Dr Jarrod Gilbert Sociologist
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Proof of David Farrar’s deception: my own experience of Dirty Politics

24/9/2014

33 Comments

 
FarrarDavid Farrar
In the lead up to the election the Minister of Corrections Anne Tolley launched a gang policy. In order to justify the government’s approach she used gang figures that overstated the gang problem. Not by a little bit, but a lot. And I mean a lot. I couldn’t prove it at the time (I can now) but because they were so obviously nonsense I called her out and said I would eat a suitcase full of carrots if she was correct.

Carrots proved to be the least of my problems. My problem proved to be the dishonest Right Wing blogger David Farrar. I initially took Farrar’s challenge in good humour thinking it would be a healthy tussle to seek the truth. It wasn’t. As we know now, he and Cameron Slater are birds of a feather, but where Slater is dim-witted Farrar is marginally smarter and this makes him more insidious.

Farrar quickly leapt to the Minister’s Defence. He was able to gain the figures – presumably from the Minister’s office – and with them he attempted to ‘prove’ that I was wrong and discredit me. Sound familiar? It was my own little experience of Dirty Politics.

Farrar was resolute in saying that he expected the New Zealand Herald to cover the story of me eating carrots – the Herald having republished my initial blog on their website.

When I retorted and pointed out that I wasn’t wrong he went on the attack again with a second blog, audaciously saying that I had ‘conceded’ the argument. It was an Orwellian fiction attacking my integrity, but the real nastiness came from Farrar’s followers on Kiwiblog where I was rounded on and vilified. Because my blog is read by a small number of people and his by a very large number, most people read his side. To the vast majority of people, then, I had conceded, was wrong and therefore ripe to be attacked. Farrar had done his job. The Minister was forgotten, I was now the one trying to mislead the people.  I was being discredited by mischief and fiction, not by facts and reasoned argument.

I was reading this, hardly believing what was happening.

By this stage, of course, Farrar almost certainly knew he was wrong, but right and wrong is not his concern. His only concern is a political agenda – protect and promote the National party, no matter what the truth is. Deceive and mislead the public, shut up opponents, bury the truth, twist the facts. These are things my training deplores. In fact my last piece on the Minister was praising her work with the Department of Corrections, and I contract to do research for them – and I can’t imagine this helps me getting more – but my only concern is the truth.

I was correct and I have the evidence to prove it. The Minister’s figures were utterly misleading and designed to create a massive problem for political advantage.

It took a while to get the evidence because I had to use the Official Information Act (OIA). I don’t have the privileged position of Farrar to get data on demand. I was going to try, but I thought better of it. In fact, I didn’t even submit the OIA, I got a colleague to, because if Farrar knew this post was coming I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t have continued to attack me. Call me paranoid, but this is exactly how certain Ministers, Slater and Farrar operate. There is undisputed evidence supporting this outlined in Dirty Politics. People can write off Hager if they want to, but they can’t write off the evidence. I recommend everybody read his book.

For the record: the Minister said there were 4,000 gang members in New Zealand. She also said that gang members make up 28 percent of New Zealand’s prison population (meaning only 1,650 are left on the street). Yet in the first quarter of 2014 they were nevertheless said to have been charged with:

  • 34 per cent of class A/B drug offences
  • 36 per cent of kidnapping and abduction offences
  • 25 per cent of aggravated robbery/robbery offences
  • 26 per cent of grievous assault offences

While I could be nit picky and point out that the number of gang members is just less than 4,000 and that that number includes all prospects (not mentioned by the Minister), but that’s neither here nor there in the scheme of things. The real deception is that the crime data included not just gang members and prospects, but a much wider cohort. According to police the ‘gang’ data also included those who:

  • Were charged together with a New Zealand adult (meaning ‘patched’)  gang member for the same offence
  • Had an identified familial tie with a New Zealand adult gang member
  • Had an identified connection to a New Zealand adult gang member

In short, then, the 4,000 figure (leaving aside the incarcerated nonsense which only inflates the ridiculousness) is suddenly bolstered by all those people charged with a gang member, any family member of a gang member, and any other person who has an association with a gang member.

So how big has this group become? This the police didn’t know, or at least didn’t tell me, so let’s ask how many family members and friends each gang member has? In the past the police association has estimated a ratio of one gang member for every 10 associates, but that seems low based on the above criteria. Nevertheless, let’s stick with that for argument’s sake. That means we need to divide the percentage of crimes undertaken by gangs by a factor of 10. That means instead of the 4,000 gang members committing, for example, the 34 percent of class A/B drug offences cited by the Minister becomes just 3.4 percent: maybe slightly more but potentially considerably less than that.*

Farrar might well argue that it doesn’t matter, that gang members and associates, and family members, are all just as guilty as one another, but that’s not what the Minister said, she said the very small number were responsible for a very large number of crimes. Clearly that is not true.

