Posts by Kumara Republic
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Asians, in modern New Zealand society, are still highly othered. So the idea spreads, and becomes a focus of investigation, because at some level it just makes sense. And it doesn't mean the witnesses are liars, or racists, or the police are racists. It's about a meme.
And I'm equally concerned about "model minoritarianism" on the other extreme, especially when "involuntary minorities" are deliberately used as doormats to welcome in "voluntary minorities" carrying wads of cash in their pockets. To bring in skilled migrants & investors is all well and good, but to marginalise the involuntaries in doing so invites inter-minority tensions.
When South Africa was under the grip of apartheid, Japanese and Taiwanese businessmen who signed trade pacts with Cape Town were referred to as "honorary whites", and given much the same rights as the Afrikaner populace while the status quo was maintained towards the blacks & coloureds.
Amy Chua wrote about the wider phenomenon in "World on Fire".
-
Theme of the talkback was along the lines of “well we know that Triads are into kidnapping to order”
I changed channel before it reached its logical conclusion.
No sign of Peter Low so far. Or does he only emerge when the culprit fails the brown paper bag test?
-
What was the tone of the talkback, LegBreak? I was having similar thoughts to you and Lucy (see earlier comment about Jews stealing Christian children).
Classic formula for demagogy: When in doubt, blame the Jews and Gypsies. And for added effect, burn down the seat of government and blame it on adherents of a hated ideology.
-
Tight Five Part II, anybody?
-
There were always doubts about the abduction theory. I don't think Deb Webber deserves any more credit than anyone else who guessed that perhaps the police search might have missed something, and that drowning or a fall was also a likely cause of death.
It all sounds like yet another cynical attempt by the usual suspects to find a scapegoat. If it bleeds, it leads - especially if the bleeding is done with a weapon.
-
Eh, if we must have '80s revivalism, Ladyhawke is actually good '80s revivalism.
Sure, but haven't we been in a permanent state of '80s revival since about 1996? Surely 13 years, plus the original 10, are more than enough?
-
Take Star Wars for example. George Lucas is known for being a hard-ass when it comes to copyright infringement, but if you aren't making money off of it and are just dressing up as Tauntauns in your backyard, he encourages it.
The grand-daddy of them all...
-
I'm in Canberra, physically, of course. But I know few Australians, and fewer still Canberrans; my friends and counterparts are from everywhere but here. My headspace doesn't reflect my physicalspace. I don't think there is anything unique about feeling young (in my case) and on the wind. This discussion and the ones that have preceded it give me the impression that it is the case for a lot of us.
Sounds much like my sister's experience in Brizzy when she worked at the public hospital there for 12 months not too long ago. She came to the realisation that most, if not all, of her friends there were either immigrants or foreign students.
-
Huh? Haven't seen or heard much in the way of contention for a long time. The fact that some Canadians speak French, while others speak English (and a lucky few speak both), is not really grounds for contention.
Bill 101 (Charter of the French Language), which made French the only official language in Quebec, comes to mind. It got passed in the late 70s in wake of the FLQ attacks and the subsequent political victory of the Parti Quebecois. It was ruled unconstitutional some 10 years later, but by then a lot of Anglophones had crossed the border to Toronto.
-
And I recall on one occasion, a convenience store owner who got caught in the act selling booze to the under-aged claimed he was pressured by gang intimidation. So far it's anecdotal, as there's no police report to back it up.
I also doubt there's any coincidence between the density of liquor outlets in a locality, and the likelihood of civil unrest, if Detroit in 1967 and South Central L.A. in 1965 & 1992 are anything to go by.