Of men and menus behaving badly
Philip Matthews sees Christchurch’s image take another hit.
With a side of racism OPINION:
The Bamboozle furore has not done much to shift the rest of New Zealand’s lingering perception that Christchurch is a hot bed, or maybe hot plate, of racism and white supremacy. In case you missed it, the Asian fusion restaurant Bamboozle became a national story thanks to some silly and offensive racist ‘‘jokes’’ on its menu. Yes, there are dishes with names like ‘‘chirri an garrik prawn dumpring’’ – which is hirarious because some Asian people say ‘‘L’’ sounds as ‘‘R’’ – and juvenile, sexist stuff you would expect to hear from guys on a Thai sex holiday. The food might be dericious – sorry, delicious – but this makes Christchurch seem like the unsophisticated backwater that detractors have long assumed it to be. ‘‘We’ve plenty of world class restaurants in New Zealand: there’s nothing world class about using racial stereotypes to sell food,’’ said Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy. But before Auckland and Wellington get too smug, can we remind them they have Asianthemed restaurants named Monsoon Poon? Stupid racist stereotyping is a national problem, not just a local one.
Stormy weather
Speaking of stupid racist stereotyping, we now segue seamlessly to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who reportedly asked ‘‘Why are we having all these people from sh..hole countries come here?’’ By which he meant Haiti, El Salvador and countries in Africa rather than, say, Norway. Despite probably not being one of those countries, it has been reported that the UK will miss out on a planned Trump visit. Further Trump-related news from the week just gone includes the one about an alleged payout to a porn star named Stormy Daniels who was reportedly ordered to stay quiet about an affair that may or may not have included a request from Trump to be struck with a copy of a business magazine that had him on the cover. Interestingly, Daniels also considered running for office in Louisiana on the campaign slogan ‘‘Screwing People Honestly’’. You could not make this up. It’s like a porno House of Cards.
Fake news, fake missiles
The people of Hawaii ran for cover when a mobile phone notification warned of a ‘‘ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii’’, and urged them to ‘‘seek immediate shelter’’, as ‘‘this is not a drill’’. No, it was a simple mistake after an employee apparently pushed the wrong button. How reassuring to know that this is how the world ends, not with a bang but a click. The missiles were fake news but sadly, it was too late for Trump’s inaugural ‘‘fakies’’ or fake news awards handed out to media organisations he dislikes, such as CNN and the New York Times. The ‘‘week in review’’ missed out but hopes for a placing next year.
Baby news
Without wishing to brag, the writer of this column called it back in August, in a tweet responding to those boorish comments by AM Show co-host Mark Richardson. The tweet said: ‘‘A PM taking maternity leave is the kind of thing that would happen in a cool country like Iceland or Sweden.’’ We can be that cool country.