Jack Tame: A great week for bad takes

Tell you what, when I saw the latest migration statistics this week and the net 47,000 New Zealand citizens who’d decided to move overseas in the last year, I had an instantaneous reaction.  

You sure about that? I wondered. I know our economy isn’t exactly thriving, but have you checked any news headlines lately?  

Israel had just bombed Qatar. Russian drones were being shot down in Poland. The British government was in disarray. Charlie Kirk had just been assassinated.   

Put it this way: a sustained economic malaise isn’t half as bad as some of the other problems facing the world right now.   

You know how when there’s a really big news event it’s all anyone wants to talk about? As terrible a week as it’s been for the world, it’s been even worse on social media. A great week, nay, a vintage week for bad takes. 

Tom Phillips is a prime example. To think, even for a moment, that a man who’s been using his children in armed robberies, who’s deprived them of any outside social connections or formal education, who’s kept them in horrible, cold, dirty conditions and then ultimately exposed them to a Police shootout, to think that guy is misunderstood or is some kind of hero shows our species perhaps isn’t as developed as we’d all like to think. 

The Charlie Kirk assassination social media fallout was maybe even worse. His death really affected me. I’ve been following Charlie Kirk for years. I saw him speak in person when he first came to significant prominence at the Republican Convention in 2016. His assassination has been one of those moments in which it feels like we’re watching a global superpower decline in real time. The video was everywhere, multiple angles of a father being shot in the throat in front of his family, reposted, retweeted, re-upped. The algorithm feeding a bloodlust. And then the profound division. Incredible bad faith takes on both sides of a political and cultural chasm. People openly celebrating his murder, others neglecting the ways in which they have excused, minimised, or ignored political violence in the recent past.  

I truly think social media is responsible for some of worst aspects of our fraying world. It takes the worst parts of our nature as a species and acts a force multiplier.   

And yet, it retains the capacity every now and then to pull off something great. A terrible week for the world ended with a bit of goodness on the Golden Bay Community Noticeboard Facebook page, last night. 

Back in July, epic rainfall at the top of the South Island dislodged a bench from its spot next to the Takaka River. It was a memorial bench, heavy timber, beautifully crafted to remember a young man named Jack who passed back in 2018. But yesterday, Mum forwarded a post on Facebook through to the family chat.  

Jack’s bench had been found! After being swept away in the flooding, it had travelled the six or seven kilometres down the Takaka River and into the ocean. Then, over two months, it had somehow navigated the roughly 160kms from the river mouth, across Cook Straight, around D’Urville Island, to wash up, albeit with a few barnacles, on Waikanae Beach on the Kapiti Coast. 

Crazy! Amazing! But how to get Jack’s bench home after such an epic journey?   

“I’ll do it free of charge, get in touch,” said someone called Steve.   

A little faith in the world, restored. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Tell you what when I saw the latest migration statistics
this week and the net forty seven thousand New Zealand
citizens who had decided to move overseas in the last year,
I had an instantaneous reaction. Are you sure about that?

Speaker 1 (00:30):
I wondered.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
I mean, hey, I know our economy isn't exactly thriving
right now, but just out of interest, merely out of interest,
have you checked, you know, any news headlines lately. Israel
had just bombed Katar, Russian drones were being shot down
in Poland, the British government was in disarray, and Charlie
Kirk had just been assassinated. Put it this way, a

(00:53):
sustained economic malaise isn't half as bad as some of
the other problems facing the world right now. You know
how when there's a really big news event, how it's
kind of human nature, it's all anyone wants to talk about.
As terrible a week as it has been for the world,
it has been even worse on social media. A great week, nay,

(01:16):
a vintage week for really really bad takes. Tom Phillips
is a prime example to think even for a moment
that a man who has been using his children in
armed robberies, who has deprived them of any outside connections
or formal education, who's kept them in horrible, cold, dirty conditions,

(01:40):
and then ultimately expose them to a police shootout, to
think for a moment that that guy is misunderstood or
as some kind of hero shows our species perhaps isn't
as advanced as we would all like to think. And
then the Charlie Kirk assassination, My goodness, who would have

(02:01):
thought it was possible? But it may have been even worse.
At least the takes were thing really affected me. I've
been following Charlie Kirk for years. In fact, I actually
saw him speak in person in the US at what
was kind of a seminal event in his life. So
it was back at the Republican Convention in twenty sixteen

(02:22):
and he did a big presentation on stage. His assassination
has been one of those moments in which it feels
like we are watching a global superpower decline in real time,
you know what I mean. And then there was the
video everywhere, multiple angles of a father being shot in
the throat in front of his family, reposted, retweeted, re upped,

(02:45):
the algorithm, feeding a bloodlust, and then again. Of course,
the predictable, profound division, incredible bad faith takes on both
sides of a political chasm. People openly celebrating his murder,
others conveniently forgetting the ways in which they have excused

(03:06):
or demi or ignored political violence in the recent past.
I really think social media is responsible for some of
the worst aspects of our fraying world. It just takes
the worst parts of our nature as a species and
then acts as a force multiplier, don't you think. And yet,

(03:26):
and yet it still retains the capacity every now and
then to pull off something great. A terrible week for
the world ended with a little bit of goodness last
night on the Golden Bay Community notice Board facebook page.
If you haven't joined the Golden Bay Community Notebook notice
board facebook page, fear to say it has a diverse

(03:49):
range of posts. You get the full spectrum of things
on the Golden Bay Community notice Board facebook page. So
back in July, if it rainfall at the top of
the South Island dislodged a bench from its spot next
to the Tarkka River and for those of those of
you who know Golden Bay, it's kind of it's this
area near Panes Forward when you're just coming into Tarcica

(04:12):
having driven over the hill, an area where a lot
of the kids liked to go and domnoos into the
river and go swimming. And it was a memorial bench,
a bench made of heavy timber, beautifully crafted to remember
a young man named Jack who passed back in twenty eighteen.
But yesterday my mum forded a post on Facebook through

(04:34):
to the tame family chat. Jack's bench had been found
after being swept away in the flooding. It had traveled
the six or seven kilometers down the Tarcica River and
then into the ocean into Golden Bay proper, and then
over the space of two months, the bench had somehow
navigated the roughly one hundred and sixty kilometers from the

(04:57):
river mouth across cooked straight, somehow got round Durville Island
to wash up, albeit with a few barnacles on why
can I be each on the carpety coast Kevin Milne Country?
But how how to get Jack's bench back home after
such an epic journey. I'll do it free of charge.

(05:20):
Just get in touch, said someone called Steve on Facebook.
A little faith in the world restored.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
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