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Ardern in US plays to strengths

The horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, was followed by eloquent expressions of truth and righteous anger that cut through the tired language of thoughts and prayers and a shrugging acceptance of political stalemates.

We saw NBA coach Steve Kerr slamming a table in frustration, Texan politician Beto O’Rourke confronting the governor and demanding that something be done, and even a helpless-looking President Joe Biden pleading, ‘‘When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?’’

Moments like these define moral positions but there is a tendency for emotions to subside and for business as usual to return with all its compromises. Children are buried and the news moves on.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern became another voice of truth when a US visit that was designed to be about trade and tourism put her in New York just as the awful news emerged from Texas. Gun control was hastily added to TV host Stephen Colbert’s line of questioning.

Ardern overseas embodies reasonableness, fairness and moderation. She promotes empathy and kindness. That Ardern, the one who led New Zealand after the 2019 terror attacks and the initial Covid-19 lockdown, has been obscured in recent months by another Ardern, one seen by a growing number of people at home as talking down to us, rather than for us.

The smart, humble Ardern we saw in the US this week is the original one. It was an Ardern whose moral choices are clear and who was tellingly introduced as ‘‘a dedicated public servant’’ by Colbert. It was an Ardern who said Kiwi pragmatism made gun control easy after the Christchurch attacks. But she conceded our system was imperfect, as there are still guns that are misused, and ‘‘we still have work to do’’.

Ardern was also in demand from Democrat senators seeking advice on gun control. One of them, Jon Ossoff, offered the memorable line that the US has to heal its national soul.

Ardern said in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks that leadership, in that instance, was about merely reflecting the country’s values back to it.

Those values were also on display when Ardern gave a Harvard University commencement speech. Again, the timing was extraordinary. She got standing ovations when she talked about gun control and the legalisation of abortion.

At its core, her talk was about the online radicalisation of the Christchurch gunman and the need for social media giants to offer greater transparency in how their algorithms work. Her thinking about truth and disinformation led Ardern to make a fascinating connection to another favourite cause, the teaching of New Zealand history.

Teaching history, she argued, provides us with the analytical tools that can separate fact from fiction, and good information from bad.

But the Harvard speech also had funny moments. Along with her scathing description of ‘‘keyboard warriors’’, or social media trolls, as loners ‘‘unacquainted with personal hygiene practices’’ dressed in ill-fitting superhero costumes, there was a homely level of humour that was akin to Flight of the Conchords.

She presented the image of a daggy, downhome New Zealand where we are all each other’s cousins, Hobbiton is just next door and the three religions are Anglican, Catholic and rugby. It might have been corny and nostalgic, but it spoke to a larger point about community and connectedness, and tolerance rather than division.

While the Government has stumbled in recent times, this tour so far has been Ardern reminding us of what she does well.

Opinion

en-nz

2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/283150022317044

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