Damson

Just wondering how politically correct New Zealand is? I do think there is a place for it in society in small doses, but feel that it is out of control in the UK.
I'm am interested in your thoughts, observations and experiences
Lorraine

Am Loolah

I would say it's getting there in terms of what is and is not considered socially acceptable. However, I was and still am suprised and saddened by the racism that seems to exist. There is quite a bit of anti-Maori from some Pakeha which I guess they have grown up with so see nothing wrong with. And also I have come across attitude towards Asians and Indians that I find unacceptable in today's society.

With regards to NZ being a "Nanny State" as I perceived the UK to be turning in to, I would say not at the moment. The kids still play in the playground and roam relatively free amongst the play equipment etc which I think is a good thing on the whole.

Just my opinion ...

jmh

My dad, who is a born and bred kiwi, is always moaning about the PC brigade and encroaching health and safety zealots. Probably says more about him than how things are in NZ though Wouldn't say he is racist though. You get that here as well I think.

Am Loolah

Absolutely agree that you get it in the UK and have for decades. Apologies if my post made it sound like I think ALL Kiwis are racist - I didn't mean that. Just some. Some is too many.

harrogate girl

Gland you said that as a college at work last week was quite racist towards me in front of other staff:curse: but fair play a few of them went to the boss, he pull me and I did the Brit Thing OVER THE HEAD so I can say also not All Kiwis are racist.

Genesis

Its bloody marvellous. The main news refers to police vans as 'paddy wagons' (I am half irish and not offended) adverts offering prizes on the radio talk of conditons applying and also that 'legal bollocks apply'....how bloody marvellous is that!! Obviously there is an element of PC here and there and some factions are well known for it...but none of the old bollocks I suffered as a plod circa 1994-2005. I like calling a spade a spade and like calling women girls without fear of reprimand...enter PC Met madness. Being non PC does not mean you are racist or sexist. It just means that you can call Christmas Christmas, a black bin liner just that and you can say that we will all sing from the same hymn sheet. All the latter are banned so I understand in wonderous PC UK. Mind you Welly did chop down a big fir tree that was decorated come xmas time lest it offended muslims at said 'winter festival', and Palmy council loonies agreed that a cross atop our clock tower was a bit 'in your face' when the local muslim group raised eyebrows at said adornment. So we are to a lesser degree still a bit mental in the world of PC shite.

bourbon-biscuit

Not PC enough for my liking. I think PCness returns the pendulum swing. Obviously the sort of application Genesis mentions are nutty (although not the cross one imo, not because it might offend muslims but because I think faith should be a private matter), but then I would (and do) take offence at being called a 'girl'. It's disrespectful and derogatory- how would you like to be called a 'boy' Genesis? I think NZ needs to adopt a more PC culture because some of the things you hear on the radio etc are just totally unacceptable, also in the workplace and so on- mostly directed at Maori, pacific islanders etc but also at women. However, I do love the patriotism of NZ and Australia- it's sad that patriotic has become such a dirty word in the UK- kids oin this side of the world grow up to feel they live somewhere really awesome and are proud of being a Kiwi or Aussie. I don't think UK kids get that- unless it's all for the wrong reasons (thinking BNP style patriotism here, which NZ and Oz style is nothing like).

OTOH, the lack of nanny state with regards to children, schooling etc is awesome and a HUGE plus for NZ. Just across the ditch you lose that quintessentially Kiwi approach to child rearing and schooling and I miss it terribly. I love that the schools are played in by the kids out of school hours (even the pools swum in where I was), that kids are encouraged to take risks, to take leadership roles (genuine ones) etc. NZ is very good for kids, imo.

Damson

My mum reckons that society all started to fall apart with feminism -hold on, hear her out! She said that in the old days men were men blah blah and that everyone knew where they were. It wasn't expected of a woman to go out to work, people held doors open for them and they were treated with a degree of 'you can't do that to a woman' type of attitude, girls weren't expected to sleep with boys. I've taken the P out of her for years, but with age I sorta get where she's coming from in some respects.

Ref racism, Whilst I look back in horror at Rigsby in Rising Damp, the funny thing was that it was obvious he was a complete uneducated, unsophisticated arse and it was the black guy who was so funny because he just stood back, laughed at him and took the p. It's easy to get lost in the whole racist issue in comedy, but in so much of this type of humour, the laugh is on the racist and not the other way around. I do think that a lot of our problems are caused by perceived racism, rather than actual racism. An example being the old 'beds in hospitals being turned around to face Mecca' malarky. When interviewed, the leader of the local Mosque said he was fed up with this type of hyped up nonsense being made an issue of by the media and that it actually hadn't happened that way at all. He said that the media was breeding a lot of racism by putting words in their mouths and that it was incredibly unhelpful for their integration into the community. I do however remember the dark days of the names that black people in our area used to be given, and we can't go back to that, but there has to be sensible level of acceptance.

Just a few bits of opinion into the mix.

bro69

I think it is important to teach children the importance of religious acceptance and of being PC whatever PC does actually mean, political correctness has very little to do with politics and more to do with journalists having the need to report on stories they think people will be interested in.

There is cerntainly more acceptance of people in New Zealand last month I was in England and that was certainly an eye opener, the people that bang on about the perceived immigrant problem. Now if you weren't born in England does that automatically mean you are below someone who was born in England regardless of your circumstances.

Just my opinion and I find it hard to listen to being I was not born in England but spent my whole life there I consider myself English and also being an immigrant in NZ.

Genesis

how would you like to be called a 'boy' Genesis?



No problems with that at all. But then I am rather irreverent with respect to things like that.

hazeandsteve

Boy? Bring it on!
I was drinking with the son of our local tribe's chief on Waitangi day, and my insistence that he sign his seat in the pub over to me was greeted with a handshake and a beer each.
PC, no, we don't need it to any degree. If you're offended, tell them, then accept the abuse and "HTFU" that will follow.
Still upset, go somewhere else.
Just my two centsworth.
Steve.

Genesis

[QUOTE=hazeandsteve;7273451]Boy? Bring it on!



For me at 50 its a compliment..however I would not mind being called boy at ANY juncture in my life. I don't do PC either anymore..its a load of bollocks (in my humble opinion). I am polite and kind I believe. Do unto others etc, but I am half french and half eire..don't mind the froggy, paddy or brit/pom moniker!! Sticks and stones. However I do find paki and the such offensive..I guess its because my frame of reference is that knuckle scraping white trash (in the main) use such terminology and I hate racism and the small minded aforementioned. Hate someone for a good reason..not their colour, creed or nationality!!

pascalr

mmm, a contradiction don't ya think?

So you don't like paki? me neither....I also find it offensive to hear maoris call islanders niggers quite openly...

I find the race relations here appalling:curse:

And I suppose you could call Charles and Harry 'white trash'

Genesis

I guess it is a contradiction and I am sure many an Irish person and many a French are offended by frog and paddy whereas I am not.

I reckon we all have our own personal limits of what is acceptable and what is not. I too find nigger very offensive. I guess it is all about how we conceive said 'nick names'. Paki and nigger for my part are words uttered (in my limited experience) by white supremacist types of morons..thus I have a VERY negative association with these terms.

Hokey-pokey

I have never heard ANYONE use that word in NZ. Maybe it depends on who you associate with.