Having endured two COVID lockdowns I would happily enjoy another one this week — a lockdown of Maori Language Week. Why we have to endure this nonsense every year is beyond me. It is nothing more than a sham, a stupid pretence that we all supposedly care about the language when most of us don’t. The six o’clock left-wing party political hour is bad enough without having a load of gobbledygook that virtually none of us understand shoved in our ears.
The whole exercise is pointless other than news reporters (I refrain from calling them journalists) proving they can pronounce the native tongue. Their hellos and goodbyes to each other are a waste of time as none of us is any the wiser as far as learning the language is concerned. If they’re serious at least give us the subtitles or a translation. What is the point if no one knows what the drivel coming out of your mouth means?
The weather is particularly irritating. As all the place names are in Maori you have to watch the screen most of the time so as you know what town they’re talking about. Even then it’s mostly guesswork to correctly identify the place. They even expect poor old Dan Corbett to join in the charade. Using Maori words to describe the weather is just plain silly. All we want to know is whether to expect sunshine or rain and the temperature.
It’s time this week of stupidity was euthanised and forgotten about. If you want to learn the language, fine, that is your choice. There are two, not one but two, taxpayer funded channels where you can do just that. One even has subtitles. There are also a myriad of taxpayer funded radio stations to choose from. They operate every week of the year. That is precisely the reason our audio appliances shouldn’t have to be bombarded with this mumbo jumbo for a week. It is irksome to the majority, and the minority should feel insulted.
It is trifling trivial tokenism at its worst.
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