Friday, March 27, 2009
We live in a small town
Travelling the world for the last year I frequently flick back to monitor the comings and goings in New Zealand via the nzherald and stuff websites.
Hey they have daily coverage of news and they're free.
But I often get a very 'New Zealand is a small town' vibe from their coverage - the number of times boy racer issues feature as lead stories on the sites is unfathomable for a country of 4 million odd people.
But for fucks sake the coverage/mock outrage at the Aussie bloggers whinging about New Zealand has to be the most inane story I've read in a long time.
An Australian couple has upset Kiwis with an online expat guide which warns that Auckland is a "horrible soulless city" and its inhabitants are "hobbits" who cannot dress properly.
The anonymous duo have used their website, fushnchups.co.nz to attack their new home here, rubbishing everything from the country's beer to its major cities and lack of worldliness.
"I was horrified that I couldn't buy a copy of The Age, even in the major bookstores. True story," wrote the bloggers, a professional couple in their late 20s.
They sum up the largest city, Auckland, as horrible and soulless, a comment the city's tourism chief executive, Graeme Osborne, took exception to.
"Maybe they're just envious that Auckland recently rated ahead of every Australian city as a tourist destination," Osborne said.
But there's not one story - there's tonnes.
Can someone please reassure me that no one in New Zealand actually gives a fuck?
Comments:
Well I don't give a fuck.
I've lived here most of my life and think it's a great city. And I'd like to think I'm fairly qualified to comment as I
a) Know Auckland 1000 times better than them.
and
b) have been to about 40 well known international cities and rate Auckland up there with any of them for what I need and like.
so file them in the insignificant junk mail basket and move on...
I've lived here most of my life and think it's a great city. And I'd like to think I'm fairly qualified to comment as I
a) Know Auckland 1000 times better than them.
and
b) have been to about 40 well known international cities and rate Auckland up there with any of them for what I need and like.
so file them in the insignificant junk mail basket and move on...
I don't give a toss about such stories Bennyasena. I am a daily reader of Herald and Stuff sites and have learned to be very careful with the promoted 'editor's picks' or 'check this out' headlines because it is mostly inane drivel.
However, I sometimes get sucked into reading a dumb article (such as the one you refer to) because I know a story's been popular for a few days and I just know that the chatterers that I work and live amongst will be wanting to express their thoughts around the watercooler, so to speak. I need to be partially informed so that I can be partially socialised ('cause I don't watch Prancing with the Stars or Campbell Live). What I'm getting at is that I can identify dumb stories in the media, try to avoid them, but then end up reading them anyway 'cause everyone else cares so much.
It is pretty upsetting to think that we care more about what some dumb aussie tourists think of NZ than we do about serious events and decisions. Let's face it Bennyasena, the world has changed. The major news-sites serve customers who no longer seek information they can analyse - because this is the goddamn information age, it's everywhere - readers seek instead to be both entertained and reassured that the really big scary problems are elsewhere.
BTW do you notice how risque Stuff's headlines are compared to NZH's? It's like a woman's mag some days.
So, in answer to your question, no, I can't give you that reassurance, it appears we do give a fck.
However, I sometimes get sucked into reading a dumb article (such as the one you refer to) because I know a story's been popular for a few days and I just know that the chatterers that I work and live amongst will be wanting to express their thoughts around the watercooler, so to speak. I need to be partially informed so that I can be partially socialised ('cause I don't watch Prancing with the Stars or Campbell Live). What I'm getting at is that I can identify dumb stories in the media, try to avoid them, but then end up reading them anyway 'cause everyone else cares so much.
It is pretty upsetting to think that we care more about what some dumb aussie tourists think of NZ than we do about serious events and decisions. Let's face it Bennyasena, the world has changed. The major news-sites serve customers who no longer seek information they can analyse - because this is the goddamn information age, it's everywhere - readers seek instead to be both entertained and reassured that the really big scary problems are elsewhere.
BTW do you notice how risque Stuff's headlines are compared to NZH's? It's like a woman's mag some days.
So, in answer to your question, no, I can't give you that reassurance, it appears we do give a fck.
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