Public Address | System (Home)

Posted at 8:23PM on 5 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 for raising the issue of crap journalism. How lazy do you have to be! And whose editor lets an article with "Source: Info for NZ Muslims, on Yahoo Groups" at the end into print?

Thank god for the internet, where I expect to have my intelligence insulted.

Posted at 8:23PM on 5 Nov 06. Permalink.

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:

Crazed nut in blog comments = -5 points for your race/religion/group-that-other-people-conveniently-place-you-in-for-argument's-sake.

Crazed blogger = -10 points for your virtual clan etc.

Then surely the fact that Garth George is not only deemed worthy of a nationwide platform but also actually paid to squirt his spleen onto newsprint (-100 points at least) pretty much puts paid to us white folks in any ‘Judge a Group by their Spokes People’ contest right from the start...

Posted at 10:32PM on 5 Nov 06. Permalink.

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?

Posted at 11:04PM on 5 Nov 06. Permalink.

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.

Posted at 11:25PM on 5 Nov 06. Permalink.

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"

Posted at 4:29AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 up trash, I didn't expect it to be based on the opinion of one blogger!

I might have to be more careful about reading Herald headlines in the future. However, the reason I still check the website regularly is that it at least has some semblance of balance and journalistic integrity as opposed to the ultra-partisan media over here.

Posted at 8:44AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 get rid of the rubber-stamp two counselors deal. That should give any anti-abortion Christians the proof they need that the pansy liberal university education system we have turns good women into...feminists.

Posted at 8:48AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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

Posted at 9:31AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 just outright "no". I presume he was an intellectual of sorts as it was Chris Laidlaw doing the asking. I stopped listening (Laidlaw has the affect anyhow).

Now any historian worth their salt would point out that multiculturalism is the normal state of affairs for human civilisations. Think of the Romans, Greeks (Alexander for example), Ottoman, British and American empires. All built on huge diversity and tolerence of other cultures and beliefs. Strength, as any farmer worth their salt will tell you, comes from diversity.

Mono-culturalism is the exception, usually brought in to justify a big changeover in power. Think the Crusades, Inqusition, and various smaller attempts at "ethnic cleansing". These movements are unnatural, cause great disruption and, in the general scheme of things, are quite short lived.

Posted at 9:48AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 as a Rodney voter I'm keeping close to hand a supply of shovels, chainsaws, lawnmowers, and other proven zombie deterrents. I think we can all get behind the call for New Zealand's Bill of Rights to be amended to include the right to bear landscaping equipment against zombies.

Posted at 9:52AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 Devonport. 300 people is a big party for around here, you can normally only fit about 50 or so in a renovated villa.

But I can honestly say I slept right through all the drama.

Posted at 10:16AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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. the good news? they usually postively flavour the cherry-picking majority, ie we take on new foods, music etc.

welcome to liberal democracy. what we geeks also call, "the Borg".

and PS. it's perplexing that staunch moral conservatives find radical Islam so galling. maybe it's just patch protection.

Posted at 10:19AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 it to the herald, though i know not to put anything in writing that i don't want the whole world to know!!!

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 comments of others who had responded to eyad.

how we even start to fight against this kind of stuff, i don't know. all i know is that it feels very suffocating to be subject this kind of reporting. but it's really heartening to read your piece and to read the comments above.

cheers
anjum

Posted at 10:40AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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.

Posted at 10:41AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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...

on a related topic (sensationalism), did anyone see the SST front page? i read this bullshit article and thought, "so what?"
so the SST thinks they have performed a social service for these primary school kids? mindnumbingly f-ing stupid. journalism? not even vaguely.

Posted at 11:32AM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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:

"The country and culture of origin will always be important to you. NZ respects and welcomes that. By chosing to become a citizen here you have also a been granted certain rights and responsibilities. There are some core responsibilities that you have chosen to buy into - they are, freedom, tolerance, democracy, equal rights."

I wonder whether we need a citizen "re-affirmation" ceremony to remind those of us "mainstreamers" who have never had to participate in one of these just what some of our "core values" are and also remind us that immigrants *do* swear to accept these values. A promise many of us don't get to make.

Posted at 12:36PM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 if you're 'born and bred' you automatically adopt an allegiance to the values they're promulgating?

and in the bigger picture, why is there the implicit assumption by the SST that targetted minorities like muslims are less likely to conform? yay xenophobia

Posted at 4:50PM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 citizenship at school. The devil would be in the detail of what the curriculum would contain.

Posted at 5:23PM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 comments of others who had responded to eyad.

This seems very shabby on the Herald's part. It would be nice to hear from Simon about it, although I suspect that's unlikely. My sympathies, Anjum. As I said when we corresponded about your essay, I'm not big on organised religion, but I do care about people.

Posted at 6:39PM on 6 Nov 06. Permalink.

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 emphasis on 'ethics' or 'morality'.

tricky one. i mean, how and what do we serve up to our youngsters? i'm sure it's been debated ad nauseum, but, what?