"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
NZ seems a lot like rural England, say Yorkshire farmers who all have rifles and are suspicious of strangers. A friend was shot at over there, all over a girl who was trying to make her old boyfriend jealous, but my friend only figured that out later. I don't want to offend them, but it's like they are living throwbacks to characters in Thomas Hardy novels, maybe because they were never very industrialised I guess.
Hardly anyone ever mentions New Zealand without also mentioning that the country is full of sheep. You may decide for yourself if they mean the four-legged kind.
America is certainly exceptional in its degree of political development with things like its Constitution. But also in that its system can't be transplanted easily I think (we've learned that the hard way post Cold War).
Outside the US, we are all like mangrove trees with long tangled roots into hoary ancient traditions. Somehow the USA was able to cut these roots and grow a new tree.(Maybe the new elites prove the break wasn't as total we used to think though).
Take NZ, we seem to be going backwards into isolated social classes. 50 years ago many NZ families had a mix of university educated and working class. But now all those college kids have migrated to the cities to form a new elite class, leaving behind relatives who work with their hands - who now are often unemployed due to technology and global commerce. Sound familiar?
The ideology is all leftist and woke, but these are just the passwords controlling entry to the elite circles - the pword gets changed every so often to make sure the elite stay that way. What's happening is people are separating into ruling class and hoi polloi. I think that happened in NZ, and here, and elsewhere.
50 years ago many NZ families had a mix of university educated and working class. But now all those college kids have migrated to the cities to form a new elite class, leaving behind relatives who work with their hands - who now are often unemployed due to technology and global commerce. Sound familiar?
Bruce, it's not so much that the hoary ancient traditions survived, as they were replaced by hoary new traditions, built largely by the same sort of college kids moving to the cities.
I've little doubt that the latest crop of elites are looking back on the old European ways with longing. But, 50 years ago, I grew up in a neighborhood with a mixture of retiress, professionals, business owners, white collar workers, not to mention a healthy dollop of blue collar workers thanks to the nearby oil refineries. Plus the usual mixture of bums and freeloaders.
Imagine somebody even imagining that it would be fine to punish people just for catching the COVID virus, on the mere chance that they may have broken one of the sketchy social-distancing regs.
Yes I thought it would be familiar Jeffs. I do think it's the break with the old world which make the USA exceptional though - a revolutionary new type of nation. For example the hereditary royalty and also the hereditary religious allegiance which we tend to have, while in the US you change churches and denominations a lot more often. And until recently hereditary dynastic leaders were unknown, but there may be pressure to change that, right? Bushes and Clintons and so on. A Biden dynasty? Heaven forbid!
So yeah, hoary new traditions as you say, I'll pay that.
Canada a police state? I don't think overall there's anything in our common British legal tradition against holding people 'at Her Majesty's Pleasure' under certain circumstances. That's what I mean by our mangrove-roots hoary *old* traditions too.
Australians were out protesting and telling police 'I've got my rights!' No you haven't mate! Not under British law - you've been watching too many US cop shows.
Our Constitutuion was made law in 1900 at Australia's Federation of states. At the time it was hailed as the most socialist progressive statement before the Bolsheviks came along - for its welfare promises and equality of voter suffrage. But it was mostly about what the new government was allowed to do, very little about rights of the individual if anything. And it was subsidiary to British law, not a break from it. Hoary mangrove roots!
In case anybody was wondering, this is a) why we have a Second Amendment, and b) why the statists insist on a disarmed populace.
ReplyDeleteNZ seems a lot like rural England, say Yorkshire farmers who all have rifles and are suspicious of strangers. A friend was shot at over there, all over a girl who was trying to make her old boyfriend jealous, but my friend only figured that out later. I don't want to offend them, but it's like they are living throwbacks to characters in Thomas Hardy novels, maybe because they were never very industrialised I guess.
ReplyDeleteHardly anyone ever mentions New Zealand without also mentioning that the country is full of sheep. You may decide for yourself if they mean the four-legged kind.
ReplyDeleteAmerica is certainly exceptional in its degree of political development with things like its Constitution. But also in that its system can't be transplanted easily I think (we've learned that the hard way post Cold War).
ReplyDeleteOutside the US, we are all like mangrove trees with long tangled roots into hoary ancient traditions. Somehow the USA was able to cut these roots and grow a new tree.(Maybe the new elites prove the break wasn't as total we used to think though).
Take NZ, we seem to be going backwards into isolated social classes. 50 years ago many NZ families had a mix of university educated and working class. But now all those college kids have migrated to the cities to form a new elite class, leaving behind relatives who work with their hands - who now are often unemployed due to technology and global commerce. Sound familiar?
The ideology is all leftist and woke, but these are just the passwords controlling entry to the elite circles - the pword gets changed every so often to make sure the elite stay that way. What's happening is people are separating into ruling class and hoi polloi. I think that happened in NZ, and here, and elsewhere.
50 years ago many NZ families had a mix of university educated and working class. But now all those college kids have migrated to the cities to form a new elite class, leaving behind relatives who work with their hands - who now are often unemployed due to technology and global commerce. Sound familiar?
ReplyDeleteBruce, it's not so much that the hoary ancient traditions survived, as they were replaced by hoary new traditions, built largely by the same sort of college kids moving to the cities.
I've little doubt that the latest crop of elites are looking back on the old European ways with longing. But, 50 years ago, I grew up in a neighborhood with a mixture of retiress, professionals, business owners, white collar workers, not to mention a healthy dollop of blue collar workers thanks to the nearby oil refineries. Plus the usual mixture of bums and freeloaders.
So it's not only familiar, it's identical.
Imagine somebody even imagining that it would be fine to punish people just for catching the COVID virus, on the mere chance that they may have broken one of the sketchy social-distancing regs.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a police state to me, Paco.
ReplyDeleteBut, hey, that's crazy talk, right?
Yes I thought it would be familiar Jeffs.
ReplyDeleteI do think it's the break with the old world which make the USA exceptional though - a revolutionary new type of nation. For example the hereditary royalty and also the hereditary religious allegiance which we tend to have, while in the US you change churches and denominations a lot more often. And until recently hereditary dynastic leaders were unknown, but there may be pressure to change that, right? Bushes and Clintons and so on. A Biden dynasty? Heaven forbid!
So yeah, hoary new traditions as you say, I'll pay that.
Canada a police state? I don't think overall there's anything in our common British legal tradition against holding people 'at Her Majesty's Pleasure' under certain circumstances. That's what I mean by our mangrove-roots hoary *old* traditions too.
ReplyDeleteAustralians were out protesting and telling police 'I've got my rights!' No you haven't mate! Not under British law - you've been watching too many US cop shows.
Our Constitutuion was made law in 1900 at Australia's Federation of states. At the time it was hailed as the most socialist progressive statement before the Bolsheviks came along - for its welfare promises and equality of voter suffrage. But it was mostly about what the new government was allowed to do, very little about rights of the individual if anything. And it was subsidiary to British law, not a break from it. Hoary mangrove roots!