In defence of the 'hua'

The Eleanor Catton vs National Government "debate" has turned into a name-calling fest far beyond its real importance.
Those who agree with the Man Booker Prize-winning author are labelled whinging lefties, greenies and ingrates.
Those who disagree are claiming victory for the right in that their invective was more visceral and point-scoring.
For those who missed this story, Eleanor Catton was at the Jaipur Literary Festival in India when she let rip with a few opinions about the arts scene in New Zealand.
"I feel uncomfortable being an ambassador for my country when my country is not doing as much as it could, especially for the intellectual world," she said, among other things. She also mentioned the country's "neoliberal, profit-obsessed, very shallow, very money-hungry politicians".
Sean Plunket on his RadioLive show called her an "ungrateful hua", so he insists, given time to consider his actual words if not his meaning. He also called her a traitor. By his reasoning, anyone who did not vote National in the last election are also traitors.
John Key said, "She has been aligned with the Green Party, and that probably summarises the Green Party view of this Government.
"I don't think that reflects what most New Zealanders perceive of the Government. If it was, they probably wouldn't have voted for us in such large numbers."
If I may be allowed my tuppence worth ...
Writing is a solitary occupation. Being successful at it makes one no less an individual, representative of neither country nor dogma. If Ms Catton wants to criticise the New Zealand Government in whatever forum she chooses, that is her right - as it is anybody's. She was forthright and intelligent in her criticism.
It is also the right of others to disagree and they're allowed to give their point of view. It would have been better if Sean Plunket was less rabid and a little more considered and if John Key was less patronising. To refer to her politics as an excuse for her opinion was petty and just a little bit stupid. Sean Plunket also inferred that anyone who receives taxpayers' money was not entitled to an opinion of their own. True, Ms Catton has received public monies, but that should in no way muzzle her. You can't buy people's loyalty. She's also right in that far more money gets spent on temporary sports events than far-reaching arts. The $12 million given to Team New Zealand makes arts funding look a pittance. And even all that money doesn't guarantee a loyal sportsman.
It hasn't stopped famous yachtsmen, previously well-funded by the Kiwi taxpayer, to up stakes and take their skills to an opposing team and a bigger salary. I didn't hear cries of "traitor" and accusations of "ungrateful" being spouted by the likes of Sean Plunket then. Their actions spoke a lot louder than Ms Catton's words but then they're not some uppity, female writer who wrote something that obnoxious talk-back hosts are too frightened to read in case their vocabulary can't stretch to cope with it.
As the "debate" simmers, the Prime Minister has suggested that her political opinions carry no weight because she's a writer not a politician. Apparently a man who spent his life as a currency trader and recently became Prime Minister (and a politician) knows more about politics and is therefore entitled to say such a condescending thing.
That he also managed to slight Richie McCaw at the same time speaks volumes about the hubris of John Key. He picks on Richie at his peril.
The argument has descended into sound bites, pithy sentences and one-liners that, by their very brevity, sound intelligent. The fact that the "big boys" are fighting back at all says a lot about the national (small 'n') insecurity and the need to attack anyone who dares have a differing point of view. If they had left the thing alone it would have been yesterday's fish and chip wrapping by now, but no, now it's gone international with papers around the world picking up on it.
The silly thing is, with all the writers available to John Key, the best he can come up with are mediocre comments at best, leaving it to Ms Catton to take the intelligent line.
Most democracies would not find a writer expressing an opinion shocking, she said, but what would be "truly" shocking would be one who "swore fealty to her government rather than to deep-felt values and ideals; who regarded arts funding as hush money and a part-time teaching position as an intellectual gag".
In an interview with the Guardian, she criticised "the scale and shabbiness of this jingoistic national tantrum".
"I believe it can be countered only with eloquence, imagination, and reasoned debate - qualities that might seem to have disappeared from our national conversation, but that persist, and will continue to persist, despite efforts to humiliate and silence those who speak out."