tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922639800925489148.post3889218674466506523..comments2022-10-17T07:51:34.923+13:00Comments on Nae Hauf-Way Hoose: And who are the Chinese?Dougalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16935605945901196637noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922639800925489148.post-5116903225431084742012-05-10T11:51:25.917+12:002012-05-10T11:51:25.917+12:00Many thanks for the comment, George. It draws out ...Many thanks for the comment, George. It draws out important detail I left hanging, yes. The creation of emotion from rhetoric needn't always be bad, either: good politics can give us images of what we'd like to be. (Marxism's language for that is the working class in itself and for itself). The problem with the revived "Yellow Peril", as you point out, is that its a blinding emotion, fear, and a dangerously divise one.Dougalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16935605945901196637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922639800925489148.post-10147507645398732042012-05-09T20:37:13.601+12:002012-05-09T20:37:13.601+12:00This a good and valuable piece Dougal, and I appre...This a good and valuable piece Dougal, and I appreciate it. Contextualising the present is the work of anyone working in the humanities, and you've done it richly. However, I think you draw implications but don't close them, and for that the argument is weaker than it might otherwise be. I don't necessarily disagree with you, in fact I think that Labour and the Greens have been sailing preciously close to the wind with their nativist rhetoric. But I don't think you bring out their statements clearly enough for us to draw the conclusions we might need to be making. <br /><br />By their own words we judge them - but it is these words that we redraw with our own meanings, and theirs are sufficiently interpretable to include New Zealanders of every colour who've declared their heartfelt allegiance to nationhood. Labour is after all a party that has more than any sought to broaden the colour base and brought in Pasifika and other communities, and is now actively engaged in the same process with New Zealand's considerable Asian populations. The Greens are themselves 20 or so years behind in this regard. It is the mark of good (useful) political rhetoric that it creates emotion rather than facts, because emotions run deep and more meaningful, and because unlike facts emotions are malleable and require no verification. They're also slippery. <br /><br />I don't think on any account you'll successfully pin down either party with their words, at least on their terms. There's always a dependable context (working New Zealanders) for parties on the left, like there is for parties on the right (citizens). The challenge for us as international socialists is in pulling away the false alliances and illuminating the hidden power both domestic and international that these words serve. By the time such things are obvious, the damage has been done to lives and to progress towards fair and equal societies.George Dnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922639800925489148.post-86921456368400242832012-05-09T11:51:55.774+12:002012-05-09T11:51:55.774+12:00Wonderful post, Dougal, and so, so timely. Thank y...Wonderful post, Dougal, and so, so timely. Thank you for this.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.com