Forum Home
PC World Chat
Thread ID: 81722	2007-08-05 02:16:00	Stating the obvious...	johcar (6283)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
576711	2007-08-05 02:16:00	Muriel Newman's column this week: Another Maori baby has died of abuse . Three year old Nia Glassie, the little girl who was tortured by family, finally lost her battle . Meanwhile the 12-week-old Rotorua baby, who was rushed to Starship Hospital last weekend with suspicious head injuries, remains in hospital . The little boy’s grandfather is reported to be a senior member of the Black Power gang . The unspeakable question on everyone’s mind is whether child abuse is a Maori problem . Given that Maori children are six times more likely to be abused than non-Maori, and that child abusers are eight times more likely to Maori than non-Maori, the facts tell us that child abuse in New Zealand is predominantly a Maori problem . The Prime Minister and her politically correct government refuse to accept those facts . They like to blame everyone else, including neighbours . In fact, the only people who appear not to be blamed for child abuse are the abusers, with Labour having put in place a sentencing regime that sees child abusers treated more leniently that those who abuse animals . To deflect criticism away from their failure to reduce child abuse, the government has hastily launched a controversial new programme to question all sick women in hospital about their personal relationships and sex life: Have you ever felt controlled or always criticised? Has anybody hurt or threatened you? Have you been asked to do anything sexual that you didn't want to do? Quite who will collect this information, who will see it, or what it will used for, has not been spelt out . Nor do we know whether this questioning represents the blatant breach of privacy laws that it certainly appears to do on the surface . Under this $11 million feminist strategy, sick women will be asked questions that are designed to set the machinery of the state against men even though the research around domestic violence and child abuse is unequivocal: women are perpetrators, as well as men . This week’s NZCPR guest commentator, Bev Adair, runs a communications and networking business and is passionate about her role of advocating for children and young people . Bev is a Maori woman who was brutally abused as a child . She is angry that Maori leaders have not done more to stop the abuse of Maori children, and she has bravely agreed to share her story: “From my earliest years I lived with violence . I remember knives, blood on walls, being beaten, being locked up in cupboards, being molested by my Dad, being used by my mother's men friends - she put me on show for them . When I was nine, my Dad was jailed for molestation . I was taken to the Papakura police station in a car, put in a room, and given away to foster parents . I had little contact with my mother after that . I visited my father in jail and never saw him again . Abuse by foster dads followed . I lived in seventeen different foster homes and attended seventeen schools” . (To read Bev’s story click here ( . nzcpr . com/guest61 . htm" target="_blank">www . nzcpr . com)) Bev believes that not enough has been done to address the root causes of child abuse and that leadership by Maori - and by the government – is sadly lacking . If it was up to Bev, she would cut benefits to get parents and children out of the welfare trap freeing them up to get on with making something of their lives instead of being beholden to their political and tribal masters . Last year, in response to the death of the Kahui twins, Alan Duff wrote a guest article for the NZCPR outlining why Maori abuse their children . He believes that a lack of education is a central problem: “You don’t see Maoris with university degrees beating up anyone” . He states: “There is a disturbing anger common to far too many Maori that needs to be deeply investigated, like some permanently infected wound . Maoris dominate in gang numbers and prison inmate numbers . We have the highest number of assaults and almost exclusively own the child murder statistics . This attitude, this barbaric outlook on life will continue for the next thousand, ten thousand years if we don’t analyse it properly, if we don’t hold ourselves, our very societal model up to scrutiny” . He describes Maori culture as being based on a “Stone Age” societal model which does not work in a modern world: “To continue with the collective, whanau, hapu, iwi societal model is a fatal mistake . A fatal mistake . For in not developing individuality we continue down the declining slope of anonymity in a collective . Of no-one willing to make decisions – especially unpopular decisions – for fear of standing out from the crowd, going against the collective will” . And that is the core problem . Maori leadership have heralded tribalism as a cultural renaissance, when in fact it has been used to perpetrate the myth of cultural oppression and to foster separatism . In this day and age tribalism is little more than a celebration of class privilege and vehicle to unlock the riches available through the Waitangi Treaty settlement process . As a result of persisting with this outdated societal model, social dysfunction has been allowed to flourish in far too many Maori communities . Again, as Alan Duff says: “The quality of debate in this country on Maori issues is poor, cowardly, non-analytical, and none of it serves the Maori people well . Like