Rarely has the media’s all-pervasive pro-Left bias been demonstrated more emphatically than in the outpouring of empathy for Golriz Ghahraman.
In the past 24 hours, the tone of media commentary on the scandal surrounding the former Green MP has shifted with striking uniformity. The focus has conveniently been diverted from the wrongness of her actions – there’s barely a mention of that – to the supposedly cruel nature of a political culture that, we are told, placed her under acute stress.
Ghahraman says she cited her mental health problems not as an excuse but as an explanation. In fact she doesn’t need to use stress as an excuse, because her legion of media sympathisers have obligingly done it for her.
The Greens have copped flak for not front-footing the issue of Ghahraman’s shoplifting, but in reality the controversy has been something of a PR triumph, thanks to the media’s eagerness to justify her conduct. Who needs spin doctors when the commentators are already on board?
The excuse-makers, apologists and hand-wringers are out in force. Ghahraman’s conduct has been explained as the almost inevitable consequence of an oppressive, racist system that’s dominated by white males and seeks to destroy capable but vulnerable women.
For an example, check out Madeleine Chapman’s column at The Spinoff, headlined The dramatic exodus of brown women from Parliament is no surprise. The implication is that Kiri Allan and Elizabeth Kerekere were victims of the same syndrome, although the article makes no attempt to substantiate that claim.
I’ll wager, though, that if an opinion poll were taken today, it would find that women are just as offended as men by Ghahraman’s behaviour and by the media’s eagerness to absolve her of blame. Certainly she won’t get much sympathy from a struggling working mother on the minimum wage who wonders how she’s going to pay the supermarket bill but never thinks of resorting to dishonesty.
For what it’s worth, my own inclination, initially at least, was to feel some sympathy for Ghahraman. That feeling has now almost completely evaporated. I’ve concluded she doesn’t need my sympathy when she has virtually the entire media in her corner.
You have to look very hard in the welter of comment to find any mention of the irony that a woman whose parliamentary salary puts her in the top 1 per cent of income earners resorted to theft. And not theft of everyday essentials, but of high-end fashion items marketed to the elite. It all looks decidedly at odds with the political creed of an MP who has positioned herself as a champion of the poor.
It didn’t help that when the scandal broke, Ghahraman was on holiday overseas; exactly where, we haven’t been told. What has emerged is a picture of privilege and entitlement that sits very awkwardly with Green Party ideology.
Nowhere in all the commentary have I seen reference to the fact that countless thousands of New Zealanders deal with mental stress without feeling tempted to steal. As David Farrar put it, “Trying to excuse what happened as being due to stress from the job is insulting to all the people who are also very stressed but don’t shoplift”.
Nowhere is there any mention that shoplifting is a massive drain on the economy. Research in 2017 put the cost at $1.2 billion a year, and you can bet it’s a lot higher now.
Nowhere does any commentator consider the danger that if Ghahraman is allowed to use mental health as an excuse for theft, anyone else feeling under stress will now consider themselves entitled to steal.
Having a bad morning? Go and pinch something. If a high-profile politician can use stress as an excuse, then so can you.
32 comments:
Her and her type cite mental "health" rather than mental "illness".
Is being mentally ill too stigmatising?
Will it not look good further down the track to have a history of mental illness?
Mental illness can be defined by a psychiatrist and that seems problematic, however mental health can be self diagnosed and also has the benefit of self cure when it is no longer convenient .
I see Gharahman and her ilk to be affected by only one condition and that is infantilism.
They behave like entitled spoiled children until they are told no, or chastised, whereupon they proceed to blame anything and anyone else for their onanistic behaviour.
She should apologise to all mentally ill people.
Her shoplifting antics negate the entire Green Party (left wing) ideology. That is people steal because they are poor. They argue that if you abolished prisons and put that $$ into poor peoples pockets, then no-one would need to steal. Golriz has shattered that delusional argument
No sir, I will not be checking out anything on the SpinOff as that will provide them advertising revenue and over the last six years they have unjustifiably gained an unreasonable amount of my tax dollars both through the PIJF and the other backer handers from the Labour Government.
