Archive for the ‘Guest blogger - Che Tibby’ Category

by Che Tibby 

OK, I’m afraid of losing you on the first couple of lines, so I’ll say this really quickly and move on: ‘I wrote my PhD on theories of nationalism.’

Now, in the world outside of academia nationalism has a pretty bad reputation. This is almost entirely because people automatically associate nationalism with racism, jingoism, militarism and other poor behaviour. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Nationalism is often adopted by the jingoistic or the racist, but in practice it is just the everyday process of identifying with your fellow citizens.

You ever hear that Southern comedian from the US? He’d go, ‘If your gun-rack has a gun-rack on it … you miiiight be a red-neck.’ Here in New Zealand you could say, ‘If you can name at least one All Black captain, you miiiight be a Kiwi’, or, ‘If you can name the guy on the $5 bill, you miiight be a Kiwi.’ I could go on.

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by Che Tibby

When my television looked like it was going to pack up last year, I did the respectable thing and sold it to someone on TradeMe. It was a 68cm behemoth that perched on a slab on the corner of the room and fed me a constant stream of bull-pucky interspersed with the occasional gem. It took two people to lift and move it. It consumed a huge amount of electricity. And I loved it to bits.

Of late though, I’m come to see that co-dependent relationship with the tube to be extremely unhealthy. Sure it keep me amused on demand. It was a companion when I was alone, and didn’t mind that I gorged myself on chips and soft drinks (with the obvious results). It didn’t mind if I had dandruff or had forgotten to shower. It didn’t mind if I dressed for any particular occasion in my trackies and an old t-shirt. And most importantly, it didn’t starve if I switched it off and went away for the weekend.

It was what I got from out of the television that was the problem. A stream of what I now recognise as the most mind-numbingly stupid drivel you can imagine. In fact, you don’t need to imagine. You can just switch the thing on and there it is.

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