While it would have been nice to be able to write a good children's story about sprightly pony named Whinny, stalwart defender of the realm, I got about a sentence in and then really couldn't be stuffed. The problem is, just when I thought that the star of the story really was a one-trick pony, he pulls out a second trick! A trick that is pretty much exactly the same as the first trick, and a well-worn trick all the same, but still different enough to make me think twice.
And 'Whinny the Two-trick Pony' doesn't really have the same sting.
Ah well. But, I still thought that you've got to admire the guy for his perseverance, after it, all can't be easy trotting the same crap out year, after year, after year. Mind you, it might make him a little like a maths teacher, the one who uses the same lesson plan for decades. Picture him there, double-breasted suit cast aside, resplendent in sandals, knee-high socks, walk shorts and polo shirt, desparately trying to make the numbers add up while the real world rushes past outside the window.
Whinny, the word on 'da street' is this: the only 'yellow peril' you and your constituency face is incontinence. Oh, and 'vitamised' food.
So get yourself a pin-striped nappy, look up the word 'xenophobe' in the dictionary, and leave the nice friendly small-businessmen alone. You've dragged that one out so often the bottom has worn out. And as for the new threat from SADDAM HUSSEIN, I expect the information for this one will be presented in something suiting your contribution to New Zealand politics over the past few years. A pork barrel perhaps?
Anyhow, on the non-aggrevating side, was having chat with a fellow blogger over a feed of Korean BBQ the other day that got me thinking about the issue of immigration and this whole idea of cross-cultural divides. Essentially, what we were talking about triggered a thought about something a reader emailed to me regarding some of my comments on multiculturalism in Australia. Anne said in response:
Re: "It's the old, 'Con is a Greek but his kids will be Aussies' approach. And the statistics support the method, the third generation children of migrants are essentially monolingual Anglophonic Ockers."
I don't know if it's quite that simple, or that quick - what about the ethnic-based groups like "Oakleigh Wogs"? Or the support for local soccer teams because they are 'Macedonian' or 'Serbian' or 'Croatian'?. In the recent dust-up at a Sydney soccer match a 22 year old was arrested. I bet he's at least 3rd generation, and while probably monolingual I bet he identifies with another country as well as being an Ocker.
Anne is dead right. There's an interesting book by two Australian academics named Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis who talk about this exact issue. A Place in the Sun talks in practical terms about the issue of 'hyridity', the way that all cultures are really just big amalgams of lots of other cultures, and how migrants bring their native identities with them.
This topic is really a can of worms for everyone, but in a nutshell the book used a bunch of examples of how migrants considered unassimilable because they were 'wogs' have forged new identities in Australia that aren't evident anywhere else. A story they used was of talking to John Pasquarelli, one of those One Nation nutters, who was getting stuck into the local wogs for having big plaster lions and Classical statues outside their houses. What Mary and Bill pointed out was that this type of thing is (apparently) unique to the 'wog diaspora'.
John's response was something like, “well, it's f**ked anyhow”. Top bloke.
The tricky thing is, when you grow up in a place your parents migrated to, you're always going to end up with this kind of bastardised identity confused by the culture clash. I have cousins who grew up in NSW but experienced the same kind of hyridity (Kiwi crossed Aussie), and spoke to a few Australian Maori.
What is fascinating about hybridity is that often the people most opposed to 'alien' immigration are the ones who feel most threatened, usually they're precious about some kind of mythic 'pure' background. And all this when their culture is little more than an amalgam of a whole lot of other cultures. Or, they are the ones without the social skills cultural flexibility needs.
Look, I'm the first to admit that I make cultural gaffes all the time. But, I do it because I'm happy to step way outside my comfort zone and learn from the overstep. Occasionally you make yourself look like a racist, but you're not a racist if what you're doing is genuinely trying to broaden your horizon. Mind you, some people are just racists who like the idea of foreign 'food', but lets not quibble.
It's far too late for many of Whinny's target audience. But many of the immigrants who come to New Zealand are genuinely trying to fit into our society, and the close-minded scaremongering of ponies like him are contributing nothing to our mutual future, while migrants are, and pushing progress offshore is doing no one any favours.