV later on to talk about this,
But do you think that was the most, the sort
of the a bigger political calamity for him than anything
Biden said or did during his previous debate.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Ah yeah, well it was almost what Biden didn't say
or do in his last debate that was the problem,
wasn't it? Like he was sort of so incoherent in
that debate. And when I watched the Biden debate, I
mean I came on the show the next morning and
said instantly that I thought Biden would never be president again.
I thought that was it. I thought I thought it
was unrecoverable. I don't think that Trump's eras are unrecoverable.
(04:07):
I don't think this will stop them necessarily from being president.
I don't think it helped him, But it was certainly
a wild thing to say. Put it this way, I was.
I was clipping up the little the key moments of
the debate, and the moment I heard him say they're
eating cats, they're eating dog, I said, okay, edything, we're
going to need this, yeah, hello, hello, yeah yeah. And
(04:32):
so it reminded you of christ Kevin?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, well yeah, I was reading about the fact checkers
that established that the story had started with I think
a single social media post from some kid, Was that right,
Jack from a kid? I think, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Was on Facebook. It started on Facebook, Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
But it never offered any evidence. The story was never
verified and no complaint was ever lodged, and Springfields officials
went in a position to say that they believe it
never happened. The story. He went on to say that
there's a history of totally incorrect stories from all over
the world involving new immigrants eating other people's pets. And
(05:17):
I suddenly get this flashback tack something I'd forgotten for years.
I remember as a kid in christ Church, I was
about ten, I think, hearing a story many times about
dead cats being found in the rubbishman of one of
christ Church's first Chinese restaurants. It was a fantastic story,
(05:39):
but I believed it because I eventually got to hear
the same story so often it had to be true.
I passed the story on myself many times. Back then
in christ Church, very very few people ever went to
a Chinese restaurant. They were scared of them. Who knows,
you know, what was to be served up. And it's
only now, after all these years, does it occurred to me.
(06:02):
I bet that story was a lie to based entirely
on ignorance and racism. The only difference was I was
a ten year old nobody and the man that told
the lie about the Heiti the Haiti immigrants was running
for president of the United States. There were so many
(06:24):
things on that debate. Weren't that Jack that, you know,
the fact that he reckoned he could stop the the
Ukraine War even before it had got to office.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, well, I mean there's certainly some pretty bold and
sometimes outlandish calls. I mean, the thing that was interesting
with the with the cats and the dogs was that
it was pretty soundly robutted immediately, not just by the
moderators but by everyone else going and fact checking that story.
(06:56):
But yeah, I mean, yeah, it was kind of Donald
Trump and Donald Trump that The thing I always, you know,
would say, though, is that Donald Trump being Donald Trump
has won many tens of millions of votes in the past. Yeah,
that's right, you know, I don't actually, you know, I
think that maybe some people were a little too who
don't want to see Trump be president, were a little
too gleeful afterwards and have actually forgotten this guy's were
(07:17):
very successful by bucking the you know, the traditional political
trends and norms.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
You know. Yeah, no, I'd be one of those. What
did you think of those moderators? I was thinking when
I was looking at that guy, I thought Jack Camee
will be looking at that bloke and saying, I want
to be him. Honestly, he was like you. He was
like you, but with an American accent.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I think he's yeah, yeah, I think he's got a
little bit further in his career than I overwhell give him.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
But I wouldn't say I wouldn't. I wouldn't rule that out. Yeah, yeah,
but it's so cool, so cool.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, I thought. I thought they did a pretty good job.
I actually wondered if they should have fact checked that one,
given that sounded kind of seemed so absurd. I wondered
if they should have just let it past. Nick Carmeller
affected it if she wanted. But anyway, it has had
a lot of attention over the last few days. Thank
you for that, Kevin, and thank you for your text.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Jack.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
It's simple. Any kids who want to get around a
social media band will be able to use a VPN.
This is true, Ben. They will be able to use
a VPN. They will be able to use technological solutions.
Kids are industrious, kids are smart, but it still puts
another barrier in right and in order for them to
do that, it's going to be a real pain. And
the whole design of the Australian laws as they stand,
(08:30):
is that it puts the onus on the social media platforms,
so they've got to use their technology to verify the
age and identity of their users. Dean sent me a
note to say, Jack, as much as I'm a sent
to write libertarian, I agree with the proposed social media
ban for people under sixteen, much like I agree with
nationals band on cell phones for students during school hours.
There's plenty of evidence that social media has many, many
(08:50):
negative impacts on young people, not the least that they
distract them from doing more important things with their time,
like getting a decent education, which current statistics suggest isn't
happening ninety two to ninety two. If you want to
send me your thought
Speaker 1 (09:03):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
news talks it'd be from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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