DINOSAUR WORLDVIEW
After all the media coverage over the past few months I thought a freedom camper had left one of their notorious ‘‘deposits’’ when I opened the March 1 issue of the Midweek.
I’m referring to the advert from Hobson’s Pledge.
Don Brash and co have the gall to use a quote from Martin Luther King completely and utterly out of context to try and legitimise their dinosaur worldview.
Maybe they are too dumb to realise King’s quote was part of his campaign to help uplift his people after the history of slavery and racial discrimination.
Or perhaps they are just cynically using his wise words. No prizes for guessing which one it is.
Perhaps someone should ask Don as a director of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (New Zealand Limited) if he has had any conversations with the Chinese parent company about how to minimise any Maori objectors to future investment in New Zealand?
It’s fascinating that Don lives in an unimaginative empathy-free world where everyone is born equal with exactly the same opportunities and it is entirely individual choices that determine your life path, but somehow he and his cohorts have enough creativity to use a quote to subtly imply they could be as hard done by as African Americans.
The word delusional comes to mind.
It is also quite ironic that Don’s favoured economic policies have created a vastly more unequal New Zealand and here he is whining about being the victim of inequality.
It’s important not to let the facts get in the way of a good ideology though, isn’t it Don?
Some of us who live in the real world can see that it is laughable for a group of people predominantly from a position of privilege and power to suggest that they are disadvantaged by discrimination in favour of Maori.
Perhaps the advert was an epic fail attempt at comedy.
Unlike freedom campers, I hope Hobson’s Pledge have to pay you-know-what loads to the Midweek for any further ‘‘deposits’’.
Marcel Spencer New Plymouth
NEIGHBOURLY.CO.NZ
One of the best parts about being a good neighbour is keeping an eye out for the good things others are up to.
We had that firmly in mind when we launched Neighbourly, our social media for neighbours and locals to connect.
It helps neighbours and residents to keep in touch, swap ideas or talk about issues. Now we have launched a new phase for Neighbourly, called notices.co.nz.
It used to be you had to sign up to see what’s happening. But we have made some parts public, so you can see the latest news and events in your town or the neighbouring one by just browsing around.
Maybe you’re looking to move to a new suburb, have a bach in another town or want to check out the place your parents have moved to. It’s easier to find now.
Plus we have launched websites on Neighbourly for all our Fairfax community papers so you can find news from this paper and many others online now.
If you’re interested or just want to have a look around, the easiest way is to go to Notices.co.nz and start looking around.
We hope you enjoy, neighbours.
Kath Brown
News director/Communities
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We welcome letters to the editor, 250 words or less. Published at our discretion and may be edited. Include your address and phone number (not for publication). Email midweek@dailynews.co.nz Deadline: 4pm Friday.