So when I hear people say they’re proud to be a New Zealander, I flinch. First because of their language misuse, pride after all relating to accomplishment and simply being born is hardly an achievement.
On the other side of the ledger there’s two uniquely New Zealand occurrences that have made me embarrassed to be a Kiwi.
The first was the Jacindamania insanity (for which I don’t blame Jacinda) when the nation lost its sanity.
The old boxing adage, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” springs to mind when having initially decided Jacinda was the second coming, this insanity then swung 180 degrees to equally irrational hatred, which prevails still today.
The other national embarrassment is the bloody haka.
If readers don’t share that antipathy (and I suspect most don’t) then I challenge them to try this.
The next time you’re watching the All Blacks haka, turn the sound off. Trust me, that will convert you instantly to my view of this massive embarrassment as you watch adult men, eyes blazing, infantile co-ordinated ape-like prancing, tongues out, reducing themselves to world class buffoons.
Sir Bob Jones is a renowned author, columnist , property investor, and former politician, who blogs at No Punches Pulled HERE - where this article was sourced.
The first was the Jacindamania insanity (for which I don’t blame Jacinda) when the nation lost its sanity.
The old boxing adage, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” springs to mind when having initially decided Jacinda was the second coming, this insanity then swung 180 degrees to equally irrational hatred, which prevails still today.
The other national embarrassment is the bloody haka.
If readers don’t share that antipathy (and I suspect most don’t) then I challenge them to try this.
The next time you’re watching the All Blacks haka, turn the sound off. Trust me, that will convert you instantly to my view of this massive embarrassment as you watch adult men, eyes blazing, infantile co-ordinated ape-like prancing, tongues out, reducing themselves to world class buffoons.
Sir Bob Jones is a renowned author, columnist , property investor, and former politician, who blogs at No Punches Pulled HERE - where this article was sourced.
4 comments:
I whole heartedly agree....however 'blasphemous' it is to say so ! ;-)
Hear, hear and amen to all that Sir Bob! When I see the haka I change channel - it is so inane. We are no longer in the Stone Age so why is it so glorified?
Jacindamania that I never had only a hatred for her deceiving and manipulative ways which I believe Sir Bob you were able to assist her. Well done.
Do you get a medal?
Haka epitomises Maori warfare i.e. attempts to intimidate opposition into subservience. Pulling ugly faces may well have scared fellow Maori when weapons were wood and stone meres (being an indicator of the state of Maori civilization John Banks may once alluded to - before being banished), but I'm not sure the haka has the same effect on the Springbok.
As to the lexicon of New Zealanders or more precisely, the enunciations by many? As you say Sir Bob, after residence abroad for some time, returning to the Land of the Long Black Cloud, listening to the pronunciation of many New Zealanders and the penchant for speaking with the mouths almost closed, is difficult not to notice.
Alarmingly, in my view, the oral presentation of eminent legal persons - such as on display during the Polkinghorne parody, sadly lacked the aplomb of David Baragwanath and others of his ilk in days gone by.
Post a Comment