"But it is difficult to remain silent in the face of events that affect our lives fundamentally."

"Anne Salmond's ... 'Newsroom' column berat[es] people for having views on the Treaty of Waitangi when they cannot even read the Māori version of the treaty. ... that even when customs, laws or treaties impinge on your daily life, you cannot hold any views on these matters if you are unable to read the relevant documents in their original form.
    "It is safe to say that this view would come as a bit of a surprise to Biblical scholars who are not well versed in all of Aramaic, Greek, Hebrew and Latin. Clearly no Hindu or Buddhist can have any views on their own religion if they cannot read Sanskrit. And no one can say anything about Islam if they are not familiar with Arabic.
    "[Equally] immigrants to countries like France or Germany can express no views on tax or social welfare policies if they cannot read, write or speak the language.
    "This is obviously ridiculous and highly parochial. I have a feeling that even Anne Salmond understands the frivolity of her argument.
    "[She] is engaging in is what the philosopher Harry Frankfurt calls 'bullshit.'
    "This is where intellectuals and policy makers, who have no good answers to valid questions from regular people, essentially resort to using jargon to sidestep the matter....

    "But it is difficult to remain silent in the face of events that affect our lives fundamentally."

~ Prof. Ananish Chaudhari from his post 'Inability to understand te reo Māori does not prevent people from asking questions about race relations in New Zealand'