Key’s racist government

62 comments on “Key’s racist government ”

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1. Pascal's bookie 1

   9 September 2010 at 10:22 am

   Williamson didn’t insult ‘Arabs’. His joke was that Muslims stone adulterers and aren’t kiwis.
   • Bill 1.1

     9 September 2010 at 11:51 am

     “His joke was that Muslims stone adulterers and aren’t kiwis.”… and by implicit extension that Christians don’t (untrue) and that Muslims aren’t Kiwis (also not true) and that beatings and murders or families disowning sons or daughters for marrying across cultural bounds doesn’t happen in NZ (also not true)?
2. M 2

   9 September 2010 at 10:42 am

   If Key has concerns about certain groups in NZ then taking the piss out of them is not the way to go about making a better society. If he worried about, say Shari’a law getting a foothold in NZ why doesn’t he just state that NZ’s laws are based on the Westminster system and that there won’t be any stonings, female genital mutilation clinics openings or compulsory burqua wearing here anytime soon.

   He just comes off as a K Mart version of the Duke of Edinburgh, but then he’d probably relish such a comparison as his lust for a title is palpable. His speech at anytime is annoying – hell, drunks slurring their words next to Key would appear models of diction.
3. Joe Smith 3

   9 September 2010 at 10:57 am

   Come on. Get a sense of perspective. You’re promoting a PC gone mad world. Jokes don;t make people racist. You’re opposed to teh National government and will use any excuse at all to try and have a dig. Perhaps next time you could find something that matters to complain about.
   • Mac1 3.1

     9 September 2010 at 1:15 pm

     Nope, jokes don’t make people racist. They do indicate that the joker is, though.

     ‘PC gone mad’- righty talk for why can’t I be as rude, insensitive and intolerant out loud as my world view is?
   • Draco T Bastard 3.2

     9 September 2010 at 2:05 pm

     The list of rorts, incompetencies, and abuses of power goes on and on.

     Plenty to point at, this is just one more indicating that this government is peopled by Neanderthals.
   • Vicky32 3.3

     9 September 2010 at 5:30 pm

     “Jokes don;t make people racist. ”
     No, but they show that people are racist!
     Deb
4. pollywog 4

   9 September 2010 at 11:04 am

   Given the excuse that Williamson had ‘had a few’, so his tongue had been loosened, I would have loved for him to provide us with some joking epithets, in the style of a drunken Mel Gibson, regarding Key’s religion and ethnicity…then we’ll see who’s laughing.

   Cos yeah, as a Pasifikan and bearing in mind Williamsons ‘Are your papers in order’ comment directed at Oscar Kightley, reminds me of not only the hilarious dawnraids of the 70’s, targetting Pasifikan overstayers, but also the side splittingly funny Holocaust, that has had jews ROFLing in the aisles for the last 60 years…and to which David Fane recently got publically raked over the media coals for.

   It really is one standard for Pasifikans and one for eurocentric cultural supremacists.

   So as long as we got chumps like Maurice Williamson, acting in an official capacity representing Oww Tear Raw, pandering to the redneck majority in spewing forth degrading, humiliating ethnically targeted insults masquerading as humour, while smiling, waving incompetent dipshits like Key and Co are running interference and support for NATIONAL NZ LTD, like everyday is a white christmas for them and their mates…

   …ain’t a damn thing gonna change anytime soon
5. Roflcopter 5

   9 September 2010 at 11:43 am

   “And I’m neither a Jew nor an Arab and I’m offended.”

   I have arabian ancestry, and I’m not, so STFU you posturing half-wit.
   • bbfloyd 5.1

     9 September 2010 at 1:27 pm

     Robbo..if you weren’t offended, then why the emotional response?
   • Mac1 5.2

     9 September 2010 at 1:27 pm

     According to today’s Press, NZ Muslim leaders are chiding Williamson for ‘totally inappropriate and offensive’ jokes. Joris De Bres seems to agree about ‘pretty poor taste.”

