Good luck, Ani. No need to be terrified - there's a significant reservoir of goodwill out there towards you personally and this kind of initiative in general, and I'm sure the good folk of New Zealand will express that goodwill in appropriate ways.
Are you able to confirm that the conversations will, in fact, be recorded and published somehow? Thanks very much.
We've had so many people ask this! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
We've had so many people ask this so just pasting the answer to everyone! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
Hi, Ms. O’Brien, first off you publish some really interesting political analysis so want to thank you for the time you put into your writing. Secondly, I unfortunately won’t be able to make the tour you’re doing however keen to know if the debates will be uploaded to the FSU YouTube channel - especially the assisted dying versus palliative care debate?
We've had so many people ask this so just pasting the answer to everyone! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
This is a great initiative and I hope it becomes a regular occurrence. All the best. I'm sure you'll knock it out of the park. Like most of the commenters have already mentioned, I'm hoping there will be a recording uploaded to the FSU website. Talks like these can't be left in the memories of the attendees.
We've had so many people ask this so just pasting the answer to everyone! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
Thanks Graham! There are so many other places I would have loved to go to. I hope in the not too distant future I can get around to some of the smaller towns.
This is a brilliant effort and something we do not do nearly enough of in New Zealand.
I hope these sessions can be recorded and made available online, whether through the Union’s YouTube channel, as a members-only benefit, or on a pay-per-view basis. I would be more than happy to pay to watch them. I cannot attend because of where I live, and I am sure many others are in the same position.
We need conversations that reach New Zealanders across the country and encourage people to listen beyond their own echo chambers. Paul Henry’s message strongly resonates with me. We do not have the luxury of wasting time. The shit is certainly hitting the fan. :-)
There is also a real need to explain basic political and economic ideas and what their consequences look like in real life. Terms such as socialism, capitalism and Marxism are thrown around very loosely, often by people who have never seriously considered the contradictions between what they claim to believe and how they actually live. There are some enormous gaps in public knowledge, particularly among younger people.
We've had so many people ask this so just pasting the answer to everyone! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
Thanks Ani for replying. I have made my donation - as if I were attending all the events (I saw the email this morning), I do not want to miss anything :-) Our democracy is fragile, we need to walik arround with our eyes wide open.
Good on you for giving it a go, very brave! I look forward to hearing how it goes, and seeing if anything changes your mind. Hopefully, you can have some good, honest discussions, and we'll all learn something.
Hey Ani, this is an interesting interview with a pro-assisted suicide advocate who says that Canadian MAID is "monetizing death" that may be of use for one of your talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_CXsmvukfs
Thank you for all your lovely comments. Just sharing an email I sent out to the Free Speech Union email list because so many people were asking about filming!
Dear [you guys]
Since I started posting about my Good Faith Yarns Tour, one question has come up more than any other:
"Will the talks be filmed?"
I'd love to see as many of you in the room as possible.
But I know plenty of our supporters live too far away, can make one event but not the rest, or are watching from overseas.
So, here's the honest answer. Filming the ten events means adding on the costs of a professional videographer travelling the country for nearly three weeks, plus equipment, editing and post-production.
Even at heavily discounted rates, we’re talking ten or even twenty grand. Unless we’re filming on an iphone (and doing the sound ourselves), it’s not cheap!
Can you chip in to ensure these important conversations reach tens of thousands of Kiwis?
Because on the other hand, we deliberately kept ticket costs low at $10 because we really want to see you there – and have plenty of material for the Q&As.
That means we’re running this tour on the smell of an oily rag, and certainly no budget for a film crew.
But the response has been so strong that we want to make it happen - so that those who can’t make it, can still enjoy the content.
Will you make a one-off donation to ensure the Free Speech Union’s ‘Good Faith Yarns Tour’ is seen by a wider audience?
The tour kicks off next week, so we need to act now and lock in an expert videographer.
If we can raise sufficient funds this week, we'll be able to lock-in filming every conversation, from Queenstown to Whangārei, and put the lot on YouTube for anyone to watch, completely free.
Here's why I think this matters beyond the venue walls.
As we head into the election campaign, the topics covered by Good Faith Yarns are exactly the questions Kiwis will be weighing up at the ballot box: the Treaty, artificial intelligence, farming, the media, assisted dying, local democracy, political neutrality, and free speech itself.
