With a few patronising digs (including the classic 'just try, just a little bit, to think...'), Latta laid out the case that the media were just being mean, and he backed it all up with some outrageously untrue assertions, and got eleventy-billion likes on social media, because everybody likes to be smug and think they're better than the nasty media.
But you don't look like a knight on your high horse, like you think you do. You just look like a freaking prat.
The first, most obvious point is that the only person who was making the claim that being a sex worker was shameful was Latta himself, drawing attention to it like a fucking prude. It's a legal profession, and the people who work in it have nothing to be ashamed of. The reporters covering the case don't have time for any puritanical judgement, they've got a 5pm deadline to meet.
The second point comes from one of Latta's blatant falsehoods, that if she was an office manager or an IT worker or a librarian, that wouldn't be part of the headline.
But if a significant amount of librarians in one town were getting assaulted and murdered in a relatively short period of time, then of course that would be the fucking angle. Christchurch has a tragic history of violence against sex workers - it's not just a one-off thing. They're obviously not safe in Canterbury, and while there is some unfortunate generalisations in lumping all of these poor victims under the same banner, it is an awful trend that needs to be examined.
Latta's sneering reached an apex of bullshit with his claim that there were loads of murders that didn't get that type of media attention, and they only paid attention this time because of the salacious aspect of the case, which is just so wrong it's mind-boggling. One of the great things about living in this shitty little country at the arse end of the planet is that murders are actually pretty rare, and they are all covered heavily, with few unsolved cases on the country's books. All these mysterious, unreported murders were just a figment of a limited imagination.
As a middle-brow expert on everything, Latta has a loyal audience who can't be bothered checking if he is actually full of bullshit or not, and it's easy to see why his tirade against the media received so many likes and support.
It's not just the obvious media bashing, which is fairly understandable, it's showing how goddamn sensitive you are. What a great fucking human being you are, because even though you don't give a fuck about the horrific fate of the poor victim, you can pretend you do with a Facebook like.
But this isn't a story about Latta's feelings, or his audiences. It's about the ongoing murders and assaults of sex workers in the city of Christchurch, and it's as simple as fucking that. Stop fucking grabbing these stories to show the world how much you care, it's not about that. It's bigger than you.
It's not always about you, Nigel, so back the fuck off.
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