Down Under, a loaded interview

Carolyn Moynihan
7 Dec 2012
Reproduced with Permission
Conjugality

Meanwhile, Down Under, following the release of a video called New Marriage Equality Campaign, the public broadcaster Television New Zealand hosts a debate between a marriage defender and a marriage revisionist. No, make that two marriage revisionists, because the interviewer is clearly and aggressively on the side of the "marriage equality" advocate, who happens to be a pop psychologist with his own TVNZ show.

He can be very funny, Nigel Latta, but here he plays all sorts of tricks to avoid the hard questions, like the one the marriage defender, Bob McCoskrie, puts to him: "If we change the definition of marriage, what is to stop a brother and sister marrying?"

Latta brushes this aside and parodies the issue. The interviewer says he would like to think that in our society we wouldn't even consider such "outlandish ideas" as a brother and sister marrying, because that is not a right we would recognise in our civilisation. Which is quite circular and answers nothing. Twenty years ago the idea of two men "marrying" was outlandish in "our civilisation" and now it is being touted as a fundamental human right.

BTW, NZ National Party MP Nick Smith has surveyed his electorate and found: Of the 2263 respondents - the biggest total in 22 years - 1647 (73 per cent) said that marriage should be between a man and a woman, with 575 (23 per cent) saying it should also be available to gay couples. After wavering, it appears he is firmly against NZ's same-sex marriage bill.

Take-home message: If you want to hear a decent debate on same-sex marriage, don't tune into to New Zealand public broadcasting. But if you want to know how loaded it can be, here's the video link: http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/nigel-latta-and-bob-mccoskrie-debate-marriage-equality-video-5264957 (10 minutes)

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