This isn’t a referendum on whether or not you like gangs; it’s an argument for the truth. If a river is 34 percent polluted it’s going to take a much different solution than if it’s 3.4 percent polluted. If your finance manager told you your bad debts were 34 percent, that’s a very different problem than if the actual figure is 3.4 percent. When you inflate a problem multiple times it will entirely change the way you think about it, the means by which you tackle it, and the urgency with which you must move.

This isn’t to say gangs aren’t a problem, but they aren’t the problem the Minister was portraying. And this was my intention, to highlight the truth.

Now, I’m a durable enough bloke and can take a bit of grief, but it was frustrating and I was concerned about my reputation. Yet there are much bigger implications than the impacts on me. Many academics are reserved types, who will not want to speak out in an environment where they will be attacked. The questions then are these: do we want to silence academics trying to fulfil their role as the critics and conscience of society? When ministers are misleading the public, should we say nothing? Of course not, but these are the things Farrar is purposely trying to crush by foul means. 

I need to make it clear that I am not saying academics should not be questioned on their views because any decent academic will relish a good argument.  My point is that those connected to the corridors of power should not set out on a premeditated plan to stifle such debate with dishonest nonsense.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Farrar needs to be called out. He needs to be seen as a quisling to truth and an enemy of facts. His influence is undeniably negative.

Despite Farrar peddling fiction, he will still have been read by more people than me. In the minds of many I will always be wrong. Furthermore, the fact that the Minister misled the public is long forgotten. Like a puff of smoke the original concern disappears. This is David Farrar and Cameron Slater’s agenda. It is not in the country’s interest that we make it ours.

*we still don’t know the exact number without gaining the Police’s raw data, but at least we are now in the right ball park. The Police Association, in the last estimation I have seen, said gang associates measured 60,000. Using that number would further reduce the figures.



33 Comments
Mark
24/9/2014 07:25:13 am

A good post. However, Farrar has published a mea culpa so you didn't have to be so bitchy about it all.

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Phil
24/9/2014 07:56:37 am

Mark - I've been reading kiwiblog for 8 years now, and have caught Farrar out dissembling, obfuscating, misleading, slandering, character assassinating, dog-whistling and misleading the public so many times it's abundantly obvious these are all conscious MOs of the guy. This is beyond a joke. Farrar and his crypto-fascist mates in the National Party are trying to kill our democracy, and apologists like you are enabling him. Shame on you.

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Daryll
24/9/2014 08:02:31 am


Mark, regarding Farrar's mea culpa, this highlights the point about how he works. The damage has been done already. If proven wrong or 'caught out' they (the likes of Farrar & Slater) rely on the old practice of 'it's much easier to gain forgiveness than permission'.


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Murray Smith
24/9/2014 08:32:11 am

Whoa ... I'm sure Dr Gilbert knows the meaning of cognitive dissonance even if you don't. Nice example of it however. Your equivocation over one example of Farrar's behaviour however, doesn't dilute the truth of the filthy way both he and Slater operate, in fact it imitates it - turning the tables back on the character of the messenger. Nice move.

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Rewa
25/9/2014 03:39:57 am

"Your equivocation over one example of Farrar's behaviour however, doesn't dilute the truth of the filthy way both he and Slater operate, in fact it imitates it - turning the tables back on the character of the messenger. "

I believe this sounds like the long explanation of the age old narcissistic practice of 'projection', an insidious & psychologically abusive tool of communication - which fits well with the characters of both Farrar and Slater.

Shane Murphy
24/9/2014 11:43:11 pm

The fact that this man is chief propagandist of the national Party should not be underestimated. He may not be as bad as Slater but is is far more effective and insidious. Remember he was the mastermind of the pronational astroturf "taxpayers union" and obviously has studied well at the font of Koch brothers tactics.

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ian Dalziel
24/9/2014 11:51:22 pm

I hadn't realised how much of a 'Tag Team' operation kiwiblog is...

Any 'bitchiness' is well earned, and well directed
- apologies from that end of the continuum are, I'm sure, fulsome in the negative meaning - ie insincere - or even, you can 'fool some ' of the people, some of the time...
;- )

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Verpal Singh link
26/9/2014 05:27:53 am

Re: Farrar's "mea culpa" here's what NZ Herald says. Although it is strange that Fischer attributes detection of wrong data to NZ Police:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11330954
[The editing of some parts is deliberate, to show how the main impact of some factual information can be blunted by the way one structures the presentation.]

"Yesterday, Farrar blogged "Jarrod was right". "May have some carrots to eat," he added.
But Farrar's mea culpa... ...came less than two hours after the Herald called the Minister's press secretary Gillon Carruthers for comment. ... ...Minister gave Farrar advance warning so he could "defend himself".
Mr Carruthers confirmed he had previously given details to Farrar and contacted the blogger again yesterday, saying it was to "apologise for the stats not being clear enough".
In Dirty Politics, Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater is quoted saying: "I got those stats out of Tolley's office, seems Gillon has worked out that feeding the whale might help."