So, as you can see the topics are worthwhile and worth sharing with a broader audience.
The Free Speech Union isn't in the business of telling anyone how to vote.
But we do believe voters make better decisions when they've heard the strongest arguments on every side, made in good faith, by people who disagree well.
That’s what this project is all about.
Filming this tour creates a permanent, free record of exactly that, available to every New Zealander, not just the few hundred in each room.
And people are watching. Our YouTube channel has clocked up over 50,000 views in the past month alone, with hundreds and hundreds of comments.
With a full tour's worth of conversations online, we are hoping this series will reach over 100,000 Kiwis, in the months before the election.
We also want to say thank you properly.
Everyone who chips in $100 or more will be personally credited in the description of every video we produce from the tour.
Your name on the record and credited as one of the people who made it possible (but only if you want it!).
Well done Ani trying to do your bit. You are a credit to NZ. :o)
Good luck, Ani. No need to be terrified - there's a significant reservoir of goodwill out there towards you personally and this kind of initiative in general, and I'm sure the good folk of New Zealand will express that goodwill in appropriate ways.
Are you able to confirm that the conversations will, in fact, be recorded and published somehow? Thanks very much.
We've had so many people ask this! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
Thanks, Ani - I've just gone online and donated.
Sadly I can't make it due to ill-health but I hope it goes well. As Harrison Moore (below) says any thoughts of sharing them online?
We've had so many people ask this so just pasting the answer to everyone! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
Hi, Ms. O’Brien, first off you publish some really interesting political analysis so want to thank you for the time you put into your writing. Secondly, I unfortunately won’t be able to make the tour you’re doing however keen to know if the debates will be uploaded to the FSU YouTube channel - especially the assisted dying versus palliative care debate?
We've had so many people ask this so just pasting the answer to everyone! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
Thank you, Ms. O’Brien, I donated $35.00 to the fund to help pay for the production in the debates being uploaded onto the FSU YouTube channel.
Yes to this,
I'm not in an area with a meeting, but would appreciate hearing you Ani, and the great line up!
Oh that’s good to know they will be uploaded to the FSU YouTube channel. Thank you, Hāns! :)
Sorry, I was giving support to the idea - still hoping they upload it!
No worries a bit of a misunderstanding on my end.
This is a great initiative and I hope it becomes a regular occurrence. All the best. I'm sure you'll knock it out of the park. Like most of the commenters have already mentioned, I'm hoping there will be a recording uploaded to the FSU website. Talks like these can't be left in the memories of the attendees.
We've had so many people ask this so just pasting the answer to everyone! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
I've pitched in. Hopefully there is enough interest to get it across the line.
A brilliant initiative! There are many popular myths and legends that need to be exposed to sunlight and fresh air.
Ani, this will be absolutely fantastic.
All the very best - full houses await.
Great idea to have a tour like this.
Wish you could come to smaller towns as well. Once the idea catches on perhaps.
Love your writing Ani. If politicians had a couple of percentage points of your courage and rational thought we would be so much better off.
Good luck with the tour. Hope to see something of it on line if that cann be arranged.
Thanks Graham! There are so many other places I would have loved to go to. I hope in the not too distant future I can get around to some of the smaller towns.
Bugger we were going to register for Tauranga today and now see it has sold out already!
That one has proved to be our quickest seller!
This is a brilliant effort and something we do not do nearly enough of in New Zealand.
I hope these sessions can be recorded and made available online, whether through the Union’s YouTube channel, as a members-only benefit, or on a pay-per-view basis. I would be more than happy to pay to watch them. I cannot attend because of where I live, and I am sure many others are in the same position.
We need conversations that reach New Zealanders across the country and encourage people to listen beyond their own echo chambers. Paul Henry’s message strongly resonates with me. We do not have the luxury of wasting time. The shit is certainly hitting the fan. :-)
There is also a real need to explain basic political and economic ideas and what their consequences look like in real life. Terms such as socialism, capitalism and Marxism are thrown around very loosely, often by people who have never seriously considered the contradictions between what they claim to believe and how they actually live. There are some enormous gaps in public knowledge, particularly among younger people.
We've had so many people ask this so just pasting the answer to everyone! We'd love to film every event and make them available free on YouTube, but professional filming, sound, editing and travelling the country for ten events is a significant cost. We've kept tickets at just $10 to make the tour as accessible as possible, so we're now trying to raise the funds to film the full series. If you'd like to help make that happen (or find out more), you can read about it here: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support. Every bit of support helps!
