Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 11 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 20 years, 6 months ago by
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I’d be interested to know what images people have of New Zealand. What do you think of when you hear of New Zealand, and what do you know of our history, geography, economy and place in the world? I live in a fairly small and geograpically isolated island nation (with strong ties to the United Kingdom and United States), and I’m curious to know what people know about it. If you have any questions about New Zealand, post them and I’ll do my best to answer.
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Name : David W., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 31, City : Upper Hutt, State : NA, Country : New Zealand, Occupation : Government adviser, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I picture it as a beautiful, rural nation whose citizens are down-to-earth, wholesome, and sensible. I know that there are lots of sheep farms there. I don’t know anything about the history of New Zealand. I know there are two main islands, right? I have met only two people from New Zealand in my life. One was a humorless man who seemed to me to be a very cold person, but perhaps he didn’t like me because I’m American. The other was a nice, friendly woman very into sports. The Australians she was traveling with made fun of how she talked, but to me it didn’t sound much different from them. Some friends of mine have been to New Zealand and found it very enjoyable. They are big fans of certain New Zealand bands like the Go-Betweens and the Bats. One thing I’m curious about is what is New Zealand humor like? American humor can be quite biting or sarcastic, but not always.
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Name : Rick29954, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, City : Springfield, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,One of my best friends is a Kiwi, and she’s told me a whole lot about New Zealand. It sounds like in a natural sense it’s quite pristine; alpine mountains, grassy plains, rain forests, beaches, and barely any people to foul it up. Culturally it seems to sort of run parallel with whatever’s going on in the United States, Australia or the UK, though there seems to be more of an emphasis on sports, outdoors activities and other such things. Also, it’s quite diverse, with everyone from native Maoris to South Asians, though the south island is less diverse than the north island. However, she also tells me that there isn’t too much room for one to stretch their wings, which is why she moved to England, and why there’s a high depression / suicide rate among young folks.
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Name : Dan27173, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Pentecostal, Age : 22, City : L.A., State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,I do have a question: I have not been to New Zealand but spent some time in Australia and have found the competition (not just at football games) between the two countries curious. It seems there is a lot of hidden or maybe unacknowledged hostility behind the jokes and comments. I thought at first it was only an Australian thing, but later found New Zealand friends to have the same attitude toward Australians. Nobody could give a decent explanation, though. Is there some historical reason? Maybe a political conflict? Competition in economic terms?
As to New Zealand’s image hereabouts in Germany: spectacular landscapes, cultural diversity (especially with the maoris about), lots of sheep, lovely climate, very much a place for nature tourists. You don’t hear much about the cities there, more about hiking.
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Name : c.t., Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Atheist, Age : 32, City : Munich, State : NA, Country : Germany, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,It might surprise you to find out that what some American Indians know about New Zealand comes mostly from the Maori elders and activists who have regular contacts with natives here. I’ve been at more than one powwow or other gathering where natives of both countries were taking part to build friendships and alliances and learn how to deal with the common problems we both have: white hostility, treaty violations, being made to feel like strangers in our own lands… Plus the movie ‘Once Were Warriors’ is just about the only movie from New Zealand anyone in the United States can name. So many of us know already about the best and worst things about your country.
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Name : ACC25121, Gender : M, Race : Mexican and American Indian, City : Phoenix, State : AZ, Country : United States, Occupation : Grad student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,New Zealand is basically unknown by the Canadian populace in general. Those with some knowledge think of it as an outdoorsy place with lots of sports and physical pursuits. Maoris and rugby are sometimes mentioned, but not often. Those in my profession may know there is a teaching shortage, there are Canadians teaching in NZ, and that the ‘Reading Recovery’ educational program is from New Zealand. Your relationship to Australia is probably similar to our relationship with Americans. There is a competitiveness, and a strange friendliness / animosity, with both feeling superior to the other. Knowledge about NZ is very limited. What do those in NZ think about Canada?
