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Eleanor Catton's father, Dr. Philip Catton rings in to challenge Sean Plunkett and his name-calling tirade. This represents the difference between someone who represents a gentle, well-thought-out argument pf Dr. Catton, and the brutal, fascist name-calling of Plunkett.
Eleanor
Catton's dad takes on Sean Plunket over 'ungrateful hua'
The father
of award-winning author Eleanor Catton has defended her criticism of
the Government by taking on broadcaster Sean Plunket after he branded
her an "ungrateful hua".
30
January, 2015
To hear the discussion GO HERE
Dr
Philip Catton, a former senior lecturer in philosophy at the
University of Canterbury, confronted
RadioLive presenter Plunket on his show this morning.
Plunket,
who railed against Catton's comments on his Wednesday show, said Dr
Catton had asked to come on air to address the "brouhaha"
that had emerged this week following his daughter's remarks at a
literary festival in India.
On
Wednesday Plunket said he did not consider Catton an ambassador for
New Zealand but "a traitor", and called her an "ungrateful
hua".
Catton's
statements, which she made at the Jaipur Literary Festival in India
last week, also attracted comment from the Prime Minister, John Key,
who said she was aligned with the Green Party and her comments
"probably summarise the Green Party's view of this Government".
Dr
Catton said that resorting to name-calling "derailed" the
discussion about government and the arts that the Man Booker
prize-winning author had raised.
"Name-calling
is no help to respect for ideas, respect for differences of ideas,"
Dr Catton said.
"I
think we teach this to our children, and I think you're a father.
You've disappointed me in the approach that you've taken, the
name-calling approach, an approach which isn't that advanced.
"There's
no abuse of respect by someone engaged in strident criticism, but the
kind of engagement that that can beget is derailed by name-calling."
Plunket
defended his comments, saying he did not call Catton names, but "a
name", and said the word "hua" was a "description",
not name-calling.
At
the end of the interview, he said he stood by his comment that Catton
was ungrateful.
"I
think you used words that have nothing to do with the motivation of
someone's critical discussion, you called someone an 'ungrateful
hua', you called them 'a traitor', these are names," Dr Catton
said, saying they were also "factually false".
He
later said: "What you've said does not square with the reality
that I know. I'm extremely surprised by the inaccuracy of your
vision, not just by the inaccuracy of what you've said."
'Neither ungrateful, nor a traitor'
Dr
Catton defended his daughter's right to voice her criticisms of the
Government - in which she said National was dominated by
"neo-liberal, profit-obsessed, very shallow, very money-hungry
politicians" who didn't care about culture - saying that
"calling into question the motivations of our political leaders
... is a highly pertinent and important intellectual task".
The
pair were at loggerheads throughout the interview, as Plunket and Dr
Catton disagreed on what was said and the issues at the centre of the
debate.
"You
don't think your daughter is ungrateful?" Plunket asked him at
one point.
"Neither
ungrateful, nor a traitor, for being critical, at a time when
criticism really should be out there and much discussed," Dr
Catton replied, again saying he was "disappointed" in the
radio host.
When
Plunket tried to bring the interview to an end, Dr Catton, 58, said
he wanted to keep the discussion going for longer.
"I
would like more, I would like an evening with you because they are so
many thoughts, and thoughts about how thoughts need to be discussed.
I think that I can talk to you usefully about it."
Plunket
replied by saying: "Okay, I hear your anger, and I appreciate
the fact that you've come in and addressed it to me, and I share some
of your concerns.
"Not
by way of apology, if I had my time again I would not have said that
Eleanor should stay out of politics, because no one should stay out
of politics - it's a democracy, everyone should be involved in
politics.
"But,
ungrateful I'll stand by as a possible interpretation, and we can
agree to disagree on that. And I would say that if I hold
responsibilities that my use of that word [hua], which was not the
word many thought of it, set the tone for certainly a social media
debate which didn't advance the important issues that you talked
about, and I think Eleanor, in her own way, was trying to raise."
They
could meet up for "a wine and a discussion", Plunket said,
saying he would also "love to talk to Eleanor as well".
Catton
has addressed the controversy on social media
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