“All of us were full of joy and peace… I was enchanted by the kindness and simplicity of the people… I felt the press had maligned the country and I wanted to proclaim the warmth and friendliness of the people.”
Was that Kellie-Jay Keen, writing from Auckland? No, it was journalist Martha Dodd, writing from… the Third Reich.
Plenty of people travelled through Germany under the Nazis between 1933 and 1939. They gushed about the people — “The Germans really are too good”, wrote John F. Kennedy on a tour in 1937 — the stunning scenery, the food, the beer. Only some of them took note of the brown shirts.
I was reminded of this, when reading the following desperate puff-piece from Stuff, trying to salvage New Zealand’s reputation from the trashing it’s getting in the wake of the Transchluss in Auckland, last week.
New Zealand’s reputation as a friendly and welcoming destination took a knock over the weekend, with some foreigners taking to social media to vent their outrage at what they perceived to be the unfair treatment of controversial anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull.
I guess a screaming, unhinged mob trying to stomp a woman into the ground, throwing objects at women, punching old ladies repeatedly in the head, might be “perceived to be unfair treatment”. At least, if you’re anything approaching a decent human being, and not an apologist for demented misogynists in dresses.
We’re a pretty welcoming bunch as a whole no matter what type of traveller you are. Unless, perhaps, you’re a controversial activist here to stage a rally.
By which Stuff means, a woman who says “controversial” things like male rapists shouldn’t be in women’s prisons, men shouldn’t be in women’s sporting events, or in women’s and little girls’ changing rooms. Such is the stuff that will send a lynch mob out to “stomp” you in “welcoming” New Zealand.
We’re world-famous for our friendliness.
Funny, that’s what Martha Dodd said about the Germans she met in the 1930s. The thing is, she was probably right. But then, she wasn’t Jewish — and Jews were about as welcome in 1930s Germany as women’s rights campaigners are in 2020s New Zealand.
Keen-Minshull’s visit showed we may blow our tops when provoked.
Sure, and a brown shirt may have blown their tops when “provoked” by the sight of a yellow star. Other than that, though…
We’re a LGBTQI+ hotspot in the making.
Oddly enough, 1930s Germany beat you on that one, too. Brownshirts leader Ernst Rohm was one of the first openly homosexual politicians in the world, elected to the Reichstag in 1933, and elevated to the Reich cabinet.
Note, too: “LGBTQI+”. This is not the same as “gay” or “lesbian”. In fact, a growing movement of gay and lesbian people are openly distancing themselves from the ideologically-extremist “LGBTQI+” movement. Often, precisely because of the intolerant hatred and violence on display in Auckland.
The comedy gold gets even funnier:
There are plenty of options for women wanting to retreat to a safe space.
Stuff
Just don’t go near a park in Auckland. Or a man in a dress. Or a Greens politician. Or a PIJF journalist.
In fact, if you’re a woman who believes such “hateful” things as that men are not women, that you’re not a mere “birthing person”, “chest feeder”, or “period haver”, or that men don’t belong in the same change rooms as you… best stay away.
