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Originally Posted by Ab
Seriously guys, if I consider Goldsmith's comments to be basically statements of fact, that's a good hint that the issue isn't, um, black or white.
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That’s the interesting thing, obviously Maori definitely aren’t a homogeneous group. There are often differing positions on issues between different iwi and I suppose there’s traditional systems in place to determine who has a mandate to speak on behalf of iwi. But even this looks complex as looking recently at Ihumātao where those with a mandate made what they thought was a pragmatic decision and the younger members were like nah fuck that we want this, and ended up getting it.
I think the problem is that Goldsmith has politicised the whole thing and communicated his point irresponsibly by not safeguarding against the racist rhetoric that he knows goes along with it. There were less sympathetic models of colonial rule but claiming “colonisation a good thing for Māori 'on balance” is highly inflammatory and he shouldn’t have said it like that.