Pages

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Denis Hall: Maori culture shaped by European culture


I got up early this morning because I had what is to follow in my head – and I sat down in front of the computer and its video function and talked all this out over about forty minutes.

Now below I go back and sort the wheat from the chaff of that discussion with myself.

Some people familiar with my writings will recognise some of the concepts I put forward – but I want this to be a something of a summary of all I have previously had to say on the subject.

My first question to myself was: Are Maori and Maori Issues above criticism - and all opinion on Maori issues inoculated from the vagaries of discussion by the ever present threat of being called a racist?

I don’t believe I’m an entirely stupid man. In fact - I believe I am a man of at least average intelligence – and I am a thinker – and this morning these thoughts entered my head in the pre dawn darkness – and I got up to make a video of them so I didn’t lose them in the activities of the day. (C’mon Denis: Get on with it.)

I do in my normal thinking way – spend a lot of time struggling to understand the general relationship between Maori and European – and I am talking not just about interpersonal relationships - but also the general relationship as it exists between the races at large. I also spend a lot of time thinking about the Media attitude to these issues - and that because it seems to me to be tainted with either overt political correctness - or outright journalistic cowardice and lies.

I think - (and this is my essay so it is about what I think,) these days we should think of it as being more complex than what it first appears to be – because the Europeans in the society at large - have been joined on their side of that racial equation by peoples from a wide range of other cultures - and almost all the white ones and a large proportion of the Asian ones (predominately Chinese) chose to identify with the NZ Europeans – and some of the “non-white” people seem to identify easier with the Maori side of that racial equation.

The reason why Asians and Chinese identify with the Europeans - is because they had to take huge personal and financial risks to uproot themselves and move to here - to what they perceived and believed was a country that was firmly ensconced in the great Global European Culture - because like it or not - that is the lifestyle they are all looking for.

As it happens - I can say from first hand experience - that some aspects of Maori culture - and discussion of such things as the crime rate and Co Governance disturbs them - and many of them are looking at moving on to Australia. And to that I need to add - so are many born New Zealanders - and that procession of qualified and professional people to Australia is going to become a flood - but that’s just yet another issue that we are going to have to face as a result of six years of Leftist government ideology and mismanagement.

That division is well entrenched now - and is counter to National unity.

The gruesome fact remains - and the thing we have to remember in this dynamic – is that the vast majority of immigrants come to join the New Zealand version of the Great Western European Culture and Civilization. (GWECC)

Well? They just do. They are not coming to live in Polynesia - they are coming to live in NEW ZEALAND. They are attracted here by the NEW ZEALAND BRAND, not hakas and poi dances.

Aotearoa is of no interest to them at any level - they are just confused and worried by it - and can’t believe we would be that stupid - and I know that from first-hand experience.

I suspect that all that may be unpalatable for some to see written down – but it is none the less a fact. The immigrants do not come here to live a Maori way of life. Yes - I do know – that is a blunt way to express that fact – but it sure makes the point.

“We are a nation of immigrants.” Says some smartarse politician - but then they show by their policies that they just see these recently immigrated people as fodder for the work force.

Then there’s this: The other very basic reality about that – is that the European New Zealanders do not need Maori Culture – but the Maori people sure do need European Culture – and that reality is a cause for some anger and resentment among some sectors of the population - and that manifests itself in a range of uncomfortable ways.

I have to repeat myself: As a sidebar to that is that by far the majority of all recent immigrants – white or whatever – want to move on from where they were and whatever that was - to NEW ZEALAND - to join and be part of the greater Global European Culture - not the indigenous Maori Culture - and that also is obvious and may just add to the Maori sense of resentment.

What can we do about that?

Nothing – there is nothing that can be done to fix that if it is considered to be a problem.

To be blunt – we New Zealanders, (Maori and European alike,) preserve aspects of Maori culture that are acceptable to the wider culture - and both sides of that social equation don’t even like talking about aspects of the original Maori culture that we found here 200 odd years ago - because some of those practices were abhorrent to us then - and still are now – as they always will be. …….And they were Cannibalism and Tribal wars - and a range of other customs that would be totally unacceptable today to all races.