Reply
Daryll
24/9/2014 07:56:13 am

Mark, regarding Farrar's mea culpa, this highlights the point about how he works. The damage has been done already. If proven wrong or 'caught out' they (the likes of Farrar & Slater) rely on the old practice of 'it's much easier to gain forgiveness than permission'.

Reply
Lindsay
24/9/2014 08:02:55 am

Thank you for your post. Helen Clark used the term "civil society organizations" in a speech recently. If our civil society organizations are afraid to speak the truth because they face being abused and discredited by tools of the government, we are in a very parlous state indeed. I don't think it's bitchy to point that out.

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Alison
24/9/2014 08:27:10 am

Thank you for having the courage to write this. It happened to me too. Farrar is a truly evil man. Sad that telling the truth is now damaging to one's reputation, but telling lies gets you favour with the National government.

Reply
greenfly
24/9/2014 12:01:45 pm

Hello, Jarrod. I understand exactly what you are saying here and support your saying it. I have the honour (?) of having been thrice been "banned for life" from Farrar's blog. I challenged his position, repeatedly, and was 'silenced' for doing so. I changed my 'name' several times in order to continue in my efforts to represent truth on Kiwiblog, but was revealed by my insistence and style. Slater once joined the fray, warning me that "if you wrestle with pigs, you get covered in sh*t", and so it is.

Greenfly

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Shane Murphy
24/9/2014 11:45:08 pm

Yes he has a very bad habit of banning anyone who produces facts to deconstruct his fiction. I, too, have been banned.

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Humph
24/9/2014 02:51:48 pm

My own experiences with them aren't worth repeating, but, welcome to the club Jarrod ;)

There's no T-shirt (yet, but maybe that's an idea for the future), no membership card, just a distaste for arrogance, lies, corruption, Farrar, Slater and this National party generally.

Anyway, an idea that's been rumbling round my head for a long while is that this system of government and recently, it's media hitmen lackies - Herald included - isn't working - if it ever did. Joining in and trying to change or improve this system will never work, because it's owned by them, their corporate backers, their corporate propaganda outfits - all backed with a (semi?) complicit entrenched bureacracy, judiciary and police. Even when Labour's been in, corruption and lies were common, just maybe not on the same scale as we see today.

This time around only 27.9% of eligible voters actually voted National, About 30% voted for others and just under 40% didn't vote - if that's not a vote of no confidence for what we're served up, I don't know what is. So, perhaps it's time to say 'No' and focus energies into changing the system to something that works for all, not just 27.9% and the self serving 'right honourables' they voted in.

Psychology shows clearly why 'No' to this system is the only answer because study after study, plus history, shows that money and politics individually create greed, lust for more power, liars and corruption - together they create what what we're served up in the beehive.

For a start, a 'no confidence' party and go from there - there's three years to get it right and plenty of smart people who know this system of government is not working and who want to something new (even some National voters...) - I see them on twitter etc every day.

Some ideas are, it has to include more direct democracy, no career politicians, and real consequences for lies and corruption. A socialist utopia won't work either, humans will always trade and need a mode of exchange, but a free market is just that, not socialism for the corporations and rich who own them as it is now (TPP etc...). Evidence based, peer reviewed policy. Equal opportunity through education... I've gone on way more than intended, but you get the idea - something to think about and I'll probably be banging on about it over the next three years...

Humph..

@politicallyconz

Reply
Les Karaitiana
25/9/2014 04:04:00 am

Humph i am certainly a starter was an awesome read keep me notified i am currently in Christchurch am researching Common Law Principles another awesome journey...

Reply
Humph
26/9/2014 08:41:07 am

Can you connect on twitter as a start? I'm not a facebook person - but suppose I might have to be if this gains some legs.

shindig
25/9/2014 01:07:20 am

What I don't understand is how Farrar seems to still DOMINATE Radio NZ's political commentary for the right.

He's such a poisoned character, more so when I read blogs like this, yet RNZ's NineToNoon and The Panel blithely continue putting him up as a serious commentator.

They need to take this poisonous man off their (and our) air.

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Pete
25/9/2014 02:36:34 pm

Agreed. And the hideous expansion of business 'news' into increasingly long gushing segments. Honestly, sometimes I get they feeling they want to brainwash us into not being citizens, but shareholders...

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Pete
25/9/2014 02:37:01 pm

Agreed. *And* the hideous expansion of business 'news' into increasingly long gushing segments. Honestly, sometimes I get they feeling they want to brainwash us into not being citizens, but shareholders...