     I have Irish, Scots, English ancestry and I get pissed off if someone comes talking about thick, pugnacious paddies around me, or mean Scots, or whinging Poms.

     I also get pissed off if people talk similar crap about other ethnicities not their own.

     Put downs are put downs.
     • Roflcopter 5.2.1

       9 September 2010 at 2:01 pm

       Ban stand-up comedians then?
       • Mac1 5.2.1.1

         9 September 2010 at 2:14 pm

         Nah. Just never watch them.

         Especially Williamson, who is a joke. As is his boss.

         I prefer my humour totally relaxed.
       • Maynard J 5.2.1.2

         9 September 2010 at 10:42 pm

         Ah the Right. Roflcopter wants Ministers to be stand up comedians. Must be the sort of idiot who wants a PM to smile and wave and make him swoon and go weak at the knees, as opposed to a prime minister who gets things done.
     • nzfp 5.2.2

       9 September 2010 at 2:18 pm

       Ka pai Mac1! Right on!
6. tc 6

   9 September 2010 at 11:50 am

   This is maurice williamson we’re talking about here…..one of a few albatrosses sideshow’s forced to carry around by the Nat rank and file as a reward for all those years of ‘service’.

   Labour have their fair share also….just nobodys listening to them or they’ve nodded off before the first point’s been made which in Goff’s case at least 100 words or so…zzzzzz

   Whereas the msm follow the NACT around knowing it’ll gurantee some gaffs or at the least they can report that ambient level of incompetance….that’s if the journo-kiddies have been schooled in exactly what that would look and feel like.
7. deemac 7

   9 September 2010 at 12:01 pm

   it is not “PC gone mad” to object to this. It is shaming to NZ to be represented by people who think this sort of language is a joke – a joke should be funny, not crudely offensive. I can think of no other OECD country where this would be tolerated.
   • The Voice of Reason 7.1

     9 September 2010 at 12:53 pm

     Well, there is Italy.

     Not that I’d want to compare Williamson to Berlosconi. Berlosconi is a far right loony, full of self importance and bigoted bluster, who can’t speak in public without offending people and wouldn’t be in his job if the media weren’t timid, brain dead sycophants.

     Hmmm, maybe there are some similarities, after all …
8. jbanks 8

   9 September 2010 at 1:04 pm

   People are allowed to say whatever they like as long as it’s within the law. If the general public don’t like his humour although it’s legal, then they won’t support him.

   Freedom of speech . . . bitches.
   • Pascal's bookie 8.1

     9 September 2010 at 1:08 pm

     Good thing no one is saying he should be arrested then, fuckwit.
     • jbanks 8.1.1

       9 September 2010 at 1:17 pm

       Temper temper little one.

       He’s done nothing wrong, his constitutes agree, so get over it.
       • BLiP 8.1.1.1

         9 September 2010 at 1:25 pm

         His constitutes? Perhaps you can explain why his boss has had to rush into the media with not one, not two, but three apologies for Williamson? Wankspider.
         • jbanks 8.1.1.1.1

           9 September 2010 at 1:32 pm

           Pure politicking. That’s what that nice man JK does best. That’s why he’s the king of the preferred prime minister polls.

           You love it.
           • bbfloyd 8.1.1.1.1.1

             9 September 2010 at 1:54 pm

             eeeeew! jb,, that made me feel soiled just reading that..
       • Mac1 8.1.1.2

         9 September 2010 at 1:33 pm

         @ jbanks. “Temper, temper little one.” You dare chastise someone for calling you a fuckwit when you’ve called all of us ‘bitches’?

