Taika Waititi Quotes
I wish I was less good-looking and more unpopular. Then I could get into politics and use my pent-up resentment about being ugly and unpopular to systematically destroy the country.
Waititi, Taika. "The Art of Creativity." TEDxDoha, TED, Nov. 2010.
Vice President J. Danforth Quayle had committed a gaffe and misspelled 'potato' when running a spelling bee for children. He then gave a speech attacking Clinton and New York Governor Mario Cuomo as members of the cultural elite.
He was referring to the public unrest and dissatisfaction when an middle, poor or impoverished class is ground down by rigid interpretation and contract laws so that people in debt can rarely get out. He argues that this was a stark reality before most revolutions and a primary cause.
This claim has very often been true especially in South and Latin America, but in the United States generally it has been a delusion that the populists are in the majority although the general have been neglected and as a result they defy a powerful majority. Good examples of this are the Southern populist movements after the Civil War, the Populist Party, and the Populism of the second decade of the 21st century.
Muller warns of a very common error made by most politicians and critics who are faced with populism. To ignore them is also self defeating. Best results seem to come from just calmly present factual counter evidence to whatever is being alleged at the moment. And to acknowledge their right in a democracy to think as they do, but we respectfully disagree. The respect is very important in interacting with populists whose major complaint is most often that they are not regarded with dignity in the society as it now exists. And for many educated, above-average intellect people, there is a difficulty in extending their egalitarian philosophy to those who do not honor, respect or even understand the major tenets and norms of intellectual interaction. In most cases, the politicians who have populist appeal not only treat the people with great dignity and appreciation (feigned or real), but take of the cry for their complaints and suspicions in more eloquent oratory that the disaffected people are able to themselves, and that is a great part of the seemingly magic hold that the populist politician seems to have over his constituency.
Taika David Cohen ONZM, known professionally as Taika Waititi /ˈtaɪkə waɪˈtiːti/ (listen), is a New Zealand film and television director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and comedian. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and a Grammy Award, as well as two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. His feature films Boy (2010) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film.