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Name : Nicholas Mew, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 33, City : Barrie, State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : Teacher, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I’ve never been to NZ, tho’ it’s quite high on my wish-list my perceptions of it are as somewhere with incredible natural beauty,unusual wild-life, nice weather, very empty, and in many ways more culterally diverse (or maybe just more comfortable with its diversity) than Australia. I also imagine that NZ is probably closer in cultural/social terms to the UK than to America. Having said that, I’m ashamed to say in response to your question ‘what do you know of our history, etc’ the answer is ‘very little’ – History – Moari’s followed by English/Scottish settlers -system of law etc originally based on british system – significant if largely ignoreed contribution in both world wars, economy – strong – wealthy nation – lots of sheep & tourists – geography – 2 island and a lot of variaition in climate…It’s not much to know about a major country, is it? I’d be interested to know how you percieve yourselves – closer to England, Australia or the USA, or wholly different from us all?
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Name : Margo, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 27, City : Manchester, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : lawyer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I think the competition between the two countries has a lot to do with our relative isolation form the rest fo the world. New Zealand and Australia are the only countries in the south Pacific with white ethnic majorities. People of European descent in each country have the same ethnic background, and there is a feeling that people in other countries can’t tell us apart. We try to emphasize our differences through sport and other ‘friendly’ rivalries. New Zealand has remained closer to Britain than Australia, and for the first half of the 20th century we considered ourselves more ‘British’ than the Australians. I don’t think that worried them very much, but we were keen to show we are not the same.
The other point that probably bothers New Zealander is that our country is small and relatively unimportant on the world stage. Australia is much larger and is a world power (albeit not on the smae scale as the US, UK, Germany, China etc). They put a great deal of money and planning into develpoping good athletes, and New Zealanders feel we are overshadowed by Australia.
The historical background to this is that New Zealand was originally a colony of Britain administered from Sydney. The Australian constitution still makes provision for New Zealand to join it as its eighth state! By the way, New Zealand is 4,000 kilometers from Australia. That’s about the same distance as London is from Moscow.
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Name : Dave26006, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 32, City : Upper Hutt, State : NA, Country : New Zealand, Occupation : Government adviser, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Althoug we know New Zealand has good colleges,developed cities and these kind of things the country is usually associated with radical sports and beautiful landscapes.Mountains,forests… Do people from New Zealand has distinctive accents in different parts of the country?
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Name : Carol, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 22, City : São Paulo, State : NA, Country : Brazil, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,The ‘rivalry’ that exists isn’t serious & I don’t think there is any serious resentment on either part.I think both countries know this.
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Name : Jane20955, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 24, City : Melbourne, State : NA, Country : Australia, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Some of the things I know about New Zealand: Land of white clouds. I imagine NZ as a beautiful country with pastures and sheep. The New Zealanders go along well with the native Maoris, who have a wonderful culture and pleasant appearance. The Maori language is even taught in its schools. The New Zealanders have quite strong a link with the British, but closely tied economically with Asians. The number of Asians there are growing. New Zealand has snowy mountains, rather rare in the southern hemisphere. That’s some of the things I know about NZ, although I don’t know if all of it is true.
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Name : Mark22114, Gender : M, Religion : Christian, Age : 17, City : Tangerang, State : NA, Country : Indonesia, Occupation : student, Education level : High School Diploma,I agree that there is genuine antagonism in New Zealand towards Australians from time to time, not just play fighting. My sense is the Australian temperament is louder, more confident and more forthright. New Zealanders by contrast are more introverted, reserved and less confrontational. This may make an Australian seem rude, opinionated or arrogant from the perception of a New Zealander. Another reason for antagonism may be political differences. Australia is seen as pro-U.S., whereas New Zealanders are often pride themselves in taking a more neutral stand in international affairs. Australians are perceived by New Zealanders as having more racist views, particularly toward its aboriginal population. Jokes at the expense of New Zealand or New Zealanders in the Australian media get good coverage here, and this may be the source of some resentment. A catalyst is that there are surprisingly few Australians living in New Zealand, so we don’t get to meet many Australians unless we travel over there. Only 1.5% of New Zealand residents were born in Australia, compared with 6% for the UK and Ireland, 3% for the Pacific and 1.7% for China and Taiwan. (Figures are from Statistics New Zealand.) We don’t get much coverage of Australian news stories in New Zeland–apart from stories about its treatment of asylum seekers, which only serves to reinforce the ‘racist’ sterotype. Of course most of the jibes and ribbing is in good fun, but the question was about any hidden unacknowledged hostility.
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Name : Ben, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 29, City : Wellington, State : NA, Country : New Zealand, Occupation : Software developer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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