Plus, in my experience it's drivel from barely educated Millennials.
I'm sorrier for Golriz Gharaman now than I was when the news was first announced. Had the Green party leaders just said look, we feel for her because she's inexplicably ruined her career but we don't tolerate theft, it would have been a clean cut. The quicker to heal. As it is, with the cringemaking bullshit from Marama and Shaw, a great windstorm of recrimination has been aroused.
Media have said she needs sympathy. 2 brief questions
If the job is so stressful and causing her these mental issues why didn't she stand down in October
Would the media have been so concerned and sympathetic if say Judith Collins had been the person in the spotlight
Although I acknowledge the wrongs done to Maori (and, yes, I know that there have been many wrongs done to many people), Golriz took full advantage of colonisation to come to NZ as a refugee, studied at the colonisers' uni in the UK, and then when she's firmly established everything's all about white supremacy.
I realise you don't mention white supremacy in your blog, but it was very much part of her platform.
What ever happened to the Green’s co-leader of years ago (maybe not so many years) who resigned after admitting to having rorted the benefit system.
Not sure whether to have sympathy for this latest debacle.
It’s the story of politics that on average each parliamentary term will produce three or four casualties. Roadkill they call it.
About Elizabeth Kerekere. I am not a Green voter but I feel she was badly dealt to by the Green leadership, even after apologising etc. Kiri Allan (Labour) brought about her own downfall.
A senior MP in a party that, by it's very name, is grossly dishonest, turns out to be a serial thief.
I'm not even disappointed.
That the media now appoint her Saint Golly G is also unsurprising.
Such is New Zealand today.
Phil Blackwell
I wonder what Jeanette Fitzsimons would think of this current green mob? They appear to have totally forgotten their founding principles. Integrity appears to be out of fashion in public service. How many examples of inappropriate and bizarre behaviour have we seen over ther last few years from our elected representatives at all levels of government?
I find it difficult to feel much sympathy for one whose background is somewhat murky. She was pictured cuddling up to a tyrant. Some of her claims regarding her refugee status would be worthy of more detailed examination; not that we could expect such scrutiny from a sycophantic left wing media.
With respect Karl, your tone of rage is wasted. The media’s bias would be a very serious abuse of privilege if anyone with any semblance of rational judgement were to take the rubbish as gospel, or any otherwise serious notice of it.
The media are intensely self-delusional if they think their drivel about Ghahraman’s misdeeds matters. They feed each other, and some of the public, in the hope the latter will somehow accept the claptrap as vaguely credible. To quote Col Sherman Potter of M*A*S*H fame … “mule fritters, son!”
hughvane is onto it.
Stuff, most of the NZME commentators and Spinoff etc are writing for the true believers and believe it they will. Faithful supporters still subscribe to home delivery.
I noted the other day, for example, all four opinion pieces on Stuff national were implacably anti-govt...Godfery, Rashbrook, Fallon and one other.
It was like a publicity machine for the various oppositions.
I recall at the time of the Green MP admitting to rorting the benefit there was considerable justification for her actions within the Taranaki Daily News subbing and reporting ranks' chatter on the grounds it was justified as the ''Tories'' and ''the rich'' do not pay ''fair'' or proper tax and ''evade'' tax. I was castigated as a ''f....in Tory'' by an aging sub (Labour Party member) who is still there...I have never been a ''Tory'' or any party member, closer to old school colour blind red back in the day. -Paul Peters
PS I see Stuff has had another web redesign. The number of staff seems to be dropping and locally, apart from the regular mandatory Maori victim material, it just seems to be columns about having babies etc . Weekend fatal smashes seem to be left till after the Herald picks them up on Mondays.
There are suggestions that this is only the start of it.
The Police late today announced there will be two charges relating to Scotties.
Will there be one to follow from the Wellington revelation yesterday?
What are the media going to do if more instances are drip fed over the next few weeks - they (the media luvvies) will be having palpitations.
Then of course there is the question of who returned the pilfered goods to Scotties - was it another Green MP?
This could have more episodes than Peytons Place!!!!!
