Rob Rattenbury: We need to be careful about language

A mixture of English and Te Reo in everyday speech and writing is now common, Rob Rattenbury writes. Photo / Bevan Conley

OPINION

I have a mate; we have been good friends since our teenage years. He is clever, funny, a talented sportsman and just a good guy.

However, my old mate and I see our world through totally different eyes. We are probably both politically centre, him a wee right, me a wee left. We banter about politics all the time, probably more in common than not. But he does insist on living in the past in terms of our history.

He often laments "why can't we just all be New Zealanders?" You know where this is going.

I tell him we are all New Zealanders but we do not see our world through the same eyes. He wants us to.

The new history syllabus, something neither of us has actually read in-depth yet, grinds his molars. He thinks it is a plot to change our society. To some extent he is probably right; change it to perhaps a more fairly informed society. Well, that is what I am hoping.

My mate is not alone; there are other New Zealanders who agree with him, going by what appears on the news and current affairs programmes. I would never accuse him of extreme or racist views; he just has a view that is now dated and irrelevant.

It can be easy to label someone a "racist" nowadays. It is almost de rigueur to do so with anyone who simply questions or disagrees with your views on certain matters. My mate is not racist, far from it, but he is often made fun of by others who say he is. I know him for the decent man he is. He just likes to question certain matters and to express his uncertainty about things. That is not a crime and it is sad if some would say it is racism.

Our 19th-century British-trained historians and educators are at fault for where many decent New Zealanders find themselves nowadays.

Many of us were brought up in what was described by our betters as a racial paradise, Godzone. We all believed it. I did, why not? Well, until I was old enough to read widely anyway, about 10 or 12.

Many of us still believe it and simply, like my old mate, cannot see what the issue is.

My old mate cannot see we have to have different cultures in the one country that live side-by-side, inter-marry, work together, play together.

Why can we not have two spoken languages, together with sign language, and move between those languages as we feel like? Being monolingual is fine if that is what you want to be, but nearly 20 per cent of New Zealanders are at least bilingual. Also many, probably like a lot of you and me, use a mixture of English and Te Reo in everyday speech and writing. It just seems to happen.

Many older people, like me and my old mate, sometimes find change hard to handle. That's just reality. We grew up in a totally different world and society to our children and certainly our grandchildren.

It is highly unlikely that most of us oldies will curl up in front of the fire with the new history syllabus, learning about a fuller New Zealand history than we were allowed or encouraged to learn at school. I might, but I am a sad reader of history anyway.

We need to be careful how we bandy words about. Words can hurt more deeply than blows. Blithely accusing someone you perhaps do not know well of being an "ist" or a "phobe" can be wrong.

To disagree with others and their views is fine and right. To tell them why you disagree is even better. It is then their choice to think about what you have both said. Most right-thinking people will moderate their stance, especially if they are your friend or respect you.

But do not expect wonders, that's mostly a reach too far. I know.