Everyone loses when families become fair game. That goes for the attacker as well as the target
Multiple motivations are behind my various attempts to reduce involvement in online life. The preciousness of time is a big one. The pointlessness of digital feuds is another. The inevitable temptation to meanness is a third.
There is a certain tendency online towards spiting a political opponent by attacking their family. Undermining Jacinda Ardern by damning her by association with fiance Clarke Gayford is a prime example. My fellows on the right should really just not do it. It is not worth the moral toll.
Gayford is not a politician. He is not our "first man" (that's the Duke of Edinburgh). He has no public functions.
He is, however, the father of a politician's daughter and therefore an inseparable element of her family life. Politics is hard enough on families without having political opponents use them as leverage for political gain. And when the gains to be had are so small, it's hard to see the point of the snark even at the most cynical level.
From time to time, people rationalise that Gayford's alleged hunger for fame or social media activity means he has some culpability in the matter. I do not know what there is to be surprised about when somebody who has sought out a career in television turns out to enjoy attention.
It doesn't change the fact that if he was not the Prime Minister's husband-to-be, the same sense of ill-will would simply not exist.
I felt the same way about Max Key. Was he a spoilt rich kid? Maybe. But I truly couldn't say since I have never met him. I don't think anybody who doesn't actually know him really knows. Even if he was so bad, however, it's hard to see how it justified the negative attention he received, which bordered on bullying.
One word which is often invoked but seldom applied these days is tolerance.
When you see a member of a politician's family doing something that grates, then we would all do well to step back and think. Is any harm really resulting from this, other than your own irritation? If not, there's much to be gained by breathing through your nose.
You might even start making it into a habit.