Posts by Sam F
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if we all agreed on everything it'd be a pretty boring discussion.
It helps that you're still, as Russell said a while back, such a game contrarian.
Whenever I see a thread with the potential for copyright discussion, I count down until you come bounding in, at which point the discussion takes off like some kind of ungodly turbocharging system has engaged. Everything else is just prelude.
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It's been interesting seeing comment here too on the harm to NZ's reputation from the milk scandal. Anecdotal comment from friends and workmates (some of the latter being specialists in the China export trade) says that NZ has actually come fairly well out of it, and demand for NZ milk products amongst those who can afford them has remained very strong - it's recognised as an industry-wide problem in China, rather than being solely Sanlu/Fonterra, and NZ-made products are seen both as safer and as much higher quality than domestic equivalents.
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we are not talking about some nebulous fringe element here. We are talking about the majority of PRC-born New Zealanders. Moreover, the inexplicable personal bias in question is completely external to New Zealand.
Seems remarkable enough to be worth commenting on.
Sorry not to have mentioned on this earlier, but I thought we were actually commenting on the Herald's sample of 32 Chinese-ethnicity voters, of whom 20 were born in mainland China. That sample is being interpreted to represent 147,000 Chinese in NZ, of whom 80,000 were born in the PRC (all data from the 2006 census). Twenty people, whom the Herald was able to reach in adequate time to file a story before deadline.
Furthermore, although we have some idea of those twenty voters' priorities with respect to Chinese MPs, we have no idea how they might be making decisions with respect to non-Chinese candidates. It takes very undemanding standards of proof to infer from the story that the majority of PRC-born voters will be casting their vote based upon loyalty to the PRC.
I've just prepared and then deleted another paragraph of musings on Chinese identity vs. the Chinese government, because the issue's already fairly clear upthread. I'm going to need better than a 32-person sample to make further pronouncements about other people's identity politics from the safety of my keyboard.
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I'd think that a non-Chinese New Zealander who considered supporting China was the most important thing they could do with their vote had a major screw loose... In the case of the Chinese NZ voter with such feelings I have to question why they even participate. At best their participation as New Zealanders is insincere; at worst they are a negative influence.
I understand your distaste, but I can think of plenty more parts of the legally entitled electorate for whom the election is going to be a matter of inexplicable personal bias. I, for one, don't have time to organise a flying squad to sort this out.
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I seriously considered getting a very tiny torch - I reckoned it would glow nicely as I waved it about to punctuate my rants
I have a pocket Maglite needing a new home. Cigarette-sized and very durable, just needs new batteries and ricegrain bulb, one careful owner?
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Having lost weight and endured a few months of pennilessness at the start of the year, my tolerance has fallen quite a lot, which has enormous flow-on benefits in terms of less alcohol spend for the same quantity of fun. And a neat feedback loop in terms of reduced weight thanks to less drinking, which means lower tolerance still and a lesser spend once again.
"Danger to shipping" is indeed a choice phrase. Our mob generally go for the more prosaic "loose cannon". It was, indeed, part of the name of an award given for outstanding effort in harming the reputation of our ASPA contingent. (There was no winner in 2007; 2008, I'm not so sure.)
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Although, of course, the pun in itself is still tasty. And commiserations on the state of your laptop - ours is in a similarly dire situation (backlight dead, external monitor only if you want to see anything)...
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And what everybody seems to be forgetting is the delicious little pun in 'haigui'. The hai (海) is reasonably obvious, the gui could be read as either the turtle (龟）or return (归), both of which are gui in the first tone.
Not so much a pun as the origin of the term - it's actually an abbreviation of "haiwai guilai", or "returned from overseas". Someone spotted "haigui" hiding inside the phrase, and liberated it.
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Not quite Thompson-territory, but I'm happily reminded of Transmet.
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'Haigui' literally means 'sea turtle', and refers to overseas Chinese who have returned to China to live and work.
As heard from my partner (and supported by Renmin Ribao, for what it's worth), the phrase has now quickly spawned an offshoot - "haidai", or seaweed, for returnees who end up rooted to the couch at home waiting for a job.
As for the loyalty issue: again, I've had several discussions along the following lines:
B: I'm not watching [insert news show again]. Not after that story they ran before the Olympics.
A (meself): That's okay, it was just one story.
B: But they knew the Olympics were coming! Why did they rush to say this kind of stuff right before the Olympics? They don't like China.
A: It's not about hating China, it's about what the Chinese government does. They're not the same thing.
B: What do you mean, "not the same thing"? Whose government is it??This has prompted an ongoing exercise in cross-cultural understanding and comparative politics. It must look odd the other way, seeing that government and national identity are more or less separated in the NZ mindset, with one being separate from another. (Or are they? Do we flatter ourselves too much with our distance from the US's "my country, right or wrong"?)