social welfare, which many of us have warned about for years, every government benefit takes another breath of the recipient’s self-respect away . Until they choke on self-hatred and maim and kill themselves and others” . (To read Alan’s article click here ( . nzcpr . com/guest22 . htm" target="_blank">www . nzcpr . com)) Wise Maori know that welfare is destroying their people . They know that the Domestic Purposes Benefit in particular, has been hugely damaging to Maoridom . I have been on marae after marae where the notion of abolishing the DPB and replacing it with a system that encourages work, independence and personal responsibility, finds overwhelming support . They know that where once Maori families were once strong, the DPB has made them dangerously weak and fragmented . They know that where Maori men were once committed fathers, husbands and providers, the DPB has caused them to be rejected and cast adrift . They know that their boys - instead having a father to look up to, to teach respect for women, and to demonstrate unconditional love – are all too often turning to gangs in their search for a father figure . According to government records, back in 1926 when the statistics on marriage were first collected, the marriage rate for Maori was 69 percent and for non-Maori, 62 percent . Over the next 50 years marriage rates increased until by 1971, the marriage rate for Maori was 73 percent and for non-Maori, 77 percent . But the introduction of the Domestic Purposes Benefit in the mid seventies changed all that, especially for Maori . By 1981 the marriage rate for Maori had slipped to 62 percent, by 1991 it had fallen to 50 percent, and by 2001 to 46 percent . In comparison, by 2001 the non-Maori marriage rate had gradually declined to 70 percent . It is this collapse of marriage and a dramatic rise in the DPB that is at the heart of the Maori child abuse crisis . Maori women are now heavily over-represented on the DPB, making up 41 percent of all women on that benefit . But the trend for teenage parents is even more worrying . Maori teenagers make up 55 percent of all teenage parents on the DPB, and unless this trend is turned around, the Maori child abuse crisis will get worse . There are solutions . Other countries have faced similar problems and have replaced sole parent benefits with support systems based on getting parents into the workforce . As a result, the incidence of child abuse has fallen, long term unemployment has reduced, school drop out rates have declined and marriage has become more popular . In fact, there is no downside except the predictable political one . Maori leaders who are genuine about wanting to turn around the child abuse crisis should band together and call for the replacement of the DPB . They should not accept anything less . Governments like Labour depend on the support of people on welfare - the more people who are dependent on the state the better they like it . That is why their welfare reforms are only ever half hearted . Maori leaders will have a fight on their hands to get the DPB replaced . But if they are successful, they will be responsible for saving the next generation of children from a fate that under our current system simply doesn’t bear thinking about .	johcar (6283)
576712	2007-08-05 02:28:00	I'm in 100 percent agreement.	Metla (12)
576713	2007-08-05 02:31:00	It seems to me the government just doesn't want to be accused of racism. Problem is, if they say it's a Maori problem, people will call them racist. They can't win either way, really. To be honest I think if the statistics are correct, then it may well be a Maori problem. Can't really blame the Chinese or Pakeha or any other race for this matter when a Maori child is abused by a fellow Maori.	qazwsxokmijn (102)
576714	2007-08-05 03:00:00	To be honest I think if the statistics are correct, then it may well be a Maori problem. Can't really blame the Chinese or Pakeha or any other race for this matter when a Maori child is abused by a fellow Maori. Agreed and I believe in this particular case that public shaming, humiliation and stoning should be bought back in as a form of punishment as I don't believe that the accused should be allowed to hide from public view with what they did to a poor little 3 year old member of their family. Anyone who thinks my suggestion is too un PC and too brutal should put themselves in her little shoes and ask what she did to deserve to be treated like that.	winmacguy (3367)
576715	2007-08-05 03:08:00	I don't entirely agree. Its not totally a Maori only problem. Here there are a lot of them involved but it happens in other countries too. Its not a welfare problem either. Thats saying if you are on some kind of welfare you will do nasty things to your children. Not all welfare beneficiaries do so. However people with substance abuse problems are usually on welfare. Likewise gang members. And they mostly do. As for the government stopping it, none of them ever have. How? Its happened throughout history too you know.	pctek (84)
576716	2007-08-05 03:10:00	I don't entirely agree. Its not totally a Maori only problem. Here there are a lot of them involved but it happens in other countries too. It is not a totally maori problem they just happen to make up 60% of the stats in NZ.	winmacguy (3367)
