Paul Henry suspended by TVNZ

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#388440 5-Oct-2010 20:11

cgrew: To be honest people do make mistakes from time to time..

But you do have to admit, the guy is pretty good at putting the idiots of this nation on the spit.

I've only seen him make fun of kids raising money....after he's denigrated some elderly people for doing something good for the community instead of watching TV at the rest home.

The "idiots" often know more than Henry and his fans do. I'm inclined to think the real idiots are the ones who think Henry is funny when he sneers and jeers makes fun of someone trying to do something good for the community.

That said.....I know there isn't going to be any convincing anyone here. You can't explain colour to blind people. They either see it or they don't. You're either a thoughtful, considerate person who shows respect for others....or you're a Paul Henry fan.

No real cross over that I can see.

I'm done.

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#388451 5-Oct-2010 20:23

M_I_C_H_A_E_L:
vinnieg:
Handle9:
BraaiGuy:

Back to topic, this is being blown out of proportion because it happened to a man of colour.

As opposed to Hone Harawira's comments being blown up when he said he'd rather his kids didn't bring home a girlfriend/boyfriend that was European - which to me, and most people was equally racist. Funnily enough there wasn't much of a debate about that outcry being "PC".

This is being blown up because it was clearly an offensive thing for someone to say on a mainstream "news" program, not because of who it was said about.

I think that's because no one cares about him, he's already shown himself to be crazy! If he appeared on our TV every morning, then I reckon people would tell him where to go too!

I care about him. He is funny and also very "Un-PC". Makes a change from everyone else saying "No you cant go there" "Ohh they shouldnt of said that" etc

What?? you seriously care about Hone Harawira? and find his comments funny? Even the whole:
"maori should only be allowed to marry maori" - in his miscegenation rant
"white m"edited this section"ferss, who have been loving(also edited) our land and ripping us off for centuries" - in his email to a waitangi tribunal member, who found it so racist he forwarded it onto the media, which even his own party were offended by?

Unless you read my quote wrong and thought I was meaning PH?

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#388481 5-Oct-2010 21:07

This topic is highly emotive. Two sides are arguing here and they wont agree, its one of those topics.

I will put one thing out there.

Did PH mean:

A) I hate Fijian Indians or any coloured people

or did he mean

B) I think a GG should be a 2nd generational NZ-er ( and yes, sadly he meant white)

There is no racial issue in politics here, it is commonplace to see candidates and MP's and local body members as multi ethnic. IMO his comment related to the GG role where PH feels that it should be a first 4 ships sourced candidate, or at least with a long family history in NZ and in our culture and heritage. If the candidate was NZ born with UK born parents, I assume he would have said the same????

Who knows

Linuxluver

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#388487 5-Oct-2010 21:26

k1wi: It's pretty simple, if you have NZ citizenship and you love New Zealand, you're a Kiwi simple as that. There is no stereotypical 'Kiwi', no one looks more kiwi than anyone else.

Anything else is semantics or splitting hairs.

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b0untypure1

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#388496 5-Oct-2010 21:48

he seems to enjoy being in the spotlight

CamH

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#388543 5-Oct-2010 23:03

If we're talking about being racist in the public domain, then why didn't we get rid of Pita Sharples when he suggested Maori should get a free/open entrance to university. Sorry, but Paul was saying what most people would have been thinking.

In New Zealand there is a LOT more racism you can see. What Paul said was barely touching offensive in my opinion.

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#388550 5-Oct-2010 23:20

vinnieg:
M_I_C_H_A_E_L:
vinnieg:
Handle9:
BraaiGuy:

Back to topic, this is being blown out of proportion because it happened to a man of colour.

As opposed to Hone Harawira's comments being blown up when he said he'd rather his kids didn't bring home a girlfriend/boyfriend that was European - which to me, and most people was equally racist. Funnily enough there wasn't much of a debate about that outcry being "PC".

This is being blown up because it was clearly an offensive thing for someone to say on a mainstream "news" program, not because of who it was said about.

I think that's because no one cares about him, he's already shown himself to be crazy! If he appeared on our TV every morning, then I reckon people would tell him where to go too!

I care about him. He is funny and also very "Un-PC". Makes a change from everyone else saying "No you cant go there" "Ohh they shouldnt of said that" etc

What?? you seriously care about Hone Harawira? and find his comments funny? Even the whole:
"maori should only be allowed to marry maori" - in his miscegenation rant
"white m"edited this section"ferss, who have been loving(also edited) our land and ripping us off for centuries" - in his email to a waitangi tribunal member, who found it so racist he forwarded it onto the media, which even his own party were offended by?

Unless you read my quote wrong and thought I was meaning PH?

Heya. Ha yeah sorry. No I think Hone is racist. I thought you were talking about PH. I care about PH, not so much Hone.

Zeon

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#388560 6-Oct-2010 00:22

He's an ignorant dick, end of story. Seriously the only one who is being denigrated by his comments is himself as 90% of people think when he says stuff like this its just stupid. He shouldn't be suspended or anything like that, the fact people get so worked up over just another dickhead is the sad thing here.

TBH I like to watch him being a true TV troll VVhore, breakfast should be reclassified as a comedy sometimes...