Thanks Ani for replying. I have made my donation - as if I were attending all the events (I saw the email this morning), I do not want to miss anything :-) Our democracy is fragile, we need to walik arround with our eyes wide open.
Well done Ani - disappointed we won’t be at home in Nelson for your visit there - however I’m sure it will be a great evening of robust discussion.
Good on you for giving it a go, very brave! I look forward to hearing how it goes, and seeing if anything changes your mind. Hopefully, you can have some good, honest discussions, and we'll all learn something.
Looking forward to Tauranga, Ani. Perfect topic for our area, where the Port is under blackmail.
I am writing about the dynamic of pay-for-getting-out-of-the-way at the moment. Port is one example of many!
Hey Ani, this is an interesting interview with a pro-assisted suicide advocate who says that Canadian MAID is "monetizing death" that may be of use for one of your talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_CXsmvukfs
Hey everyone,
Thank you for all your lovely comments. Just sharing an email I sent out to the Free Speech Union email list because so many people were asking about filming!
Dear [you guys]
Since I started posting about my Good Faith Yarns Tour, one question has come up more than any other:
"Will the talks be filmed?"
I'd love to see as many of you in the room as possible.
But I know plenty of our supporters live too far away, can make one event but not the rest, or are watching from overseas.
So, here's the honest answer. Filming the ten events means adding on the costs of a professional videographer travelling the country for nearly three weeks, plus equipment, editing and post-production.
Even at heavily discounted rates, we’re talking ten or even twenty grand. Unless we’re filming on an iphone (and doing the sound ourselves), it’s not cheap!
Can you chip in to ensure these important conversations reach tens of thousands of Kiwis?
Because on the other hand, we deliberately kept ticket costs low at $10 because we really want to see you there – and have plenty of material for the Q&As.
That means we’re running this tour on the smell of an oily rag, and certainly no budget for a film crew.
But the response has been so strong that we want to make it happen - so that those who can’t make it, can still enjoy the content.
Will you make a one-off donation to ensure the Free Speech Union’s ‘Good Faith Yarns Tour’ is seen by a wider audience?
The tour kicks off next week, so we need to act now and lock in an expert videographer.
If we can raise sufficient funds this week, we'll be able to lock-in filming every conversation, from Queenstown to Whangārei, and put the lot on YouTube for anyone to watch, completely free.
Chip in to The Good Faith Yarns Tour: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support
Here's why I think this matters beyond the venue walls.
As we head into the election campaign, the topics covered by Good Faith Yarns are exactly the questions Kiwis will be weighing up at the ballot box: the Treaty, artificial intelligence, farming, the media, assisted dying, local democracy, political neutrality, and free speech itself.
So, as you can see the topics are worthwhile and worth sharing with a broader audience.
The Free Speech Union isn't in the business of telling anyone how to vote.
But we do believe voters make better decisions when they've heard the strongest arguments on every side, made in good faith, by people who disagree well.
That’s what this project is all about.
Filming this tour creates a permanent, free record of exactly that, available to every New Zealander, not just the few hundred in each room.
And people are watching. Our YouTube channel has clocked up over 50,000 views in the past month alone, with hundreds and hundreds of comments.
With a full tour's worth of conversations online, we are hoping this series will reach over 100,000 Kiwis, in the months before the election.
We also want to say thank you properly.
Everyone who chips in $100 or more will be personally credited in the description of every video we produce from the tour.
Your name on the record and credited as one of the people who made it possible (but only if you want it!).
Donate $100 or more and get credited: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#support
Every dollar goes directly to filming, editing and publishing these conversations.
And poor Jillaine will be sick of my grand ideas by the end of this tour, so let's make this one count!
Thank you for the support you've already shown. With your help, these conversations won't just reach the people in the room.
They'll reach Kiwis in every corner of the country, right when it matters most.
See you soon,
Ani O'Brien | Council Member of the Free Speech Union
PS. If you haven't got tickets to the tour yet, get them today: https://fsu.nz/events/good-faith-yarns#cities
It all looks good, except for Palmerston North. Mind you, such a dull and drab place always gets the short end of the stick.
Oh Rachel! We will have fun in Palmy as well haha