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Raymond
25/9/2014 02:47:10 am

Those KiwiBlog commentators – there seem to be a few dozen heavy users – are a vicious bunch: they spout nothing but ad hominems and propaganda. I no longer visit the site, as it's just a hateful echo chamber. The sooner KiwiBlog and its sister site disappear off the NZ media scene, the better. At least we all now know who's pulling the strings.

Keep up the good work, Dr Gilbert.

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Featherston
25/9/2014 02:53:47 am

Farrar's roles with the media give him literally a 'cradle-to-grave' opportunity to think up pro-National framing, test it via his polling, plant it with the wingnuts on Whale oil, reflect to the moderates on Kiwiblog and then give it the final "independent commentator's" seal of approval when he's on the RNZ Panel, with Jim Mora.

Who noticed that Farrar was also Radio NZ's expert commentator on its election special programme on Saturday night. That really was the last straw. Just after Katherine Ryan had mentioned that she and Brent Edwards would be talking to Farrar, she lauched into some quite direct questioning of the hapless Vkram Kumar, of the Internet Party. "What went so wrong for you? Why?".
I wish Kumar had answered by saying "How do you expect any party to be doing, when you have National's chief strategist masquerading as your independent political commentator".

I am going to write to Paul Thompson the new CEO of RNZ and ask him if RNZ stands for ethics and integrity in journalism and broadcasting and then request that RNZ stop using him as a commentator. I'd like to think (perhaps naively) that if enough people objected, RNZ might do something. Another idea is an online petition asking RNZ to stop using him.

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Andrew
25/9/2014 03:15:59 am

The thing that blew me away was that he was introduced only as 'a pollster and blogger.'
No mention of his ties to the National Party whatsoever.
It actually took John Key to thank him by name on the night before the audience was made aware of his connection ...

Reply
shindig
25/9/2014 04:23:10 am

At the very LEAST, RNZ needs to always introduce him as the National Party's official pollster, rather than blogger/commentator.


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Jacquelyne Taylor
25/9/2014 04:04:43 am

Farrar has been packaged as the seemingly more benign blog but has as much of a pirahana pack as Slater. Many swim in both.

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Pete
25/9/2014 02:29:32 pm

Do you remember Judith Collins as Minister of Justice claiming that she was going to get tough on organised crime/gangs this year?

http://beehive.govt.nz/release/new-bill-will-help-combat-organised-crime

Well, there is a particular irony that there has been a serious explosion of organised crime (four NZ gangs at last count and Asian triads) particularly in the past four year,s to launder highly prized swamp kauri out of the ground and out of the country illegally and mainly into the hands of Chinese elite. There is seriously big money - and Oravida - involved. See the bottom of this story:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503402&objectid=11322601

MPI are deliberately turning a blind eye, possibly with political intervention. The greatest wealth of Northland is being laundered out of the poorest communities. It's time we started applying the c-word, corruption to this, and exposing what is really going on here and elsewhere. Collins and her husband are profiting from the very organised crime she made a song and dance about putting reigns on.

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lilbro
26/9/2014 12:59:58 am

Thanks for your efforts. New to this blog. It gives me some hope. The left have to hang together and a quality independent, media is essential for our democracy to resume.
I say going to add 'non commercial' but that is not relevant given what has happened to Radio New Zealand.

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Theo
26/9/2014 03:24:05 am

Jarod,

Are you aware that Farrar is a member of the Online Media Standards Authority? You could potentially take a complaint to them - I understand he has posted an apology, but as you say, the damage has already been done. A complaint to OMSA may send a strong message Farrars way?

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reason
26/9/2014 10:04:06 am

I stopped visiting and commenting on kiwi blog about half way through Helen Clarkes term as prime minister.

I got tired if arguing with a lynch mob and on the basis of life's to short to pick though shit I have not been back. My internet experience is much more pleasant without going near Farrars national party center for bigots, racists and official govt misinformation.

Its obvious to me and anyone who has been watching that Farrar is a slippery dishonest national party spin merchant who is neck deep in the nasty attack stuff of dirty politics.

Apart from that the thing about this slimey dirt merchant which annoys me is his naming his red-neck lynch mob of a site 'kiwiblog'.

Kiwis are an Icon of our country and certainly do not represent anything underhanded or filthy.

Unlike his site.

Reply
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Blake
11/2/2022 10:05:24 pm

David Farrar is now a Supreme Court Judge for Halifax, Nova Scotia. I do not know the story or details about the NZ Gang Population or what Farrar said... I am curious however because he is reviewing a case with Hells Angels gang. https://canoe.com/news/crime/top-court-to-hear-appeal-in-hells-angels-ordered-killing-in-nova-scotia

Can you please reply with some more details about Farrar's time in New Zealand Politics... and how he became a Supreme Court Judge with the reputation he has

Reply



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