I'd like to say I wish more Kiwis were like me.
Taking TVNZ's Kiwimeter test, the attitudinal survey, I came out as a patriot and they say that means I pride myself on being a New Zealander, having a deep sense of attachment to the Kiwi lifestyle.
A patriot also sees Kiwi values as unique and preferable to most others and generally thinks New Zealand is the best country in the world in which to live.
It's hard to argue with that but it's the way I got there that Maori MPs in particular are arguing about. They're mostly objecting to the reaction we've got to give to the proposition that "Maori should not receive any special treatment," which they say is racist in that it presupposes that Maori are in fact getting special treatment.
Fact of the matter is that they are in terms of taxpayer support, essentially because they need it.
If you have any doubt consider the usually sensible Labour MP Kelvin Davis observation that the survey was designed to incite racial intolerance but then went on to state what we all know, that Maori have a higher incarceration rate and worse health and education outcomes. That's why more is being spent on them than others in an attempt to improve their lot.
The Greens Metiria Turei was just as silly saying the question on Maori was a disgrace given they're not asking people about having Treaty rights recognised and reparation for land stolen by the Crown, or their parents being kicked out of bars for being Maori.
And the politically correct attitude seems to have rubbed off on the Indigenous Rights Commissioner Karen Johansen who says the Maori argument demonstrates a clear bias. She's urging the state broadcaster to think where their leading questions are taking respondents.
Yeah well, they're not taking them to a sandpit to bury their heads in it.
They all seem to have missed the point that this is an attitudinal survey, it's not about the past, it's trying and find out where we all fit in the great big melting pot.
Curious we haven't heard an outcry from the immigrant community in response to the proposition that "most immigrants these days don't try hard enough to fit into New Zealand Society," or from the atheists to the notion that "society would be better off if people were more religious."
And before the bottom feeders and trolls start attacking their keyboards, they'd do well to reflect that out of the six categories that are allocated after the propositions are responded to, the patriot represents 36 percent of us and the next closest fit judged on my responses was egalitarian!
