“When we consider a world currently rotting from the outside in, we shouldn’t underestimate the mould growing beneath the asymmetrical bobs, or glistening pates of our global Karens.” — quote from a Joel Maxwell piece
By Roger Childs
Joel Maxwell used to write mainly for the Kapiti Observer, but has recently been a senior reporter for Ms Boucher’s Stuff. A couple of years ago, he set out to rediscover his Maori roots and in weekly columns published in the Dominion Post, he recounted his “Te Reo” journey.
Many of the articles were unashamedly anti-non-‘Maori’, anti-‘colonist’, racist rants. Like all those who call themselves Maori, Joel Maxwell is only part-Maori and has the blood of colonists and their descendants coursing through his veins.
Problems with style and history
The Maxwell style is hard to follow with mixed metaphors, strange similes, non sequiturs, illogical conclusions and unsubstantiated generalizations. Quoting from a recent article, what for example does …he threw the bus under the bus mean? Or, in referring to the English, what does … Their failure is permanent now, affixed in history; shimmering like an indifferent North Star, a Polaris, over a thousand deaths –- via Facetime from lonely hospital beds mean?
In one article in 2019 he admitted that he didn’t know much about our history; and then proceeded to give his own pro-Maori version. His article earlier this week shows that he is still floundering with the story of our country. He claimed that …the only thing England successfully exported was classism… However, as Writer Tony Orman observes: The new egalitarian structure for the new colony was for the people, regardless of wealth, class, race or creed in total – not just the privileged upper class. Most colonists migrated to places like New Zealand to in fact escape the class structure.
It was traditional Maori society that was class-ridden with male chiefs as the upper class, warriors below them, women, who did most of the work, even lower (apart from the high born), and slaves at the bottom.
Maxwell jumps on an anti-Seymour bandwagon
Maxwell couldn’t resist recently sailing into David Seymour over leaking the priority vaccination codes for Maori. His “The activist formerly known as an MP” article (Dominion Post, Monday September 13, 2021) was another piece full of errors and exaggeration. He claimed that by his actions, Seymour …hampered the [vaccine] rollout, disrupting an entire nation’s health for the sake of ideology …
As recent polls have shown, the ACT leader is widely and increasingly respected, now second in the preferred prime minister stakes, and his party is catching up to National – who Maxwell commends for doing the work of Opposition in his article. A growing number of voters now acknowledge David Seymour as being one of the few honest and effective politicians we have, a leader who is not afraid to speak the truth and hold the government to account.
Further to my comment quoted above. Joel Maxwell’s criticism of ACT leader David Seymour contained an incorrect claim that English settlers “successfully exported classism”.
Maxwell is 100% wrong.. The European settlers aimed to set up a unique egalitarian society – egalitarian by dictionary definition being “of equality for all people.” They enshrined that principle into early law, e.g. 1908 Fisheries Act.
My particular interest, outdoor recreation or more specifically fishing and hunting is a typical example. The settlers, wanting to escape the class distinctions of Britain’s feudal system, where only the rich upper class could afford the high access fees to fish and hunt, set up laws which prohibited selling freshwater fishing and shooting rights. That meant anyone – everybody -can go trout or salmon fishing or duck or upland game shooting. Those laws are today firmly embedded in statute.
The new egalitarian structure for the new colony was for all the people, regardless of wealth, class, race or creed – not just the privileged upper class.
This Joel Maxwell is an absolute disgrace. He is a bigotted idiot who has jumped on the woke brigade bandwagon. Shame on him!
Maxwell is speaking into an echo chamber.
What is puzzling is that people like Joel Maxwell of part Maori, part European descent, seem to want to disown their European heritage and therefore are disrespectful to their parent or grandparent of European descent.
Yet they enjoy the benefits of European society ranging from health benefits and health system, to material possessions like a house, perhaps a 4WD vehicle, food on the table, TV, etc.,
Are they ashamed of their European forbears? But they still “want to have their cake and eat it too?”
It’s made more puzzling by the fact that these aggrieved people might have less than 20% or even 10% Maori “blood.”
They should be proud of both “blood” heritages.
Joel Maxwell , a Walter Mitty Maori, in the article displays himself as a pitiful example of the absolute absence of any mental health support in New Zealand. This sad character has fallen into the ‘narcissistic pond’ is floundering about without any mental health life-jacket and sadly, his assumed ‘indigenousness’ , precludes him from access to a pakeha invention called a mirror.