tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post4184382853712492279..comments2024-03-29T03:41:12.499+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Old LiesChris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-27605299577379043752011-07-30T19:48:48.762+12:002011-07-30T19:48:48.762+12:00There is a poison infecting the very roots of huma...There is a poison infecting the very roots of humanity in every society, "hopelessness". It is not an imaginary 'state', it consists of an infinite deluge of heart-wrenching physical torture...mental kaos..emotional turmoil and spiritual rape. It dictates a sense of existing in a gigantic black hole with no doors leading out. This 'state of hopelessness' feeds on the hearts and minds of those experiencing thoughts like, "Pleaseee make this pain go away..IF I GO AWAY THEN SO WILL MY PAIN...I JUST WANT TO DIE!..AND SO BE IT!! <br /><br />FLAVELL..every person appointed a post, such as yours..BY THE PEOPLE..of needs MUST BE TOTALLY COMMITTED TO ENLISTING A HUMANE APPROACH TOWARDS..OUR MOST VALUED TAONGA... <br /><br />'HE TANGATA, HE TANGATA, HE TANGATA'. <br /><br />Sadly, you have failed to do so!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-12928095829847507062011-07-29T23:56:13.473+12:002011-07-29T23:56:13.473+12:00When I was in late high school school a guy in my ...When I was in late high school school a guy in my year jumped off a bridge, and it carved a path of despair through the school - especially through the guys.<br /><br />While no one else took their life, many guys were never the same. A number of them became dependent on dope or alcohol, and a number also dropped out of school early.<br /><br />It wasn't just hard on his immediate family and his closest mates, it was hard on the whole school and community.<br /><br />One of the worst things was the Catholic funeral, in which the priest, because of his convictions, was unable to offer any hope. It was awful.<br /><br />The guy who killed himself as a gifted rugby player, with a gorgeous girlfriend, heaps of mates, a decent car and a decent brain. He had everything going for him.<br /><br />But he also a product of the sub-culture in south Auckland at the time (and now) that glorified African-American gangster culture, drugs, along with sense of nihilism, and he used dope heavily. This is the same sort of sub-culture that pervades places like Kawerau.<br /><br />African-American gangster culture has virtually nothing redeeming about it; it is devoid of any real hope, despising of education, glorifying of drugs, murder and misogyny. <br /><br />I think the cultural problems need to be addressed alongside the strucutral problems. South Auckland and South Central LA, as well as Kawerau, are all the victims of neo-liberal captialism, but that hopelessness is also entrenched by the poor cultural response to the context.<br /><br />What Flavell has said about suicide is ignorant, for sure, and I think previous commentors are spot-on when they note how the MP have painted themselves into a corner by supporting National - they are now with an ability to explain the causes of the [D]epression and therefore the solutions evade them.<br /><br />Nobody can say, "Cheer up bro, you'll get another job" when there are no fucking jobs. No one can say, "if you've got a baby you can still use the Training Incentive Allowance and go to uni" because Paula Bennett cut it. This is the 90s all over again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-2177526001000368122011-07-29T21:47:12.464+12:002011-07-29T21:47:12.464+12:00"Old Lies"
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When I pass through K..."Old Lies"<br />.......<br />When I pass through Kumara (on my way to Okarito). I'm reminded of The Liberal Government and the debates they had over giving women the vote. I look back at the issues of earlier times and it seems that generally we progress. Maori culture however has arrived, set in stone, from its isolated ignorance of the 1800's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-41733042763732600942011-07-28T12:27:20.847+12:002011-07-28T12:27:20.847+12:00"In every society there are those who cannot ..."In every society there are those who cannot simply bounce back. That does not make them less valuable or less needful of their community’s understanding and assistance."<br /><br />Absolutely! And that doesn't just apply to those tempted to take their lives. It is part of the essence of Social Democracy and of a civilized society.<br /><br />Michael Woods<br /><br />"The Maori Party has politically boxed itself into a position, vis-a-vis their relationship with National, that it is impossible for them to even acknowledge the structural causes of breakdown and dysfunction in their communites."<br /><br />Perhaps equally true. And equally well put.<br /><br />BTW, although suicide has tended to be regarded, within the Judeo-Christian traditions, as a sin against life, normal Jewish practice is to view those who take their own lives as suffering a temporary mental imbalance, thus allowing for all the normal rites to be observed and for the bereaved to draw as much comfort as possible.<br /><br />Perhaps this is a view that other faith traditions might care to emulate, where they do not already do so.<br /><br />Meanwhile, could there be a more obvious cause of mental imbalance than the despair of thwarted youth, rubbing up against a dysfunctional economy and a psychological background of generations of deprivation and marginalisation?Victornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-81984651010410543062011-07-28T08:53:55.225+12:002011-07-28T08:53:55.225+12:00Flavell probably believes in “stomp out violence” ...Flavell probably believes in “stomp out violence” as well.<br /><br />Awful stuff from an alleged representative of a colonised people. Why might young Maori (and other youngsters) be depressed? Bowalley readers don’t need me to recite the list.<br /><br />Suicide is also sometimes just the beginning of a peculiar torture for those left behind. A very close friend did it and 25 years later I still wonder if I could have done more. I posted a pic of this person on my FB page to do with the ’81 tour and people who knew him quickly started posting expressing similar feelings after all that time. <br /><br />Flavell really is a cruel type it would seem in addition to his sellout politics.Tiger Mountainnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-41973842414167324222011-07-27T23:48:06.981+12:002011-07-27T23:48:06.981+12:00What got me about Flavell's comments, is that ...What got me about Flavell's comments, is that it shows how far removed he is from understanding the very real 'hopelessness' that people must be feeling to terminate their existence in God's Own 100 per cent pure Paradise?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-14115143404440031162011-07-27T18:59:49.281+12:002011-07-27T18:59:49.281+12:00Very well said Chris.
My sense of this is that i...Very well said Chris. <br /><br />My sense of this is that it is ideological backfill. The Maori Party has politically boxed itself into a position, vis-a-vis their relationship with National, that it is impossible for them to even acknowledge the structural causes of breakdown and dysfunction in their communites. <br /><br />And so, politically unable to present an honest and robust analysis of the problem (which an intelligent person like Flavell must be able to grasp), we end up with this kind of macho crap. Thanks for calling it out.Michael Woodnoreply@blogger.com