But in fact this isn't shoplifting. I understand that in law, once the stolen stuff is worth more than a certain amount of money, it is known as common theft. This lady is just a common thief.
Should she be treated with some degree of compassion? Perhaps- but why should she receive any more empathy, understanding or excuses than an ordinary thief? I noticed that some even wish her "speedy recovery"!!! Just how does a thief "recover" from his crimes??
All this lady needs is a spell in prison - depending, as always, on just how the sentencing judge views her particular circumstances in these particular crimes.
Ben Thomas, you’re on the money when it comes to the fantasist nature of Ms Ghahraham’s herstory. It began with both the misleading ‘prosecuting of perpetrators of genocide’ and then declaring she was ‘the first refugee member of parliament’.
Regarding the latter, it is a falsity as her family were identified as economic migrants, not refugees. Her father worked for the Iranian regime of the time (as an economist I seem to remember) and they were allowed to leave the country by air on holiday, as they were to all intents, trusted supporters of the regime. If they were not trusted, this was not a permission they would have been provided and of course from which they then never returned.
If I can find it I will post a link to the Australian lawyer who exposed this back in 2017/18. He had extensive experience in assessing refugee cases in Australia and was adamant her family were not refugees but economic migrants.
It is an interesting if not unexpected dynamic that GG gets off with syrupy career devotional representation from the media in light of being an actual thief using her 'mental health' as an excuse and yet Jamie Lee-Ross was vilified almost to his own self harm by the same media for some lies he told.
He actually had clear diagnosed MH issues to the point he was in fact put in hospital to protect him......
The NZ MSM need a long hard look at itself and the individuals involved need to take an even longer look into their mirrors of their morals, ethics and individual right from wrong codes....they truely disgust me as humans sometimes.
As the media join the chorus of how unsafe Parliament is for "non-white females" there has been no comment of how Jacinda Adern, supposedly the target of misogyny and abuse, fits this profile. Ah, but of course, she's young and female. Silly me.
I recall when Jamie Lee Ross had some kind of psychiatric episode and may have even been sectioned. The media delighted in kicking him when he was on the floor. Tova O'Brien was even applauded by the liberal media overseas for a brutal interview.
Jami-Lee Ross would have made an easy target for a predator like O'Brien. I can think of few politicians less likely to arouse sympathy.
As we are all aware the rot goes far deeper than a petty thief with parliamentary connections.
That the local media will fantasise is par for the course in the pathetic dreamland that now makes up our world.
I notice the new administration in Poland walked in and closed the TV Stations and the Print media for having being too involved in the production of propaganda.
Poland’s state media are legally required to be free from political bias.
So were we, or so we thought. But as in Poland we are left to ponder as to what part of the turd contains the most soiled
Good piece & comments too.
Never had much time for this woman, found her a bit of a fabulist, along with the 'refugee' nonsense.
She loved trendy causes, and played up the 'brown' people- of- colour BS, though any Persians I have encountered in my life would scorn the latter.
Lately she has cheered on Islamist savagery along with her fellow travellers in the Greens.
She's savvy enough to have insight into her behaviour but I don't expect her to be honest given her record. As you say Karl, she can sit back let it all happen around her.
What happened to Metiria Turei Eamon S asks? Pretty sure she found other well-paid gigs, a uni one I think,she had a talent for it.
"Jami-Lee Ross would have made an easy target for a predator like O'Brien. I can think of few politicians less likely to arouse sympathy."
That is certainly true but despite that it merely highlights the targets that are acceptable to the current infestation of pests within the media.
Look at the lack of "me too" outrage when the perpetrator has linkage to those that perceive themselves as "left wing".
Look at the verbal and physical abuse hurled at "terfs" by "cocks in frocks". Where were the "me too" advocates then? When elderly women were punched in the face, where was O'Brien's outrage or do you have to be brown, in whatever hue, to be a victim today?
I also noted amongst all the hand wringing and anguished reporting, a serious claim from within the Greens that this was "all a plot", apparently perpetrated by the Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei!! I would suggest the good Ayatollah is way too busy with his Red Sea escapades to worry about...what's her name again?
