https://www.rnz.co.nz/mata[G] In a fiery interview recorded at Waitangi, ACT leader David Seymour talks to Mihi about his views on Te Tiriti, Tino Rangatirat...
Yeah, you might be right. I finally watched the debate (good stuff!) and realised I’d never seen him in person. I think I’ve judged him on his appearance? Not proud of that
I disagree with the guy and if he’s neurospicy he sure handles it well!
But I find it much more interesting thinking about the current state of things that underlies a lot of what they’re talking about. In recent years (decades?), it seems the govt has sought to ‘undo’ the injustices of the past through treaty settlements and so on, essentially it appears they’re trying to reverse the systemic racism we have which is objectively a good thing…
Lots of people complain of the favourable treatment that is sometimes shown to Maori and_ in a sense_, they’re right - it is reverse racism, but how else can one change a culture and system of society?
I think Seymour’s wrong here, where he seeks to discard race entirely, as if saying ‘there is no racism in NZ’ will solve the issue (but he’s not wrong in trying to ascertain more accurate contributing factors, like shitty housing, say - are we being intellectually lazy by focusing on race?).
I’m more interested in the thought experiment of how we judge that the pendulum has swung far enough and when do we get off this seesaw when we reckon it’s level.
That’s a long way off, fortunately. I’ve got no good ideas, but I suspect reverse racism is the only tool we’ve got? - even if it’s a bit shit (like democracy)
That whole reverse racism, positive discrimination thing has always felt like an engineering approach to a social problem. Like power factor correction or active noise reduction, let’s create an equal and opposite racism to counteract the existing racism and the two will cancel each other out.
Yeah, you might be right. I finally watched the debate (good stuff!) and realised I’d never seen him in person. I think I’ve judged him on his appearance? Not proud of that
I disagree with the guy and if he’s neurospicy he sure handles it well!
But I find it much more interesting thinking about the current state of things that underlies a lot of what they’re talking about. In recent years (decades?), it seems the govt has sought to ‘undo’ the injustices of the past through treaty settlements and so on, essentially it appears they’re trying to reverse the systemic racism we have which is objectively a good thing…
Lots of people complain of the favourable treatment that is sometimes shown to Maori and_ in a sense_, they’re right - it is reverse racism, but how else can one change a culture and system of society?
I think Seymour’s wrong here, where he seeks to discard race entirely, as if saying ‘there is no racism in NZ’ will solve the issue (but he’s not wrong in trying to ascertain more accurate contributing factors, like shitty housing, say - are we being intellectually lazy by focusing on race?).
I’m more interested in the thought experiment of how we judge that the pendulum has swung far enough and when do we get off this seesaw when we reckon it’s level.
That’s a long way off, fortunately. I’ve got no good ideas, but I suspect reverse racism is the only tool we’ve got? - even if it’s a bit shit (like democracy)
That whole reverse racism, positive discrimination thing has always felt like an engineering approach to a social problem. Like power factor correction or active noise reduction, let’s create an equal and opposite racism to counteract the existing racism and the two will cancel each other out.
That’s an interesting idea, I like the comparison.
I suspect humans are too fiddly / it’s too crude a mechanism, but I’m no poli-sci major!
I suppose it’s just two competing racism sources, which is better than a single one but only if you ‘squint right’.