Collins has a confrontational manner. She enjoys the put-down method of dealing with what she doesn't like and can dish out as good as she gets. Whether it will serve her well waits to be seen. If she wasn't "boorish" on this occasion she has been on others. Personally I balk at deliberate rudeness. It's unneccessary.Too much time is spent in public institutions observing Maori cultural traditions that, on balance, serve no positive purpose but she's intentionally making a mountain out of a foothill. The place she walked out of, a CYFS youth centre, is about kids. It's about their (probably) last chance to get a life, to turn around. Getting into a row with the kaumatua shut down any possibility of working together.
I supported Josie Bullock's protest which she went about with dignity and reason. With any cause there are good advocates and bad ones. Being right doesn't give licence to behave badly. And on occasion there is a bigger issue than the barrow you are pushing.
3 comments:
Don't agree.
Self-esteam counts toward this battle as it does in the battles with CYFs and Maori to come.
Likewise, it's vital to not to lower one's chin at times like these because if you do, pretty soon, that will become part of one's character.
They dun the right thing.
Lindsay:
With all due respect (and you've earned a lot in my book), I know the kind of young man who ends up in facilities like this. Too many of them are in my whanau - and a commonplace is disrespect (if not outright contempt) for women, in matters large and small, from obscene verbal harassment out to sadistic and prolonged physical abuse.
And much as I hate to say it, these attitudes are very much a case of imitating what you've seen men do - and women endure, excuse and even enable - all your life. I wish many more women - Maori and Pakeha - would get a little more "boorish" where bullies are concerned.
I think we need to ask why Maori have apparently taken over a state facility for young people. Are offenders segregated by race? And if they are, is this appropriate? (I don’t think so!) We need to teach these young people how to get on in the modern world... not some time warp of culture stuck back in the 1800s. I would propose banning all Maori ceremonies in all state facilities full stop.
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