For a more traditional left perspective, read James Robb on Workers Now facebook page
Her entire back-story raised many questions. She claimed she had been traumatized by bombing by Iraqi aircraft during the "War of the Cities", yet her home in Mashhad was well beyond their range. She claimed, I understand, to have prosecuted war criminals, yet she was a gofer on the defence team for a prominent Rwandan prosecuted by the war crimes tribunal for inciting genocide and she appeared very happy to pose with him in a photograph. She claimed to have been educated at Oxford - okay, I suppose a summer course just qualifies. Fantasist of liar? You decide. She was however very quick to condemn others, including males of European descent who became "white supremacists" after the mosque shootings, the Speak Up for Women demonstrators at Albert Park, and Israel after it suffered the unspeakable atrocities of 7 October and took action to eliminate the threat of further attacks as is its right under international law.
I await her trial on charges of shoplifting or theft with interest. The CCTV footage which has been circulated in the media appears to show someone who is very calculating and in control of their actions.
As some one close to the issues around shoplifting and retail crime, there’s an acronym used in our industry for the common steps a perpetrator goes through when apprehended shoplifting -it’s called DARVOS. Deny; Attack; Reverse Victim Offender Status. While Golriz didn’t initially deny anything, her silence suggested that she may have believed the whole thing might blow over if she stayed silent, a form of denial. When that didn’t work, her party leaders and pet media sympathisers went on the attack and immediately followed the final step by reversing the offender status into that of the victim. Text book stuff. And as someone who has faced down very real challenges and threats towards my physical safety in that work, not some veiled threat typed out on Twitter, I have never then felt compelled to shoplift as a response to those relatively frequent events. Golriz’s own alleged actions appear to be opportunistic with a high degree of self entitlement driving the underlying motives behind her decisions to commit these acts. Some people actually believe that they are above the law. Until they get caught out. She appeared to be one of them.
It's important to note that while Ghahraman will face charges, she hasn't yet appeared in court and hasn't admitted guilt, although people are likely to draw their own conclusions from the public statements made.
And yet kleptomania (an old-fashioned term that doesn't seem to have been used in this case so far) has been well-recognised for many years and has brought down many famous, wealthy people, often women in the public eye. I can't help thinking that if a National, ACT or NZ First MP was in the same situation, all of you so quick to judge this woman would be urging the media to allow time for more facts to emerge. You all accuse the media of bias, forgetting that when you point a finger there are three pointing back at you.
As I understand it, true kleptomania is a rare condition. Kleptomaniacs habitually and compulsively steal all sorts of stuff - often useless stuff - all the time. I'm sure that if Golriz Ghahraman was a kleptomaniac, it would have been recognised and addressed long before now.
As for your second point, I can't speak for other commenters, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to make excuses for any politician accused of dishonesty. But there's an exquisite piquancy in the fact that an MP who presents herself as a champion of the under-privileged stands accused of stealing expensive designer-label items from a chic boutique patronised by the fashionable Auckland elite of which she appears to be a member.
Golriz’s mental condition -whatever that might be- is reflected across New Zealand society over the past two years since the country emerged from the Covid crisis period. Retail theft rose sharply, and people who one wouldn’t normally associate with shoplifting, have for whatever reasons, shifted gears and feel a compunction to help themselves to the property of others. This attitude could be attributed in part to a breakdown in the fundamental values of our society. Trust in the core institutions, including the government, media, and even the Police. And before you wheel out “it’s because of the economy and people are experiencing tough times and choices” I will point out that in certain sectors, the products stolen are not necessities, but are often desirables, much like what Golriz is alleged to have taken. In fact, her behaviour is now remarkably common and as such, Police prosecutions are actually rare, preferring rather to use diversion and recompense than take it before a judge and courthouse. The evidence to do so has to be strong enough that a conviction will eventuate, otherwise the Police will not pursue that avenue at all, these days.
The media high priestesses have provided absolution for here perceived wrongdoing. It would be churlish to progress criminal charges.
I don't envy the judge. An intelligent functioning woman has deliberately stolen items from a shop. She does know that was a crime. She must be given the usual penalty. Otherwise chaos!
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