Waitangi Day
Bucking a Media Trend
I’m writing this an advance of Waitangi Day - it helps to achieve the goal I want to achieve with this week’s Newsletter - which is to make something positive.
I know I’m burning the candle at both ends - I’m currently working some events most weekends, and making my own stuff and other mahi - and this week I’ve had an influx of the people so stupid they prove that even the shallow end of the gene pool should have life guards.
And I’m not a big fan of calling people that but I am struggling with a diplomatic way to explain to Tamaki’s racist fans that standing around platforming a well known, confirmed nazi white supremacist is bad and them trying to justify literally cozying up and putting on their social media, a man who firebombed Marae like he’s a reasonable voice - is a bad thing. Anyone who argues that a little Nazi-ism might not be too bad, is honestly just dumb and clearly never seen Indiana Jones, or Captain America, or even that episode of Star Trek Enterprise where they somehow ended up in an alternate WW2 with alien soldiers from the temporal cold war changing the outcome of the war in favour of the Nazis.
This week I’ve also had to deal with New Zealand First supporters who are worse than kids who keep trying to touch a hot stove element.
I’ve been doing a series called “Policy Audit” where I take a look at a single policy from both a pro and anti stance, with the data and facts on the policy and see if it will do as promised. So far I’ve looked at the Streamer Levy from Labour, National’s increased Kiwisaver contribution plan and NZ Firsts announcement to campaign on rescinding the Regulatory Standards Act the voted for. And that NZ First episode came out the same week RNZ research showed NZ First voters were the ones who felt they most negatively impacted by choices the coalition has made and the most likely to still vote for the party believing they can fix the problems they’re facing. Honestly, it’s just so ridiculous. And if the polls this week were to hold until November then we would, again as a country, have decided the we believe in the tenet of one person one vote and that person is Winston Peters, an octogenarian chain smoking drinker who has fewer lunches left than he has had before now.
And their supporters have argued in my comments that Jabcinder was evil, Grant Robertson was the biggest borrowing Finance Minister and that I need to recognise that the most human trait is to strive for personal wealth at the expense of everyone and everything.
Even last week’s Newsletter, where I looked at racist dog whistles from the coalition, got comments from assholes saying “yeah, good” - because of course shitty actions from elected officials embolden shitty people - like the nazi at Tamaki’s event who feels like he has a chance under the regime that’s normalising the shittiest of behaviours.
It all gets a little depressing - and I’m sorry - I don’t want to feel like I’m trauma dumping. I wanted to to show some positivity. Like the fact we’re back with The Collective on Sunday. Jordan Rivers and Sean Ackland and I will be chatting, Brie is taking a bit of a break so we’ll bring in some guests. I’m excited to see what they have planned for the year ahead.
And then there’s Waitangi Day - The anniversary of the signing of the founding document for the country. Media often frames the anniversary around conflict and drama - but there are three seldom talked about facts I absolutely love about our founding document.
The first is that anyone can just bowl on up to the National Library and see it. It’s free, it’s accessible, it shares a room with He Whakaputanga and the original petition from Kate Shepherd that led to woman getting the right to vote before anywhere else in the world. It’s an amazing space to be in, and I recommend everyone should go there if they get a chance.
The second thing I love is the way the physical document was “hidden” in World War 2. There was a real concern that the Japanese may invade Wellington, so an enterprising official packed up the 100 year old documents in a suitcase. And drove it to the Public Trusts office in Palmerston North. There it sat, in its suitcase in the back hall next to a cupboard for years, locals completely unaware of what they had there.
And the third is the story of the signing itself.
We have in our heads this image of pomp and ceremony for the founding of the country. A Marquee with flags, military, combined dignitaries.
That image, that moment has been used to create a lot of propaganda over the years, including a justification for the founding of one of the worst astroturf groups in the country based on a rumour of what happened - Hobsons Pledge. But Missionary and Printer William Colenso, who was at the event in 1840, the person who wrote that Hobson had said “he iwi tahi taatou “- we are one people, wrote his account 50 years after the event, based on half a century old notes. That’s not to say the details are wrong but it does mean that they might be a bit cloudy.
But those same notes, in that same account tells us the Treaty was signed by a man out of uniform, in a dressing gown - who rushed to put his official hat on for the official signing after being woken by the Rangatira early on the morning of the 6th because they had made a decision and wanted to go home.
If we have to accept Hobson said the thing Don Brash has colonised for his own race baiting purpose, then we have to accept our country was founded in part by a man in a dressing gown and a funny hat representing a woman half a world away in a gown and a funny hat.
It’s an absurd image, and one that I feel kind of exemplifies the country - particularly those stuffy, stern old white people who claim to be superior to everyone else they see as different. They want to believe the propaganda, and pick and choose which parts of people’s experiences are the ones they accept as reality. And for almost 200 years, those people have had far too much influence in shaping how the rest of us have to live our lives. Which is something we should all be really aware of going into Waitangi Weekend in an Election year where one bloc of parties is actively working to prop up the beliefs of those stuffy old white folks and the other is at least more open to admitting the absurdity of that situation.
Well-said Paul - and copying [and editing] what I posted re Bryan Bruce's page: "Rather like the issues of taxation reform, it would be nice if (some) people (including a number of your accurately identified stuffy [and ignorant - in the sense that they literallly have not read history] old white folks), groups, parties and businesses in this country not have a panic attack - but engage in a grown-up and informed conversation - about acknowledgement of te Tiriti o Waitangi."