Men are ‘still fair game’ for denigration

MINISTER for Women Julie Anne Genter’s comments about ‘‘old, white men’’ are sexist, racist and ageist.

Men are now the only sector of society who are still fair game for denigration and such comments.

As Anzac Day approaches, Ms Genter should contemplate that without the sacrifices made by ‘‘old, white men’’ she may be giving her address in German or Japanese, if it was tolerated at all.

The very existence of her ministry is in itself both sexist and discriminatory in that no Minister for Men exists in Parliament to give an alternative point of view and restore some form of balance to the debate.

I concur with Opposition leader Simon Bridges when he called it ‘‘virtue signalling’’ — making a statement because you reckon it will go down well rather than because you actually believe it.

Ms Genter should also remember those old, white men make up a significant percentage of the voting population, not all of whom suffer from amnesia come election time. Mark Munro Port Chalmers

The nature of satire

SATIRE is an arch literary form, which assumes the reader knows of linear irony and bathos. Unless tagged ‘‘satire’’, or ‘‘nothing too serious’’, it can be easily taken at face value.

In his New Zealand Listener years, satirist Tom Scott was accredited with the Parliamentary Press Gallery, and there were times readers were curious about whether his column was based on events or interpretation.

The difficulty with accepting Sir

Bob Jones’ ‘‘Maori Gratitude Day’’ as satire goes to his status as a prominent, wealthy, white knight of the realm. Thus, he has to call it satire after publication.

How text is received is everything. In the case of Sir Bob, it left young Maori asking ‘‘is that what Whitey (generic) thinks of us?’’

Sir Bob is not beyond the pale. He prefers arts graduates (hist) to commerce. Can’t say fairer than that. Alan Beck

Dunedin