When you Think of New Zealand, What is the First Thing That Comes to Your Mind?

[EnglishArtsteacher]

On May 7th, 1856, New Zealand became its own island country in Oceania. I've never been to New Zealand, but when I think of New Zealand, I think of Wellington, MTV'c Challenge: The Duel 2, cold weather, beautiful mountains, sheep, grassy hills, the Tasman Sea, volcanoes, and socialism.

[Curmudgeon]

"And socialism"

Ah, but are they REALLY? While they may have more public assistance than some other places, according to the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, there is *less* government interference and it is actually *easier* to do business there than it is in the USA!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_Economic_Freedom

Of course, this leads to questions of how this is measured and weighted. The Wall Street Journal, for example, foolishly believes in mass migrations of people and "open borders" (never mind what this in the end does to overall economic regulation), but anyway, check it out.

[EnglishArtsteacher]

I have no idea. I was just assuming they were Socialistic.

[jmstarling]

Socialists support a withering of the state.

[Curmudgeon]

@jmstarling Except that *never* happens. And even lots of public assistance only works out well with culturally homogenous populations, as the Swedes and other Euros are starting to learn.

[jmstarling]

Bullshit right-wing talking points. Every attempt at socialism has been defeated by a capitalist counterrevolution.
socialistworker.org/.../the-fraud-of-stalinism

Homogeneity has nothing to do with whether socialism can work.
www.jacobinmag.com/.../

[Curmudgeon]

@jmstarling Foolish leftists ignore history and rack up a body count of 130 MILLION and counting! Keep on banging that drum!

[jmstarling]

Capitalism kills more people in 20 years than nominally socialist countries killed in a century.

[Curmudgeon]

@jmstarling SMH... keep on believing that. Which way are the rafts heading from Cuba?

[jmstarling]

Again, not really a socialist country. Castro never even claimed to be a socialist until after he came to power.

[Tomblebee]

What is socialist what is capitalist.. ?

[jmstarling]

@Tomblebee Capitalism is an economic system in which wealthy capitalists own the means of production and run it for profit at the expense of everyone else. Socialism is when the means of production are owned in common for the benefit of everyone.

[pierre7i]

@EnglishArtsteacher - you have 'no idea' but just assumed we (New Zealand) are Socialistic?

Why would you 'just assume' ? That's not what teachers do, right?

And what actually is 'socialistic' in your view?

We (NZ) currently have a Labour Party-led government (akin to the US Democrat Party) and prior to thst we had a National Party government (with similarities to the Republican Party) for 9 years 2008-2017)

The Soviet Union was Socialistic, as was the DDR (Eat Germany) as well as Yugoslavia and most of Eastern Europe -- and China before it became a capitalist economy !
Germany, France, the UK and many other countries have social welfare for their citizens, even the US has some social welfare too.

As I said in an earlier response we are a capitalist country with social welfare -- but we are not "Socialistic" !

[jmstarling]

We have open borders for capital but not for labor. That's morally repugnant.

[CallMeDave]

Gorgeous scenery - especially on the South Island. I was lucky enough to get to visit there once. It was all nice, but I especially enjoyed the South Island with the spectacular mountain scenery and glaciers. I hope to go back some day. The flight there from the US is really really long though.

[AsianSweet]

Haka Dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKFYTFJ_kw

[pierre7i]

@EnglishArtsteacher : you said "I've never been to New Zealand, but when I think of New Zealand, I think of Wellington, MTV'c Challenge: The Duel 2, cold weather, beautiful mountains, sheep, grassy hills, the Tasman Sea, volcanoes, and socialism"

Why just Wellington? Sure, it's the capital but Auckland is the major metropolis (population 1.6 million) with the biggest Polynesian population of any city in the world !

And why do you think of cold weather? The northern region is pretty much sub-tropical, and other regions get hot summers, cool winters !

Also, why do you think of just the Tasman Sea? Take a look at the map you attached -- we're situated in the South Pacific Ocean !

Yes, we have mountains, volcanoes, grassy hills (but native-tree clad hills as well) and sheep too.

We also have long summers, vineyards, avocado orchards, kiwi-fruit orchards, beautiful beaches, native birds including the unique Kiwi...

... and you didn't mention Lord Of The Rings !

And we are a capitalist country, with social welfare !

Sorry to pick you up on all these things but if you are a teacher you will appreciate the necessity of correcting any incorrect/incomplete understanding !

[NeglectedChild]

Kinda reminds me of an upside down boot... OH SHIT, Wellington as in wellington boot?

- Constitutional Monarchy
- Border Patrol (tv show)
- Hydroelectric Power
- Maori People
- A polar bear on fire
- Toast in a sink

[Tomblebee]

Wow.. So... I am New Zealand then?

[NeglectedChild]

@Tomblebee Can't believe I forgot to say Temuera Morrison, freaking Jango Fett!
You're an upside down boot? thought you were human bro

[Tomblebee]

How has sink toast got any thign to do with NZ.. My thought processes dont represent my country.

[NeglectedChild]

@Tomblebee haha indeed it most certainly does not, those are just the first things that came to my mind. My mind is odd in that it tends to associate two or more seemingly unrelated things. Like Egypt and Spiderman:

[Tomblebee]

Spiderman down a chimney with a santa hat.

