Pakeha

[hXc]

What a great and morally upstanding way to colonise the world that would be I know, I'll beat up on those with inferior weaponry to consolidate my place in the world and prove I'm a big man! Thank fark for the treaty. If colonisation was as you describe. The world would be a boring, monocultural place... and more valuable cultures would be gone, or in a woeful state (Australian Aboriginies spring to mind...)

I'm not saying I condone what I suggested, but it was a statement that was supposed to be though provoking for those who don't have enough brains to think about things like this for themselves.

And the Aboriginies aren't in a woeful state? Ok, no need to panic guys, apparently the Abbos are fine...Yeah right!

I do not support all that white man have done throughout history, in fact, a lot of it is shameful and I disagree with it. But it's history and we can't change it. The Abbos were treated extremely unfairly, and still are today. A real easy way to check this is by listening to Midnight Oil. May not like the music ok, but the lyrics are bloody good.

Peter Garret is a good activist for the Aboriginies.

[Sniper]

Hmmmm, have you chatted to any of the original abbos that have had little or nothing to do with the supposed "White devil". They couldnt care less and are quite happy going about their daily buisness and not having anything to do with those that want more of everything

Its the others that have learnt they can extract $$ and privlidges from the White Govt and then cause trouble and write crap when they don't get any more instead of being happy and feeling privlidged with what they have

Sit down and have a very good chat with the older generation. They have stories to tell that will put all the young, know it alls (Not that you are one Mr hXc) in their place damn quickly. Wisdom comes with age and even then, it is a foolish man who is not eager to learn even when lying prone.

I found something extremly interesting that was said by every elder gentlemen I met. And that was that all the hassels, arguments, wants for this, that and the next thing comes from the young generation. The elder generation with common sense stay away and cringe at the fact they are tarred with the same brush

[hXc]

Sit down and have a very good chat with the older generation. They have stories to tell that will put all the young, know it alls (Not that you are one Mr hXc) in their place damn quickly

Not saying that the Abbos are a perfect race, in fact, I know they're not. But the way the government has treated them in past hasn't been so great. And a community treating it's government like shit, is far more acceptable than a government treating a community like shit if you ask me.

[Sniper]

Not saying that the Abbos are a perfect race, in fact, I know they're not. But the way the government has treated them in past hasn't been so great. And a community treating it's government like shit, is far more acceptable than a government treating a community like shit if you ask me.

Dead right, Im not arguing that. But you could relate that comment to any indigenuos population throughout the world.

On a side note, have you ever heard of any Govt not taking advantage of those who don't know better (even those that do) regadless of skin colour or ethnicticity

[Big Dave]

Ngati Ocker...

Lovely - new sig coming up.

[hXc]

Dead right, Im not arguing that. But you could relate that comment to any indigenuos population throughout the world.

On a side note, have you ever heard of any Govt not taking advantage of those who don't know better (even those that do) regadless of skin colour or ethnicticity

Nope. But The Aboriginies just came to mind really.

[Sniper]

Nope. But The Aboriginies just came to mind really.

Fair enough and good example.


Its aboriginals. They don't tend to like being called aboriginies.

[Dilligaf]

Actually Sniper, aboriginal is an adjective. Aborigine is the noun.
My university papers learnt me that...

[BuFfY]

That's an interesting interpretation. Whatever happened to fact-based learning? If a child decides that the sun revolves around the earth, or that the earth is flat, or that a balanced diet comprises equal amounts of hard-boiled eggs and celery, then an "educator's" work is done? Surely not...

[Whoops, I see that this discussion is already well advanced. But I'm still spoiling for a scrap with any liberal, left-wing educators who're up for it]

Fact learning is something that you obviously have to teach. 2 + 2 does in fact equal 4. Yet one of the most important things for teachers to do it to establish childrens prior knowledge. So getting them to tell you that they think that the sun revolves the earth is a teaching point. Yet the values they bring in from home isn't something that a teacher has the right to change.

