INTELLIGENCE FREE ZONE

Kim Dotcom is dangerous, declares Mike Hosking.

I THINK MIKE HOSKING intersects with real life at few points on any given day.  In the morning, he walks out of the cocooned, sealed-off environment of his swanky house (I'm assuming it is  in Remuera or somewhere similar), gets into the cocooned, sealed-off environment of his Maserati and then travels to work, where he spends a few hours in the cocooned, sealed-off environment of the Newstalk ZB studio. Later in the day he gets back into the cocooned,sealed-off environment of his Maserati and travels to TVNZ  where he spends more time in the cocooned, sealed-off environment of a television studio.

You would like to think Hosking might hanker to blow  some  fresh air through his fetid world. It seems not. His only distraction seems to be to sit in the manicured and pampered  environment  of a expensive  restaurant, where he and the wife spend as much on a meal as a South Auckland family spend on groceries each week.  But in the words of comedian  Ernie Wise, Hosking is relaxed about his privileged position because it is due recognition 'for the talent what I've got.'

It is from his cloistered and privileged   world that Hosking delivers  his uninformed  opinions to people he has little interest or affinity for. He speaks to people while swigging down another glass of Pinot Noir and preening himself in the mirror, while weighting up the implications of  changing his brand of hair product.

And he  is mindnumbingly predictable. In an age of conservative commentators, the only way Hosking can distinguish himself from the pack is by being more gung ho conservative than everyone else. The default position for Hosking is to love John Key and  to castigate and mock his detractors.

Mike Hosking writes on the Newstalk ZB  website. But he does not write well,  reason well, or know much about anything. There should be a warning attached to all his columns: 'Intelligence Free Zone'.

When Nicky's Hager's book was published Hosking declared  that it 'amounted to nothing'. He even said that no one would be talking about it by Friday, two days after publication. On Monday, Hosking was attacking  Nicky Hager  and Dirty Politics on his radio show.

Yesterday Hosking again went into bat for the Prime Minister declaring  that Kim Dotcom to be  'dangerous, plain and simple.' And, what's more, if you do not understand that 'you're not normal'.  So there. Hosking's argument  is as enlightening as a schoolboy sticking out his  tongue at you.

Having 'established'  that Dotcom is 'dangerous' Hosking then proceeds  to smear more of John Key's opponents , namely  Hone Harawira  and Laila Harre. Even David Cunliffe , according to Hosking,  is 'tainted' by his association to Dotcom.

I don't hold any brief for Internet Mana or Labour but I would point to Hosking's remarkable  hypocrisy, which is one of his few 'talents'.

Hosking is tainted not by his 'association' to Cameron Slater, but by his open and determined  support for him.

While condemning  Dotcom as 'dangerous', Hosking  praises the  sleaze merchant. Indeed on one Seven Sharp show  he informed the viewers that Slater  often agreed with his opinions and ran with them  on the  Whaleoil website. This apparently makes Cameron Slater a man of class and discernment.

I would of thought describing a  young man  who died in a car accident as 'feral'  is as  grubby as it gets. As is describing  Christchurch earthquake victims as 'scum'. 

Hosking also does not have any problems with Slater  being in the pay of the tobacco industry. Of course this is not surprising since Hosking isn't averse to some 'cash for comment' either.

Like the Prime Minister who he adores, Hosking just can't find it in himself to condemn Cameron Slater. At the heart of  his 'politics' is venal self-interest. He recognises a fellow traveller in Cameron Slater.

Kim Dotcom is definitely dangerous  though. Why else would he be causing trouble for John Key?