When the article was posted, 13 August, I sent an email to the 18 Maori Studies academics at the School advising them of it and suggested that they may wish to respond by return email or in the Comments section; none did so. On 17 August, I sent another email to the two listed heads of department suggesting they may wish to write an article in response; but they did not do so.
I suspect that they did not respond because the university is participating to create an unfounded, irrational myth which they cannot justify. It is known that myths are more readily accepted if they contain an optimum combination of intuitive and counterintuitive concepts (here), such as the idea of a divine celestial source of Maori knowledge, as claimed by their foundational professor in his book. The healing miracles in the New Testament story of Jesus of Nazareth is an example of a successful myth which uses this literary device. The 2024 book Atua Wāhine: The Ancient Wisdom of Māori Goddesses by Hana Tapiata is an example of promoting the Maori myth to the public. I conclude that they are trying to create a myth as a focus for Maori separatism.
However, the academics cannot argue for it publicly because they will be disparaged in scientific circles here and internationally; Richard Dawkins and the ‘Listener Seven’ as examples. Even so, if they incorporate Professor Mead’s book in their teachings they are degrading our universities, particularly Victoria. Once that is recognized, the international student market will fail if it has not already, and perhaps the domestic market too. Furthermore, to the extent that matauranga Maori is informing our parliament and our other institutions, New Zealand is being governed according to unsupported information. So, they are degrading our country too.
That is but an example of the effect that Maori separatism is having on our economy. Their foolishness is ruining New Zealand and examples abound. The removal of Maori words from school texts because their use makes it more difficult to learn to read is not the primary reason for doing so; more importantly, it is because it degrades the English language in New Zealand. The recent kerfuffle over the name on our passport was ludicrous trivia; the A-word should not even be there. Degradation of our valued English language is also affecting our international standing.
Our representative Parliament has taken it upon themselves to let go of the reins and the iwi have bolted, taking you for a ride.
That is being done in the name of a treaty which, they claim, means the opposite of what it literally says. It is not justice, but utu. It is some jealous people who want to inflict domination as revenge for perceived injury to their excessive pride due to being overwhelmed by a superior culture, an event which lifted them from the Stone Age to civilization. That is not an appropriate response and you should not tolerate it. Their hubris should rightfully lead to their nemesis. You should also not tolerate derogatory remarks about your culture or your colonial heritage, which should rightly be celebrated not denigrated.
A comparison with the situation in England shows that it is not a matter of indigeneity but of race, as it is White people who are being oppressed in both cases. There, the two-tier State has the boot on the neck of the British people: Illegal migrants are housed in hotels and given free healthcare, entertainment and pocket money, while British citizens have difficulty getting a doctors appointment; British citizens are being evicted from their homes to make them available for illegal migrants (here); Pakistani Muslim men are raping British children (here and here); Lucy Connolly was recently imprisoned for 9 months for a bad tweet (here); local councils have been removing Union and St George flags and allowing keffiyeh flags (here). And so on.
Similarly, the Waitangi Tribunal and the Maori seats are obviously racist.
The Ardern Government demonstrated that the New Zealand Parliament also has absolute power. Yet our present Parliament is largely sitting on its hands. Any claims they make to fixing the problem are secondary issues. They are not addressing the primary problem which requires that exclusive Maori specific provisions be pulled root and branch from New Zealand legislation; our present two-tier constitution is racist.
Our boys fought and died in several wars in the name of democracy last century: This century the Government forsook democracy in favour of Maori tribalism. That is just plain wrong. They fundamentally changed our constitution without a mandate from the people. Parliament has failed its responsibility of representation, the judiciary has lost touch with reality, and the public service are a loose wheel. Our Government has betrayed us; they are errant and they need to be put right.
The problem lies not with the general Maori population, but with the people in our institutions and their iwi partners: Western culture, and in particular liberal democracy, is not adaptive and you are consequently being deselected. So, adapt or die; you need to uphold your Western culture if democracy is to be retained.
It is worse in Britain where there is now talk of a civil war. I do not advocate aggression, but you need to be more assertive. You need to distinguish between when to be liberal and when to be illiberal. And you need to stop apologizing: What are you apologizing for? The land? They sold it, several times.
Get off your knees and ask: When am I going to be paid for the pakeha taonga of science and technology? Why do treatyists not acknowledge the more than doubling of Maori life expectancy? Why have the sovereignty and assets of the people – which you trusted your representative Parliament to protect and to govern – been given to corporations headed by pasty men with European names? How can the part-Maori elite keep the Treaty money when they are registered as charities for tax purposes and there are Maoris living on the streets?
Why are you paying for the establishment and maintenance of a School of academics and their students at Victoria to write subversive propaganda which undermines your colonial heritage whilst Victoria also disestablished the traditional Religious Studies department founded by Sir Lloyd Geering? That goes beyond philanthropic to being gullible and naive. You would have to be stupid to do that.
What we have got going here is unchallenged, poor-quality constitutional decisions on an errant path. There have been several such in recent history and they generally did not end well. The present groupthink will blow over in time, but by then New Zealand will be beyond redemption. At present, the necessary components are still there. However, you need to act to reconstitute them. And you need to act now, because it will soon be too late.
Barrie Davis is a retired telecommunications engineer, holds a PhD in the psychology of Christian beliefs, and can often be found gnashing his teeth reading The Post outside Floyd’s cafe at Island Bay.
2 comments:
Unfortunately all too accurate, but appealing to Luxon, Goldsmith and my local electorate member, a waste of time and energy.
I do not think it is even utu.
The main bad faith actors (maori politicians, academics et al) are doing the 'activist' work for the betterment of their own wealth. What comes with that is power so they play non-maori and the remaining maori as pieces manipulating society to create their 'mana' and at the same time their bank accounts swell.
We see them and for who and what they are but sadly I think the non-maori politicians (and academics et al) are in on the game and are benefiting too......all the while NZ society burns and they will literally rule over its ashes.
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