Speaking of the error of defining yourself by ethnicity, as I do in the post below--ethnicity being no more than racism plus tradition--LibertyScott has done a good fisking of the Maori Party's policies and philosophy from its website.
What's his conclusion? Whatever the rhetoric, the Maori Party's policies and philosophy show them to be big government racists. Surprise, surprise.
And just see where www.maoriparty.co.nz takes you.
5 comments:
Ethnicity racism plus tradition? Rubbish! There's nothing wrong with ethnicity per se, nor culture per se. One needs to judge them on their merits- and being a Kiwi has merit in spades!
Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to
avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness
provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untravelled, the naive, the sophistacated deplore these formalities as "empty," "meaningless," or "dishonest," and score to use them. No matter how "pure" their motives, they thereby throw sand into the machinery that does not work too well at best."- from Time Enough For Love, Heinlein
Rick, sometimes you should try and take in the argument from a whole post, rather than just from one sentence.
The point of the post is precisely that there ~is~ something desperately, violently wrong with 'ethnicity' per se. If that offends you, so be it, but just calling it "rubbish" is a dismissal without an argument.
Sorry, that should have read "the point of the post BELOW..."
Exactly PC. Ethnicity is not objectively real, it is a set of opinions and beliefs that someone holds that they claim attaches them to a collection of others, or some other group identity. There is nothing special about being Maori, Korean, Glaswegian or Xhosa - at best such identity should be one thing from someone's past, the Maori party treats it as if it is the centre of what an individual is.
"Objectively real" you say?
10/1 that doesn't actually mean anything! Sounds kinda flash though.
I think Heinlein makes a pretty deft argument actually PC. Reminds me of something Thomas Sowell said, something you say every second Tuesday....that cultures are not museum pieces but the working machinery of everyday life.
How's that one come out on the other side of Libertyscott's 'objectively real' function?
There is something "special" about being Maori or being a Southlander, Cantab, Aussie, Kiwi, Scot. Do I need to spell out the great cooperative advantages to the individual of forming and joining nations, communities, teams, parties?
I think you're both confused. You're not against Maoris or Kiwis or nations or ethnicities or patriotism at all- you're simply against the politicisation thereof. There's a big difference in that.
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