The other day I wrote about Green Party figure Celia Wade-Brown, who claimed Māori wards are necessary because Māori “know the rivers, whenua and sea.” It was the usual Green Party sermon, Māori as the all-knowing guardians of nature and the rest of us as too colonised to understand a high tide.
This whole Maori concept of want this, want that, woe are we victimised by the horrible colonialists from whom they have been happy to breed with or from is just the biggest stunt or may I say act of false presence known to man.They are laughing at the most decent colonial power they could have had. Pity the Belgiums had not been the first colonial power to arrive here Just say NO to them and remind the Maori that they are often more of a European mix than Maori. Finally get off the booze and meth and provide swimming lessons for your children. Just another failure of their own making.
Like many I'm pretty over the Maori "kaitiaki" woo woo. When Europeans arrived New Zealand was already around 40% deforested due to the super conservative burning of forest to plant kumara, collapsing soil fertility after a couple of years.
The moas were gone and the hast eagle, and that's all we know about.
Maori bought the kiore here although I'm sure it won't be long before we're being told how the kiore is a special rat and it's not as bad as those bloody pakeha rats.
That said Matua, possibly Maori drown more because they are in the water more? And possibly they are more likely to engage in riskier water activities like diving off the rocks? Certainly here in the far north many of my Maori mates have a long list of sketchy stories involving going for that last paua, that's just a little bit deeper......
Dangerous for anyone (Maori or pakeha) to get between a Maori and pauas and cream that's for sure!
You might be right, that makes sense. Being in the water more often and taking bigger risks could definitely play a part. Those stories of chasing the last paua a bit deeper do add up.
I am tired of reading and hearing that Māori are the highest group statistically speaking who are negatively affected by all and sundry. In this case drownings.
The story goes that Māori came to New Zealand from East Polynesia, and that they travelled in waka / canoes using stars, wind and ocean currents to navigate the massive Pacific Ocean to a land they never knew existed. These people must have encountered some terrible weather conditions and no doubt a number of them drowned. However today they claim to be the ultimate 'water people' yet have failed to protect themselves and their offspring from the same sea waters their ancestors navigated to get here. It hardly needs to be said that this could be easily achieved by simply learning the self-preserving skill of being able to swim.
What we need to see is iwi spending 'a drop in the ocean' of their vast wealth reserves - mostly bankrolled by taxpayers - on Māori swim schools. But instead of taking personal responsibility Māori find it much more convenient to be the victims while blaming everyone else for their premature death occasioned self-neglect.
Morning Kiwigirl, I hope your weekend’s been a good one. I wrote about how Māori stumbled upon New Zealand by chance. All that stuff about the stars guiding them? Complete nonsense. They had no idea where they were going. New Zealand was unknown to them and was only discovered accidentally, with others arriving later.
You’d think these so-called ‘experts of the moana’ would at least be competent in the water. You can’t claim to be masters of the sea if you can’t even stay afloat. Oh, and here's another question: who gets caught most often for recreational fishing offences and poaching in New Zealand?
Good morning Matua Kahurangi, your writing gives me purpose to wake up early these mornings. Thank you for that.
About poaching, Māori have screeds of oratorical words at their disposal which describe many different honourable concepts ... in this case kaitiakitanga. If only it were true that they practised what they preach viz-a-viz that the ocean is a sacred treasure, and that they have a spiritual and practical duty to protect it, respect its life force and ensure its bounty is sustained for future generations. Instead it has been 'rules for thee and not for me', coupled with insatiable greed, making a mockery of the bald-faced lie that Māori are "guardians of the sea."
It never fails to astonish me that a small group (hapu?) of Maori can be described as - and given credit as - the experts in the local terrain. They are diligently consulted on how to protect rivers from road works, how to manage the construction of a sea wall, how to protect rivers from farming activities, and so on. Yet nobody has been able to tell me where this group of perhaps no more than 100 people gets its expertise from. Why should I take notice of a group of locals who have no greater knowledge about such matters than I?
As for the idea that this same group has a right to 'gift' a meaningless (to most of us) name to some new building or development. Ridiculous ...
