There is a paranoia and fear of strangers in New Zealand
Popular opinion says that New Zealand is known as a socialist country. But its not at all, it is actually very capitalistic.
This is put across in the advertising, that it is a friendly place, when in truth it is anti social from my way of seeing things. Also the level of paranoia and fear of strangers, is something I have noticed, even from my own relatives who live in New Zealand.
Its like that League of Gentlemen BBC series, where those two characters who live in the local shop are afraid of strangers.
If there was an honest tv comedy made by NZers it would be less of them rubbing their backs of how unique they are and more about the “Strangers” who come here and would not understand our New Zealand customs and ways.
This site should focus more on New Zealanders attitudes to the outside world and visitors.
I have seen over seas visitors look visibly upset with the unwelcoming and cold attitude of New Zealand people, bikers and on travel buses.
To the point where they think all NZ people are just hostile odd balls. I have received treatment like that from European people (which I cannot say) and have not even spoken to them, just for looking their way.
Something is very wrong here, and something needs to be done about it. But for anyone reading this and thinking about coming to New Zealand, probably don’t bike around the country expecting friendly welcoming from locals.
Also don’t expect to be welcomed with open arms either and appreciation or anyone really interested in your background.
Its true, NZers are mostly just interested in their social status with others, how much they can buy of the latest thing which they generally don’t need, and very few actually go outside and try and enjoy the out doors.
They are mostly interested in what is on tv, and believe me, NZ tv only gets worse and worse. Source.
E2NZ.org 
its because we dont want to see foreigners, NZ is full there’s no more room, there’s no more jobs, or houses. yet you people still keep coming here looking for the paradise you were promised, it’s here though we’re just sick of seeing our own people suffer because of the government inviting in so many other people and giving them what our own people cant afford. tired of seeing indians owning all of our dairies and liquor shops, now theyre taking over the agriculture and hort sectors as well. they come in then bring their entire family get a mortgage and all pull in to pay it off, then they move onto the next house and do the same thing. then you start seeing the signs in dairy windows advertising homes and rentals – only to indians. and it’s the only house available in the entire town. the asians do the same thing biring in the ingredients used to make methamphetamine then sell it off getting kiwis into addiction faster than a pharlap mile, since the police are too scared to go after meth and target small time pot dealers. you call kiwis lazy, yeah we are but we work harder than three immigrant yuppies when we get put into the job that we want yet still get paid less than them. stop calling us racist, we’re not. we’re just over seeing immigrants with the amenities that regular kiwis don’t have (like houses, cars, jobs, and warm clothes).
You correctly mention that the government are allowing new residents to enter N.Z ,I agree with you this is out of control and like you I do not blame the people who are coming here rather the irresponsible government allowing way to many immigrants into N.Z while having inadequate infrastructure to support the existing population let alone provide for the additional 70,000 permanent residents and 226,000 people arriving annually on temporary visas ,only an idiot would see any kind of future in this and at this point the idiot and his party of money grubbing uncaring capitalists are on their way to lead our country off the cliff for the foreseeable future.I noticed that in the 80s many of the dairies around N.Z were closing down as they were uneconomical to run,Indians are good business people and have bought or leased these properties and made a go of them ,myself I don’t have a problem with this as they do provide local convenience shopping and their markups do not seem unreasonable to me for the service,what’s strange is that many people are coming here on skills shortage lists and then opening their own liquor stores and dairies ,fast food etc ,obviously there is some kind of systematic failure which results in Engineers ,Pharmicists,Drs ,It experts etc working in liquor stores ,driving taxis and the like I truely don’t believe it is the choice of the immigrants to work in service industries when they have invested so much in their own education.I also believe that immigrants occupying jobs which disadvantaged and less educated kiwis have traditionally carried out is an outrage.This will only lead to resentment and anti immigrant backlash.
Kiwis can be very hypocritical when it comes to immigration. Much of this can be put down to sheer ignorance – coupled with their often very insular view of the world.
One minute I hear kiwis denigrating Donald Trump for proposing a wall along the US-Mexican Border and then on the next breath I hear them resenting all ‘the foreigners’ who are coming to New Zealand and taking their jobs… Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
The neo-liberalist regimen which has been in place in New Zealand since 1984 clearly has no scruples about using immigrants as pawns in what is simply a case of good old imperialistic-style ‘divide and rule’. As you will be very aware there are now sectors of the New Zealand economy (the likes of dairying) which have come to largely depend on foreign labour. It is an intricate web of human reliance which has been spun into most areas of New Zealand economic life – and it provides a means of more effectively controlling the workforce (performance-wise) and of generating greater wealth (for the ever-increasing few). None of this is however unique to New Zealand by any means – simply because we do not exist in isolation as a world economic power nor do we call ‘the shots’ across the world’s markets (although many kiwis seem to think we do). I am afraid just because we can beat ‘The Yanks’ at rugby does not mean we get to control Wall Street! If only life were that simple (sumple)…
What makes me laugh is that if the U.s ever decided to play Rugby,which they won’t N.Z would never win another game
Never a truer saying “Divide and Conquer”. As old as the Romans, and very much at the heart of the Establishment’s (Neo-Liberal Zionists) plans for a One world order. Keep the Tax Paying Underlings fighting amongst themselves, enshrined in debt, and awash with drugs. All the while the Masters of the Universe gaze down, containing a rueful smile, at the evil they have perpetrated.
