OPINION:
Who Wants To Be A Politician – season 1.
It may sound like a title of a gameshow and sometimes watching from the sidelines it does feel like a blood sport full of winners of losers, but recently I have started to wonder who on earth would ever want to be a politician.
It must take a very special kind of person who pursues that role of being in a world where you can one minute be top of the pops and then all of a sudden find yourself enemy number one.
Maybe my problem is that I am too passive, too much "going with flow" and just getting on with it, but if I was more active in the pursuit of making the world a better place then maybe I would naturally morph into a community leader. The problem is I have my own stuff going on and am much more comfortable trying to sort out my own little bubble, leaving politics to those who want to do it.
The game of politics is brutal one - you spend your life trying to make it better for everyone else and, like on a game show, you hope a win is on the cards, but sometimes you answer wrong and it's all downhill with everyone passing comments. I guess the one thing the pandemic has showed us all, especially those who are passive like me, is just how important this so-called game show is. But honestly, who would apply?
I remember reading the comments under a photo of a politician who was spending time with her child and the comments were simply horrendous. I have one friend who refuses to watch a certain TV show because the presenter has a relationship with a political figure, missing out on some fascinating telly simply because of their anger at the current situation that has nothing to do with transporting homes on a truck – that scrutiny is next-level. Throw in choosing a wedding venue and all of a sudden you are in the firing line for anything
Yes, I totally understand that these figures put themselves forward to represent us and that's great but surely we need to take a leaf from singer Adeles' book and Go Easy on them in the right circumstances before we scare anyone else off from putting up their hand.
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Advertise with NZME.Imagine if every decision you made today had Tova and Jessica shoving a microphone in your face and questioning it. Imagine if your role at work was restructured today and then you went home and watched the news to find out how everybody actually felt about you, those who loved what you did at work and those who couldn't stand another day working in your team.
Accountability is important when you are dealing with the livelihood of a nation and its people and the banter about who you like and what you don't is a great thing for democracy, but I worry we are missing out on some great people putting their hand up to keep the cycle of politics going.
I love the fact we debate decisions and stand up for what we believe in but the way we attack and make vile comments is getting out hand. Willy Moon and Natalie Kills , when doing the X Factor years ago, were sent packing after making some fairly personal comments about a contestant because we all thought it was a bit mean, but it was no worse than some of the stuff I read and see now.
Ok, the contestants weren't running the country or sitting in the Opposition bench, but it still didn't sit comfortably with many.
Tomorrow we will no doubt be waiting to see who the next contestant in the game show Who Wants To Be A Politician will be. But we must be more like The Chase and less Squid Games about it all before there are no more contestants left.
