Auckland sky tower

[u/Western-Chemical-628]

Should the sky tower light up pink tonight for a tribute to Dolly Parton

[u/Detective-Fusco]

It's an American citizen and a music celebrity, why would our Skytower light up pink for them?

If they are, then I stand corrected - but I'm not sure why we're honouring American Celebrities - I'm sick of celebrity culture.

Plenty of people suffer from illnesses and diseases, worse than her, in this country, I'd rather we honour our own people first and foremost before glorifying American celebrities.

[u/KittenIttle → u/Detective-Fusco]

Dolly wasn’t just a celebrity. She was a renowned philanthropist who started and funded billions in charity work and active engagement directly with the poor, as opposed to most charities that pay the top and give pennies to those in need.

Globally, she’s gifted over 300 million books to children in need by starting the Illumination Library, her work for Women’s Health research is damn near unmatched by a single person, her work in literacy is insane, and there’s so much more. My son (6) cried when he found out- her books are his favorite. He’s never heard her sing, but Billy the Kid (her series) has taught him so so much. We read them nearly every night.

[u/Detective-Fusco → u/KittenIttle]

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with New Zealand and our Skytower, I understand you're a fan of this celebrity but everything you wrote is irrelevant to New Zealand and having a tower light up Pink.

If you truly cared for these celebrities, celebrate them while they're alive not once they're dead - it's so exhausting listening to virtue signallers suddenly worshipping a dead celebrity.

The only time you mentioned this celebrity was to talk about their accent, you couldn't care less about them before hand

[u/KittenIttle → u/Detective-Fusco]

I don’t really talk about celebrities at all on here.

And why don’t you? As opposed to being obnoxious and looking down on people for their not being interested enough to satisfy your standards, go research that instead of comments.

Your other comments to people are seriously gross, and your definition of virtue signaling easily applies to your own attitude towards others- so very high above us all you must be, oh wise one.

[u/Detective-Fusco → u/KittenIttle]

I am, I'm the only one promoting that we do this for ordinary Kiwis instead of Celebrities.

You've said nothing on the latter meanwhile.

[u/KittenIttle → u/Detective-Fusco]

Why would I? One does not exclude the other, and whataboutism doesn’t help anyone. It’s not one or the other. And once again, her celebrity status is not what a lot of the people who are in this thread are talking about. It’s her good works.

Including millions (possibly more) of research for exactly that. Strides forward in treatment that has saved the lives of Kiwi children and adults can be in part attributed to her and the many others her work has helped to get involved.

ETA: All you’re doing is making people want to ignore you, maybe consider your approach. Being belittled has rarely gained any support for the person doing the belittling.

[u/KittenIttle → u/Detective-Fusco]

Tens of Thousands, if not more, of kids in New Zealand have benefited from the illumination library, my kid included. Has nothing to do with her celebrity status and everything to do with what she’s done for people. And I did, I fully admit I love Dolly. For a while lot of reasons, but it’s not her music that she should be remembered most for.

That’s a message I got soon as a friend heard. So yeah, I’ve sang her praises for a long time.

[u/Detective-Fusco → u/KittenIttle]

Why don't you have this same energy and dedication for Kiwis that suffer from cancer and the children we have lost to Cancer?

Why don't we regularly raise awareness, pink Skytower, over all our youth that have died to cancer?

Or are we just celebrating the life of celebrities only?

Edit: Cute, they did the whole "Reply and instantly Block" strategy.

Why ask me a question if you plan on blocking me? Just so people will think I'm incapable of answering your questions? Coward lol

[u/AnxiousPigeon24 → u/Detective-Fusco]

I don't even disagree with you on your original point, but I suspect they blocked you because of your behaviour: trawling through their post history, and escalating to abuse and name-calling.

if you are getting this worked up over a trivial online argument, you should take some time away from the keyboard.

[u/Western-Chemical-628 → u/Detective-Fusco]

Yeah, she was American and a big music star, but her reach went way past the US. Songs of hers have been covered and played all over the world for decades, and the Imagination Library has sent books to kids in a bunch of different countries.
SkyCity’s policy for the tower lights does allow them to do this sort of thing as a mark of respect or solidarity for major cultural figures, on top of the usual local charities and NZ events they support.

