NZ’s biggest telecommunications company publicly disrespects women.

Spark NZ, according to their website, is New Zealand’s largest telecommunications and digital services company. Fighting like the devil to remain there would pretty much be standard business practise, but ‘bad’ women are just not their cuppa tea, it would seem. Instead, choosing to be sycophants to a misogynist appears to be much more to their taste. I don’t use the word ‘misogynist’ often, as I believe it’s over-used, but it’s absolutely appropriate here in regard to Shaneel Lal’s post below on the new Threads app.

Shaneel Lal is an Alphabet (LBTQIA+++) activist who, like most activists under that title, focusses primarily on hating those - e.g. terfs - who don’t buy into the TQ agenda. The agenda which says that we must kowtow to policies which allow any man whatsoever who says he’s a woman to have free and unfettered access to all women’s and girls’ spaces and sports, and lock gender nonconforming kids into a transgender pathway. There are a growing number who are saying “no effing way” to this, and it’s not going down well.

Lal is renowned for behaving in objectionable ways, but Spark NZ chooses to support him over ordinary women (and men). For the whole week prior to Kellie-Jay Keen’s ‘Let Women Speak’ rally in Albert Park, Auckland, on 25 March 2023, he was in the vanguard of those who helped whip up anti-women sentiment about it. The ensuing mob violence against women was the first of its’ kind ever seen in NZ, and Lal was right at the forefront of it. Although he is masterful at playing the roles of marginalised victim and advocate for the underdog, he does a great number as a supreme bully, too. You won’t read much about this part in any mainstream media articles, which play along with Lal’s ‘marginalised victim’ persona, but his alter ego is well known regardless.¹

When Spark NZ were asked on Twitter if they really meant their anti-women statement, they doubled-down in confirming it. Apparently, publicly discriminating against non-compliant women is their way to “support the rights of trans and non-binary people”.

Interestingly, Spark NZ have a Code of Ethics on their website, where on page 4 we find -

·       value individuals’ differences and opinions and treat all people with respect

The Chief Executive, Jolie Hodson, prefaces that Code of Ethics with a statement which includes -

Applying these behaviours promotes trust and creates a great workplace we can all enjoy working in, knowing we are doing the right thing by our shareholders, customers, business partners and other stakeholders.

I guess that shareholders, customers, business partners, and other stakeholders are expendable if they’re deemed to be terfs.

Surprisingly (not), Spark NZ’s stance wasn’t particularly popular with a swathe of people, and there began some Twitter chatter about switching to another telecommunications company, one.nz (ex. Vodafone). Lal, of course, needed to be reassured that one.nz was going to discriminate, too, so asked them if they would. And yes, this is the usual type of phraseology he uses.

One.nz dutifully bowed down to the Alphabet king, and assured him that they, too, would discriminate against non-compliant women.

It’s hard to know whether or not these puritanical purgers of ‘bad’ women on behalf of the corporations they work for have their managers’ blessings, but either way I would still venture to say that they’re more of a liability than an asset. Business is brutal, no matter what loveliness might be presented as the (false) face of it - and love them or loathe them, customers are a business’s bread and butter. Imposing purity on customers as a perquisite for doing business with them is madness.

I reckon it won’t be long before we’ll start seeing businesses promote themselves in some way which indicates they’re not woke. Why wouldn’t they grab the opportunity to steal business from those who publicly disrespect certain customers, like Spark NZ and one.nz have shown they do? It’s a gift just waiting to be taken.

¹Bully fronts anti-bullying campaign - by Garwhoungle (substack.com)

THOMAS CRANMER:  When ideology turns violent – the political and media backing behind the    Posie Parker mob – Point of Order (wordpress.com)

‘Young New Zealander of the Year’ award has gone to the man who helped stoke up violence against women. (substack.com)