If separatism and native takeover progresses to the extent they would like, I will be demanding reparations for the effort and money my forefathers (the earliest of whom arrived in 1836) applied to making the country what it is today. We "gladly" give millions to Treaty claimants but never demand/expect those claimants to contribute to the infrastructure and facilities built by us over the years. Who funded & built the transport network, the tunnels, bridges, ports, public buildings? When one of my great grandfathers arrived in Christchurch in 1850 there was nothing there - definitely not a significant, thriving Maori settlement (the nearest was at Kaiapoi). Look at photos of Christchurch in the late 1850s and again in the 1870s to see what was achieved by the 'pilgrims'. Yet in 1861 the Maori population of the entire South Island was only 2280. (By 1961 it had increased to only 7140.) (And, of course, in those times a Maori had to be full or half-caste - none of today's 'teaspoon' measure!)
A final thought, given the passing of Jim Bolger - think about the influence of Irish immigrants on the development of race relations. Ngai Tahu's possession of the South Island was cemented by an Irish part-Maori (O'Reagan) and and an Irish politician (Bolger). Notice also that one of the 'notable' historians of the present time is Vincent O'Malley - another Irishman. The links of these gentlemen to the founding of New Zealand is at best tenuous.
Absolutely, Tony. It’s baffling how a tiny group is treated as experts on local matters while the real effort, work, and infrastructure built by settlers over generations gets largely ignored. It feels like common sense and historical context are being completely overlooked.
Maori's relationship with with water is so powerful that even the fish they catch magically doesn't affect reduce the biomass or overall fish stocks in the ocean...
This had been coming for a few years with the introduction of "High Protection Areas". There were even reports of people on boats identifying themselves as iwi telling others they couldn't fish in certain spots.
I won't lie, it was another motivation to sell my boat and move to Australia....
Māori as the all-knowing guardians ... we have had two sayings reverberate down thru the generations of kids in our family ... the inverse of 'all-knowing' is 'know-all' and the definition of 'expert' is a small amount of water under pressure. 🤣
"Kia Maanu Kia Ora" is just another racist grift. Nothing about swimming all Māori world views. The best way is to learn how to swim. No swimming lessons in there either.
I agree, the sepretism is real in that Di. It's like they want to give special swimming education to Māori but the Chinese, Indian and New Zealand European miss out. All children should be taught to swim, it makes sense - we live on an island.
This whole Maori concept of want this, want that, woe are we victimised by the horrible colonialists from whom they have been happy to breed with or from is just the biggest stunt or may I say act of false presence known to man.They are laughing at the most decent colonial power they could have had. Pity the Belgiums had not been the first colonial power to arrive here Just say NO to them and remind the Maori that they are often more of a European mix than Maori. Finally get off the booze and meth and provide swimming lessons for your children. Just another failure of their own making.
Absolutely, I’d agree with that. It’s a lot of their own choices and risks catching up with them.
Like many I'm pretty over the Maori "kaitiaki" woo woo. When Europeans arrived New Zealand was already around 40% deforested due to the super conservative burning of forest to plant kumara, collapsing soil fertility after a couple of years.
The moas were gone and the hast eagle, and that's all we know about.
Maori bought the kiore here although I'm sure it won't be long before we're being told how the kiore is a special rat and it's not as bad as those bloody pakeha rats.
That said Matua, possibly Maori drown more because they are in the water more? And possibly they are more likely to engage in riskier water activities like diving off the rocks? Certainly here in the far north many of my Maori mates have a long list of sketchy stories involving going for that last paua, that's just a little bit deeper......
Dangerous for anyone (Maori or pakeha) to get between a Maori and pauas and cream that's for sure!
You might be right, that makes sense. Being in the water more often and taking bigger risks could definitely play a part. Those stories of chasing the last paua a bit deeper do add up.
Watch out - the BSA is coming for you!
Haha, won't be long until they call me a broadcaster.
I am tired of reading and hearing that Māori are the highest group statistically speaking who are negatively affected by all and sundry. In this case drownings.
The story goes that Māori came to New Zealand from East Polynesia, and that they travelled in waka / canoes using stars, wind and ocean currents to navigate the massive Pacific Ocean to a land they never knew existed. These people must have encountered some terrible weather conditions and no doubt a number of them drowned. However today they claim to be the ultimate 'water people' yet have failed to protect themselves and their offspring from the same sea waters their ancestors navigated to get here. It hardly needs to be said that this could be easily achieved by simply learning the self-preserving skill of being able to swim.
What we need to see is iwi spending 'a drop in the ocean' of their vast wealth reserves - mostly bankrolled by taxpayers - on Māori swim schools. But instead of taking personal responsibility Māori find it much more convenient to be the victims while blaming everyone else for their premature death occasioned self-neglect.
