Pakeha - do you like this name?

[mister.koz]

Why? I mean, what have you done to be a Kiwi?

I always struggled with patriotism... what's the point of being proud of being something you have had no influence upon whatsoever. You might as well be proud of the fact that the universal gravitational constant is 6.67428*10^-11 m^3/(kg*s^2).

Being proud of something you've actually achieved for yourself leads to arrogance at the best of times - being proud of something you haven't done anything for is even more ridiculous.

I am proud to be a New Zealander; its a cool little country, warts 'n all.

I've spent years practicing to be a New Zealander, 28.8 years in total! My mate down the road at the fish and chip shop has been a New Zealander for 34 years (he's from china originally - and still doesn't get the slang) and he's proud too.

Arrogance only comes when its at other people's expense or when your pride is totally ignorant of the other options.

Why is it bad to be proud of something you are part of?

[mowgli]

My mate down the road at the fish and chip shop has been a New Zealander for 34 years (he's from china originally - and still doesn't get the slang) and he's proud too.

Yeah no yeah love fush n chups.

[wbks]

Why? I mean, what have you done to be a Kiwi?

I always struggled with patriotism... what's the point of being proud of being something you have had no influence upon whatsoever. You might as well be proud of the fact that the universal gravitational constant is 6.67428*10^-11 m^3/(kg*s^2).

Being proud of something you've actually achieved for yourself leads to arrogance at the best of times - being proud of something you haven't done anything for is even more ridiculous.

You're looking at it all wrong! You're proud of a nice painting you made, you can also be proud of something you're a part of; like, sayyyyyyy little ol' New Zealand for instance...

[Naki Rat]

.....Probably the most disturbing thing I came across visiting the back waters (I kid you not here, they really are back waters) of New Foundland, was a cousin of the several removed variety proudly showing me his frozen baby seal carcasses in the freezer, and asking if I was staying for a while so he could share the delicacy Sadly I was moving on. The best part about the visit, he lived in a village called Hearts Content. I would love to live somewhere called that.

There's always Screech to liven up life on 'The Rock'

(I spent most of 2004 living in the Annapolis Valley

[Mom]

There's always Screech to liven up life on 'The Rock'

Have you ever tasted that shit? Far canal, I have a couple of uncles who thought it would be funny to see what I was like after a couple, wow!

My Mother was bragging last night, she had just received a packet of hard tack from her brother. For the uninitiated it is a rock solid lump of black bread. Requires soaking to be able to eat it. MAF opened the parcel, but let it come through.

[MSTRS:Me]

My Mother was bragging last night, she had just received a packet of hard tack from her brother. For the uninitiated it is a rock solid lump of black bread. Requires soaking to be able to eat it. MAF opened the parcel, but let it come through.

That'll be the coal dust. Bet it doesn't have extra folate....

[idleidolidyll]

I have no problem with the word; only with the misuse of it.

Pakeha is used by some in racist attacks on white people and an accusation

Of course its all nonsense. According to a Maori mate of mine; Brits are Pakeha, so are Indians, Africans and Chinese.

My understanding is that pre 1769, when Maori only had other Maori to compare themselves with, the word 'Maori' just meant 'ordinary people' (in their understanding of people). This is common with societies that have not had contact with other 'races'. They always have a word to describe people in general and it is not until after contact that they coin a word to mean 'others' or 'not ordinary people' in order to differentiate themselves from the newcomers.

When the Brits arrived there was no word to describe the difference and the word Pakeha was coined and then extended to all people who are not Maori. It wasn't coined as a racist description.
Sadly it is used that way far too often and when I tell Indians etc that they too are 'Pakeha' they are horrified and say "No! I'm not a bloody racist white man" or something similar.

As often happens, common use has perverted word meaning again. The same can be seen around political words like capitalist, communist and socialist etc; the real definitions are lost in propoganda or altered by vox populi

[SARGE]

Just interested in what most people think of being called a Pakeha? Do you call yourself a Pakeha? Or prefer to be called a NZ European? Or just a Kiwi?

never been called any of those .. bloody Yank i dont have a problem with though

been called worse

Why? I mean, what have you done to be a Kiwi?

I always struggled with patriotism... what's the point of being proud of being something you have had no influence upon whatsoever. You might as well be proud of the fact that the universal gravitational constant is 6.67428*10^-11 m^3/(kg*s^2).

Being proud of something you've actually achieved for yourself leads to arrogance at the best of times - being proud of something you haven't done anything for is even more ridiculous.

.

im a Patriotic Yank.. but then again ...i HAVE contributed to the greater good .. i guess thats the difference ...

[jrandom]

bloody Yank

Don't you think it's about time you washed it off?

[jrandom]

As far as I know racism as only really been thought of since the 17th Century

... but you're doing your best to make up for that?

[SARGE]

Don't you think it's about time you washed it off?

savin it for later ..your Mum is coming over ....

[Owl]

savin it for later ..your Mum is coming over ....

Bloody Yank!

[idleidolidyll]

Originally Posted by Grahameeboy
As far as I know racism as only really been thought of since the 17th Century

... but you're doing your best to make up for that?

maybe the word itself but the sentiment, the hatred and mistrust has been around ever since humans started to think of themselves as disparate groups instead of as all much the same.

as we all know, Christians in particular have exhibited and exercised massive racism for several thousands of years. Of course for the first few hundred of those years they were the victims of racism but that all changed drastically later on

[jrandom]

as we all know, Christians in particular have exhibited and exercised massive racism for several thousands of years. Of course for the first few hundred of those years they were the victims of racism but that all changed drastically later on

[pritch]

The word maori, if put in its proper orignal context, really means ordinary.

Exactly. Pre European maori identified themselves by hapu or iwi, there was no need for a collective noun until somebody different appeared. At that stage they started to refer to themselves as normal or ordinary and thus "maori".