New Zealand has a marketing strategy to tackle its vulnerable position in the global economic environment. Our government owes foreign banks the entire volume of our economy (government and private sectors), 99% of GDP, this is how much government debt there is. They pay around $15 billion dollars a year just to service that debt. Imagine how much foreign political pressure, behind the closed doors and mostly from overseas private and government corporate sectors, there is on New Zealand government! It’s ridiculous. The country does not produce anything in terms of machinery, electronics, cars or other technological products. Everything gets imported from overseas, even stoves.
The government is under so much political pressure it sells government assets, the last factories we had in this country are all sold, to please the global foreign competitors. Every other country, because of the borrowed finance, now bullies NZ. Again this is the sole reason why we don’t have good roads, good libraries in public schools, why our infrastructure cannot cope with over 70 thousand net migrants arriving in the country each year, mostly from India and China. There’s no money to build it! Whatever the major political parties promise before any election, they cannot deliver, again because there is no money to do it! Politics is based on pure populism and is just a show.
Everyone who realises what the fiscal realities of this country are realises that TV and elections here are for profanes. Again as a result, our science, technological research and education suffer, and again because of that we have no local skilled labour and have to rely on immigration. But immigration cannot solve it either, because the majority of immigrants don’t work in the declared professions here. We rely on India and China, just 50 years ago purely agrarian countries, to lead the industrial progress in Asia-Pacific. No one challenges that here in NZ because of political correctness.
Migrants are used to confront the local violent and abusive culture. The amount of hatred here and animosity is just a shocker. Our communities don’t exist in some neighbourhoods. It’s a rarity that a good community is present. Indians and Chinese demand their own communities.Europeans simply hate the so called “local customs”. Our “ministry for integration” has no better to do that to use GCSB level online surveillance tech to arrange for migrant marriages with locals, that migrants simply hate.
The crime is on the rise, the meth importation is on the rise, Australia kicks out NZ gangs back to NZ and our government closes 30 or so police stations in 2015 because they have no money for law and order.
Do you still wonder why the media treat the failure of 100% pure brand, that millions were invested into, as a minor issue?
No to many untruths and variables in your story,yes we are dependent on Chinese for our cheap ass goods and a ready market for the agricultural produce we still have ,who else is N.Z be holding to ? Would like to see your evidence to back up your statements.No offence intended.
Last time i looked (month ago) the world’s foreign deficit was something like this.. the US owed $ 19 Trillion, Britain $ 7 Trillion, France $ 5 Trillion, Germany $ 5 trillion, Australia $ 1.5 Trillion, NZ $ 186 Billion .and so it goes.
The only countries with NO foreign debt are
Macau.
British Virgin Islands.
Brunei.
Liechtenstein.
Palau.
Hardly earth shattering.
Not too mention Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy etc etc. EVERYONE is in shit.
So it begs the question. WHERE IS all the money, if all countries are in this much debt. Where did all that money come from. Was it sucked out of thin air. I was always told that in order to make more money, you needed to take it from someone else. So where has all this money come from, or is it all just a load of BS. A form of entrapment and slavery?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt
Russell,
Granted – many Brits do indeed see New Zealand as an extension of Australia (I used to have people coming up to me and assuming I would personally know places where they had family living in Australia).
The ‘uniqueness’ aspect of life in New Zealand seems to be a myth based upon many myths. You show anyone pictures of palm trees, a deserted beach, a blue ocean, a lush rainforest, and people smiling as they surf or kayak; and they immediately think the word ‘paradise’. Also the word ‘Pacific’ seems to have all sorts of positive connotations associated with it – despite the fact that the ocean down here is freezing cold and (upon closer examination) the palm trees growing along the roadside are actually burnt black with frost!
Also if you look at many London or New York published reference books (even educational textbooks) from the 1970s and 80s – New Zealand is generally just an afterthought – i.e. a few paragraphs at the end of the chapter on Australia. I guess it all depends on whether the authors considered New Zealand to be part of the ‘Continent of Australia’ – or of ‘Oceania’. And to further add to the confusion – nowadays the term ‘Australasia’ is bandied about without any real understanding of what it actually means. Surely it might have been a whole lot clearer if the Dutch or the French had colonised New Zealand!
