The Strangest Thing I Saw In New Zealand

[Martini_Enfield]

@Scissorjack

There are quite a few African-Africans in Auckland now, mostly Somalian refugees.

Interesting. I was, however, referring to the South Island, where Auckland isn’t.

@Crafter_Man

We went to a very small gun range in Rotorua when we visited New Zealand 10 years ago. It was next to a luge track. The guy running it displayed all kinds of pro-gun signs of the “from my cold dead hands” variety. I thought to myself, “Wow, New Zealand has an NRA!”

They don’t, actually. There are just a LOT of gun owners in NZ, and some very sensible gun laws.

Also, two helpful things I’d like to mention here:

1. AUCKLAND IS NOT LIKE THE REST OF NEW ZEALAND… The Rest of New Zealand is much nicer and is not covered in graffiti. Honestly, the only thing worth seeing in Auckland is the airport.

@terrymiff

I like Kiwis, Maori and Pakeha

Be careful using the word “Pakeha”. Some NZers (like myself) find it offensive, in varying degrees from “Not the preferred nomenclature” to “As offensive as “Nigger” is in the US.” Other NZers are OK with it.

I’m not, and I don’t generally like being called a Pakeha (I’m a New Zealander, thank you). And don’t call me a Pakeha if you’re white.

The whole thing is too complicated to derail this thread with, though.

[Scissorjack]

So how was the holiday, wevets?

[An_Gadai]

@Crafter_Man

In our trip to NZ, I noticed many homes had a tall, wood fence installed around the perimeter. You couldn’t see the house from the street - just the fence. I thought this was peculiar. It is not common in the U.S.

Sorry, I misunderstood what you meant. I thought you were talking about smaller fencing around the perimeter of properties.

[glas_onion]

@An_Gadai

Those flags are used on some beef burger packaging too I’m nearly certain.

Big Al’s* I think it is.

[Suburban_Plankton]

@Scissorjack

There are quite a few African-Africans in Auckland now, mostly Somalian refugees.

I’m sorry if I seem pedantic here, but …

[soapbox]
dark skinned people from Somalia living in New Zealand are not “African Americans”. They are “Africans”, or “African refugees (or expatriates)”, or perhaps even “African Kiwis” if you’d like, but there is nothing “American” about them.
[/soapbox]

@maggenpye

Because we get American TV shows and someone thought the flag was cool?

We have American immigrants and some of them are proud of their heritage?

It was used in an ironic manner by Maori or Pacific Island persons on the team?

Road works are done by private companies on contract and have very few restrictions placed on their appearance (not a question, you saw a private road contractor).

I’d go for the first as most likely, with a dash of Siam Sam’s answer - it’s ‘south’ and it’s a highly visible flag (you want to be visible when working on the roads). There’d unlikely be much more thought in it than that. If there was more to it, I’d think The Dukes of Hazzard before white supremacy.

In my experience, those are the same reasons you see Confederate flags most places in the US as well (except for the Maori reference…)

I’m sure there are some people who use it as a “white supremacy” symbol, but you’d recognize most of those folks as white supremacists without the flag. It’s used far more often as a symbol of “Southern Pride”, but that does not necessarily have any racial component (though it’s true that you won’t find many black people riding around displaying the Confederate Flag), but anywhere outside of the American South, I think it’s more “populare culture symbol” than anything else.

This coming from a 41 year old white guy from California.

[Kyla]

@Suburban_Plankton

I’m sorry if I seem pedantic here, but …

[soapbox]
dark skinned people from Somalia living in New Zealand are not “African Americans”. They are “Africans”, or “African refugees (or expatriates)”, or perhaps even “African Kiwis” if you’d like, but there is nothing “American” about them.
[/soapbox]

I suggest you reread what Scissorjack wrote.

[maggenpye]

I have met one dark skinned woman with a strong American accent, she was Samoan.

Calling her an American Samoan Kiwi got to be a bit of a mouthful, so we called her ‘Liz’ instead.

[Scissorjack]

@Suburban_Plankton

[soapbox]
dark skinned people from Somalia living in New Zealand are not “African Americans”. They are “Africans”, or “African refugees (or expatriates)”, or perhaps even “African Kiwis” if you’d like, but there is nothing “American” about them.
[/soapbox]

I want you to go back and read what I typed very, very carefully, and then go and sit in your shame closet. An hour or so ought to do it, and we’ll say no more about it.

[Suburban_Plankton]

@Scissorjack

I want you to go back and read what I typed very, very carefully, and then go and sit in your shame closet. An hour or so ought to do it, and we’ll say no more about it.

My apologies. I did exactly as you asked, and I *still *had to read your post twice before I found my error. (where is the “ashamed” smiley?)

In my defense (pathetic though it may be), both Martini Enfield and **GuanoLad **had referenced “African Americans” in their posts, but I do admit I let my anti-PC-ness get the better of me.

Mea culpa

[wevets]

@Scissorjack

So how was the holiday, wevets?

Oh, it was great! I had a fabulous time, and so did wevetlady - I thought I’d put the description in another thread - http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10700652#post10700652

@terrymiff

If that’s the strangest thing that you saw in New Zealand then you didn’t get around much.

You’re right - I should have said it was the most unexpected thing we saw in New Zealand.

It was jarring and surprising, which is why I wanted to ask about it.