September 26, 2005

NZ health politics are a little....overwrought, aren't they. Hey, just to prove the axis of the U's don't have a monopoly on people who say outrageous stuff.

via Tobacco.org

Maori enjoy life. Maori like to smoke. . . . . If Maori enjoy it, the Crown is against it. If Maori have it and want it, the Crown tries to take it away. We support the choice of the overwhelming majority of our community to smoke. It is one way that Maori can say 'Stuff you' to the health Nazis and have a good time. — "Maori Health," a book that by was co-authored by Kotahitanga Community Trust chairman Peter Caccioppoli and Rhys Cullen, a GP at the trust's Papakura practice. While the book uses harsh language from Malcom X's writings, "health Nazis" is not attributed to the man who coined it, Maryland tobacco lobbyist Victor Crawford.
posted by polychrome 19 years ago
  • Are you sure that Cacciopolli and Cullen aren't crypto-racists, promoting an unhealthy lifestyle in order to decimate the population?
  • Disclaimer: Most of NZ knows this is palpable bullshit written to rile people up.
  • I followed one of the links from the site and found this delightful story: The New Zealand Defence Force says it is strengthening its commitment to security in Korea with the deployment of two officers. [...] Their arrival in Asia will lift to three the number of Defence Force personnel deployed to the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission in Korea. I don't think that's quite going to have Kim Jong Il quaking in his pyjamas...
  • ThreeDayMonk: That's because we spend money on public education and healthcare ahead of going places and killing people. Quaint, I know. It is bullshit, tracicle, but it's of a piece with some of the horseshit one hears from Tariana Turia (child abuse is an invention of white people that didn't exist before Europeans arrived in New Zealand), and in a wider context dovetails neatly with African leaders suggesting AIDS is an invention of the white man that can be treated with orange juice (come on down, President Mbeki!).
  • Interesting question actually - are there 7 degrees of dovetailing between Mbeki and Christine Maggiore and her doctors?
  • The whole situation with the Maoris in NZ which is a society that has made some attempt at dealing with racial inequalities, shows how difficult it is to sort these things out even with the best of intentions. For all of their problems, NZ is way ahead of the US in terms of attempting to come to a solution to the vexing hangover resulting from colonial exploitation.
  • Borrowing from speeches by Malcolm X Be interesting to hear what Mr. X would have to say personally about these losers. Yep, we all just need those magic pills the PTB keep from us and then we can eat nothing but burgers, soda pop, and deep fried crisco.
  • That's because we spend money on public education and healthcare ahead of going places and killing people. Quaint, I know. Ha- thought it was a Canadian speaking there for a minute! Except for the education part.
  • Malcom X was slain on Feb. 21, 1965.