Thursday, December 10, 2009

Head of Families Commission - middle-class white cop-out

The head of Families Commission can't define whanau ora because she is "a middle-class white woman". But she can commit oodles of dosh to promoting it.

I should have some sympathy because I am a middle-class white woman and asked the same question here last month. Remember the chart?




But if you check the first comment on that post I think it is quite clear what whanau ora is. It is code for Maori taking control of the transfer of cash and services to whanau, hopefully, for their betterment. How far it will go (eg will Urban Maori Authorities control benefits?) is really the only aspect of whanau ora that is unclear.

I was musing nevertheless about Jan Pryor's response and the difficulty some Pakeha have with Maori concepts, cloaked as they are in the mystery of another culture and language. I tried to imagine a similar scenario with a highly-paid, public servant who was a 'middle-class brown woman' saying that she couldn't define a Pakeha concept for that reason and found the idea highly unlikely. Quite preposterous actually.

5 comments:

Andrei said...

We live in a post modern world Lindsay where the meaning of anything is what is politically expedient.

In other words double talk rules.

Lucy said...

Jan Pryor is a stupid bitch and I am talking from experience.

Kiwiwit said...

Isn't it ammazing how much wasted taxpayer's money can be justified with a single diagram that takes 5 minutes to produce in Microsoft Excel?

Manolo said...

All this under the watch of a spineless National government incapable of doing anything.

At the last election NZ jumped from the oven to the furnace.

pdm said...

I am a white middle class male and I think I know what whanau ora is>

Budging!!!