JUST MY IMAGINATION

Is it just my imagination, or is politics becoming ever more about perception and less and less about reality? For example National’s John Key went off to China yesterday saying, "We are going to use the hiccup of a false [botulism] reading in 2013 and turn that into an attempt to demonstrate it actually shows how clear, transparent and responsive our [food safety] system is."

That’s like Union Carbide attempting to demonstrate to India how clear, transparent and responsive  their gas production safety system is - in the United States. 

If I were a Chinese mother I’d be less interested in the perception of what happened in New Zealand in 2013 and more influenced by the reality of what happened in China in 2008. 

Meanwhile back here inside the New Zealand bubble the line between political perception and reality continues to stretch and blur into a credibility gap which gives rise to odd questions like, is Labour’s David Cunliffe really a master of the Vulcan mind meld?  And if he is, why on earth would he want to be of one mind with his main rival Shane Jones? as he claimed to be last Friday regards refusing to be lectured by an Australian. 

That’s like Mowgli gazing dazedly into the eyes of Kaa.  However, if I were a gambler, I would hedge any bets on who was playing the role of the innocent boy and which the cunning snake.  Perception and reality might actually match in either case. 

As for the offending Australian in question, Russel Norman of the Greens, he is being threatened with legal action by the Conservatives' Colin Craig for giving the perception at the Big Gay Out that Mr Craig wanted to keep women in the kitchen and homosexuals in the closet.  Apparently the reality is that Mr Craig doesn’t just deny the perception, he also wants to raise the level of debate involved. 

To achieve that, all Colin Craig need do is make sure any perception matches the reality of his actions.  It would cost him a lot less than suing and would also deny the Australian a podium from which to lecture further.

The 2011 general election saw a record low voter turnout, and here we are now less than six month’s out from election 2014.  What is the aggregate affect of all these mismatched political perceptions and realities likely to be on the voting public? 

One potential affect is that even less of us will take part in election 2014 than took part in election 2011.  If that happens, then it won’t matter whether it’s Key or Cunliffe who forms the next government because, other than the poor getting poorer and the rich richer, nothing will change anyway. 

And that is reality, not just my imagination.