Written By:
Eddie - Date published:
11:16 am, September 8th, 2010 - 42 comments
Categories: racism -
Tags: maurice williamson
Days before accusing us of being racist for not wanting more of New Zealand’s land to fall under foreign control, Maurice Williamson was making racist jokes. John Key excused Williamson’s racism accusation by calling it a joke. So how will he cover for Williamson’s racist jokes?
At an awards ceremony Williamson, who had been drinking, climbed on stage to give out two awards. First, he asked MC Oscar Kightley if his “papers were in order”.
Then, for no apparent reason, he started telling Muslim jokes:
“What is the difference between Muslims and Kiwis? Muslims get to commit adultery and get stoned, Kiwis get stoned and commit adultery.”
And the one about the weather in Iraq: “Shi’ite in the morning and Sunni in the afternoon”
You’ll remember that Lockwood Smith lost his chance to be a senior minister because of his racist comments before the election. Will the same apply to Williamson?
Or is it OK in John Key’s government for ministers to get pissed and tell racist jokes in public?
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Presumably all part of what John Key calls Williamson’s “strong sense of humour’.
The man is a loose cannon.
The man is an ignorant biggot if he did not realise this was offensive.
Later he added “complete hypocrite” when he accused NZ of the same.
Perhaps John Key has more pressing matters on his plate at the moment; just sayin’ 😉
PS: Anti-spam word = WHATEVER; very apt
…more pressing matters on his plate…
Yeah Eddie, those cameras in Christchurch aren’t going to chase themselves y’know.
Actyually, I thought they were quite funny – a politician with a sense of humour!
As far as jokes go, they aren’t bad. I wouldn’t say they’re especially good, though.
But for a government minister to be saying these things in public?
would you be lauging if they were holochaust jokes?
I’ve heard some that were “quite funny”
the question is whether a minister of the crown ought to be making them in public.
Apparently holocaust jokes weren’t very funny when David Fane (who is a comedian) dropped a few in a stand up routine as reported by NZHerald in their Sunday Jun 27, 2010 article titled “TV3 star attacks Jews”.
MSM at it’s best – you almost get the impression that Fane went on a rampage in a Synagogue instead of just being a first class D**K.
That said, humour is one of the best ways to heal – but at the same time I don’t know how much I would appreciate jokes about Maori women and Children being expendable or that Govenor Grey had a right to holocaust Maori during the early colonisation period of New Zealand.
Neither do I think it’s appropriate for sitting MP’s to make jokes about Islam and Islamic jurisprudence – especially when the crime committed by the woman wasn’t adultry but the crime of planning to commit murder – a crime Americans regularly execute people for, whether they are guilty or not.
So now we have posts defending the Islamic right to stone women to death for adultery – it had to happen!
Iran bought up the issue of “attempted murder” after international outrage to try to retrospectively justify the stoning.
Why don’t you try to bring in Burkas, or genital mutilation, or the wealth of other means some of these Islamic states use to dehumanify women?
Reading your contribution, not only should we not condemn it but even worse should not make jokes about it.
Grumpy. Your a being a complete dick. Honour killings are carried out by Christian communities too and Hindi communities. It’s not an exclusively Islamic phenomena.
Two very good articles here
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-crimewave-that-shames-the-world-2072201.html
and
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-relatives-with-blood-on-their-hands-2073142.html
I’m anti-stoning and anti-Ministers in my government making racist jokes.
Oh sorry grumpy – was I defending stoning was I?
Maybe I was merely pointing out the hipocracy – afterall it is a fact that the “United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners” and it has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in population (if you count only adults, one in 100 Americans is locked up).
Since 1976 alone the USA has executed “1224” people for various crimes with various methods including firing squad, lethal injection, electric chair, gas chamber and hanging.
In a 2008 Chinese report on “US human rights record” – including US incaceration rates – it was reported that:
See the hipocracy grumpy?
Looks like your hatred for Western civilisation and the Capitalist system is stronger than your commitment to human rights and just plain decency.
Oh come on grumpy, put the “logical fallacies” away please.
If you don’t know what logical fallacies are I suggest you take a couple of hours to listen to some lectures on the subject by “Dr. Michael C. Labossiere”, you may enjoy them.
I mean seriously “hatred for Western civilisation” is the best response you have to the facts I quoted above.
I have no problem with capitalism as described by David Ricardo and John Stuart Mills, nor do I have a problem with civilization. However, what I have described above is neither civil nor capitalism.
I seems you don’t understand capitalism either, I suggest you take a few moments to listen to some lectures on this subject too – again you may enjoy it.
Professor Michael Hudson
Stephen Zarlenga – author of “The Lost Science of Money”
Ellen H. Brown – author of “Web of debt : the shocking truth about our money system and how we can break free”
Richard C. Cook – author of “We Hold These Truths: The Hope for Monetary Reform”
Michael Rowbotham – author of “The grip of death : a study of modern money, debt slavery, and destructive economics”
I suggest you read these books – I have and many others. Reading these will help you to understand the difference between capitalism and speculative financial parasitism masquerading as capitalism. I honestly think you will enjoy listening to these authors and reading their books.
Q.E.D.
Boy, do some people need to do some reading and listening about what constitutes racism.
But then, they wouldn’t be able to get past the brain explosion of being challenged on their privilege.
But carry on, keep trying to ‘splain why they’re so funny, and showing off what a bigot you are.
