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Showing posts with label Hurricanes haka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hurricanes haka. Show all posts

Friday, March 8, 2024

Simon O'Connor: Hypocrisy abounds


Reactions to a haka and an academic's crude outburst show that many in New Zealand still have a long way to go when it comes to understanding consistency and free speech.

When it comes to free speech in New Zealand, the hypocrisy (or at best, inconsistency) of many commentators is well on display during the last few days. Two very recent examples illustrate this. The first is the supportive reaction to the Hurricane’s women’s rugby team doing a haka that called the government ‘redneck’. The second is the reaction to Professor Joanne Kidman’s tweets where, again focusing on government, she decried it as a death cult.