Posts by George Darroch
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The sad thing is that if Maori, Samoans, and Chinese were offended, there would indeed be people calling for them to "get a life". But that is not because Jews are a group with "endless power", but because a level of racism against Maori, Samoans, or Chinese is acceptable among some groups in New Zealand society.
Racism is about power, of course, and racism is the expression of a form of power against the group one wants to victimise. But being part of a group that is rarely the victims of racism does not mean that you are part of a group that holds power, but rather that you've been accepted into the "norm", and others no longer feel that it makes sense to discriminate against you, because you are no longer seen as lesser. The history of racism against Irish is a powerful example of this.
Racism against Jewish New Zealanders is rare, but it still exists. I was close friends with a couple of members of the Wellington community when their synagogue and cemetary were attacked, and there were a spate of attacks. They had very real effects on how my friends felt, and they no longer felt safe. For those traumatised by the horrors of Europe, the effect is even greater.
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Ah yes, the timeless "Jewish conspiracy". It never gets old, does it, even all these decades later.
Does it occur to you, Mr Calder, that people might be offended or even appalled because showing insensitivity (even stupid schoolboy insensitivity) to the genocide of millions of people is objectively offensive, not because some cabal of Jewish men with "endless power". Because generations of New Zealanders have been educated about these horrors, and are surprised that these children have not learned enough for them to sink in.
If you can't concede that, then I will have no option but to call you an antisemitic racist.
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Heck, even about underwear. If your panties have a waist, you're wearing them wrong.
Most of the time, yes. But there are such things as high-waisted panties. Don't ask me how I know these things. Nevertheless, it's a wasted metaphor.
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Right thanx but now can you explain the PAMJ? Is this code or am I thick? :)
Public Address Medical Journal. It's a subcultural reference, so don't worry too much. I got it immediately, but that's because I read a lot of academic public-health literature.
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The problem:
Nobody wants...
The solution:
balance... reasonable... sensible...
Nobody could disagree with something so reasonable and sensible.
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This, however, in the context of an editorial whose basic claim is that teachers and principals organisations are not allowed to criticise the policy.
Because what would practitioners know? What would "so called experts" know?
The only people who know are the people who know, because this is common sense, they tell you.
Because you cannot spell "Dominion Post" without "bloody stupid".
It's good to have you as a resident translator!
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Since we've dragged this discussion off topic (perhaps someone will come back and talk about primary edication), I though this was particularly insightful:
Quintessentially Kiwi: New Zealanders will only fall out of love with John Key when they cease to admire the image in the mirror he's become.
I'm not usually a fan of Chris Trotter, but this essay on how John Key is positioned in the popular imagination is worth a read. It seems that, like George W. Bush, his obvious failibilities and weaknesses endear him, rather than distance him from the population.
His fall can only be tragic – and Labour will have nothing to do with it.
Because New Zealanders will only fall out of love with John Key when they cease to love the image in the mirror he’s become.
The final lines give us some idea about how the Key era might end.
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There does seem to be a certain sense of powerlessness expressed in your explicit referral to Helen Clark rather than the democracy of New Zealand as a whole.
I'm thinking of a very specific quote from Helen Clark herself, where she expressed the wish in 2006(?) to reform immigration law, and said that changes would be made once Zaoui was out of the system (presumably so they could learn what doors they wanted to shut). A more general reference from 2007 can be seen here.
Powerless? Pretty much. There are good MPs within the major parties (even a few in National), but they are almost always a minority round the cabinet table, and because of very strong party discipline in NZ compared to other democracies (by no means a new thing), whatever is decided by the PM and a handful of senior ministers tends to become law. Labour's retrenchment to conservative positions has marginalised the activist wing within the party. The Greens are a glorified lobby group, by virtue of their position vis a vis the major parties.
Of course, as the thread about being overseas discussed, while you're out of the country you can feel even more powerless, and sometimes, as a friend said to me recently, you feel like you no longer understand the country you were born in.
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Hmmm, that sounded like an angry rant.
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Will be going thru the fine print, it better be fucking comprehensive.
It won't be. Every law passed by Labour (this was a Labour Government bill, now adopted by National) has had few safeguards.
Expect some of the most extreme provisions in this bill to be removed, and a few token safeguards to be appended, in order to make it seem more reasonable.
The Labour of Geoffrey Palmer is buried and dead. The Labour Party that wrote the Bill of Rights Act. It infuriates me.
I believe Helen Clark killed it, having seen her relentlessness in pursuing Zaoui, and her willingness to destroy rights to get there (you only have to look at the Immigration Act which she promised to enact after Zaoui's appeals were heard, and which is now law). There are members of the Labour Party who I refuse to speak with any more, because they refuse to stand up and publicly defend human rights.