Morning Kiwigirl, I hope your weekend’s been a good one. I wrote about how Māori stumbled upon New Zealand by chance. All that stuff about the stars guiding them? Complete nonsense. They had no idea where they were going. New Zealand was unknown to them and was only discovered accidentally, with others arriving later.
You’d think these so-called ‘experts of the moana’ would at least be competent in the water. You can’t claim to be masters of the sea if you can’t even stay afloat. Oh, and here's another question: who gets caught most often for recreational fishing offences and poaching in New Zealand?
Good morning Matua Kahurangi, your writing gives me purpose to wake up early these mornings. Thank you for that.
About poaching, Māori have screeds of oratorical words at their disposal which describe many different honourable concepts ... in this case kaitiakitanga. If only it were true that they practised what they preach viz-a-viz that the ocean is a sacred treasure, and that they have a spiritual and practical duty to protect it, respect its life force and ensure its bounty is sustained for future generations. Instead it has been 'rules for thee and not for me', coupled with insatiable greed, making a mockery of the bald-faced lie that Māori are "guardians of the sea."
You're not wrong, Kiwigirl.
It never fails to astonish me that a small group (hapu?) of Maori can be described as - and given credit as - the experts in the local terrain. They are diligently consulted on how to protect rivers from road works, how to manage the construction of a sea wall, how to protect rivers from farming activities, and so on. Yet nobody has been able to tell me where this group of perhaps no more than 100 people gets its expertise from. Why should I take notice of a group of locals who have no greater knowledge about such matters than I?
As for the idea that this same group has a right to 'gift' a meaningless (to most of us) name to some new building or development. Ridiculous ...
If separatism and native takeover progresses to the extent they would like, I will be demanding reparations for the effort and money my forefathers (the earliest of whom arrived in 1836) applied to making the country what it is today. We "gladly" give millions to Treaty claimants but never demand/expect those claimants to contribute to the infrastructure and facilities built by us over the years. Who funded & built the transport network, the tunnels, bridges, ports, public buildings? When one of my great grandfathers arrived in Christchurch in 1850 there was nothing there - definitely not a significant, thriving Maori settlement (the nearest was at Kaiapoi). Look at photos of Christchurch in the late 1850s and again in the 1870s to see what was achieved by the 'pilgrims'. Yet in 1861 the Maori population of the entire South Island was only 2280. (By 1961 it had increased to only 7140.) (And, of course, in those times a Maori had to be full or half-caste - none of today's 'teaspoon' measure!)
A final thought, given the passing of Jim Bolger - think about the influence of Irish immigrants on the development of race relations. Ngai Tahu's possession of the South Island was cemented by an Irish part-Maori (O'Reagan) and and an Irish politician (Bolger). Notice also that one of the 'notable' historians of the present time is Vincent O'Malley - another Irishman. The links of these gentlemen to the founding of New Zealand is at best tenuous.
Absolutely, Tony. It’s baffling how a tiny group is treated as experts on local matters while the real effort, work, and infrastructure built by settlers over generations gets largely ignored. It feels like common sense and historical context are being completely overlooked.
So not indigenous then? Maori were settlers to this country, just like you and I are and as our forebears were before us.
Maori's relationship with with water is so powerful that even the fish they catch magically doesn't affect reduce the biomass or overall fish stocks in the ocean...
https://www.gulfusers.org.nz/media-releases/iwi-only-fishing-areas-in-the-hauraki-gulf-one-step-closer
This had been coming for a few years with the introduction of "High Protection Areas". There were even reports of people on boats identifying themselves as iwi telling others they couldn't fish in certain spots.
I won't lie, it was another motivation to sell my boat and move to Australia....
Māori as the all-knowing guardians ... we have had two sayings reverberate down thru the generations of kids in our family ... the inverse of 'all-knowing' is 'know-all' and the definition of 'expert' is a small amount of water under pressure. 🤣
Haha.
"Kia Maanu Kia Ora" is just another racist grift. Nothing about swimming all Māori world views. The best way is to learn how to swim. No swimming lessons in there either.
I agree, the sepretism is real in that Di. It's like they want to give special swimming education to Māori but the Chinese, Indian and New Zealand European miss out. All children should be taught to swim, it makes sense - we live on an island.
Ive had a quick read through it and cant find anything about swimming
So, just a bunch of tikanga mumbo-jumbo, I guess.