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#388561 6-Oct-2010 00:22

CamH: If we're talking about being racist in the public domain, then why didn't we get rid of Pita Sharples when he suggested Maori should get a free/open entrance to university. Sorry, but Paul was saying what most people would have been thinking.

In New Zealand there is a LOT more racism you can see. What Paul said was barely touching offensive in my opinion.

If you think that most people would have been thinking what he said in this instance I think you're dead wrong. Sure there is a lot of racism, but most people? Don't think so.

If what he said doesn't offend you, then I feel sorry for you.

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#388572 6-Oct-2010 01:27

What I don't like about Paul Henry's comments is they sound like they would be better suited on Fox News than TVNZ. I'd really hate for it to become 'acceptable' and for TVNZ to go further down that path.

It may seem like nothing but if people turn a blind eye, it gradually gets worse.

TVNZ is the state funded broadcaster, they should be setting a good example rather than saying things that split or divide the community.

LittleGreyCat

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#388577 6-Oct-2010 03:00

Interesting reading for a Brit.

What I think I am getting is that some Kiwis who are white think a 'true Kiwi' has to be white (although the posters have not generally stated their skin colour or ethnic origin).

If you had stated this in NZ in the 1950s then I suspect you would have found a lot more people to agree with you.
Equally, in the UK in the 1950s there was a much clearer distinction between white 'true Brits' and coloured 'immigrants'.
However in the UK (unlike for example USA and South Africa and I think Australia with the "white Australia" policy) at least there wasn't a set of laws treating non-whites as lesser humans or less than human.
Also, in the UK the predjudice wasn't solely on colour, as shown by the traditional boarding house sign "No blacks or Irish.".

I remember a lot of racial tension when I was younger and this was associated with large scale immigration from the Carribean and also an Asian influx (some from India/Pakistan and some driven out of Africa).
There was a feeling of traditional values being overwhelmed by an influx of strangers.

I suspect that Australia and New Zealand are feeling at least some of this now as immigration increases from areas apart from the traditional European sources.
Hopefully within a generation it will all settle down again.

In the UK it is interesting in that our latest wave of immigration has been from Eastern Europe and you can't immediately tell (apart from their dress sense) that the white person down the street was not born and raised in the UK.

It is also interesting/distressing that 'racial cleansing' between people of the same or similar skin colour (e.g. Rwanda in Africa and the mass killings during the break up of Yugoslavia) is somehow treated as less serious that between peoples of obviously different ethnicity.

So we are all racist at an emotional level to a greater or lesse extent - it is part of the human makup to be 'tribal' in outlook.

We should try to rise above racism intellectually and recognise that it is something we should try and avoid.

It is particularly difficult in the UK at the moment to seperate ethnicity and religion, with our armed forces involved in ongoing conflit in predominantly Muslim nations. Not everyone can recognise that if we are fighting Muslims it doesn't mean that all Muslims are our enemies. Equally it does not mean that we are the enemy of all Muslims.

I have always regarded NZ as one of the most racially balanced nations.
European settlers were not the first arrivals, and they did dominate the country by weight of numbers and superior arms and technology, but there seems to me to have always been an underlying awareness of the rights of the Maori and though not perfect the treatment has been better than that of the original Australians, Africans or North Americans.

So stick with it!
But always realise that the Commonwealth will not be truly integrated until the heir to the UK throne marries a black muslim ;-)

Cheers

LGC

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#388578 6-Oct-2010 04:00

oh the self righteousness of some people...

...I believe that he's a very intelligent person who is bored to death and works for a TV network... when you put the two and two together... you get these kind of stories...
...I don't believe he's a bigot, but I do believe that he takes pleasure in pushing peoples buttons- that's what entertains him and I recon that's all there's to it...

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#388583 6-Oct-2010 07:22

i dont know how being paid big bucks to seriously make fun of other people on live tv can be deemed "mainstream kiwi", normal, acceptable, or correct. he is lucky he doesnt live in the states or somewhere else where he could get sued his pants off!

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#388593 6-Oct-2010 07:49

NZtechfreak: This isn't a freedom of speech issue, freedom of speech doesn't extend infinitely people, and certainly it doesn't cover racism.

Agree this is not a Freedom of Speech issue. But just to make it clear, Freedom of Speech (which is not a legal figure in New Zealand) is only a political right. Something that's there to make sure the State won't take you out for saying something.

For example frequently when we ban people on Geekzone for being disordely they write back to me complaining that we are taking their "Freedom of Speech" away, without realising in a private matter there's no such a thing. We decide our rules and that's how we follow through.

IANAL.

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cgrew

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#388638 6-Oct-2010 09:32

Linuxluver: I'm inclined to think the real idiots are the ones who think Henry is funny

You obviously don't like the guy? Thats quite clear to me going by your posts.

That said.....I know there isn't going to be any convincing anyone here. You can't explain colour to blind people. They either see it or they don't. You're either a thoughtful, considerate person who shows respect for others....or you're a Paul Henry fan.

No real cross over that I can see.

I'm done.

Now I don't know where this is coming from? But how on earth can you make judgment calls like that? I'm sure there are a lot of thoughtful and considerate people here. Your statement is clearly just black and white - "You either agree with me or you don't - end of story!"

Get a grip man.

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