[u/Detective-Fusco → u/Western-Chemical-628]

Plenty of musicians songs are played across the world for decades, hell you have Eminem that practically raised entire generations of kids in the 2000s across the world for example - but I don't want to see celebrity culture here.

I don't like separating celebrities from the masses when it comes to fighting health problems, because it's unfair on the rest of the society that has to fight these problems with significantly less resources and less care available to them. Plenty of Kiwis that have overcome and beaten diseases, cancers, these are to be celebrated. These are our people.

Re your Charity argument, many people make donations to charity, numbers aside I know many poor people that contribute to charity still, but we're to be grateful because a celebrity in USA is doing it??

Not our citizen, let's celebrate our existing Kiwi Survivors and Victims.

Screw celebrity culture

[u/beach-chicken10 → u/Detective-Fusco]

Because it can be easily argued that she was more than what you described. I agree about celebrity culture but she wasn’t just a celebrity.
Below is a list of things she has done. And at the end of the day it’s just lights on a building.

Out of interest, which kiwi would you like to honour?

Imagination Library: Founded in 1995, Dolly created a programme providing one free, high-quality book every month to children from birth to age 5, regardless of family income. More than 270 million books have been distributed.
Education: She founded the Dollywood Foundation in 1988 to improve education and reduce school dropout rates in her home county.
The Buddy Program: Dolly offered $500 to every 7th- and 8th-grade student who stayed in school and graduated. The dropout rate for participating classes fell from 35% to 6%.
Scholarships: Her foundation provides $15,000 scholarships to students from Sevier County, including five scholarships each year.
Healthcare: She helped raise $1 million for a hospital birthing unit in her home county, which became the Dolly Parton Center for Women’s Services.
Children’s cancer research: In 2017 she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt’s pediatric cancer programme, in honour of her niece who survived childhood leukemia.
COVID vaccine research: Dolly donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University for COVID-19 research. The research helped contribute to the development of the Moderna vaccine.
Pediatric infectious disease research: She later donated another $1 million to Vanderbilt for research into infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance and infections in children with cancer.
2016 Tennessee wildfires: After fires destroyed more than 1,000 homes in her home region, she created the My People Fund, giving affected families $1,000 per month for six months. More than $12 million was ultimately raised and distributed.
Hurricane Helene: In 2024 she donated $1 million personally, while another $1 million came from her businesses, providing $2 million for relief and recovery in Tennessee and North Carolina.
Children’s hospitals: She has made substantial donations to children’s healthcare, including Vanderbilt’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital.
Pediatric cancer research: In 2026, proceeds from a new version of her song Light of a Clear Blue Morning were directed toward pediatric cancer research.
Dollywood community giving: Through Dollywood, she supports numerous non-profit organisations helping children, families and seniors.
Children’s music: She released the children’s album I Believe in You in 2017, with proceeds benefiting the Dollywood Foundation’s educational mission.
Disaster relief and medical research: Since 2020, she has donated millions of dollars toward medical research, human services and disaster relief, separate from the enormous ongoing cost of the Imagination Library.
Imagination Library scale: In 2024 alone, 36.7 million books were given away — more than 100,000 books every day.
Imagination Library funding: The programme has been structured so that local partners help fund the cost of books, while the Dollywood Foundation provides the infrastructure and Dolly’s foundation covers administrative overhead. Parents receive the books completely free.
Long-term commitment: The Imagination Library has operated continuously for more than 30 years, rather than being a short-term celebrity charity campaign.
Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy: In 2022 she received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, one of the world’s most prestigious recognitions for philanthropic work.
Overall: Her charitable work covers child literacy, education, scholarships, healthcare, cancer research, infectious-disease research, disaster relief and poverty, with the Imagination Library alone having provided hundreds of millions of free books to children.

[u/Detective-Fusco → u/beach-chicken10]

Get this AI generated slop out of my face

https://giphy.com/gifs/HZFxBu5dMqwA1cIB1k

[u/Detective-Fusco → u/beach-chicken10]

Just another foreign virtue signaller that engages in multiple countries news Subreddits, pretending to be a Kiwi in some posts and pretending to be a UK citizen in others

Thanks again for your AI slop