18 October 2007

Tame Iti and Terrorism?

I haven't commented yet on the raids and arrests around New Zealand and the cries of terrorism. That's because no one except the police and the suspects knows what really went on, and they aren't saying. A few things strike me immediately about this:
1. Terrorism? I can't find where anyone in the police actually said anything about terrorism or terrorists or the Suppression of Terrorism Act, nor where anyone in the police has referred to Tame Iti or anyone else as a terrorist. That seems to have come exclusively from the media and politicians responding to something that the police never said.
2. The "Just Minding Our Business" Defense. Sorry, but if you're stockpiling weapons, ammunition and Molotov cocktails, we want to know why.
3. Biculturalism Strikes Again: State mandated biculturalism has never worked anywhere that it's ever been tried and it won't work in New Zealand. Once a "culture" (and just how does one decide what is Maori culture and what is not?)is designated as separate and immiscible, the next logical step is cultural separatism followed by political separatism. That way lies Balkanization in the literal sense of the word.
4. Just how far do Maori want to wind back the clock? Again the logical progression of the grievance culture is that iwi start feuding about who did what to whom in pre-European days. Shall Ngai Tahu be required to pack up and move back north?
5. Pita Sharples (as opposed to many of his colleagues) rarely says anything grossly stupid. However saying that the arrests have set back race relations 100 years is nonsense. Why isn't it Tame Iti's seditious conduct that has set back race relations 100 years? Further, does Dr. Sharples mean to imply that Maori that get a pass on serious criminal conduct because of historical grievances? Again, that way lies real terrorism.

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