“Woke up this morning and something had changed; like a room in my house had just been rearranged” is a line from an obscure (and not particularly good, to be honest) song by the pop-star Sting.
Last month we headed up to the Hokianga to visit the in-laws. Flying into Kerikeri airport I was immediately struck by ‘something different’, that this neck of the woods wasn’t the same as on our last visit a few months ago. There was something in the air: I sensed it.
What has happened is lots of Māori up north are on the warpath. They’ve been stirred up by politicians and fake historians filling their heads with deeply troubling concepts and, well, anger is brewing, folks. People I have known for a while, good people, are now talking in a very strange way about some strange (albeit quite funny) things.
One evening I was at a social gathering and was told – by people with a straight face – that our NZ history is as follows: Māori were the gold standard of mankind; anything not Māori is wrong by definition; white people came and wrecked the place; every other society on earth owes Māori a debt because they are using things invented or developed by Māori back in the day. Oh, and this outrageous injustice needs to be rectified and they will be tapping up all nations on earth for financial compensation for using Māori things (i.e., literally everything) without permission or paying royalties.
It goes without saying that years of visiting the far north a couple of times per year, being a friendly sort of fellow and happy to socialise with anybody, has meant meeting and politely tolerating ignorant Māori on numerous occasions – and safely ignoring such nonsense. Now things appear to be different: now it has gone beyond welfare-sated losers talking rubbish to them genuinely believing what they are saying. ‘And Rawiri Waititi and JT say it’s all true – so there!’
They are also under the impression that, because they constitute a ‘gold standard’ by which everyone else is measured, they are fully justified in simply taking whatever they want, from anybody they want, any time they want, and so will be demanding compensation from, for example, German manufacturers for all those washing machines and coffee makers invented by 17th century Māori ‘right here, bro, right on this very spot...’
It seems that various (ahem) ‘academics’ are, as we speak, inventing certain words so nothing is left to chance (i.e., they invent words, claim it means washing machine, claim it was a widely used ancient Māori term and claim they invented it, so their demand for financial compensation from Bosch or AEG is perfectly valid). If laughed out of German courts they will simply invent as many words and concepts as it takes until everyone pays up. This is breathtaking and bizarre stuff from people who are a small subset of a surprisingly large group who are serious and whooped up into a frenzy of ‘injustice’ by morally bankrupt politicians and other con artists.
This is what I mean by ‘things have changed’. Laid back, easygoing, Māori have been replaced by angered ones and they are hellbent on righting these ‘wrongs’. Their impressionable children are being instilled with this twaddle and it will only get worse. They see the Treaty gravy train ending and have a plan to make even more money. That it will only lead to widespread embarrassment: the entire world realising what white New Zealanders have known for generations matters not at all; they want money and intend to get it.