         How about some justification for the statement “his constitutes (sic) agree” while we’re at it, little one?
       • bbfloyd 8.1.1.3

         9 September 2010 at 1:33 pm

         bj..sorry jb..so how have you managed to find this out? are you some kind of super psychic? being able to tap into over thirty thousand minds in order to get a definitive opinion is awesome. why hasn’t john(stanley) key got you on to his staff instead of all those expensive pollsters?

         can you see through walls too? they could use you in christchurch.it would save hundreds of hours worth of engineers fees…
   • infused 8.2

     9 September 2010 at 1:08 pm

     Yep. It is PC gone mad. Sick of it. New Zealand has gone overboard.
     • BLiP 8.2.1

       9 September 2010 at 1:31 pm

       In what way is it correct, politically or otherwise, for a Prime Minister to call Maori cannibals? Is he a highly-paid public servant representing the voice of all Aotearoa or is he a talk show comedian? Careful – its a trick question.
     • bbfloyd 8.2.2

       9 September 2010 at 1:38 pm

       can’t help but assume you would have been pointing as hard as you could if it had been a labour minister. well most of us are sick of halfwit right wing apologists.
   • The Voice of Reason 8.3

     9 September 2010 at 1:25 pm

     Actually, the last I heard, race bating was against the law, jbanks. And I’m also looking forward to Williamson explaining the subtleties of his ‘humour’ to the Race Relations Office.
   • Draco T Bastard 8.4

     9 September 2010 at 2:10 pm

     legal != moral
     • jbanks 8.4.1

       9 September 2010 at 2:17 pm

       No shit Draco. Morality is a subjective term relative to power not truth.
       • Draco T Bastard 8.4.1.1

         9 September 2010 at 2:54 pm

         Morality isn’t subjective, it is dependent upon truth. Ask any philosopher and they will tell you that. As you think it is dependent upon power I’d say that shows you as the psychopath that you come across as.
         • jbanks 8.4.1.1.1

           9 September 2010 at 5:10 pm

           Um . . . maybe a religious philosopher. MANY philosophers have a nihilist base.

           Newsflash – there is no God. There is no ultimate standard to measure one persons morals against another. “Contextual absolutes” doesn’t get around this.
           • Blighty 8.4.1.1.1.1

             9 September 2010 at 5:15 pm

             and your ‘truth’ is ‘fuck the poor’. I contend that is an inadequate and ultimately self-destructive morality.
           • Vicky32 8.4.1.1.1.2

             10 September 2010 at 5:30 pm

             Er – jbanks, many would disagree with you…
             Deb
     • nzfp 8.4.2

       9 September 2010 at 2:21 pm

       Yeah that’s right – everything the Nazi’s did was “legal” and it sure as hell didn’t make it right – ask any Kiwi who survived WW2!
       • Draco T Bastard 8.4.2.1

         9 September 2010 at 2:55 pm

         Actually, jbanks argument is that what the Nazis did was also moral because they had the power.
         • jbanks 8.4.2.1.1

           9 September 2010 at 5:13 pm

           No, my argument is that it was moral from their perspective.

           Again, power is knowledge because those with power get to legitimise the knowledge.
         • nzfp 8.4.2.1.2

           9 September 2010 at 5:59 pm

           Interesting, I wonder if that makes morality relative or maybe subjective?
9. grumpy 9

   9 September 2010 at 1:52 pm

   The only thing this thread proves is that the Left have no sense of humour. Probably sad that no Labour pollie could come up with anything to make the greater public smile. I bet Michael Cullen could have dropped a few similar one liners.
   • BLiP 9.1

     9 September 2010 at 2:01 pm

     The only thing this thread proves is that the Left have no sense of humour.

     Or you’re too stupid to get the jokes.
     • the pink postman 9.1.1

       9 September 2010 at 3:38 pm

       Most of the best comedians in the world are of the political left or the Jewish Left . So BLip you do not know what the hell you are taiking about. Racism in all its forms is evil .what is shamefull regarding Key is that he is of Jewish decent he is a disgrace to the Jewish people and once again like his state-house beginings has forgotten where he has come from.In my books the greatest sin of all.
       • BLiP 9.1.1.1

         9 September 2010 at 5:45 pm

         Take another look, Pinky, you’ll find I was replying to grumpy.
         • the pink postman 9.1.1.1.1

           10 September 2010 at 2:39 pm

           My apology.

