I was at Parliament today and walked past as the 'anti-anti-smacking' crowd was getting revved up. Pretty scary stuff - I'm not so sure about the way this Bill has been formulated and introduced, but it sure beats joining a crowd having seizures (literally, in some cases)over the words of some well-dressed huckster arrogantly claiming that a mandate to perform God's will, brought to him in time of prayer, represents the 'will of the people'.
It saddened me that the vast majority of the crowd represented the same ethnicities and/or socioeconomic groups in which child abuse is most apparent. There were some very fine lines being drawn between claiming personal freedoms and preaching justifications for a totally personally-defined allowable level of physical force.
Anyways, noticed a telling line in the Herald article about Tamaki's speech:
"If they think that's going to curb our abuse problems we need to change who's up there," he said, gesturing towards parliament. "Suspend parliament for a day and every good parent should have the right to go and smack every errant politician," he suggested.
Would that be the 'loving smack', then?


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"It saddened me that the
"It saddened me that the vast majority of the crowd represented the same ethnicities and/or socioeconomic groups in which child abuse is most apparent"
you wrote this line?
what ethnicities are we talking about here?
Thought you might like to
Thought you might like to debate that you ol' dog.
The and/or is pretty crucial there. Unfortunately the statistics show that NZ Maori are over-represented in domestic violence incidences. Not too far ahead of NZ Europeans, but given the higher European population it's pretty significant. In addition, and what I think is a crucial causal factor, domestic violence (and I don't include light smacking in that, by the way) is far more prevalent in lower socio-economic groups - again, unfortunately, NZ Maori are over-represented. I don't want to overdo this because it totally wasn't the point of my post, but the stats are there. Of course it was the dirty Europeans who introduced this whole concept of 'loving' or more sinisterly 'corrective' family violence, so really it's our bad. The focus needs to be on fixing this culture of violence, regardless of ethnicity.
Out of interest, what are the domestic violence stats like in China?
interesting point. no idea
interesting point. no idea on the stats. but from personal observation and reports, it's pretty commonplace. told the policeman about my old neighbours when he came over but he seemed pretty nonplussed. that shit stays in the family here. although it is talked about quite freely being so commonplace.
i've heard.
there are some points i'd like to bring up re: ethnicity
firstly maori are over-represented in the lowest socio economic group and the fact that domestic violence is so prevalent in this socio economic group kind of cancels any race card for me,
poor peoples are more likely to get domestically violent
ethnic minorities are more likely to be poor
but:
"It saddened me that the vast majority of the crowd represented the same ethnicities and/or socioeconomic groups in which child abuse is most apparent"
to me sides to the west of racial generalization
unbefitting for a future leader
a) for the reason that the stats are only based on what is reported/prosecuted/charged
b) citing an ethnicities propensity to act in a certain way, is in kindly bringing colour(?) into an equation which is essentially one of individual and societal responsibility.
your sadness, seems ineffective, and a little condescending. although i know exxactly where you're coming from and would have said exactly the same thing if i were u.
violence is as u say a culture
and it's the aggression behind this violence
that hatingness
the intimidation
and cuntiness
of humans
which is due for a royal send off
and how many smokescreens aren't left behind
there's alot to be said for whole generations just letting their pain go
instead of fucking around, debating and wasting resources arguing,
perpetuating a cycle of conflict/disagreement and opinionism and inability to just get along. Almost exactly; a simply more tepid formula of the same energy that clenches the fist prompting it to lash out and release this pain onto our loved one's beauty.
that domestic violence is so
that domestic violence is so prevalent in this socio economic group kind of cancels any race card for me,
poor peoples are more likely to get domestically violent
ethnic minorities are more likely to be poor
I have heard some very discomfiting stats that even after accounting for socioeconomic factors, there is still a notably higher rate of violence against children in Maori and Pacific Island households; but I can't find anything on the net to back this up, and I don't remember where I heard it. Of course, I think it's possible that Maori & PI households that come to the attention of the authorities may be more likely to result in intervention or criminal charges.
WRT to the protest, I agree with rope though, that no conclusion can be drawn based on ethnicity. There's a very high Maori/Pacific Island membership at Destiny Church, and given that they all move as one when mobilised by their prophet, this will always unnaturally skew the ethnic makeup of any protest. I imagine that other evangelical churches opposing the repeal would be predominantly white & middle class, although I have no evidence to back that up, either.
What was more interesting to me was that the protest and counterprotest pitted christian against christian. It's always fascinating viewing when the churches air their division to the public like that.
"that domestic violence is
"that domestic violence is so prevalent in this socio economic group kind of cancels any race card for me"
Yeah, essentially that was my point. I think it was just lost in the mixer thanks to my poorly-worded sentence.
"WRT to the protest, I agree with rope though, that no conclusion can be drawn based on ethnicity."
I wasn't attempting to draw any conclusions. My gut reaction on seeing a clearly Maori/PI 'anti anti smacking' crowd was: "Given the statistics, it saddens me that so many Maori and Pacific Islanders are putting so much energy into this protest rather than offering constructive solutions." That whole side of the argument saddened me but it just so happened to be what struck me as I walked past - probably because it was the strongest visual stimulus I got. I have no doubt that middle class honkeys were somewhere protesting too, but I have different reasons for viewing them with scepticism.
I hate how some think this
I hate how some think this response or action is indicative of Christians.
tarred with the same brush if you like.
The only time Jesus got physical was to kick those money-lenders.
this is a very good ideal for living
Relevant... http://www.nzhera
Relevant...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10437872
Bishop Tamaki gave a good
Bishop Tamaki gave a good show on Willie Jackson's show this morning.
he was waaaaaay less offensive than John Tamahere.
Hone Harawari may be my favorite NZ Politician though.
Legend!
Tamaki needs to be shot,
Tamaki needs to be shot, that whole church is fueled on hatred towards anyone who doesn't live by their values. Someone needs to bring them down a peg and a nice gunshot to bishop tamakis face might help achieve this.
Dude, that's really not
Dude, that's really not cool. Haven't you heard of Kathy Sierra? Anonymous internet death threats jumped the shark a few weeks back.
It wasn't a threat, it was
It wasn't a threat, it was just an opinion.
His congregation (mainly the lower class pacific island community) would be 10% richer. They wouldn't be giving him a tenth of their wage so he can wear gold jewellery.
ha
ha