Tuesday 10 July 2007

Hone's favourite word

Hone Hariawira labels Australian PM John Howard a "racist" for his emergency excursion into Northern Territory aboriginal communities in which child sex abuse is endemic, places where young children are being offered up for sex in return for petrol. It's telling that Hone fails to offer any serious solution of his own to this dire situation, one that's arisen say many commentators from what's been called "genocide by welfare."

What's equally telling is that as an epithet delivered by the Maori Party, "racist" is one that rather suffers from over-use. John Howard, frankly, has no need to feel singled out.

Just as the Greens tend to over-use the word "ban" (a search last year found the word ban appears 165 times on their site; doing the same search this morning shows the word only appearing 65 times using the Greens' search engine, and 1,140 times using Google's), the Maori Party -- a party explicitly founded on the basis of race -- tends to see the world in, and there's no other phrase for it, in black and white terms. Oppose anyone of darker hue, for whatever reason, and out like a knee jerk comes the 'R' word: "Racist" shows up on their site 41 times according to their own search engine, and 56 using Google's -- not as big a hit rate as the Greens' favourite word, that's true, but then the Greens have been around for longer, and they're more productive.

Examples abound, from "a bill [Te Ururoa Flavell] might have credited to a bigot, a redneck, a racist, or just a plain idiot," to "the recent racist roots of the world's nuclear powers" that continue our "oppression," to a "perception" that "the police institution is a racist institution," to a warning of "the very real danger of racist ideologies which threaten the security of Aotearoa for tangata whenua."

It must be tiring being so racially oppressed. Frankly, I think the Greens over-use of the word "ban" and the Maori Party's over-use of the epithet "racist" have a common cause. It says more about both of them than it does about us.

UPDATE: Whale Oil and Red Confectionery have comments worth reading.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't call it racist, I'd call it massive state intervention.Wouldn't you??

Oops - everyone knows it's only Nanny State when it affects what middle class, mainly white people want to do. If it affects spotty teens, Abos and those lower on the food chain it's all good...eh.

What a bloody joke.

Peter Cresswell said...

"I'd call it massive state intervention. Wouldn't you?"

Well, yes I would. And let's be honest, the situation provides a challenge to everyone of all stripes, one I confess I'm too far from and too challenged by to even attempt to suggest a simple solution -- and frankly I've seen no one who can.

The situation is already delicate enough and difficult without slinging around accusations of racism.

Anonymous said...

Not all state intervention is bad, soft option intervention is bad, something had to be done and only time will tell if it is a success or not.

The fantasy (Maori) party now seem to be stuck in the mode of making outrageous divisive statements, but woe betide anybody who would accuse them of perpetuating there own brand of racism. The fact that we have a group of people in this country who seem to think that they are the carriers of the of the flame of (completely revisionist bullshit, in my opinion) truth just scares the jebus out of me.

Anonymous said...

"Not all state intervention is bad, soft option intervention is bad, something had to be done and only time will tell if it is a success or not."

Actually, we've known what will happen as a result of intervention beforehand more times than not. The problem is that typically voters don't and politicians are out to win their approval so they push for measures that voters support.

KG said...

I wonder what the Maori Party's prescription would be? Throw more welfare dollars at the problem? Hold a conference? Blame whitey?
Yup, all of the above will really help the little girls and boys hooked on petrol and infected with venereal disease.
I know this problem, close up and I've yet to see any of the Howard critics come up with a better plan.

Anonymous said...

The whole darn mess up thar in Northern Territory because of government intervention in the firss place.

Gough Whitlam the ex-Prime Minister of Australia (what got kicked out by Governer General Kerr back in the '70s) passed laws that start the truble. His law's effect was to give unemployed abos welfare and to make wages too difficult and too much for the stations to employ abos as workers. So the abos they all los' their jobs.

Now there be nothin' to do. No work available but. And yet there be free money. What ya reckon gong to happen next? Same as here only 'cause the Northern Territory it isolated and away from scruitiny it go well out a hand. Isolated culture + money to get grog and stuff....

Here we be 30+ years later and lots more Ozzie gov BS rgulation later and those fellas be into drinking grog, petrol, nitro, insecticide... and they be getting stuck into the children (which be something ol' Hone's outfit seem to be havin' a trouble with thierselfs - their bigg dirty secret).

So it be 'caused ny massive gov intervention in the firss place.

How to fix it.

1/. Admit that the cause of all the trouble for the desruvction of the abos is the gov.

2/. Gov get out of abo people lives. That means, no more social workers, no more welfare, no more welfare money, no more gulag camps, no more BS agencies (like the one where the boss jus' got stuck in jail fer rape) interfering wid people.

Leav the people alone and let THEM git on with running their own live.

It have to be better than what gov created up their now.

I reckon if ya did as above the abos would not have such troubles as now. Sure it may take some time but the troubl took 30 yeasr to develop in the firss place- it aint goin' go away in ten minutes.

So. Whitey. Piss off!

Yup. That's the story.

Cleetus

Anonymous said...

Hone's face looks like a pedophile or child molester to me. Perhaps, it is just the nature of his ugly face.

Luke H said...

Yep, I'm with Cletus on this one ...