           [lprent: how many does it take ]
         • the pink postman 9.1.1.1.2

           10 September 2010 at 2:40 pm

           My apology .
         • the pink postman 9.1.1.1.3

           10 September 2010 at 2:41 pm

           My apology
       • nzfp 9.1.1.2

         9 September 2010 at 6:01 pm

         Don’t worry about it pinky… NZ’rs are grown up enough not to judge an entire group of people by the actions of a few… Surely 😉
   • Mac1 9.2

     9 September 2010 at 2:09 pm

     Grumpy, the first refuge for being called offensive is to play the “PC gone mad” card.

     The second is to say that we lefties don’t have a sense of humour.

     I cite the latest Caption Contest here on the Standard as proof positive that is just not so.

     BTW, do you see the logical conflict between sentences one and three in your posting?

     Bob Jones used to say that the Left had no humour. He, however, was joking.
   • nzfp 9.3

     9 September 2010 at 2:16 pm

     grumpy really “the Left have no sense of humour”? What’s “left” I’m not left, right or center. Those designations mean nothing – there’s only right or wrong – which side do you sit on?
   • The Voice of Reason 9.4

     9 September 2010 at 2:21 pm

     Quite right, Grumpy, the left have no sense of humour. Which explains why Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are so unpopular. Not to mention George Carlin, Ben Elton, Janeane Garafalo, Bill Maher, Chris Morris and a heap of others.

     And on the right we have, um, er … Glenn Beck?
     • Pascal's bookie 9.4.1

       9 September 2010 at 3:40 pm

       Mind you they do have all the best songwriters and musicians, oh nah, I mean film makers, no? oh shit, umm, playwrights? novelists? no? Revisionists, they totally kick at arse at revisionism.
       • Maynard J 9.4.1.1

         9 September 2010 at 10:46 pm

         Magical fantasy novelists? Actually, no, Rand was rubbish too.
10. nzfp 10

    9 September 2010 at 2:14 pm

    On Thursday 19th August 2010 RussiaToday (Youtube Newsreport) interviewed Grant F. Smith, author of “Spy Trade: How Israel’s Lobby Undermines America’s Economy” and Director of the “The Institute for Research Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep)”. Smith reported that:

    Files declassified in America have revealed covert public relations and lobbying activities of Israel in the U.S. The National Archive made the documents public following a Senate investigation. They suggest Israel has been trying to shape media coverage of issues it regards as important

    In a PR News Wire article titled “Declassified Senate Investigation Files Reveal Clandestine Israeli PR Campaign in America” Smith further notes that:

    “It is frightening how easily some in the American news media surrendered to a foreign public relations campaign that spent the 2010 equivalent of $36 million over two years. Time has proven most of the planted content to be misleading, if not dangerous. These historical documents hold many important lessons for Americans who have long needed—but rarely received—straight reporting on key Middle East issues.

    Considering these revelations – it may be worth asking if Williamson has received any financial support for his Muslim bashing comments.

    [lprent: That last paragraph just barely (and only just) moves this comment into relevance of the topic. I read the the rest with my finger on the move button to OpenMike. ]
11. Rex Widerstrom 11

    9 September 2010 at 3:07 pm

    While I’d never elevate Williamson to the stature of Lange in any respect, least of all wit, it’s worth remembering that, when told at a Cabinet retreat in Fiji that attendees could get Chinese food all day but anything else required a specific order” Lange quipped, “So it’s wok around the clock?”. And when the contribution to exports of the dairy industry was drawn to his attention he said “What a friend we have in cheeses”. And so on…

    The first relies on the “racist” attribute that Asians cannot pronounce the letter “r”. The second mocks a hymn. So what? I’m sure Lange wasn’t intending to belittle Asians or Christians (being one of the latter himself). Rather he was fond of puns (as am I, which is why I remember them) and assumed his humour would be seen fr what it was.