While these jokes show poor taste, I really don’t think they are that offensive, in their own right. These are the type of jokes that some Kiwi Muslims have made when referring to themselves, and their presence in New Zealand, i.e. I’ve heard them before.
Certainly less offensive than some of the stuff that Billy T used to come up with. You’d have to be very precious in the first instance to find them offensive.
You have heard them before PP – where? And what do you mean by ‘Kiwi Muslims’? Immigrants, refugees or people born here?
Besides, it’s a different thing when people who *are* something joke about it – such as the Maori kid who lived next door to us when I was a teen making Maori jokes – he and his family would have been considerably upset had we (white people) joined in with *our* Maori jokes! I suppose I am precious then…
Deb
Deb – I didn’t suggest that they couldn’t be offensive, just that they aren’t that offensive. I don’t think they are particularly funny though, and not a choice of words I would use myself.
Seriously, think of all of the horrible racial epithets and stereotypes you have heard (and hopefully denounced). What Lockwood Smith said in 2008 was definitely racist and offensive. This, however is simply bad taste.
BTW – Maurice Williamson is ideologically typical of the National caucus, he just finds it tougher to be less than upfront about his political views. Which are the same stupid views that we need to remove from power at the next election…
That’s not humour – it’s just idiocy on a par with Berlusconi complimenting Obama on his great suntan!) Actually no, much worse…
Deb
Muslim is a race now?
Rascism, prejudice, bigotry – it’s all pretty much the same. But no – a religion – despite what other people may try to tell you – is not a race.
If that were the case then Ratana would be a race and Ringatu would be a race and last time I looked they weren’t separate races.
Technically, there’s no such thing as a race. Just ethnic groups, and they’re defined by social characteristics like religion as much as by physical characteristics.
Islam is mostly practised by members of ‘races’ other than Williamson’s.
And, obviously, racism is a short-hand for xenophobia.
So stop being a cock who just copies whatever he saw Farrar write.
ooh ooh I know a good one.
🙂 Just kidding. lulz.
PS: COIN is hard.
Personally, I find it more offensive the women are getting stoned for “adultery” rather than any joke about it.
But thats moral relativisim for you..
Not an ‘either or’ situation, old boy.
no-one’s condoing stoning. You’re just trying to distract.
What is the law on throwing eggs and shoes at NZ Cabinet ministers?
I’m considering stockpiling some.
🙂
It’s time John Key stood up to the PC brigade! They’re always playing the Race Card!
For example …
Minister Tariana Turia said Mr Williamson’s remarks were “extremely offensive” and it was not acceptable to pass them off as a joke.
Minister Pansy Wong described Mr Williamson’s comments as racist and said he should step down.
“He can’t represent New Zealand if he wishes to voice racist opinions and alienate Muslim New Zealanders.”
Yes, those quotes are all genuine. More here …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10330802
So Pansy, Tariana, anything to add today?
“They’re always playing the Race Card”?!? Who is? Williamson. Turia or Wong? The only one making racist jokes here is Williamson.
NZFP, read the link. Irony alert.
Racist comments are to be strongly condemned …. until it’s one of their own colleagues, it seems.
Oops,
sorry mate – just had a look at the link and I see what you mean.
Hey remember that time when the left starting beating up on ministers in governmnet? and remember how the only people who were proven to do any wrong were members of the previous labour government?
just saying, trev the cheating duck has been to known to let loose a few howlers in his time. you might not want to kick another own goal.
I’m not really surprised John Key came rushing to the rescue of his Minister, I mean, its not like Key has anything to be proud of. Sorry fella, all right. Still, you gotta give it to Williamson, first the Jews , then the A-rabs – I guess he’s an equal opportunity bigot.
Had an English investor, say Lord Ashcroft, been the bidder for the Crafar Farms, would the out-cry be the same? No it would not.
Williamson’s allegation if racism is correct. The fact that he made it in a bumbling manner and for other reasons does not take from it.
Would so.
Yep. Worst. counterfactual. eva
I like to think I have a sense of humour and in the privacy of my own home, workplace, random park benches, the pub, public buses, well almost anywhere I can be found, I will be *trying* to make a wise crack about someone or something, somewhere in the world. Maurice Williamson’s jokes, however, are neither funny nor clever, and for a minister of the crown it’s just not acceptable. If he was a small town mayor, or an eccentric breakfast tv show, perhaps, but he’s not. He’s behaving like a douche and needs to be called out on it by Mr Key, earthquake or no earthquake.
my 2c.
The big issue here which seems to be ignored by the Islamic radical apologists is the stoning of the woman. Latest news is that due to the world wide outcry this stoning is now off.
Williamson with his rather crude attempts at humor is in a small way part of this outcry and a woman’s life may have been saved, surely more important then offending a few people who to all intents and purposes have remained silent about her fate.
Now all we need now is to stop that crazy nutter fundamentalist in the USA from burning the Quran
Murray, when you say “Islamic radical apologists” are you referring to anyone here? (The word is humour by the way, with the letter ‘u’… )
So, you say that people offended by Williamson’s ‘jokes’ have been silent about the fate of the woman? Where’s your proof about that?
As for stopping that guy in the USA, I am surprised that you want to stop him! Good on you though..
Deb
nah, that’s too goddamn much for words, Murray.
To argue that Williamson was being some sort of human rights campaigner is just fucking stupid.
I had another response, but thought better of it.