Ah, but that is not a belief system. It is fact that those are incorrect.
Me believing the moon is cheese and my teacher telling me wrong, is the educator doing their work.
Me believing that God is our Saviour and Jesus died on the cross for my sins and my teacher telling me wrong, is the educator being a plonker.

I may be wrong about God and Jesus etc, but it's what I believe. There is NOTHING to tell me that believing or not believing is correct or incorrect.

(Not saying that I believe either of those.)

Yeah... what he said!

[Sniper]

Actually Sniper, aboriginal is an adjective. Aborigine is the noun.
My university papers learnt me that...

Shit, you learn something new everyday. I didnt know that thanks, bling for ya

[MSTRS:Me]

The interesting thing about the word 'aborigine' is that it was a whiteman's word for 'native or original occupier'....over the years it has come to refer to the Australian natives only.

[yungatart]

I don't like to be labelled white (I have olive skin), European (even tho my family came from Europe a few moons ago), Pakeha,or Caucasian (there is a possibility I have some Maori blood).
I am a New Zealander! I was born and bred in the Naki!
Some say I am a Ngati Whaka ....pfft, what do they know!

[SlashWylde]

It annoys me deeply that all the literature I read refers to me as 'pakeha' and that I have to sit through lectures and be called 'pakeha'.
....

Please don't tell me I am the only one! This is one of the few times my sexy red hair gets the better of me!

Well I don't tend to think about it too much but I don't regard myself as a Pakeha, and would probably take offense if someone insisted on labeling me as such.

I'm a European, in the sense that I was born in Europe.

I guess I find it offensive when people make assumptions about who I am based on the colour of my skin, which I guess is a sad reality of daily life for the darkies of the world. Had an interesting conversation with a mate at my former work-place once. She's a Fijian-Indian woman and one day in lunch time conversation about where each of us were from, she asked me (based on the colour of my skin and my European heritage) "So you're a Christian, right?" to which I replied, "No, I'm a human being" meaning I don't identify myself first and foremost by the colour of my skin or which imaginary friend I happen to believe in - Yes, I am in fact an Atheist, and probably a Humanist too if I stopped to think about it.

[xwhatsit]

But to criticize is to imply the negatives, yet to critique you look at it from all angles but still state the facts.
I guess some of us just prefer to look at some things from a postive angle, rather than always from above

As a teacher, you should probably know that it's `criticise', not `criticize'. Furthermore criticism means primarily (especially in this context) simply to evaluate. Nothing to do with negativity. Its secondary meaning is to find fault, in which case you might draw some negatives, but that's a very down-at-the-pub way of using the word.

`European' works well for me (even though Australians find the use of that term confusing, they don't use it like that over there). But I have no issue being called `Pākēha', especially after learning it has nothing to do with being a white pig or anything of the sort. I don't mind being called a mythical creature

If you look at a lot of the etymologies of words you'll find funny things. For instance, the word `bugger' apparently comes from French bougre, which was derived from Latin for `Bulgarian'. Apparently Bulgarians were considered to be sodomists or something. Does that mean when I use the word `bugger' I'm insulting Bulgarians? Well, I don't think Māoris mean to call me a mythical creature when they call me a Pākēha. In fact I'd bet 90% of people who use that word don't speak Māori, and wouldn't understand the etymology anyway (and that goes for Māoris as well).

[Hitcher]

I am a New Zealander! I was born and bred in the Naki!

Yo, sister!

A lot of this requiring to state ethnicity is done for no other reason than collect stats for the PC brigade to pore over as they nurse their wrath to keep it warm. Several summers ago, whilst then in the employ of the State housing provider, I railed against the need to collect ethnicity statistics on our tenants, as this was not (supposed to be) a consideration in determining their need for housing. And it wasn't. But the bureaucrats in the then Ministry won that battle.

There are provisions in the Privacy Act 1993 about not collecting spurious or unnecessary information. Apparently these don't apply to government agencies.