Paul Little: Now, please let me explain
NZ First MP Richard Prosser. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Dear World,
I gather you've heard about a Member of Parliament here called Richard Prosser and some remarks hemade about Muslims and terrorism. Awkward.
Anyway, I'd like to supply you with some context about him because, given he belongs to a political party called NZFirst, you could be forgiven for thinking he's representative of the county. On the contrary. He belongs to a subset of the population that struggles with shoelaces and eats with its fingers.
So it's not surprising that he thinks theremay actually have been a place called Wogistan.
But in a party not noted for depth, Prosser has hidden shallows. In fact, he is an initiated Reikimaster. For the benefit of non-initiates, Reiki is a philosophy thatmaintains you can make things occur by waving at them.
His statements weren't official. They appeared in amagazine called Investigate, whose namehe almost certainly can't spell unaided.
Oh, and I should tell you that he got into Parliament without anyone voting for him. It's thanks to MPs like him that we're having to undertake a time-consuming patchup of our electoral system.
It all started when he had his pocket knife taken off himwhen he was getting on a plane.
I had a pocket knife taken off me when I was 10 and I felt pretty stink about it, too. But I didn't take it out on one of the world's major faiths.
And when it comes to preventing terrorism, I'mhappy to suffer the burden of not being allowed to take my knife on board.
But Richard Prosser isn't. He thinks thatmen aged 19 to 35 who are Muslim or look like a Muslim - you know, that Muslim-ey look they all have - should not be allowed to fly because it is undeniable that "most terrorists are Muslims".
Unfortunately for him, it is totally deniable. Here are somerelevant numbers. According to research quoted in the Washington Post, in the United States in 2011 "30 per cent of terror suspects were Arab; 25 per cent werewhite; and 15 per cent were African-American".
I imagine the figures for terrorism in New Zealand would break down along similarly fractured lines.
Prosser embarrassed his party to the point that he had to issue a terse, four-line press release apologising for, but not retracting, his knuckleheaded remarks.
You could be forgiven for thinking NZFirst itself is a little conflicted. After all, its leader, Winston Peters, has been an adept player of the race card who has frequently played to fears of yellow peril.
Meanwhile, NZFirst board member Curwen Rolinson emphasised that Prosser's opinions were personal and that the MPis "prone to hyperbolistic feats of expression". Hemeant "hyperbolic", but good on himfor having a go.
Hope that clears things up.
Cheers,
New Zealand.
Prossner put his case very badly, I agree; but many of us put the same case very well & articulately but are just shut out & ignored. The press is biased & unbalanced in its reporting on this subject; which means we no longer have any trust or respect for the press either.
Lastly; two months ago two AU DJ's, supported by management; broke into a hospital by presenting false credentials, to steal confidential patient information on the Duchess of Cambridge in order to publish it on air to boost their ratings.
It seems these poor misunderstood children are to be prosecuted for nothing; while Prossner, who raised matters of public concern even if he raised them badly, is being persecuted into the grave by a frenzied media witch-hunt.
Could the press ~please explain~ its two faced position.
That's why the the moslem religion is getting a bad press these days. Prosser, in his lamentable way, simply expressed the frustration that westerners feel at the inconvenience, cost and danger that they are subjected to world wide by individuals and groups whose common characteristic is enthusiasm for Islam. Paul Little looks to young to be able to remember that there was a time when you checked in your bag, walked to the plane and got in.
"Unfortunately for him, it is totally deniable. Here are somerelevant numbers. According to research quoted in the Washington Post, in the United States in 2011 "30 per cent of terror suspects were Arab; 25 per cent werewhite; and 15 per cent were African-American".
Prosser didn't actually make an ethnic link between muslims and Arabs, however your journalist goes one step further than Prosser and instantly links Islam with being Arab, never mind that Islam enjoys a significant following from many different ethnic groups, including African-Americans, Africans, Indians, Turkic peoples and South-East Asians.
Paul Little should count himself lucky he isn't an MP.