PulsePoint – 6th June 2024

Intro: Welcome to PulsePoint – the LATEST media stories AND research related to family and society that YOU need to know. It’s time to cut through the spin and uncover the REAL issues.

I’m Tumby Stowers.

In this episode:

1. A new website WokeUp.nz has just been launched by Family First NZ. The website documents wokeness in New Zealand-based businesses so that Kiwi consumers can decide for themselves who to do business with and who to avoid, based on the values of the business.

CEO Bob McCoskrie says “Most people just want to purchase products and services, then get on with their lives. They don’t want businesses shoving woke beliefs down their throats as part of their purchase. They also don’t want to support businesses who then fund groups that the consumer opposes – for example, funding InsideOut to push radical gender and sexuality messaging in primary schools. Businesses should stick to business, not telling people and their staff what and how to think,”

Family First is being regularly contacted by employees concerned about the ramming down of ideologies under the guise of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). This includes most government departments and organisations.

Many corporations, CEOs, and cultural elites are supporting “progressive” left-wing agendas such as DEI, transgenderism, same-sex marriage, climate alarmism, abortion, and Critical Race Theory.

“We want consumers to access the information on this website so that they can vote with their dollars and do business with companies which don’t hate their values. Companies that support woke causes and agendas ultimately pass on the costs to the consumer.”

A poll by Curia Market Research last year found that 33% of respondents want businesses to stay neutral on controversial issues, 20% want them to take a stand and 45% have no preference either way.

However, 67% of respondents said it was somewhat or very likely they would boycott a business that took a public stand on a controversial issue they disagreed with.

(Video) Industries examined on the new website include airlines, banks & finance, energy, food & drink, petrol, retail, supermarkets and telco. The information collated is based on published material from the companies on their social media, websites & in the media.

(Video) There is also a section with latest media stories highlighting wokeness in other companies or brands.

Most importantly, consumers can send through their own evidence of businesses that are pushing a woke narrative that they disagree with.

Check out the full website – WokeUp.nz

2. Family First has sighted training sessions STILL being run by InsideOut to schools about RSE – the Relationships & Sexuality Education Curriculum. This is despite the Government in their coalition agreement wanting to respond to parental concerns and reviewing the curriculum.

But what is also concerning is that The Ministry of Education is also effectively ignoring the Minister of Education and is also pushing RSE as it stands.

Here are some of the slides from a recent InsideOut seminar run with staff at a school which includes intermediate age.

IMAGE – insideout 15

The title of the session alone makes the concerns raised by the Minister of Education look foolish and ignored. It says, “across the curriculum”. But this is the exact concern of parents and principals that the Government wants to address.

IMAGE – insideout 13

Don’t conflate biology like penis on a boy and uterus on a girl with genders – because that conflates sex and gender.

Don’t say “parents” or “opposite sex” because that implies there are only 2 sexes / genders.

IMAGE – insideout 12

If a child is old enough to be cisgender – in other words, born – then they’re old enough to be transgender or gender diverse.

IMAGE – insideout 9

Teachers are told to “shift their thinking”. Thinking of someone as “a girl who uses they/them pronouns” makes things trickier than of them as “a non-binary person who uses they/them pronouns” and helps you see them as they are.

IMAGE – insideout 8

Tackling homophobic, biphobic, transphobic language

IMAGE – insideout 5

What can teachers and school staff do. “There are more than two genders” “Respect and use student’s pronouns.”

IMAGE – insideout 1

And finally, enrolment forms. Do they dare to ask about “mother and father”? Are there more gender options?

But it’s not only InsideOut doing the indoctrination.

It’s even from the Ministry of Education. Here’s a promotional video for RSE recently added to the government site:

VIDEO – Christchurch South Intermediate

There are several other examples which you can watch on a recent episode of McBLOG on our website.

It is disturbing that both InsideOut but especially the Ministry of Education are ignoring the Government and the Minister of Education.

Parents need to remain vigilant and check what their school is doing in this area.

3. US store Target confirmed last week that it won’t carry Pride Month (video) merchandise at all stores in June after the discount retailer experienced a backlashand lower sales over its products promoting LGBTQ+.

Target, which operates roughly 2,000 stores in the US said decisions about where to stock Pride-themed products would be based on “guest insights and consumer research.”

Last year, Target removed some items from its stores and made other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride Month after intense reaction from some customers who confronted workers and tipped over displays.

Target’s move to scale back its presence of Pride merchandise for this year isn’t therefore unexpected.

Last August, CEO Brian Cornell told reporters that Target learned from the backlash and said the company would be more thoughtful about merchandise decisions for heritage months that celebrate the achievements of marginalized groups.

Cornell continues, “As we navigate an ever-changing operating and social environment, we’re applying what we’ve learned to ensure we’re staying close to our guests and their expectations of Target,”

And as previously mentioned, speaking of woke retail businesses, family first has put together a watchlist of woke businesses in NZ. Check out WokeUp.nz.

4. Governments across Australia are considering  banning social media for some young people to protect them from harmful content and the negative impacts of excessive time online.

The premiers of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia are united in a push to lift age minimums on tech platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, after a campaign from News Corp publications.

As it stands, platforms require users to be 13 to create an account but sign-up systems can often be avoided.

The Prime minister Anthony Albanese wants strong but measured action taken. He says quote “This is a national issue. We want to make sure that any measures that are put in place are effective, because one of the concerns which is there is that age protocols may be circumvented by users at the moment.”

The proposal however is not without opposition.

The Digital Rights Watch head of policy, Samantha Floreani says, “Plenty of young people rely upon social media to express themselves, form communities and find support, and banning them may have significant negative consequences.”

A poll just released by the Guardian newspaper found that More than two-thirds of Australian voters support raising the age limit for social media from 13 to 16.

44% strongly supporting the idea and 24% “somewhat” supporting it. Just 14% oppose the idea, and 17% neither support nor oppose it.

Almost half of respondents said technology companies including Meta, Google and TikTok had been “mostly negative” for young people, compared with 19% “mostly positive” and 34% neutral.

There have been similar calls for age verification on social media in NZ. So we will follow developments in Australia with interest.

5. And finally, the Forum on the Family is only 1 month away. The Forum on the Family held in Auckland is one of the premier family conferences held each year. The theme this year is Protecting The Next Generation. And once again there is an amazing lineup of international and local speakers including detransition Chloe Cole

And the author of the new book The Anxious Generation Jonathan Haidt

Last year was a sell-out! So go to forumonthefamily.nz for more info and to register

And THAT’S the latest episode of PulsePoint. You can check out ALL these stories AND MORE on our website familyfirst.nz. We’ll keep watching the news… so that you don’t have to.

See you next time.