576717	2007-08-05 03:39:00	It may be useful to look at child abuse as a sympton of a deeper problem than just a problem in itself. Certainly, any solution that addresses the problem of child abuse will need to go deeper with its interventions than the tip of the iceberg that appears on the news. Poverty is part of the problem, and the fact that the statistics are high for Maori people who experience poverty - means that they will be over-represented in the related statistics. Also, it is far too easy to speak of Maori as if they are some homogenous racial group when in fact they are not. "They" are Whanau, Hapu and Iwi. Tama Iti is not a Maori man - he is a Tuhoe man. It is inviting to refer to "them" as having "a problem" because it takes away the neccesity for thinking about the problem as being "ours"...	Deane F (8204)
576718	2007-08-05 04:25:00	It may be useful to look at child abuse as a sympton of a deeper problem than just a problem in itself . Certainly, any solution that addresses the problem of child abuse will need to go deeper with its interventions than the tip of the iceberg that appears on the news . Poverty is part of the problem, and the fact that the statistics are high for Maori people who experience poverty - means that they will be over-represented in the related statistics . Also, it is far too easy to speak of Maori as if they are some homogenous racial group when in fact they are not . "They" are Whanau, Hapu and Iwi . Tama Iti is not a Maori man - he is a Tuhoe man . It is inviting to refer to "them" as having "a problem" because it takes away the neccesity for thinking about the problem as being "ours" . . . The blue part I highlighted: I don't think it's very accurate to place child abuse statistics in the lap of poor or unfortunate . I therefor agree with you partially . During the 1930s, people all over the world were in the throes of a horrible realization that the cash they had on hand needed another wheelbarrow full of the same to purchase a loaf of bread . Child beating and abuse was not a common theme during that period, and that was surely rather trying times for those who used to be affluent . Drinking and drug abuse were also almost nonexistent as nobody had money enough to buy those trivialities . Food and shelter were much more important . No . . . . . poverty just fuses families closer together and they all pull together for the common tribe, family or neighborhood . I cannot fathom that child abuse is uni-racial or uni-poverty level or uni-status or social position-based . It is a permeating level of reasoning that I feel covers all the grounds of affluent, poor, dirty and disheveled . . . across the board . It's a loss of family values and loss of common sense compounded by the need of proliferation of family and relatives from the inside perspective that seems to destroy moral and conscience perceptions and assuaged the fiber in people . In other words, the need to excel in their own arena kills the love and appreciation for what they have created (children) and achieved (social acceptance and position) while devaluing life and family in the first place . . the very thing they are trying to propagate and perpetuate! I suggest assuredly the real problem is that life has lost it's intrinsic value . . . . . . even in the core value of family relations, not to mention on the streets with and by common strangers . Your purple highlighted paragraph agrees with my evaluation . Garbage can babies . . . teenage abortions . . . . partial abortions . . . . and you DIDN'T think I'd leave out ungodliness either, did you? All this serves to minimize the value on life: it's cheap, we can make another one, this one was defective so we get a "do-over" . . . etc . . . etc . . . . Everybody has to have something or some one to believe in . . and it trans-mutated into survival and personal sustenance . Life is now too complicate to worry about the family . . . it's hard enough to just survive as an individual . . . . let someone else take care of them . Remember the "It takes a village" philosophy? It really does take a village, but the members have all got to pull in a common direction too . Enter the moral compass . I also don't care if one believes in a giant nobody . . . at least that is a stand and a belief . With a belief comes a credo and a guideline though it may just be from the individual under a gun at midnight in a dark alley fearing his own demise . Morality and conscience is lost to the new humanism of survival and it's a shame . When anyone starts killing/maiming their own offspring, then they are the same as a reptile that lays it's eggs or young on a hot rock and soon forgets that they are it's own and proceeds to eat them . Moral compasses are spinning and not pointing to truth any more, if the people even have a compass in the first place . No . . child abuse is a product of frustration and misplaced values that sanctify life . . . . . . not necessarily from lack of funds or education . . it's just a phenomenon of the times where deep-seated hate from religious zealots and mass murders and suicide bombers and fear of the great unknown are at the heart of everyone's forethoughts and needs . They take it out on the less defensible ones: the kids . It rolls downhill from there .	SurferJoe46 (51)
576719	2007-08-05 04:36:00	The killing of extant offspring by a new dominant male in the pack is entirely normal, among animals.	JackStraw (6573)
576720	2007-08-05 12:28:00	[edit: message removed] [edit: A personal accusation like that is unacceptable. Do not bring personal attacks into your discussions or debates. You have a 24 hrs ban in which to reconsider the forum rules - Jen (Moderator)]	Mackin_NZ (6958)
1 2 3 4 5 6