I caught up with an old friend in London recently and he mentioned Once Were Warriors, the New Zealand film, as still being seared in his consciousness. His comment has been reinforced since I got back to NZ with the revelations of Tony Veitch and his violent assault on his previous partner.

Violence never seems far from the front pages over here. Whether it’s child abuse, domestic assault, late night bashings or just some good old biffo on the sports pitch, the modus operandi is the same: fists. Is Jake the Muss the deeply ingrained dark side of the NZ male? That’s not to present the UK as a country that doesn’t experience violence on a regular basis. It’s hard to remember a month in recent years where a teenager hasn’t been knifed to death.

The rise in violent crime in London was certainly one reason to move to NZ.

But there are differences. The two Deborah’s raise the issues of violence and anti-intellectualism as being embedded in NZ society. Deborah Coddington laments the violent culture that pervades this “Godless country” noting the desire to hand out “loving smacks” as an inviolate right. If one casts back a year and remembers the furore at the introduction of an “anti smacking” law here. The energy going into a repeal of this law is quite impressive. Regardless of the merits of the new law it is the desire to be allowed to hit that, for me at least, reflects a desire to sort matters out with brawn rather than brains.

This follows neatly onto Deborah Hill Cone’s piece on Jim Bolger and his new appointment as the “Fat Controller” for Kiwirail (will all the trains be black?). As she notes

“The only conclusion to draw is New Zealand’s anti-intellectualism is so acute we really feel most comfortable being governed by thick people or bullies”.

This point was reinforced by Robert Winston on his recent trip to NZ where he noted that cleverness was not valued. He also noted we are exporting our talented people in droves and under investing in research and education.

New Zealand is in some ways still primitive. We rely on our primary industries for the bulk of our economic performance. Perhaps that is still reflected in our base culture. Perhaps that is why the Auckland rugby league team was named “The Warriors”. Talk about embedding the brand!

The way the news is presented on TV One sometimes seems an extension of that silly programme “A Game of Two Halves” which makes “A Question of Sport” look like “University Challenge”. That the man in question is involved in both probably reflects the current malaise. On top of that the jocularity of the presenters leaves one to wonder whether it is the news or some mates gathering.

This story wont go away. At some point the violence, and its seeming acceptance, has to be addressed at a wider level.

Tags: new zealand, violence