It's not clear why RNZ and TVNZ have not already abandoned that colonial term for Maoriland; possibly the laws underpinning their existence and funding would have made it difficult. Getting rid of 'New Zealand' may have been one of the reasons the Ardern government embarked upon the merger, alongside Ardern's desire for a media monolith that could be more effective for spreading her politburo's preferred propaganda.
Currently, RNZ seems to show a greater degree of wokeness than TVNZ, for example by continually spewing out bursts of te reo that most of us don't understand, as well as getting almost all of its interviewees to use the term 'Aotearoa', using Maori names for its programs and referring to itself on air as 'Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa'. It's somewhat surprising then to see that RNZ's web pages still refer to the service as RNZ while TVNZ's web page 'About TVNZ' greets us with "Welcome to Te Reo Tātaki". 'TVNZ' is added to this obviously superior name only in brackets in the body of its script. That script claims the Maori term means "the leading voice" but dictionary translations of Tātaki provide various meanings, only one of which might be relevant being the verb 'to lead or conduct' (which is not an adjective), and there is nothing in the new name suggestive of 'voice'. Te reo might be considered by its speakers as attractive but it seems too metaphorical and polysemous to be an adequate basis for laws and regulations that need to be clear and specific.
Interestingly, many businesses now use 'Aotearoa' in
their advertising.
I try to avoid dealing with those businesses because I
see it as patronizing of them to change the name of this country outside
democratic process, among other concerns. Advertisers on TVNZ and announcers on
both RNZ and TVNZ also use a number of Maori words instead of English, such as
for 'children', 'family' and 'work'. I object to having my family called
'whanau' because the terms are not synonymous.
'Whanau' is used for any group that shares some common feature; for example, some RNZ announcers address listeners with 'Kia ora te whanau' as if that mutlifarious group were all a family. I don't want my family to be redefined according to another culture's view.
An especially objectionable imposition (for some) of te reo is on employees, particularly state servants. Atheists are expected to go along with Maori prayers in their workplaces, thereby implicitly supporting beliefs they don't share and may even find abhorrent. For prayers and other ceremonies such as welcoming new staff often with long Maori speeches, most employees don't understand much of it so can't even determine what content they are implicitly accepting. Sometimes those speeches include racist disrespect but most of those targeted don't even know. The Maori prayers often involve a mix of Christian and Pagan beliefs that might be uncomfortable for people of any faith to appear to accept. Sure, if one chooses to visit a marae, another country, someone's house or to attend a ceremony in someone else's church, it's understood that respect must be shown for the hosts' beliefs and customs even though they might conflict with one's own beliefs. However, it's unreasonable that employees of a secular government are expected to share in a particular group's religious rituals in order to keep their jobs.
Yes, we're not meant to say such things. Just shut up and
tolerate racism from Maori against others and now from state institutions
against most of us.
A.E. Thompson is a working, tax-paying New Zealander who speaks up about threats to our hard-fought rights, liberties, egalitarian values, rational thinking and fair treatment by the state.
9 comments:
The woke have no respect for the people - so, no intention of seeking " the consent of the governed" to help advance their agenda.
To the recent Inquiry into RNZ charter I submitted that the excessive maori twaddle was despite not being specified in the Charter. The outcome...it was recommended that the Charter be amended to promote maori twaddle....... Maori advocate for their language because the metaphorical and polysemous (yes I did find a definition) enable many and any interpretation so everything is too elusive to predict or question. Maori terms shoud be reserved for maori applications. Otherwise never know whether specific or general applicatio is intended. Rangatahi is variously used to mean maori young or all young. Inclusion of the latter is inferred then when special grants made, the term contracts toamaori only.Personally I find reference to my family as whanau insulting.They exhibit very few of the characteristics of whanau and have no ambiton to acquire. Deliberately avoid.
Let’s not forget the names now given to the North Island and the South Island. Or the Maori name used for the Chatham Islands - not even the Moriori name.
The Moriori name for the Chathams was probably a little difficult to swallow along with the previous inhabitants.
NewsBreak: Nelson now has bilingual signs which mayor insisted on. Good for tourists he says. Cost only $4795.25. Questions: as he insisted did he pay? How many tourists speak Maori? Is there a sign for the tourists, to the location of former, no doubt historic, mud/straw huts that constituted Whakatu?
Thank goodness there are others whom are on the same wave lenght as myself.St john have stated as from Sept 2022 they now have a maori name for St John and the country they serve is Aotearoa nz . I decided not to renew my annual subscription.Idont know wether the govt has put the sqeeze on them due to govt subsidies.or it is the woke fashion.So far the only politican i have heard say they will stop this maorification of nz is Winston.
If the question as to why RNZ's ratings are falling faster than a Chinese weather balloon, go no further than the words "mind-numbing" and "boring". The "mangish" is a source of irritation, and the genre of interviewees are largely part of a wider agenda of climate change/extinction proponents. Not to mention the musicians touted as bright young things, when they cannot sing.
RNZ needs to ask themselves, "who is your target market?" If it is baby-boomers, then for crying out loud cater for their listening tastes.
Willie Jackson himself said: "I don't know any Maori who listen to RNZ..." so there you have it. From the Minister's mouth. Force-feeding listeners on cultural cringe will only drive ratings down. Ask the boomers.
When Te Papa was being set up I was one of a group invited to visit the unfurnished structure and comment on the proposed signage. I was appalled to find that there were two signs on everything: one English, one Maori.
Somehow the often technical and specific scientific names had been supplied with Maori versions, often longer than English and quite spurious since no Maori words existed to explain many of the exhibits. My question was who would read this signage since the percentage of visitors that could read it, or would bother to read it even if they could, would be minute.
Sadly the idea of bilingual signage has been adhered to in spite of the waste of time and money involved. The cult of dressing English words in flax skirts and calling it a language has gone from a joke (Road Transport has to do with canoes!) to insulting the way it is jammed down our throats.
Radio announcers help overcome the insult by reading it so fast when using it that I doubt if anyone could understand it.
Yep, all of the above. I'm even considering canceling my subscription to New Zealand Fishing News because of their infuriating to me, propensity for scattering maori words throughout.
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