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According to "The Spinoff",
John
Banks has been axed over Maori ‘stone age culture’ comments
on Magic Talk. We can't expect sub-human journalists, such as those
in The Spinoff, to understand the issues. All they can think of is whether
Maoris like being called "stone age." Obviously, they would
not. No one would like being described in that fashion. To a moronic
New Zealand journalist, that is enough to call that term "racist".
If they had brains, they would know a definition of "racist"
and apply it across the board. Then they would stop having a racist
double standard as regards borrowed English words in Maori, as opposed
to borrowed Maori words in English.
Although it is not racist to call Maori culture "stone age",
it is not at all accurate. The terms "stone age", "paleolithic"
and "neolithic" refer to parts of the World where (in summary)
the important tools in Society were first made of stone, later made
of bronze and later still made of iron. As far as I am aware, the prehistory
and history of Maori culture have not followed this particular path.
And there is no rule-book that says that you have to follow this path!
More importantly, it is not necessarily because of superior intelligence
that the ancestors of John Banks and myself may have started using bronze,
iron, plastic or steel tools before the ancestors of present-day Maoris
did. The reason for that was probably that we traded with -- or were
conquered by -- people who were already using these particular materials.
You can't fairly compare small isolated populations, living at the end
of the World (New Zealand) with large populations living close together
in Europe, West Asia and North Africa, separated only by the small Mediterranean
Sea, which enabled relatively easy communication (and conquest).
The term "prehistoric" is similar. It refers to a time before
written language was used. Although it is correct to call pre-European
Maori culture "prehistoric", this should not be used as (or
felt to be) a term of abuse. Writing is only needed in certain types
of societies and therefore was only invented (or copied from other countries)
when it was needed (or imposed by conquerors). You
might as well criticise the inhabitants of deserts for not having the
Maoris' wood-carving skills, or criticise landlocked countries for not
having the Polynesians' navigation skills!
See also:
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