Post by Kiwi Frontline on Feb 19, 2019 5:27:38 GMT 12
Dominion Post 19/2/19
LESTER’S IDEA OF VIRTUE
I wonder if Wellington Mayor Justin Lester and his councillors are aware of the aversion of the average adult New Zealander to having someone else’s idea of virtue forced upon them (Adding, not taking away, Feb 15).
Te reo Maori is being promoted currently by the council and certainly those who wish to learn the language should be assisted to do so. However, if the percentage of those in New Zealand who can speak Maori as quoted on RNZ National recently is accurate, that is, 4 per cent, then it is obvious that even Maori are not learning the language in order to cherish and preserve their taonga.
Most of those who do not identify closely with Maori culture will be even less inclined to do so. Any form of compulsion will be counter-productive.
The council’s aims are worthy and well-intentioned. I do not think they will work. Individuals will make the city bilingual or not. The majority of individuals, to date, do not want to or are unable to put in the effort to become bilingual.
Despite the millions of taxpayer dollars that have been directed to te reo, for example to provide a television channel and numerous iwi radio stations, little that is tangible has resulted.
Wellington City Council will spend money renaming or adding to street names and places, even inventing new Maori words.
I am a ratepayer who objects to this expenditure. It is a feel-good exercise that smacks of flavour of the month.
CAROL BROWN, Aro Valley
Waikato Times 19/2/19
TREATY DIVISIVE
Our TV presenters, radio jocks and newspaper journos say Waitangi Day is a celebration of the signing of the Treaty in 1840.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed on 6th February 1840, but the treaty that Maori celebrate today is the reconstructed and reinterpreted document that now reads of "principles, partnerships, forestry and fisheries" etc. None of these words can be found in Te Tiriti o Waitangi signed by 565 rangatira.
My question is, how can an innocent document signed 179 years ago between two cultures, become over time, (1975-2019) such a racially divisive and historically distorted document.
MAUREEN J ANDERSON, Tauranga
Bay of Plenty Times 19/2/19
HISTORY CAN’T BE SELECTIVE
Tommy Wilson says that “surely, the time has come, for schools to teach our history hakihaki (warts) and all” (Opinion, February 8).
This clearly should start at the time that Maori first arrived and include the pre-european Archaic and Classic periods. Periods that were characterised by a trend away from pacifism to a warrior culture, cannibalism, the development of weapons, tribal fights that killed more people than during the European-maori wars and the biggest battle ever fought on NZ soil. In fact, not unlike the “unbridled greed” Tommy notes was occurring in Europe. We should also note the hunting to extinction of many bird and other species.
Only by starting at the very beginning can we get a true appreciation of the influences and impacts, both positive and negative, that humans have had on this country over time.
B INGRAM, Papamoa
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers
LESTER’S IDEA OF VIRTUE
I wonder if Wellington Mayor Justin Lester and his councillors are aware of the aversion of the average adult New Zealander to having someone else’s idea of virtue forced upon them (Adding, not taking away, Feb 15).
Te reo Maori is being promoted currently by the council and certainly those who wish to learn the language should be assisted to do so. However, if the percentage of those in New Zealand who can speak Maori as quoted on RNZ National recently is accurate, that is, 4 per cent, then it is obvious that even Maori are not learning the language in order to cherish and preserve their taonga.
Most of those who do not identify closely with Maori culture will be even less inclined to do so. Any form of compulsion will be counter-productive.
The council’s aims are worthy and well-intentioned. I do not think they will work. Individuals will make the city bilingual or not. The majority of individuals, to date, do not want to or are unable to put in the effort to become bilingual.
Despite the millions of taxpayer dollars that have been directed to te reo, for example to provide a television channel and numerous iwi radio stations, little that is tangible has resulted.
Wellington City Council will spend money renaming or adding to street names and places, even inventing new Maori words.
I am a ratepayer who objects to this expenditure. It is a feel-good exercise that smacks of flavour of the month.
CAROL BROWN, Aro Valley
Waikato Times 19/2/19
TREATY DIVISIVE
Our TV presenters, radio jocks and newspaper journos say Waitangi Day is a celebration of the signing of the Treaty in 1840.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed on 6th February 1840, but the treaty that Maori celebrate today is the reconstructed and reinterpreted document that now reads of "principles, partnerships, forestry and fisheries" etc. None of these words can be found in Te Tiriti o Waitangi signed by 565 rangatira.
My question is, how can an innocent document signed 179 years ago between two cultures, become over time, (1975-2019) such a racially divisive and historically distorted document.
MAUREEN J ANDERSON, Tauranga
Bay of Plenty Times 19/2/19
HISTORY CAN’T BE SELECTIVE
Tommy Wilson says that “surely, the time has come, for schools to teach our history hakihaki (warts) and all” (Opinion, February 8).
This clearly should start at the time that Maori first arrived and include the pre-european Archaic and Classic periods. Periods that were characterised by a trend away from pacifism to a warrior culture, cannibalism, the development of weapons, tribal fights that killed more people than during the European-maori wars and the biggest battle ever fought on NZ soil. In fact, not unlike the “unbridled greed” Tommy notes was occurring in Europe. We should also note the hunting to extinction of many bird and other species.
Only by starting at the very beginning can we get a true appreciation of the influences and impacts, both positive and negative, that humans have had on this country over time.
B INGRAM, Papamoa
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers