Play the ball not the person

Shocked at the criticism of Nadia Lim

Like many across Aotearoa and the world, we have been shocked to read about DGL chief executive Simon Henry and his comments about our much loved Nadia Lim.  

What was said

If you haven’t heard or read he said “I can tell you and you can quote me … When you’ve got Nadia Lim, when you’ve got a little bit of Eurasian fluff in the middle of your prospectus with a blouse unbuttoned showing some cleavage, and that’s what it takes to sell your scrip, then you know you’re in trouble.”

Google informs me that Simon Henry holds a 57.3% share and is the founder of DGL –  a chemical supply chain management company. I am frustrated and disappointed by this man but also society at the moment and where we appear to be heading. Mr Henry’s comments about Nadia Lim’s ethnic origins and cleavage are both sexist and racist. 

The issues I have

You may have guessed that I have a few issues with this. One is that the National Business Review, who interviewed Mr Henry and who published the article didn’t call him out at the time and that they made the decision to publish the article.  The optimist in me is hoping they wanted to call him out and did this intentionally but I doubt it.

The second issue I have is that this type of school yard, name calling is becoming more and more prevalent and wahine seem to be bearing the brunt of it.  Our PM Jacinda Arden is often at the forefront of many personal attacks as have many of our local body council representatives recently.

Play the ball not the person

Play the ball not the person people – unless you’re literally playing a real game where this is permitted. Let’s get beyond skin pigmentation, gender and physical judgements.  It should not matter one iota what the person looks like but what they are saying and what they stand for.  If you don’t believe in their political views – fine but stick with those as your point of difference and leave the school yard name calling where it should be. None of us ever liked it at the time so what makes some of us think that name calling will work any better now?

The benefits of a politically split home

I consider myself blessed to have politically been in a split household.  By this I mean that Mum voted Labour and Dad voted National for many years.  I loved the pre-election banter and jokes that dad would make.  He would joke and say he was one up on Mum because she didn’t get to vote when I was born, as it was an Election Day and she couldn’t make it to the polling booth.

The opportunity

What this political banter gave me was the opportunity to choose my own political destiny based on policies.  I have also changed, grown and learnt over time that not everything or everyone is equal or has had equal opportunity. My views have changed and I think this is a really good thing. Our world is continually changing, flexibility not rigidity is the key to a happy healthy life and outlook. 

Merit and fact, not spin

What I ask is that you base your praise or criticism, on merit and fact.  Not half baked meme’s that have flashed across your social media feed. Support the mothers, daughters, sisters, the fathers, sons and brothers who are making a positive difference in this world.  Forget about their big teeth or bald heads and do a bit of your own research (please not on social media) so your opinions can be based on fact and merit, not spin.

I will finish with a quote by Jim Rohn which I think is food for thought:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Choose carefully.”

Aroha nui

Kim