I don’t say that to be rude - because that is not the object of this essay. It is just a fact that we all need to acknowledge before the debate can move on to a more productive place - because like it or not - the residuals of that attitude between the races still exists in our
attitudes to each other.

Yes they do.

Further to that - although we recognize it when we see it - the vast majority of New Zealanders including some Maori - have no Maori culture at all - and live quite happy lives regardless of that reality.

It means nothing to them - any more than the overt elements of Chinese Culture that the local Chinese like to exhibit from time to time in parades and such.

On the other hand - all Maori who follow Maori culture - do live within and are sustained every day of their lives by the European culture - all the way down to their underwear. And right there is the conundrum that I want to tackle in this essay.

It may seem to many of us - that the Maori leadership want more and more and more - and most of the more they want are represented in the collective wealth of the Nation at large. They want greater access to all the things and advantages brought (created - invented - established) by the European Culture - and the awkward aspect of that - is that just as they do that - they - from their “special” place ensconced inside the New Zealand version of European Culture - want more recognition of their Maori Culture.

When we look at how that looks in today’s world - as it exists in its current form - and because of that which has a long time ago been adopted from the European culture - we can see that parked there on another level - often kept obscured - is another cause of anger and resentment.

Can we ask Maori if - as they feel that resentment - that Europeanism is seen as the reason their culture is no longer authentic - or valued - because the sad reality is - that without the huge influences of cannibalism and Tribal Wars - how can it be?

I can feel people chopping on that - but try to think about it objectively.

So before we get in even more trouble - - let’s try to define European Culture: European culture is without a shadow of a doubt global in reality and nature – and as such is so all encompassing - that it has influenced and changed the cultures of all of Asia and China and Japan - and all of South America and of course the Americas and Australasia - and Africa. If you want to dispute that - put into Google Earth the name of any African or Asian city - and click on images - and you will get pictures of the infrastructure all over every nation on earth and see a picture of European inspired and built cities and societies with electricity - running water and a network of roads for cars trucks and busses - and like it or not - all those things are elements of that Great Global European Culture and Civilisation.

Put Mombasa into Google - and click images - and you will see pictures of a city in Africa that could not have been created without Western Culture and engineering and economy.

The indigenous Kenyan Society traditionally lived in collective houses made of sticks and branches and various leafy plants. Nowadays most of them live in traditional European houses; – some of them very poor Western Houses - but Western Houses none the less.

The point I am trying to make - is that the great global culture and civilization originated in

Europe - and migrated to North America and Australasia - and then colonized the rest of the world. Tell me a place on earth that doesn’t want a few modern cities - and with it radio and TV and motor vehicles and modern appliances – that are all products of European culture and society and civilization.

Right! An announcement!

This Essay is not about European gloating or trying to push all this up people’s noses - it is about recognizing the realities of the world today - and where it might be going - and the difficulties created by an advanced and easily recognisable civilization living in an overlapping way with less advanced cultures - and trying to find ways to make that reality more acceptable to both sides - so bear with me and read that sentence again.

None of that can be changed! - it is a plain reality - the result of centuries of history and heritage and development - and colonization - and there is no doubt that the thrust of all that came out of Europe - driven by Europeans.

The European Culture and Civilisation has lead the world to where it is today - and if you think that is incorrect - tell me which culture and civilisation did!

So what I am searching for in this very long essay - is a way for all cultures that are having a problem acknowledging that - in all ‘its reality - and also acknowledging in reality the part all other races play in it - and where in that dichotomy the attitudes of both sides in these various social equations come from.

But before we can do that we need to write it down in words and sentences - and make ourselves see and be aware of what a complex problem we are dealing with.

So be patient - and read on.

So - as an example - let’s have a quick look at the average life of a Maori person in 2022 living in New Zealand:–

He lives all the most important parts of his life within the European Culture. He will live in a house with a leakproof roof and walls and lockable doors and windows - with water and drainage and sewage laid on - along with electricity - and therefore a stove and a TV and electric lights and places to recharge his phone. He will dress in European style clothes and shoes - and most likely have a job - and a car and a phone - and some interests - one of which might happen to be Maori Culture as it displays itself in this modern age. Now his interest level in that will be similar to a person with a serious interest in Travel - or Hotrods - or flying planes - or playing Bridge - and that level of interest and commitment will vary among fellow Maori that he knows personally - because like the guy with the Hotrod car - some will live it - and some will just buy the magazines and watch Fast and Loud or Chip Foose on the Turbo TV channel.

