Posts by Kyle Matthews
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But at the end of the day, I'd say anal sex is as harmful as the person who is engaging in it thinks it is.
I'm not a doctor, but I think that anal sex, or indeed any other activity which could cause harm, could be a lot more harmful than the person engaging in it thinks it us.
If I was to self-mutilate myself for pleasure, I suspect the actual harm would come down to what I'd done, not whether or not I was enjoying myself while doing it and thought it wasn't harmful.
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Homosexual law reform was not unpopular, at least in NZ.
Umm.
And indigenous rights are not non-controversial.
Basic human rights like voting, equal protection under law, etc for indigenous people are controversial these days? They were often controversial at the time, not so much now.
Mmmm and criminalizing smacking is exactly like freeing slaves and emancipating women?
It's an example of progressive movements winning hard fought battles which then become widely popular with everyone 30 years later. Hardly anyone would stand up now and say that African Americans shouldn't vote now, it was widespread sentiment in some parts of the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. Same thing with homosexual law reform in the 1970s - 1980s (as per the above link). Legalizing same-sex activities was going to bring about the end of the world. Not so much as it turns out. Progressives won those battles, they'll win this one too, it'd just actually be easier if everyone moved on. Cheers.
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North Shore City looks like the council and community boards? In the popular imagination, perhaps, but the stats don't lie.
From that page:
6.3 percent of people in North Shore City belong to the Māori ethnic group, compared with 14.6 percent for all of New Zealand.
Sounds like it's not a "very Maori" city to me.
For the Auckland region, the figure is 11.1%, so NSCC is way under the mean in terms of % of their population that are Maori.
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It's unfair to point out that the media's favourite mayoral rentaquote on Maori representation doesn't exactly have the best track record on this issue? That he leads the most monocultural Council in Auckland?
I suspect he has the most monocultural constituency as well, certainly in terms of Maori citizens.
But that's really by the by. Andy Williams could stand on his head and pull Maori councillors out his butt, it still wouldn't relate to Rodney Hide, his proclamations about wanting diversity, and his pretty average track record in that regard himself, which is a lot more relevant to what's going to happen in the future with the supercity.
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Sure, but it's still grist to the "Why should I have to be in this stupid Union?" mill. That it was piss easy to rort so outrageously was not a big selling point.
Because leaders doing stupid things is not a reason for things being compulsory or not.
I don't like things the national government are doing, and I hope they don't win the next election. I don't get an opt out pass because they do stupid things with 'my' money.
I don't like everything my national sporting body does. That doesn't mean I opt out, that means I get in and try and make it better.
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Yes, democracy is a slow system. Convincing people to change is indeed much harder than forcing them to. But it's a much more lasting and effective method. It's rather like the alternatives to smacking, in that respect. Note that most of the changes you describe started in democracies.
They all went through over great popular opposition, and have subsequently been proven to be non-controversial long term. The same end result would have occurred if they'd happened years earlier.
Until they get so far ahead of popular opinion that they're just unpopular on every front, rather like communist Russia.
Because pushing through unpopular laws in New Zealand is exactly like communist Russia. I think there might have been a couple of other problems going on there.
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But until you get some actual moderator privileges around here (or are running your own blog), could you give the tiresome "I pronounce you irrelevant, so shut up" routine a rest?
I didn't tell you to shut up. Just called you on something that you tend to do a lot around here. The "You've pointed to A but B is the same so don't complain about A." Which ignores the fact that B is hardly ever the same, and B also doesn't tend to make A OK, in a 'two wrongs don't make a right" kind of way.
Ironic given that you also say this:
It's also cute as Hello Kitty to be told that if you don't support solution X. (like all "thinking people") you don't care care about worthy cause Y.
But feel free to move on in whatever way you feel best about.
Not this time, to be fair - see his 10.44 above.
You mean apart from the fact that:
Mayors run as individuals, not party lists, so a mayor doesn't actually control who else ends up in council, nor do they control the structure of council. The NSCC submission stated that they wanted greater representation for Maori on the supercity council, so attacking a major for a council he can't do much about when he submits arguing for greater Maori representation doesn't make much sense.
Rodney Hide does indeed have quite a bit of control over who ends up on his party list and therefore in parliament. It's pretty white in the single digits.
Rodney Hide also has quite a bit of control over how the restructured Auckland council is put together.
Rodney Hide, according to the story Carol quoted, was the one concerned about representation for all diverse groups, yet he shows no signs of actually doing that in any meaningful way. -
FFS.
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Dude, the guy in the Lisa ad isn't drunk, he's dead sober. (Is that just my perception, that he's portrayed as doing what he does entirely coldly and deliberately?)
Yes, but that in that case he (the problem) is really outside ALAC's sphere, as I noted.
The problems of why violence occurs are many in our society, alcohol is only one of them.
Just seemed to me a better advert would be 'look what this guy did when he lost control under the influence of alcohol, think about how your behaviour changes when you drink'.
(I did some work on family violence many years ago, and argued with my employer, the NZ police, that alcohol wasn't the problem society should be addressing in relation to violence (it simply releases inhibitions that hold people who, when sober, restrained underlying violent tendencies), so this suggestion also doesn't sit very comfortably with me either, but it would be better.)
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Rather ironic (or highly hypocritical) when you look at the total white-out that is the NSCC. Especially as I've seen no evidence that he previously showed any enthusiasm for reserved seats on the NSCC for Maori or any other totally unrepresented
That's nice. I fail to see any link between him and Rodney Hide or ACT. Not applying your typical deflection are you Craig?