pn866. Spoonley warns against increasing extremism and toxicity

Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley

warns against increasing extremism

in Wellington protest and elsewhere.

It has been interesting to watch media and public commentators come to the realisation – sometimes slowly – that the siege of parliament was not simply an anti-vaccine mandate “protest” but something with more sinister elements.

While researchers and journalists have noted the toxicity of some of the politics on display, as well the presence of extreme fringe activists and groups, it should have come as little surprise.

These politics have been developing for some time, heavily influenced by the rise of a particular form of conspiratorial populism out of Donald Trump’s America, and by the networking and misinformation possibilities of social media.

Internationally, researchers noted a decisive shift in 2015-16 and the subsequent exponential growth of extremist and vitriolic content online.

Click here to read the full article.

The Botched Census and What To Do About It

Click to listen to Prof Paul Spoonley     pn343

UPDATE. It's now 700,000 not 400,000!!!!
Click here.
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Our first attempt to produce a census with people completing their return on line seems to have been a disaster.

 One might have thought @StatsNZ would had a trial go before replacing the old system when people completed hard copy returns, delivered and collected personally to their front doors.  With this census you could request the personal delivery but it would appear that as many as 400,000 (see Update above, now 700,000!) people did not, or did not complete the return online.  That's one person in every ten, with proportionally more omissions from remote areas, poor people and Maori.

"Cultural differences are an asset not a problem"

This is what he said about Tauranga Pn48 

Massey University's Sociology professor Paul Spoonley is a well known commentator on race, ethnicity, immigration, regional growth (click on Tauranga comments, left) and related matters. 

He thinks New Zealanders face a nationwide challenge convincing people that cultural differences are an asset and not a problem. There are pockets where it's better and worse, but contact often helps.  Read what he has to say.