Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Opinion

Rachel Stewart: I'm back and I'm not staying quiet

By Rachel Stewart
NZ Herald·
22 Jan, 2019 03:25 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Rachel Stewart says we better get talking and listening to each other - and fast. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Rachel Stewart says we better get talking and listening to each other - and fast. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Opinion by Rachel StewartLearn more

COMMENT: It's 2019, and I am rebranding as the only columnist any rational person will ever want.

Yes, that's right. In a world short on time and long on empty words, no more will you feel the need to read your regular partisan hack, who is rabbiting their reckonings with about as much relevance as Kodak.

Why? Because I will be the greatest revolutionary. The supreme radical. The most rebellious. To achieve this, in the age of extreme political polarisation, I only have to do one thing - but do it well. Be the voice of reason.

And when I say 'reason' I don't mean I'll never have a strong opinion again. Oh, no. You can bank on that. But, there's a way of holding an opinion that should not be offered, or automatically received, as coming from a place of tribalism or political partisanship - unless it is actually coming from that place. The world is riddled with commentators like that.

And because the far-left tends to despise me as much as the far-right, I feel uniquely placed to be that voice of reason. I've earned it. I've given blood. I've suffered. I've consistently been an equal-opportunity commentator, unconstrained by petty political party affiliations. Democracy is but a veneer anyway, don't you think?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In 2019, democracy is closer than ever to finally being unequivocally outed as deeply undemocratic. That it can straight-faced deliver the likes of Brexit, Trump and Putin, one must ask whether the looming global apocalypse can't be sped up slightly. I mean, democracy's a lovely idea an' all but, it's over. It exists in name only.

You see, because I take the helicopter view of mostly everything these days, I possess a large measure of pure disconnection. I truly don't care about the latest political scandal, or who's sleeping with who. It's ultimately meaningless to anyone but the protagonists.

What I don't take a helicopter view of, is watching the polarisation between people turn into a gaping, yawning chasm of hatred and enmity - the perfect breeding ground for massive societal breakdown. And bloodshed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The ever-present emotional danger of even attempting to have a conversation about something that is important to us, with those who see it entirely differently, means we are choosing demonisation and abuse over logic and fairness. Far easier to retreat into our tribes, and throw Stone Age rocks from the entrance of our respective caves.

Which is where the importance of free speech comes in. The preference right now is to ban anyone or anything that threatens one's trigger points. It is a dangerous road. Bumpy, rutted, potholed - and ultimately leading over a cliff. To silence anything that may potentially make you feel 'unsafe' is to have missed Growing Up Lesson 101: The World Is Not Safe.

To deny that reality is to believe that you are the centre of the universe. In other words, a narcissist. To cure this malady, a clue lies in trying to see things from other people's perspective. It means engaging willingly in conversations that may test us, upset us, or teach us. It means welcoming dialogue and conversation that are entered into in good faith.

In a column late last year, I commented on investments that both Warren Buffett and George Soros hold. For my troubles, I was called an anti-Semite for mentioning Soros, who is Jewish. Nothing for mentioning Buffett, who is not. This is now the level stooped to when people don't like an opinion. They are looking for reasons that aren't there. They are playing the woman, and not the ball. It's unintelligent and conspiratorial. It helps nobody and nothing. Without the willingness to enter into good faith discourse, we are perfectly set up to experience what we are seeing right now. A divided world on the brink of catastrophe. For instance, the political intersection around what constitutes climate change actions - let alone, solutions - will soon become so large that even big rigs will start doing regular burnouts on it.

Discover more

Opinion

Rachel Stewart: Climate - Don't say I didn't warn you

16 Oct 04:00 PM
Opinion

Rachel Stewart: 'Trump of tropics' latest psycho in club

30 Oct 04:00 PM
Opinion

Rachel Stewart: Why today's feminists leave me underwhelmed - and males contented

13 Nov 04:00 PM
Opinion

Rachel Stewart: TERF wars - a derogatory term to shut down debate

27 Nov 04:00 PM

And if you accept, as I do, that climate change (and all of the fresh hell it will bring with it) is the single biggest challenge facing human civilisation today, then we better get talking and listening to each other, and fast. Everything else is just a distraction.

So, as nothing is rarer these days than applying reason to our conversations, it's safe to say, it's the new extremism. I am officially declaring myself an extremist. If I make you feel "unsafe" for pushing free speech and open dialogue, then don't read me. Easy.

But if these things are important to you, and you're as intelligent and rational as I clearly am, in 2019, I'm your gal!

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Plague of hoons' on motorbikes tearing up Tauranga parks

13 Jul 07:03 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Making NZ top destination for international students

13 Jul 06:55 PM
Premium
Opinion

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Plague of hoons' on motorbikes tearing up Tauranga parks

'Plague of hoons' on motorbikes tearing up Tauranga parks

13 Jul 07:03 PM

'Off they go waving their finger in the air.'

Making NZ top destination for international students

Making NZ top destination for international students

13 Jul 06:55 PM
Premium
Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Sam Ruthe breaks NZ records in LA

Sam Ruthe breaks NZ records in LA

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP