The Whale
Whale Oil is in both the HoS and the SST. First the HoS is about the “feud” with Pearl Going:
A fixture of the social pages is at the centre of an alleged text and cyber bullying storm. Police are investigating claims from Auckland socialite Pearl Going that she has been subjected to death threats and abuse via text, Facebook and emails.
If there has been death threats, that is indeed a matter for the Police. However as far as I know, having nasty things said about you online is not a criminal issue – if it was I would be going to the Police every second day!
The 24-year-old, related to former All Black Sid Going, has also complained about a year of cyber-harassment involving two websites, neither of which she has anything to do with.
The saga revolves around a dispute over her reputation, qualifications and background, and has drawn in many members of Auckland’s social set.
This is what puzzles me somewhat about the HoS story. I have absolutely no first hand knowledge of Ms Going and the accuracy (or not) of the various claims about her qualifications and background etc. So why doesn’t the newspaper investigate and find out who is correct rather than just report there is a dispute?
Slater said he took exception to Going being included in a list of up-and-coming Auckland socialites published in the Herald on Sunday’s Spy pages because he challenged claims about her background.
Several members of the Auckland social set this week contacted the Herald on Sunday unprompted to raise similar concerns about the background claims.
Again, the obvious thing to do would be to investigate the claims, I would have thought.
And in the SST, they do a full profile of Whale Oil. Some extracts:
Slater’s profane, occasionally rabid, vociferously right-wing blog Whale Oil Beef Hooked (to be read with an Irish inflection) gets 5000-6000 page views a day, including many readers in the media and political establishment. In the past year, it has broken a number of stories that have been followed, often unattributed, by news outlets, notably Winston Peters’ lingering post-election grip on his ministerial vehicle.
Heading home from a weekly yum char lunch with a close group of fellow right-leaning, Seventh Day Adventist-affiliated mates, Slater takes a call about a proposed visit to Fiji, as a supportive guest of the regime, to interview Frank Bainimarama. The Commodore has not been granting interviews with the New Zealand press, but one of his deputies is a Whale Oil reader.
I’d like to go to Fiji also, but am worried I might get shot at the airport as I am more sceptical of the Commodore’s intentions or more importantly his actions.
The local blogosphere is loud and volatile, the new frontline of political debate. But even in this fierce arena, Slater is infamous for dragging the discourse to new lows, with vicious, juvenile, sometimes misogynistic attacks.
Like American gossip juggernaut Perez Hilton, Slater routinely uses Photoshop to vilify his targets: grafting Helen Clark’s head onto the body of a crotchless starlet, or riddling her with digital bulletholes. On seeing an article titled “The World’s Ugliest Dogs”, Slater “couldn’t resist” reposting the story, appended with pictures of female Labour MPs. He has published bizarre sexual allegations against a female Labour official and challenged strangers to fights, including the sons of Folole Muliaga.
“I got sick of the way the media created a frenzy around a fat woman who was sent home by the hospital to die,” he says. “F— them.”
No doubt a genuine Whale quote!
Some stuff on his private life;
Slater found his after the collapse of the security systems company, of which he owned 49%, in 2004 amid rancour with his business partner. The failure ruined Slater financially he had to sell his second home to pay the IRD socially, and eventually, psychologically. The depression he had battled for years became disabling.
As a result, he is unable to work. Because he had income protection insurance, he now receives 75% of his former salary.
“The first year was dark, very dark,” recalls Slater. “I’d stay inside all day, the curtains pulled, unable to make decisions. You open the freezer and try to decide what you’re going to cook for dinner, you can’t even do that, so you go back to bed.”
To get him out of the house, one of his mates insisted he come and work in his office, free of charge. As “an outlet, a place to let off steam”, he says blogging has helped him, as do his daily workouts.
But he still battles despair, takes medication, sees a psychologist each month. Undoubtedly, the desperation of his circumstances has shaped his blogging persona.
“When you’ve got nothing to lose, you’re dangerous.”
“I’ve got no money. I’ve got nothing. What’s anybody going to do, sue me? Fill your boots! You’ll waste 100 grand,” he says.
The best advice I give about Cameron (and he now gives the same advice) to people is to avoid wrestling with pigs in mud, because you’ll just get dirty and the pigs will enjoy it 
July 12th, 2009 at 10:10 am
So let’s get this straight. The guy can appear on the telly, run a full-time blog and involve himself in all sorts of political activity but is “too sick” to work a real job and so gets paid out by an insurance company? How can I get me on that gravy-train?
July 12th, 2009 at 10:18 am
The losers posing as “journalists” in the mainstream media are in a state of panic. They know their day is over, and they try to make the blogosphere the scapegoat for their failure.
Anyone with a brain knows its their own fault for not understanding the true role of journalism, or if they do understand it, deliberately betraying the traditional codes of that profession.
As Mr. Farrar says, why didn’t they investigate the rights and wrongs of the situation???
Because they have forgotten how.
They’re all lame lazy socialist lapdogs, purveyors of government/ Progressive establishment propaganda, and by being so have alienated a huge sector of their market.
Bite the bullet losers.
No point in blaming the blogosphere.
You have betrayed the craft of journalism and are therefore the authors of your own misfortune.
Better hurry up with your attacks on the blogosphere.
The rate your ship is sinking, you’ll be gone in a year or two.
No life rafts around for traitors either.
July 12th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Dude, don’t poke the whale. He’s one of the good guys.
FYI, that’s the purpose of income protection insurance, Fool Ferdinand. If he was from the other flavour of politics, he would undoubtedly be drawing either an unemployment or disability benefit (or both). As someone from the side that favours looking after onesself instead of relying on hand-outs from the State, he chose to purchase insurance in readiness for his “rainy day”.
Seriously, reading Whale is like watching The Simpsons. It’s funny because it’s true – and vitriolic. I’m not sure he’d enjoy being likened to Perez Hilton, but he’s definitely heading in that direction with his War On Pork.
And really, if Ms Going’s claim to faim is that she is somehow “related” to a former All Black (I’m assuming if she was a *close* relative, the HoS would have said she is his “daughter”, or”niece” or some other such, rather than just being “related”), then WTF? B-listers exist for one thing … to open the Sunday paper and see their picture. The pinacle of achievement is what? An appearance on Dancing With The Stars?
July 12th, 2009 at 10:24 am
And BTW, well done Whale. Both of the Sunday papers in one weekend. You are officially the God of the B-listers!!
July 12th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Ferdinand, depression is not necessarily a constant condition. Those of us who suffer from it don’t feel like shit all the time, and, speaking for myself, blogging is about the easiest thing to do while depressed, short of taking a dump. You get to sit down, you don’t have to interact with anyone else, you can say anything you damned well please, and it usually makes you feel a lot better about life. It’s not “work” as such.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:07 am
You said it yourself. He has insurance. That’s what insurance is for! He’s not mooching off the taxpayer, he’s privately funding himself. He took out income protection insurance, and the rest of it is between himself and his insurer.
Three cheers for the private sector!
July 12th, 2009 at 11:10 am
any similarities certainly aren’t the hair style
http://www.htzfm.com/files/htzfm/images/perez.jpg
July 12th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Whale….has successfully exposed scandals and identified the villains behind them where the rest of the media have proved either inept or have carefully avoided the truth….I am a fan just as I am of this forum but I choose what items I read. I have never heard of Pearl GOING, but if I was a relation of Super Sid I would be proud of it too.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Oh bloody hell…nice how I get the blame for a picture I never published nor created…..bloody Heine published that picture.
oh and the best part ever…..
Like I’d do anything for the “respect” of a felchtard like Wussell Brown, lefty c**t, been a while since you posted your mum’s Lambchop recipes.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:40 am
“Like I’d do anything for the “respect” of a felchtard like Wussell Brown,”
So lame that his media mates go running to Brown every time they want some leftist crap comments to pad out their suck holing pissant articles.
Ever ready to print lameness from the left, rather than do some real investigative reporting, its a big reason they’re going down and the blogosphere (and Whale) are going up, and they’re still too stupid to understand it.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Cameron is a useful stalking horse which the media can get in behind especially if it is a story about the Labour Party. But he has scored some good hits against the Labour Party, and long may he continue.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:52 am
The Whale has been on form in recent months so it’s no surprise to see the MSM finally sit up and take notice. He might not have the objectivity of DPF but as Offshore_Kiwi said, it’s funny because it’s true.
July 12th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
But I still don’t know.
Who the hell is this sheila?
Me, I’ve never heard of her – can’t even be “B” list.
July 12th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Those arms! My deckchairs have thicker arms. And get a haircut too you freak.
July 12th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
BlairM’s right – depression isn’t a constant, but when it hits, it hits! Full marks to Cam for being so open about it.
As for Ferdinand’s opening barb, at least Cam is being sustained by insurance which he paid for, unlike others who hold their hands out for support from the taxpayer when they could and should be working.
July 12th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
When I read some of Whale’s attacks on this woman I felt a bit uneasy at first. It seemed really harsh and vindictive….. but then it occurred to me that in a way it is much more healthy to have a vigorous attack-and-riposte system as offered by the blogosphere than existed previously.
After all, this woman is busy trying to make a name for herself and become a ‘socialite’ on the basis of (it seems) an ability to manipulate the media. And Whale is just pointing out how he thinks what a talentless shit she is. Both sides of the equation have the opportunity to answer back and it makes for dood entertainment. Much more healthy than calling in lawyers and closing it down.
I wonder if we’ll see a “Cameron Slater Is A Fuckwit” site funded by some of his targets? Hahahahaha… now that would be worth bookmarking and following. Maybe another site could set up as an electonic scorecard thingy with a graph?
Go Whale. You make life in NZ more interesting!!!
July 12th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
What’s the problem with this good looking young lady all you blokes out there? Dang, I want to date her.
July 12th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I am sure by now the insurance company would like to off-load Cameron, it must be one of their more unprofitable contracts. Being an “insurance dependent” is a nice twist indeed. But at least it is private insurance and not public welfare, though the distinction between the two is very very fine indeed.
July 12th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
reddy:
“Ever ready to print lameness from the left, rather than do some real investigative reporting, its a big reason [the MSM is] going down and the blogosphere (and Whale) are going up, and they’re still too stupid to understand it.”
Right. And this from the SST: “Each month, the blog to which [Slater] devotes his full-time energies earns $147.68 in advertising revenue, and costs $220 in server expenses.” So “going up” means working full-time on an enterprise that loses you over $70 a month? And there I was, thinking you were a good capitalist, reddy! Still – perhaps compared to your particular situation, this DOES constitute a success?
Plus Slater’s apparent definition of “success” for his blog is that his posts get picked up by … the MSM. Note his delight in the thought that his expose of the Richard Worth complainant will be on TV that night. Or his claim that Jetstar’s problems in the media are his work. Or the fact the papers chased Peters over his ministerial car. Or the very interview in the SST (which no doubt now hangs laminated on his bedroom wall).
Face it – bloggers will simply carve out a co-dependent niche with the “MSM” … feeding it some stories/depending on it for general public distribution of their ideas. They will never replace it.
July 12th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Hey interesting, I didn’t realise you were a 7th Day Adventist WhaleOil. Can you recommend some good Churches in Auckland? I’ve been meaning to find some vegan Christian friends.
July 12th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Why on earth should Mr Slater care about this young woman? I have never heard of her.
‘Socialites’ are not important to anyone except themselves.
He must have too much time on his hands, I think.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Ruby, there is no better than Papatoetoe SDA. http://www.papsda.co.nz
We even have a vege Cafeteria open every day.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
AG, I don’t know that anyone has yet said they will. What is NOT in doubt is that currently the majority of the MSM is lazy, incompetent, ineffectual and incapable of asking anything but he most vacuous and puerile questions. Blogs such as Whaleoil’s, in spite of all its and his shortcomings, might just drag the MSM screaming into a new and as yet untried world of improved performance.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
AF,
Actually, Redbaiter has made the claim on numerous occasions. I agree with you that blogs can have a salutory benefit on the MSM. Even Cameron Slater’s.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
WOBH is often entertaining, in the same way Sascha Baron Cohen is. It’s because Cam says what many of us on the right think, but don’t dare utter. Sure he swears, but no more than most people in real life, it’s just we are all too PC to actually write what we think, which is what makes WOBH both entertaining and refreshing.
The MSM needs to be entertaining too, and you could go through any daily paper to find silly puerile stuff dressed up in self importance, which minus the swearing is no better or worse than what Cam writes.
At least Cam is passionate and believes what he writes, which is more than can be said for a lot of MSM ‘reporters’.
So much of what is in our papers and on TV is second hand, they got it off BBC, or Reuters, or in Pearl Goings case, of the ‘net. In fact more and more MSM news is shown to be incorrect because it is little more than gossip that hasn’t been researched because of the pressure to fill papers or news slots with ‘content’ so advertising can be sold.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I look forward to the day mainstream media is no longer along with their over promoted presenters, in NZ and elsewhere, and the advertising industry that goes with it, their days are numbered …
July 12th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
good on you wasteoil…
all the best..get better soon…
July 12th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
a weekly blog paper…. that would be and interesting read for the Sunday browser.
July 12th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
That’s not a lot though is it? Unique visitors would only be 500 – 600 a day? Or are the stats wrong in the story?
July 13th, 2009 at 12:13 am
We need more people like WhaleOil – too much PC B/S in this country these days – we need more people to call things for what they are. MSM journo’s are simply lazy piss-heads these days, what ever happened to proper investigative journalism?
All power to the Whale – Orcas rock!
July 13th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Lame ass MSM attacks the messenger while not touching the message.
Fuckem. Going is FOS and ten minutes of fact checking sinks her. Do your damn jobs or someone else will do it for you. In this case Cameron Slater.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Who is Pearl Going? Why is she important, if at all, and why should we care?
July 13th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
AG july12, 239pm
hey your tallpoppying the Whale, where in NZ can inovators make money, if whale was in the Sates hed be a dollar millionaire for his originality AND leadership, yesterday I just watched on mainstream tv an advert for some car with the Headless Chickens Fiona MacDonald singing their hit single ‘one fine day’, UNFORTUNATELY IN NZ originality and talent doesnt make you dollars to qualify in your success indicator..consider yoursell Bashed. Pearl Going is popular because shes hotter than Paris Hilton, and Celebrity news is the number 1 sought after and read in the world today , thats why Pearl matters
July 13th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Pearl Going is popular because shes hotter than Paris Hilton, and Celebrity news is the number 1 sought after and read in the world today , thats why Pearl matters
Tallpoppy:
Other than telling us she’s popular and hotter that Paris Hilton, you haven’t said why. Like, you know, I want to, like, know, like, what she’s done, like, what’s her claim to fame. Like … que?
July 14th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Whale, I am glad the papers made you take the wrap for that sexy Helen with a cock photo that appeared on my blog. Took the heat off me for a bit!
July 14th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Well Cameron will be thrilled by all the attention.
Bet that the Standard feel ever so left out. Ah Did Dums!
Why is it that Pinko websites look so dry, and boring. It is because they are!