> You're a real stand up guy to have started this down under.
Thanks for that -- but in reality, I'm only a 43 yr old father of two young kids who desperately wants them to grow up and live in a safe place. This may come at a personal cost and risk to me: so be it. That's what Dads are for.
> I don't know why some people from New Zealand would want to emulate the criminals and gangs in the U.S. Are they getting too many government freebies and they get bored?
I'll tell you straight: it beats the heck out of me, too. I grew up in East Broadway Vangcouver (as you may tell by my Canadian accent on the video) in a smallish house. It was an inner-city neighborhood and yuh a fair bit of crime. But it was not a ghetto by any stretch of the imagination. Not the way Americans would understand the term "Ghetto". Yet, East Broadway in Vangcouver was considered a "tuff" Italian neighborhood (and it was!)
Otara and Manurewa are considered to be "tuff" neighborhoods in Auckland. They are not even *close* to the squalor of East Broadway: most are "State" houses (lo rent) and most are very well kept. Many on a full 1/4 acre lot. Heavily subsidised by the Government. Yet this is the breeding grounds for our "Once Were Warriors" criminal class.
D*mned if I understand it. Poverty does not drive this problem: we do not have "poverty" in the same sense that you Yanks would understand the term, as a matter of deliberate Government policy developed over many, many decades.
Yet the "Once Were Warriors" thing exists! It thrives!
Too many Government freebies? I think so. Some analysts would also include a sense of Entitlement. Rights rather than Responsibilities. Too much time and free money on their hands, not enough work to do. A social environment that excuses and rewards mediocrity, and punishes excellence: driving all ever toward the Lowest Common Denominator.
Too much time spent leaning toward the Left: it is a self-destructive path, as we are finding out...
How does one go from Vancouver to New Zealand?
Well I can definitely understand your concern for your children but not many people would step up to the plate the way you have. I'm concerned too--we've got the homegrown gangs plus ones that are sneaking up from Central/South America. Then you wonder what the zany Muslims will be
up to next. Thank goodness we don't have as many as
Europe but they are here too.
Anyway, I'm glad you're holding down the fort down under.
Stay safe and keep us updated. Tell your conservative
pals down there about FR.