Same as the rest of us.

He won’t be able to argue about any of that paragraph - and most wouldn’t even bother trying - because this is his actual lifestyle - and he will take all the European component in his lifestyle for granted - and not even see it as cultural - which of course it is - but we can be sure he will not want to lose it.

I say again because it is important:

He will take that European Cultural component in his lifestyle for granted – because it is all encompassing and ubiquitous and he lives it without even thinking about it - because that’s what culture actually is.

I am going to argue here - hopefully in an acceptable way - that he/she - and the managers and manipulators of what passes for Modern Maori Culture in general - need to recognise that fact and acknowledge the reality of it - and in the context of that re-evaluate where he and his Maori Culture sits in the great scheme of things.

In his real life – the Maori and his family are now undeniably an integral part of that Great European culture and Civilization - and as he educates his children to that - he is cementing all that reality in place - but is some sense denying that European cultural component as a reality.

I have to ask - why should it hurt him to acknowledge that he is a functional part of that great global enterprise. He has - or generations past - become part of the greatest and most all pervasive culture in human history?

That is not to say that he cannot value his Maori Cultural roots - but there is a certain cultural blindness in not recognizing the value in the wider culture that actually sustains him along with his Maori Culture - even as the Maori Culture cannot. I recognise of course that psychologically - he places a high values on the very minor Maori Cultural component in his daily life - and that is a fine thing - but I do suggest that if he also at a cognitive level valued the European component - his life would be easier to live and feel comfortable about.

So perhaps the process of feeling good about himself - should start at school - instead the school curriculum demands the opposite. A happier life and recognition of his reality and his ACTUAL CULTURE can be easier achieved if he tries to develop a way to recognise in a psychological way - the rest of what he actually is.

I have to add - that not recognizing and honouring the European component in his cultural make up - is a sad aberration - and will cause him conflicting emotions - and aggravate the aggressive aspects of his being.

Not recognising or being encouraged at the grass roots of his education - to recognise that huge European component in his personal and family culture - is the root of so many of the interracial problems - and their respective crime rates in New Zealand.

We also need to ask the Authorities - as good at obfuscation as they are - - how this plays into the very high Maori Crime rate - and the elevated levels of depression and aggression that permeate their society and the way it represents itself to the world in general - because - after all - no matter where he goes in the world - he will be confronted by the Great Western European society and civilization.

It is ubiquitous - no matter where we or he might go - because people all over the world - just like him - need it. In fact in the final analysis – the reality is that he needs Europeanism more than he needs Maori Culture - and for many the practicality of that statement will be difficult to recognise and accept as a reality.

The intellectual building blocks of this - are there in the heads of all of us - quietly influencing us and all our thoughts about things every single day - and we mostly process them in an incomplete way. When they seem too difficult to think about we discard them somewhere inside our head - but they keep gnawing away at us almost in silence - and will only emerge when we exercise our brains and try to figure things out in an honest way.

I do actually believe that a lot of our thinking and processing is not done in an honest front of brain way - because inside our heads we make the thinking rules without witnesses - so we are able to bend and hide and put down thoughts that are difficult to process in ways that are compatible with our particular ideology - and our political and social affiliations.

What I think I am doing here in this essay - is trying to find ways to both recognise all that for what it is - and bring it to the attention of both sides of this great and ever widening racial divide. In the end - we will have to accept that that wider culture is the reality for each and every one of us.

That irritating divergence and difference between Maori and European is very obvious now - and much aggravated by Mass Media - that holds Maori Culture up to be the life blood of Maori - when an honest look will show us that the culture they cannot do without - is their European Culture - and it exists in some form in every minute of our lives - and it needs to be talked about - and discussed carefully and respectfully. But there are so many social restrictions on what we can and cannot say - almost all invented by visionless individuals in European Academic institutions - and of course - in that hotbed of political correctness – a University would be one of the most difficult places in the wider culture to have an honest conversation about anything as contentious as religion, culture or race.