They’re not oddballs. They’re just rude and ignorant. That is perhaps the initial confusion to an outsider. It was for me when I first encountered their behaviour and excused it somewhat but after living here it became obvious and apparent that this country is littered with philistines. Shopkeepers here are also guilty of charging exorbitant prices. I recall an occasion when I had to buy a fitting for a shower head. I was astonished to discover at the local hardware store they were charging $130 for what basically amounted to a chrome plated rod made of plastic. The shop owner’s attitude was take it or leave it and left me pondering. The Mitre 10s and the Bunnings stores didn’t supply the piece and this guy knew it. I made a few searches online and found a store in Auckland that I rang. Spoke to a lovely lady who not only offered it to me at $20 but it was a quality item made of chrome metal but shipped 2 items to me for free! Had I come across a “regular” Kiwi it may have been a different outcome. Not all kiwis are dickheads. I’ve come across some good ones but they are few and far between. I got lucky. Almost of them will fleece you or at least try to. I’ve had plenty of kiwis admit that to me as a way of life here. The cost of living here confirms it as a salient fact. There is no real competition here just cartels and genuine rip off artists who espouse the myth of supporting local businesses by handing over your hard earned money to keep them operating. Stuff that for a joke. They can close down for all I care. Oddballs they certainly aren’t. Greedy selfish rude bastards. Big difference.
Well said. Ignorant and rude. Kiwi ingenuity, is nothing other than common sense to anyone else. Never been to a place that blows as much smoke up their arse as this lot.
A very good analogy. In many ways New Zealand is indeed like the ‘Local Shop’ on the hill above Royston Vasey – and the proprietors Edward and Tubbs resemble many (particularly small town) kiwis.
Many small town New Zealand shopkeepers who I have dealt with over the years have certainly displayed some very Edward and Tubbs-like behaviours. I recall one day going into a store waving a wad of cash round only to be told I could only purchase two of the same item ‘within reason’. Like I had to justify why I was buying two of the same thing! (Incidentally they had plenty of the particular item in stock).
I can also remember going into a second-hand bookshop and when I expressed interest in a series of books, being told “Oh no, not my collection!” Very Tubbs like…
Then there was the woman in the local dairy who chipped me for asking if she had any Mars bars.
“No one buys them!” was her stinging reply.
“Um, I thought Mars was one of the most popular types of confectionary in the world?”
“Well you’re in New Zealand now!” she said…
You might well ask yourself – what has failed these people? In the internet age ‘isolation’ is surely no longer an excuse. The sad thing however is incidents such as these (although very petty in nature) – over time do compound and eventually begin to test even the strongest of personalities.
And we wonder why New Zealand is a land blighted with drug and alcohol addiction, depression, and youth suicide…
Thankyou for commenting on that.
It is interesting what stories indeed do “come out” of the woodwork, as the saying does go once people are encouraged to speak.
That is another problem, many New Zealanders or people in New Zealand feel to afraid to say what they really think or are concerned about.
Also there is another attitude I find which is – along the mindset of “Well it is not my problem it is someone else’s.”
The trouble is when someone like yourself, anyone or myself wants to do something about it, a large group of people, in various situations, with an attitude problem will criticize you for trying to fix things.
I actually think the internet has made New Zealand worse. Because the country is anti social enough as it is and cynical and quite negative.
Now you have anti social people on an island sitting inside staring at screens getting all their information off “Google” …which is scary, being someone who has walked, biked and explored this country (South Island mostly) knowing what I know.
A great example of a slice of a New Zealanders mind really is “The Unauthorised history of new zealand tv series”. It is dreadful watching it and some of the things that have gone on.
But it also gives a real insight into the desperation people have to fill in time….as their is “nothing to do.”
Yes much like Roystan Vasey!
Including the Mayor of Invercargil on this tv series of archived footate, making excuses for the towns lack of excitement with a quote of “You can’t give us 3 or 4 days notice and expect us to turn it on for you, but we are very pleased to see you all the same.”
Films like Worlds fastest Indian, paint a picture of New Zealand being this friendly warm, interesting unusual place.
But if you asked me the truth, it is full of dried out, lonely or overweight isolated people who have given up on washing and are waiting for the end. That sounds awful, but I cannot help but feel that way when I see some people in the fish and chip shop down the road.
Including hugely overweight woman and men, who should not be eating that meal for at least another 5 years of their life, but I see them in there often.
It is at the end of the earth, and I guess symbolically it lives up to that….”the end of civilization.”
I have warned many overseas people by email, about New Zealand.
And I would have to agree, spending no more than 2 weeks here is ideal
You can see all you need to see, in that time. Drive where you want to drive.
