Potential for bigotry wanders beyond political correctness
ARECENT decision by the Broadcasting Standards Authority must have brought joy and emotional relief to the hearts of the 132 New Zealanders who described themselves as Romany in the
2018 census.
For about 30 years they have felt battered, bruised and unloved every June when the day on which sharemilkers start to move their cattle is described as ‘‘Gypsy Day’’.
The BSA has responded to a complaint about the phrase being used in a television news item with a carefullyworded judgement: ‘‘While not used to express malice or hatred, the phrase is derogatory and evokes prejudicial biases towards the Roma community. When used in this context, it is capable of embedding existing negative stereotypes.’’
We are fortunate that our tax money is being so wisely used.
With 10 staff and four highpowered board members the BSA (often confused with the more illustrious Birmingham Small Arms Company, famous for making machineguns and motorbikes) provides protection against today’s annoying fixation about political correctness.
Those of us who treasure the colourful phrase, the quirkiness of language and the sheer inventiveness of word play must now rid ourselves of offensive phrases like Gypsy Day.
Onetime rural broadcaster Goldie Wardell claimed to have invented the phrase in the 1980s.
He died last year at the age of 91 so there is no target for any lynching parties of vengeful Roma.
After years of basking in the limelight for coining a term universally used without intent of disrespect and earning a place in the dictionaries without the qualification of ‘‘offensive’’, poor old Goldie were he alive still would be a broken man, clutching at shadows and starting at odd sounds.
As a Northlander, he was unlikely to have known of the furore in Otago in 2017 when the Otago Regional Council banned ‘‘Gypsy Day’’ and replaced it with ‘‘Mooving Day’’ a clever little pun apparently invented by DairyNZ, an organisation which claims to ‘‘support farmers through investing in research, resource development, extension, and advocacy to ensure they lead the world in sustainable dairy farming.’’
However, DairyNZ’s ‘‘Mooving Day’’ innovation is believed to have brought dairy farmers nothing in extra payments per kilogram of milk solids per annum.
Otago Regional Council firebrand Michael Laws called his council’s decision ‘‘stupidity from the senior management’’ and wondered if they were about to ban all gypsy fairs. A relatively unknown Dunedin city councillor called Aaron Hawkins chipped in with the alarming news that the word ‘‘gypsy’’ was often used as a slur against Romany people. God help those applying for a gypsy market permit now that Mr Hawkins has unbridled civic power. But wait! In 2018 the
Otago Regional Council decided Gypsy Day was no longer offensive.
The BSA is obviously made of sterner stuff which makes you wonder just who these guardians of our purity are. The 10 staff are led by Glen Scanlon, an experienced journalist with a penchant for things digital who spent some years digitalising Radio New Zealand so that it is now not so much a radio station as a media grab bag.
The authority members are chaired by a lawyer as the legislation demands. District court judge Bill Hastings who has that role was born in Canada, a country known for probity and purity. He brings a wealth of experience to the job, notably his years as Chief Censor. Luckily, the film Gypsy, which told the story of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, was released when he was about 2 years of age. Nakedness on screen is no problem but the film’s name might have niggled a bit with the BSA of today. Other members are Paula Rose, a retired police superintendent, Dunedin lawyer Susie Staley and Leigh Pearson, who I remember as a talented and amiable fledgling radio journalist more than 30 year ago. Such a mix of the law and journalism provides a group wellversed in dealing with cranks and the lunatic fringe and the BSA is thus well served. Oddly, none of the four list any iwi affiliation on their charge sheets, a strange omission from a governmentappointed board.
I have to disagree with them on the ‘‘Gypsy Day’’ decision. ‘‘Gypsy’’ is being used here simply in the sense of ‘‘traveller’’, a word used quite happily by Romany people, I’m told. The cows are just travelling, casting no aspersions but simply casting other matter on the roads. All very blameless.
In my part of the world, where dairy farming is big business, ‘‘Gypsy Day’’ will still be heard and let’s hope journalists will have the common sense to keep using the term.