Terry Sarten: Fame, money and power the reward for obnoxious bullies

OBNOXIOUS: Being a twit has not stopped Donald Trump.

HAVE you noticed how some people have become wealthy and famous by being obnoxious twits? I certainly have.

Donald Trump, Paul Henry, Mike Hosking ... there are female versions as well, notably British celebrated nasty person Katie Hopkins.

I have taken note of the twittish things that obnoxious people say and the parallels between their huge fame/notoriety and their wealth, and have come to the conclusion that if we can't beat them, then join them.

The first step is to pick a minority group of some description. It is helpful if this group can be readily identified as there is no point denigrating a specific group of people if, in fact, there is no way to surmise they might belong to said group.

For example: Hating bad drivers only works in traffic; once they are out of their cars you can't tell that they are lunatics behind the wheel unless they crash into you in the street while making revving engine noises, and only toddlers do that kind of thing. And you can't pick on them 'cos they are cute.

Finding a good target for venom and ridicule requires something more visible and obvious.

Donald Trump has gone through the field of hate objects and left very little for the apprentice obnoxious twit to choose from. He has verbally abused Mexicans, immigrants, entire religions, US soldiers who were captured in war, people with disabilities, Native Americans, the media, and anybody who does not agree with him. All that's left is telling people who don't own guns that they are all wusses - and that is probably about to happen.

Paul Henry is a different sort of obnoxious twit, as is Mike Hosking.

It is hard to see why they are television presenters - both seem to have no sense of perspective and look at the world from their little golden studio throne with no concept of how they appear to those listening to their twaddle.

Or perhaps they do know, and have worked out that being obnoxious is keeping them in work - so why stop when you can get paid to do it?

There is a woman in Britain who is well known for saying and writing completely outrageous comments about social issues.

Katie Hopkins has described depression as "the ultimate passport to self-obsession" and has said dementia sufferers are blocking beds and should be euthanised to save the health service money. And she has made a fortune from mouthing off about the most vulnerable.

She even wrote a piece about her own lack of empathy and how it did not bother her.

She is a newspaper columnist, was paid 400,000 to be on Celebrity Big Brother, is a regular on TV and has her own show.

She herself has said that her stance is a commodity. She uses Twitter to provoke outrage, re-tweeting controversial comments till one gets a bite that rebounds around the Twitterverse to ensure that she is being talked about. She has been dubbed the Most Hated Person in Britain but she is clearly making a good living by ridiculing those not in a position to defend themselves. This kind of behaviour is sometimes called cowardly - but we all know that the kind of people who would say that are exactly the kind of people we need to keep out of the country.

If we are to become a great nation, all new arrivals should be checked for signs of empathy at the border and be deported if they have anything that indicates they might care about their fellow humans. That would be cheaper than building a wall across the Tasman Sea to keep them out.

The future is clear. I need to find a defenceless section of society, subject them to ridicule in my column, then apply for a job as a TV talk show presenter or pitch for president of the United States.

**Terry Sarten is a writer, musician, social worker and satirista. Feedback welcome at tgs@inspire.net.nz