All the restrictions on such discussion - have been created and introduced by academics - and that reality needs to be recognised for what it is.

The fairly minor differences and realities of the broader cultural life that I’m trying to talk about - are obvious in every minute of the lives each and every one of us - because in all locations there is electricity and a TV in the corner of the lounge. As a result - in every home in the Nation (and the world) - the European culture and civilization is always there and very visible - and for the Maori - once inside his house and family - his “Maori” culture and identity will be confined to some pictures on the walls and maybe by a Maori carving or two displayed on a wall or a mantle or shelf - or in a corner in a dwelling that is entirely European in structure and nature. He will however have a TV - and it - with the unthinking input of rabid leftist journalism - will deliver regular doses of Maori Cultural propaganda - but that could be changed with a change of thinking - and by airing programs that also highlight the actual and daily role that the European Civilisation plays in their lives.

I do believe that at a subliminal level - the reality of that must always be visible - and working away in the thought processes of Maori - and therefore inhabiting a place in their psyche where denial is done.

Denial? Now that’s a big deal - and it plays a part in the lives and thinking of every one of us - and here I am busy with a keyboard trying to skirt around it.

I think we need to stop skirting around this reality. Maori culture - as it is displayed today - on the grand stage of the culture at large - and on the mass media where most of us see it - is by and large a European cultural construction – that is made acceptable by deleting and ignoring certain unpalatable aspects of it.

When Maori Culture is displayed on the TV - that makes us see it like the unreality of a movie. It becomes entirely reliant on all the modern age input of the European Culture to find ways to display it - and tries to dictate how we should react to it.

Like it or not - all these things absolutely owe their existence to European Culture.

The problem seems to be - that European culture has developed this practice of political correctness where race relations is concerned - and the reality of all that is - that all races have to get along in an environmental reality that is very far removed from the strictures of the academics who dream all this nonsense up. Consequently - I believe that much of the difficulties we have in racial relations - has its origins among the busy bodies of Media and academia - because in their holier than thou way they dream up all these unnecessary and counter intuitive social conventions - and they do that in the rarefied atmosphere of these learning institutions that ordinary people don’t have access to - and therefore are unable to bring any balance and common sense to - and then it is served it all up in the teaching structures where they often have a balance of power out of all proportion to their intellectual abilities.

Then it becomes a very effective weapon used by these academic types to prevent the open discussion of such things taking place at the grass roots levels - where most of the racial problems actually happen.

These people are self appointed excuse makers and obfuscators - who don’t live in the real world. They come from the unique position in the European cultural hierarchy - where they feel quite comfortable criticising European Society and the European races - while they elevate primitive societies on to a pedestal as examples of the pure result - of authentic racial programming. They clearly believe that people we describe as minorities - do not have the where with all in the wider society to defend themselves - or have the same ability to express themselves in defence of themselves - as the wider population do - and I believe that insults their collective intellect.

And upon that little pronouncement from my mouth and mind - I do see academia - even though it was entirely spawned and developed by the European mind - as being quite anti-European - and as such - more racist at a much more sophisticated level than the society at large.

Denis Hall describes himself as an old man and an artist - a thinker - a writer - and a commentator. He does what he does - for the love of it.

11 comments:

Barend Vlaardingerbroek said...

A fundamentally sound analysis but I do wish the writer would avail himself of the services of a good editor.

Tinman said...

Sir, I agree with most of what you write but two comments are particularly incorrect:

"it needs to be talked about - and discussed carefully and respectfully"

No. It needs to be discussed openly and honestly. Care and respect have no part to play in such a discussion or we get yet another Islam-type situation where only part of the question can be discussed.

"We also need to ask the Authorities"

We need to TELL the authorities.

They represent us, all of us, not just part of us. (Note: For the same reason I dropped the capital.) Until we start to understand and enforce this nothing will be achieved.

If the "authorities" can't understand this we need to replace those authorities.

Thank you for your considered input into the discussion. It is of great importance to the future of our former democracy.

Phil Blackwell

Robert Arthur said...

