This is a necessary and important series and I love that you've amplified a Maori woman who has been doing the mahi on this topic. I'd noticed Maori seemed to be more likely to be believing and espousing conspiracy theories and had put it down to a justifiable mistrust of authority /government due to systemic racism. I'll read Tina Ngata and see what her take is, so thanks for pointing me in that direction. Unlearning and fighting my own racist views due to society being steeped in it is hard.
Another great piece, David! Tina is awesome, and E-Tangata is a fantastic site.
It's definitely strange seeing Māori propagate white supremist conspiracy theories, but as mentioned, Māori have huge reasons to be suspicious of the state.
I saw this first-hand in 2019, when I stumbled across a gathering by a group protesting the UN / Agenda 31 etc. There were a couple of actual nazis (tatts and all) palling around with the organisers (who are well-known hard-right boomer ding-dongs from Auckland), alongside a pretty fired-up Māori dude from the Mongrel Mob. It was super weird, and not solely because I was quite stoned at the time.
Anyway, I hope we get the policy changes, legislation changes, and properly funded anti-racism education Tina spoke of. In the meantime, mad respect to those in the media writing about these issues, and to all those working to educate others in their lives. Kia Kaha te Reo Māori!
I’m glad you’ve made the racist nature of the conspiracy theory you covered a few weeks ago explicit. As a non-New Zealander I was scratching my head a bit and assumed the racist bits had been left out so as not to give them more coverage.
Thank you for discussing this with Tina. I appreciate her perspective on this a lot. On a side note, I'm sure you have had many people mention this to you, but have your watched The Social Dilemma? It discusses the way algorithms are intentionally targeting people with fake news as it increases engagement and maintains human attention for advertising. It explains that humans are the product being sold to advertisers... and some of the ethics behind it.
Aside from the information you amplify here, I'm learning so much about how to be an effective and "good" journalist. I've dabbled in amateur documentary work, and written a handful of articles for various travel sites, but I've always wanted to do something a bit more important. These newsletters have really been educating me on how a proper journalist goes about learning new facts, diving rabbit holes, etc.
The NZ Herald has been doing appalling job of reporting on this stuff too. There was an article a couple of weeks ago where they quoted Billy Te Kahika and another guy at length and didn't refute as single thing they said or even offer an opposing view. Now someone is going to find this stuff via a search and think it's legitimate. I don't understand whether this is gross incompetence or deliberate.
This is a necessary and important series and I love that you've amplified a Maori woman who has been doing the mahi on this topic. I'd noticed Maori seemed to be more likely to be believing and espousing conspiracy theories and had put it down to a justifiable mistrust of authority /government due to systemic racism. I'll read Tina Ngata and see what her take is, so thanks for pointing me in that direction. Unlearning and fighting my own racist views due to society being steeped in it is hard.
Another great piece, David! Tina is awesome, and E-Tangata is a fantastic site.
It's definitely strange seeing Māori propagate white supremist conspiracy theories, but as mentioned, Māori have huge reasons to be suspicious of the state.
I saw this first-hand in 2019, when I stumbled across a gathering by a group protesting the UN / Agenda 31 etc. There were a couple of actual nazis (tatts and all) palling around with the organisers (who are well-known hard-right boomer ding-dongs from Auckland), alongside a pretty fired-up Māori dude from the Mongrel Mob. It was super weird, and not solely because I was quite stoned at the time.
Anyway, I hope we get the policy changes, legislation changes, and properly funded anti-racism education Tina spoke of. In the meantime, mad respect to those in the media writing about these issues, and to all those working to educate others in their lives. Kia Kaha te Reo Māori!
I’m glad you’ve made the racist nature of the conspiracy theory you covered a few weeks ago explicit. As a non-New Zealander I was scratching my head a bit and assumed the racist bits had been left out so as not to give them more coverage.
Thank you for discussing this with Tina. I appreciate her perspective on this a lot. On a side note, I'm sure you have had many people mention this to you, but have your watched The Social Dilemma? It discusses the way algorithms are intentionally targeting people with fake news as it increases engagement and maintains human attention for advertising. It explains that humans are the product being sold to advertisers... and some of the ethics behind it.
Aside from the information you amplify here, I'm learning so much about how to be an effective and "good" journalist. I've dabbled in amateur documentary work, and written a handful of articles for various travel sites, but I've always wanted to do something a bit more important. These newsletters have really been educating me on how a proper journalist goes about learning new facts, diving rabbit holes, etc.
Really appreciate a non-north america POV covering this stuff, even if its kind of scary how similar it seems to be in your neck of the woods ..
I love greasy strangler! How fitting.
The NZ Herald has been doing appalling job of reporting on this stuff too. There was an article a couple of weeks ago where they quoted Billy Te Kahika and another guy at length and didn't refute as single thing they said or even offer an opposing view. Now someone is going to find this stuff via a search and think it's legitimate. I don't understand whether this is gross incompetence or deliberate.