MEDIA WATCH: Stuff’s apology – Pakeha have been lied & manipulated into blaming Māori for issues that impact us all

One of the most angering parts of NZ politics for me is the pig ignorance of reactionaries who scream whenever the media play to their resentments.

I look at the horror that is Oranga Tamariki and I trace that directly to media who waved dead brown babies in our faces and screamed ‘something must be done’ DESPITE THE FACT that just as many white babies get beaten to death by their white parents but we never hear about them so the perception is that it’s all a ‘Māori problem’ and we weaponise  social agencies to deal to them.

I look at the counterproductive madness that is our punitive prison industrial complex and link that directly to the way crime gets breathlessly reported and the focus is always on Māori offenders because that clicks so well with the ingrained bias of the readers.

I look at the way those racing away from Police during the deeply flawed police pursuit policy gets covered and see how the race of the fleeing drivers helps cements that deeply flawed police chase policy into place rather than challenge it.

I look at the way the media covered the largest confiscation in NZ history – the Seabed and Foreshore issue, and how unbelievable the debate became.

I look at the way the media covered the Feed the Kids Bill and ignored that most children in NZ are white who go hungry yet the perception that it’s a Māori problem seems to justify needless ongoing punishment of those hungry kids.

I look at the way Don Brash’s Orewa Speech was covered, the way the Urewera Terror raids were covered, the way domestic violence gets covered – time and time and time again the ability to blame Māori, to ‘other’ the problem has led to weaponised social agencies  and an avoidance of a debate that must desperately be had so that we can all own the problems to find solutions.

Pakeha have been lied to and manipulated by mainstream media to blame Māori for issues that impact us all as human beings and as citizens.

The media framing of Māori as the problem in this country has justified counter productive social policy and total avoidance of the root causes of the problems.

This bigotry isn’t just a myth making exercise, it actually informs social policy that creates worse outcomes! That’s not intelligent design, that’s a self inflicted social cancer.

Comrades, let’s not actively mutilate ourselves needlessly.

Stuff’s acknowledgement of their role in this myth making bigotry is welcome and should be celebrated.

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