ANALYSIS
The Benjamin Doyle social media controversy was remarkable for two reasons: it revealed the Green’s willingness to weaponise identity politics when under pressure, and it exposed just how far groupthink has infiltrated political discourse.
Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick didn’t just defend her colleague — she attempted to drag the entire rainbow community into the fray, implying that criticism of Doyle’s language stemmed from ignorance about gay culture, or more specifically, a niche subset of it.
That’s not just wrong — it’s disturbing.
Not all gay people refer to themselves using slang like “bussy,” nor do many even know what the term apparently means and to suggest otherwise is to flatten a diverse community into a caricature for political cover.
Whether Swarbrick genuinely believes that all gay people think and speak the same way, or she’s cynically using that narrative to deflect criticism, the result is the same: a dangerous and divisive form of identity politics dressed up as progressive defence.
When that narrative didn’t gain enough traction, she escalated — attempting to pull the Prime Minister into the controversy, as if Christopher Luxon bore some responsibility for the actions of an MP who isn’t even in his party.
It was a textbook deflection, a masterclass in political blame-shifting.
Go to the headmaster first, and maybe your mate avoids detention.
It worked — at least with RNZ and Stuff, who happily churned out headlines implying Luxon was on the back foot.
Meanwhile, the real issue — the MP’s judgment — was buried under layers of media spin and sympathy pieces.
But ordinary New Zealanders aren’t fooled.
They can see through the PR strategy and the media bias.
Winston Peters was absolutely right — if this had been any other MP, the media would have been in a full-blown feeding frenzy.
This was the real story — the double standard was undeniable. At least TVNZ’s political editor had the backbone to press Swarbrick on what she actually knew about “bussy.”
Overall, the coverage itself was yet another nail in the coffin for Wellington mainstream media, which once again proved incapable of reporting political drama with objectivity.
Their decline will continue — and democracy will be better off for it.