But do not hang around for ages…and definitely do not come here to live.
The world has changed, and New Zealand is a guinea pig country to be experimented on, and the sad thing is many people particularly the younger ones, are so busy wasting their time drinking and chatting about what “someone else said to someone else” they simply do not have time to realize.
So naturally anything “about the outside world” or outside of that “way of thinking” is generally looked at as a waste of their time, to hard to think about or simply you are “nuts.”
Of course, the real truth is much different.
I agree with your observations and thoughts about New Zealand.
I am afraid the New Zealand of ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ is long dead and buried – if in fact it ever really existed. I do however remember there being some very intelligent eccentric-type characters living in the small town I grew up in 40+ years ago. A very sharp contrast to the type of people you find in many small towns today (something which many kiwis do not like to be reminded of).
Upon reflection I also agree with you in regards to the internet having a negative impact on society. Mores the point – I guess it is how you actually use it – either as an educational tool/information source – or as some people do – for malicious gossip and scandal; and the spreading of falsehoods and propaganda.
Yes, there is a certain negativity and ‘fear of strangers’ which exists right across this country (and yet it would be many of these diehard ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’ kiwis who would label me as being the negative and cynical one for saying this). I am however the first to admit I have had to use humour (often very black humour!) in order to survive the whole experience of living here.
Like you I have got out of my car and looked at quite a large slice of New Zealand – and I have come into contact with a good many people along the way.
Being a walker in New Zealand has often seen me being stopped on country roads and asked “Have you broken down?”, “Can I help you?” or “Are you looking for someone?” To the untrained observer these might appear as genuine offers of assistance – but they are more than likely the polite way of asking “Who are you and what are you doing here?” (As I was born and grew up in a small town I am familiar with this tactic).
As far as changing anything in such an environment goes – it is always interesting to note (in the small town context anyway) that implementation of any change for the better (community project or other) is predominantly embarked upon by ‘newcomers’ to the area – whereas it is the ‘locals’ who generally oppose it.
I’ll tell you whats bloody irritating since I’ve been back in the UK for almost 6 months, is the amount of Brits here who are envious when I tell them I’ve lived in New Zealand for the last 10 years. They truly believe its a land of paradise and “oh I’ve heard its sooooooooo beautiful over there” yet these muppets will never venture there or stay long enough to realise the reality.
It’s hilarious though seeing their faces drop when I tell them its a fucking shithole inhabited by backward swamp life. They will even pretend they didn’t hear me and maintain their mental fantasy of New Zealand being the land of enchantment and paradise. They give you almost a dirty look and look at you as if you are bullshitting.
When I was in New Zealand (Christchurch) I would go to Indian owned Dairy’s and avoid any Kiwi owned ones like the plague. The indian guys and gals were human and relatable and could actually hold a conversation. They might of had a Kiwi accent but didn’t resemble any Kiwi traits. Some of the Chinese/Asian dudes were cool as well, like the guy who owned the dairy near my last rental.
Small Kiwi businesses are always owned and run by some arrogant big headed Kiwi bloke who thinks he’s the bollocks yet will lack basic manners and display fuck all customer service skills. They act like THEY are doing YOU a favour when you walk into their grotty little overpriced shack of shit.
I used to get the same when I worked in the UK. All the time I would be asked by people what I was doing there because they had heard New Zealand was so nice… And I would be told how I wouldn’t handle the rain and the cold because I wouldn’t be used to it LOL! It was also assumed I lived outdoors and barbecued 365 days a year… And some people would even tell me how I didn’t look like a real New Zealander because I wasn’t tanned enough! I had to tell them where I came from (coastal Otago) wasn’t California or the Sunshine Coast – it was/is wet, windy, overcast, and cold a lot of the time. Clearly we weren’t (once upon a time) referred to as the Britain of the South Pacific for nothing!
nebulafantastico,
People seem to want to believe that there’s a earthly paradise somewhere and any don’t want facts to get in the way of their fantasies.
Yossarian,
Perhaps it’s because NZ is associated in some way with Australia which has, in the north, a genuine tropical/ sub tropical climate. The SE of Australia is wet, cold and miserable in the winter, believe me, however the myth of perfect weather prevails.
Was just thinking today of all the horrors I experienced over my 10 year stay there. I think I’m scarred for life.
hahahah – cannot beat Eng humour. Being English myself i concur 100 %.
I have always believed the the Mitre 10 Sausage Sizzle sums this shithole up best.
They serve up dross, and the Kiwi’s make out like it is the weekly treat. Been told their whole life what a rare treat it is i suppose.
Unsophisticated, ignorant, arrogant morons.
Hey Admin. I’m confused as to whats happening with the site? Are you shutting down?
Thanks for creating it!