    I find it more offensive that Williamson stole, without attribution, his “stoning” line (it comes from “Yes Prime Minister”, and I don’t recall howls of outrage when that first came out) and, more importantly, that he had the hypocrisy to refer to NZers who oppose foreign ownership of our country as “racists”.
    • Pascal's bookie 11.1

      9 September 2010 at 3:37 pm

      I dunno Rex. Doesn’t Lange’s wok pun just refer to the idea that chinese food is quite often cooked in a wok?

      What I don’t like about Williamson’s joke is that it’s premised on the ideas that all Muslims stone adulterers, and that Muslims can’t be kiwis. Neither of which are true, and both of which have more in common with OBL’s thinking than any western liberal democratic thinker.

      It’s hardly a stretch to say that it’s tied to the current Iranian case, given his supporters are making the link, and I don’t think joking about how all Muslims are just like the Iranian mullahs is all that helpful. Key jumping in and blathering about ‘arabs’, apropos of fucking nothing, is also about what I’d expect.
      • Rex Widerstrom 11.1.1

        9 September 2010 at 5:02 pm

        I get what you’re saying Pb, but I’m inclined to agree with those who point out that most jokes are at the expense of someone (which is why, on the hustings, I always try to stick to self-deprecating humour… that way I can control the target’s reaction 😀 ).

        I think it’s a little disingenuous to overlook the fact that Lange’s joke relies on “Rock around the clock” and the Asian mispronunciation of “r” to make it funny.

        The balance of humour vs offence is usually a question of degree, and I’d accept Williamson’s jokes display a greater degree of prejudice than do Lange’s, especially since the former’s were cribbed and Lange’s were an example of his brilliant off-the-cuff wit.

        But I make the point not to denigrate Lange in any way (one of my proudest possessions in a photo of he and I together) but simply to argue that Williamson is guilty of two far greater offences which are getting overlooked as we parse his “jokes”: his insulting a large number of NZers (me included) for our beliefs on foreign ownership, and the hypocrisy that reveals.
        • mcflock 11.1.1.1

          9 September 2010 at 7:17 pm

          “Lange’s joke relies on “Rock around the clock” and the Asian mispronunciation of “r” to make it funny.”

          I disagree – given that he’s talking about Chinese food being available at all hours and and the implement used to cook said food, “wok around the clock”, it’s simply rhyming humour.

          Or, at the very least, can be camouflaged as such. The racism in Williamson’s stoning ‘joke’ is not so easily fobbed off.
          • Bill 11.1.1.1.1

            9 September 2010 at 8:48 pm

            This is all bullshit.

            Bottom line is that I or you can crack some joke or other in whatever given company. And it might be considered funny given the make up of that company and the context. Or it might be considered offensive and really fucked up.

            And the whole scenario is private and quickly forgotten. ie, it’s basically irrelevant.

            But a minister…or any public figure for that matter, is talking to all audiences simultaneously. And so obviously just shouldn’t indulge in edgy or dodgy humour.

            Dead fucking easy.

            And if the guy is too thick to get that, then he should be jettisoned from the public sphere for being fucking stupid, if for no other reason.

            edit. piss taking on aspects of accents, ie not stupid mimicking which will inevitably tread a line, is safe… as anyone with an accent will attest to. It’s only when it’s way overdone that the piss taker looks like an arse. Which is fine. There is no offence involved.
    • comedy 11.2

      9 September 2010 at 3:53 pm

      …”it comes from “Yes Prime Minister””

      Now there was a great programme..some classics below

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBtDIVfhh8k&feature=related
      
12. cardassian 12

    9 September 2010 at 10:21 pm

    I don’t see how this can be seen as anything but inappropriate and disgraceful.
    Looking at stuffs online poll however it appears that most of my fellow countrymen disagree.
    Makes me glad I don’t live there anymore tbh, brain drain ftw.

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1. The Standard: posted on 8 September 2010 at 9:35 pm

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