Hopefully National will harness the pro NZ not pro Polynesia attitude of most immigarnt groups. The sort of boldness that created the Cossack adverts is required.

EP said...

I disagree with your editorial remark Barend Vlaardingerbroek. Many writers in these columns go on at great length - scholarly but long-winded. This column of Denis's is unique - and just right for the topic. I love it. I have never read such a true, 'normal', 'tell-it-like-it-is' account of where we are in this country. I hope this is picked up and published everywhere Denis. Well said you!

Anonymous said...

Kids will soon be taught in schools that white people are bad, and nz was this perfect paradise before europeans arrived and stole all the land. Totally false of course. What all the activists don't realise is that many of us are not living in nz by choice. Europe is fabulous and far more beautiful than nz. But we only have a nz passport. So it's a bit rich of them to say they we have stolen everything and won't leave.

Barend Vlaardingerbroek said...

And those interminable dashes, EP? No substitute for proper syntactical sentence structuring!

Anonymous said...

Good on you Denis.
It is well known that the Maorification of New Zealand has proceeded apace because it is being pushed forward by the world wide might of Critical Race Theory.
The ONLY way to reverse this trend is to understand the CRT playbook and to confront it head on.
These Theorists use tactics that will tie us all in knots if we confront them in the “usual” way.

I implore everyone committed to standing up to this juggernaut to read James Lindsay’s 2022 book, Race Marxism.

“ Rightly understood, Critical Race Theory is a reinvention of an older, terrible idea, Marxism, using race “as the central construct for understanding inequality” in place of economic class. That is, Critical Race Theory is Race Marxism.

The evidence of this claim is so overwhelming upon even casual examination that it is a shock that it isn’t immediately plain to everyone who encounters it. Lindsay explains what Critical Race Theory is, what it believes, where it comes from, how it operates, and what we can do about it now that we know what we’re dealing with.

It exposes Critical Race Theory for what it is by ranging widely across its own literature and a survey of some of the darkest philosophical currents of the last three hundred years in Western thought. Readers will come away understanding Critical Race Theory and be able to speak the truth about it with authority: Critical Race Theory is Race Marxism, and, like all Marxist Theories before it, it will not work this time.”

Ray S said...

Barend
I'm sure the author notes you concern re his punctuation, grammar etc. etc. and from that, promise to do better next time.

The gist of the piece is perfectly sound and reflects exactly what we see and think every day.
Example, the Maori king is a fairly recent invent. Again has European origins.
In addition, all the attendees at the Maori kings celebration probably traveled in a European or Japanese motor vehicle. Possibly even a Raleigh push bike.

Many of us have our origins in greater Europe and some of go to considerable trouble and expense to establish those origins.
Some of us hold those origin dear but don't and would never demand that that culture be forced on anybody but celebrated in a personal way.
eg; wearing a kilt on a scotts day or imbibing in Guiness occasionally.

Keep up the excellent work.


Kevn said...

and don't overlook following the money trail. If there wasn't millions of (our) dollars sloshing around finding pockets, there proably would be quite the furore.

Anonymous said...

Western Culture has been remarkable in producing great intellects like Newton, Einstein, Mozart, Wilberforce etc but has self destructed in also in producing Marxism which resulted in the slaughter of millions of people. The idea of primitivism and the romantic idea of the noble savage has been so damaging.
I have been thinking also, of how unappreciative academics, absorbed by critical race theory are for what western culture has given them -the technology, the comfort, the health care and the stability of a peaceful society through western freedoms.
Someone needs to produce a documentary to give a taste of what it was really like living in NZ in pre-European society.Te Rauparaha and Hone H eke made life hellish besides the daily tribalism warfare. Also listen to the wisdom of some down to earth Maori who talk of Maori being their culture but English and the other basics and higher of education being their bread and butter. A delicious balance.
How on earth do you purge the landscape of all this absolutely foul academic rubbish ?

Anonymous said...

Any one want to go back to Stone Age life and existence? Tribal social structures? Warrior culture? Superstition and taniwha?

And let’s not ignore that Maori as we know them today are the result of biological interactions so quite simply, they ain’t all Maori.