Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jan 29, 2016 5:46:21 GMT 12
Waikato Times 29/1/16
CULTURAL EXCLUSIVITY
When I served in the Royal New Zealand Navy in the 1940s and 50s, we trained in seamanship, musketry, naval history and protocols and our specialised, technical qualifications and defence roles.
We learned how to man a warship. We spent no time in learning sea shanties or dancing the horn pipe. Any other cultural activities were completely unofficial and voluntary.
It is with some surprise that I now find that the navy and all the Defence Forces have official Maori cultural advisers. Surely this is the promotion of ethnic, cultural exclusivity.
Now most media reports on our forces, at home or overseas, feature a haka. T'would be a brave non-Maori who did not join in. Cultural overkill.
B J
Tauranga
CULTURAL EXCLUSIVITY
When I served in the Royal New Zealand Navy in the 1940s and 50s, we trained in seamanship, musketry, naval history and protocols and our specialised, technical qualifications and defence roles.
We learned how to man a warship. We spent no time in learning sea shanties or dancing the horn pipe. Any other cultural activities were completely unofficial and voluntary.
It is with some surprise that I now find that the navy and all the Defence Forces have official Maori cultural advisers. Surely this is the promotion of ethnic, cultural exclusivity.
Now most media reports on our forces, at home or overseas, feature a haka. T'would be a brave non-Maori who did not join in. Cultural overkill.
B J
Tauranga