Public Address | Cafe | Yellow Peril: Public meatings

Jimmy D

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:37:43 +1300

Forget the major organised religions. There is an insidious form of ethics creeping into the country via badly made websites and poorly written historical tracts. It makes no promises, it swears allegiance to no god. Worst of all, it's italian. sort of.

Epicurianism is on the rise. It is a…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 14:04:19 +1300

"There are some core responsibilities that you have chosen to buy into – they are, freedom, tolerance, democracy, equal rights."

Surely an obligation to "buy into" these "responsibilities" negates one of them – "democracy". In a democracy I have the right to hold any opinion, including the view that democracy…

TracyMac

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 14:31:00 +1300

I'm disappointed not to see many nutty(?) assertions in this thread!

* More queers are better than hets as parents, because they have to choose to have sproglets – it's hard to have "accidents". So if right-wing Christians were truly concerned about child welfare, they would encourage more gays to…

Hamish

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 08:39:02 +1300

Hey, good to see Russell bring this up on Good Morning this morning! Too often Journo's get away with shoddy reporting.

(Not paid enough to be credible!? Now that's a statement about the decline of old media.)

Che Tibby

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 07:18:32 +1300

aren't SST editorials outsourced to India or somewhere? it might explain the complete dislocation from NZL realities.

hmmmm.. might be age and years blurring my memory? but i distinctly remember being taught about women's suffrage, early welfare (i have this crystal-clear image of two elderly maori men holding cheques circa…

Nat Torkington

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 21:14:10 +1300

Che: they taught you about NZL in Social Studies? All I remember was Aztecs (and the fabulous taste of "Tenochtitlan" in one's mouth) and Israel-Palestine (and the horror of the teacher when I wrote in favour of Palestine). I don't think I learned much about New Zealand in school, and…

Neil Sanderson

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:58:42 +1300

Extrapolating the support of two people (one unequivocal, the other qualified by suggesting that the mufti used an inappropriate analogy) is worrying enough.

But I think we should be even more concerned by the wording of the lead sentence:

A Sydney mufti who compared unveiled women to "uncovered meat" has…

WH

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:37:03 +1300

Tse Ming is right to say that Simon's article does not contain evidence for the claim that there is support for the Mufti's comments within New Zealand's Islamic community.

However, I am unpersuaded by her implication that the Mufti of New Zealand and Australia is to Islam as Garth George…

reece palmer

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 18:53:36 +1300

Every year we begin with a unit called 'the Point England way' it covers being a part of our school and covers expectations and rights granted and assumed by the school and its pupils and staff. We cover the TOW of course and present an evenhanded view of its meaning…

Che Tibby

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 18:39:14 +1300

don – yeah, naturally. i think the bun fight over what to include is likely to 'go nuclear'. but then, as i remember social studies at college it kind of was citizenship stuff? they taught us all the key things we 'needed to know' about NZL, but without any concomitent…

Russell Brown

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:23:01 +1300

interestingly enough, i offered the herald my peice that appeared on public address re this issue, but they chose not to publish it. and they don't appear to have had a headline "muslims in nz outraged at comments by sheikh alhilaly", even though i forwarded to simon (with permission) the…

Don Christie

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:50:50 +1300

Che – not sure that it came across as stridently as you seem to suggest or as my short account might indicate. This was also celebration and recognistion of diversity and NZ citizenship, no doubt about it. It was fun and moving.

There has been discussion about whether to teach…

Che Tibby

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:36:04 +1300

interesting. sounds like there's an affinity to the citizenship ceremony i underwent in Australia. howard et al rewrote the immigration obligations and responsibilities around 'core values' a few years back. it would be interesting to know how long they've been using that format in NZL.

maybe there's an assumption that…

Don Christie

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 11:32:20 +1300

Che – it has to do with respect and tolerance and it goes both ways.

I recommend hoping off to the next citizenship ceremony in your area. I went to one recently and NZ's policy came out pretty loud and clear.

I paraphrase, but it went a bit like this:…

stephen walker

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:41:05 +1300

notwithstanding Zse Ming's starter for ten...

this once again just proves that herald journalists are lazy and herald editors are into xenophobia in a big way, which i'm sure is just fine for the paper's owners because sensational headlines sell papers. try looking at the Zaoui coverage from day 1...…

Che Tibby

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:40:34 +1300

doh. do me a favour and replace that instance of "policy" in my last comment with "theory".

what the hell do i know about NZL multicultural policy? answer. nothing.

anjum rahman

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:19:37 +1300

hi tze ming

since you mentioned my name... i did reply to the crazed comments of this guy cos i thought it was important to do so. so did at least 10 others within 24 hours, and no-one on the group supported him. i had no idea someone would send…

Che Tibby

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:16:19 +1300

in reply to don, there's also the irony that 'multiculturalism' is policy shorthand for 'assimilation'. the main tenet of multicultural theory for nation-states is "diversity!! (while it lasts...)"

usually the diversity content is rolled over intergenerationally to accomodate new types of visible minority, most of which blend into the mainstream.…

Andre Alessi

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:52:46 +1300

I suppose cherry picking to create drama is what passes for news in the modern world. Sad, really. Particularly since it was obvious even from within that story that the guy talking was a nobody.

Mind you, it's been interesting being at the centre of "mayhem and chaos" in sunny…

Nat Torkington

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:48:19 +1300

I'd like to go down in history for being the first to suggest that Lockwood Smith is at the vanguard of the zombie army quietly eating their way through New Zealand's democratic institutions. That fixed smile, the undead hairpiece, the unwillingness to die .... I don't know about you, but…

Don Christie

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:31:16 +1300

This will not be the last of these sort of articles. Anti-muslim propaganda is the new black, fashionable and acceptable to mainstream politics.

I heard a guy on National Radio on Sunday morning being asked if "multiculturalism" was a natural state for humanity. He said "no". No qualifications, no justification…

Hamish

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 08:48:24 +1300

By the way, you can let Simon Collins know what you think here:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/author/email.cfm?a_id=135&objectid=10409156

Lucy Stewart

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 08:44:52 +1300

Hmmm...as a middle-class young white female, I do believe I support the notion that Maori should be compulsory in the first two years of high school (or, frankly, any language) thus proving the slavish PCness of all middle-class white women.

Or perhaps I'll go with reforming the abortion system to…

David Pattemore

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 04:29:00 +1300

If I hadn't read your post I would have been left with the quick impression I got from skimming over the Herald headlines online from my position in exile in the Land of the 'Free' (TM). Although I didn't bother reading the article because I figured it would be hyped…

mic weevil

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:25:19 +1300

not to mention the anonymity of a yahoo newsgroup. there's nothing to say it wasn't the journalist himself posting those comments.

"axis of weevil declares jihad against coalition of the silly"

Robyn Gallagher

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:04:03 +1300

Gang warfare has made it into nice central Auckland suburbs. I, Robyn, a Pakeha lady, am a member of the N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S. 630 Mt Eden gang who is currently at war with the Mt Eden 274. The turf war has escalated from the streets on to public transport. This is serious.

Yamis

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 22:32:40 +1300

If I say that white people can't dance is that now an opinion held by all white people like myself or is it an already known and agreed upon fact across all races?

Terence Wood

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 20:23:32 +1300

This is slightly off topic (at the very least my comment might rescue the comment box from 3/4s of the way down the screen), but isn't Garth George actually quite a senior figure at the Herald?

If we were to devise some sort of weighting system along the lines of:…

Hamish

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 20:23:27 +1300

Long time listener, first time caller. White, male, mid-twenties. Probably my opinion that irresponsibly using fireworks is (gasp) fun would be a good pick. Yeah, not ground-breaking, but it's hard when you're so mainstream it hurts (mmm, love that white boy middle-class angst).

Actually, I wanted to give you kudos…

Public Address

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 20:23:27 +1300

Discussion from blog post.