[stevenjohnson]

Kiwis, very similar to UK like with police and street and house design. I saw a police programme that was in NZ and everything including police looked exactly like the UK.. It was like i was seeing a road in my own town.

[Tomblebee]

Cute accents tho right? eh eh?
Police ten 7? Or road cops.. or border patrol.. We have a few cop shows.. They show them in other countries? Thats news to my ears..

[stevenjohnson]

@Tomblebee Yes i do like the accent, new a Kiwi once worked with him, and we have all three shows, we have a channel that shows lots of Aussie and Kiwi shows.

[Tomblebee]

Awwww.. We have prime. I guess that is the equivalent.. Do you get brokenwood mysteriies?

[stevenjohnson]

@Tomblebee Most probably but i have not heard that. I watch mostly the cop shows but we do have wildlife and customs and immigration docs.

[Tomblebee]

They are scary asf murder mysteries.

[stevenjohnson]

@Tomblebee Oh right cool

[BlueWalker]

Insanely beautiful mountains, devastating earthquakes, Weta Digital and the the native Māori people.

[BlueWalker]

Oh, and sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. lol 😊

[Tomblebee]

Take that smug grin off of your face.. It's not right.. we don't.

[BlueWalker]

Huh?

[Tomblebee]

The sheep thing..

[BlueWalker]

I don't get it. Did I say something wrong?

[Tomblebee]

No.. But why did you say lol after mentioning an abundance of sheep.. We don't fuck the sheep.. some people think so..

[BlueWalker]

Wow, that is NOT what I was trying to say! 😳 I was implying that New Zealand has more sheep per acre/hectare than anywhere else in the world. I actually remember that from a report I did in grade school as a kid. I wasn't talking about that at all! I just put the "lol" and smiling emoticon because I didn't want anyone here from New Zealand to think I was being overly-stereotypical of that fact. My apologies if I offended you, but I certainly didn't mean anything by it because that's not what I implied at all.

[Tomblebee]

I was just pulling your leg chill lol.

[BlueWalker]

Jeez, man! You actually had me going there for a moment! 😂 But seriously, I don't think that at all. 😊

[Tomblebee]

Noted.

[MrKinktastic]

Lord of the Rings.

Jk actually my favourite memory of nz was hand fishing for eels near Dunedin.

[Tomblebee]

Hmmm they had a bath full of them and you could pay to hop in.. I think this was a thing..

[MrKinktastic]

I dunno if Im that brave but catching them was a lot of fun! I was about 13 at the time.

[Tomblebee]

Fun! There are some in the lake near me.. Kinda creepy little worms really.

[MrKinktastic]

Yeah I dont know if Id want to swim with them but they were cool to watch

[Tomblebee]

Indeed.. like a bit of bread also

[MrKinktastic]

Feeding them or to eat them on? ;)

[Tomblebee]

either. I haven't tried one of them.

[markscott]

Green landscape, beautiful islands, moderate climate, insular people.

[Tomblebee]

What is insular?

[markscott]

@Tomblebee : Being somewhat unwilling to take in outside ideas or outside people.

[Tomblebee]

Hmmm.. why ruin a good thing? Aren't we all? (We being everyone..)

[markscott]

@Tomblebee : I have read that it's difficult to emigrate to NZ, and I figured the probably reason, is that people like their life style and their culture, and are not interested in it changing. That is their right, and it makes sense if change is neither needed or desired.

[Tomblebee]

70'000 ... IMmigrated in one year.. recond high.. there's ony like 4 mill here.. Isn't that a lot?
Wait emmigrate to NZ.. BaajajajajajJHAHAH. Isn't emmigration leaving..

[markscott]

@Tomblebee : I'm surprise that NZ allowed that many immigrants in, in just one year.

[Tomblebee]

Winstey probably wasn't too pleased.. An older politician.

[NatureBeauty]

Lord of the Rings (Love that movie)
The Haka Dance

[Leviathan_Charmer]

A brown frickin penguin. Where the heck is New Zealand, I'm sorry. I'm getting C's in geography here.

[Tomblebee]

I don't blame you.. We are left off most maps.
Right of Australia.. In the Pacific Ocean.

[Leviathan_Charmer]

@Tomblebee I'm still lost. Australia is on the edge of the map, right? So you on the very right, like off to the right of the map? Or on the other side of the map by like um.. that big one on that side? China or India I think.

[Tomblebee]

You know cape horn? To the left of that.
It's the eastern most country.. In the eastern hemisphere.. first sunrise in the world.

[Leviathan_Charmer]

@Tomblebee Cool. And no, but I know very rightest. And Australia. So... wait. You're not that little island by Tasmania are you? Crap, I know that one! That's the one with a bunch of mountains and cool looking like plains and landscapes and stuff, right? I saw a flyover of that like two years ago on the TV! Well now I feel stupid. Your island looks really nice I bet sunrises look awesome.

[Tomblebee]

Yeah. pretty same everywhere.. just im in teh future and you ain't.. 2am on a Monday ere

[Leviathan_Charmer]

@Tomblebee What? Oh right, timezone. That's neat. But doesn't that mean you have school today? So I'm glad I'm in the past, for now lol.

[Tomblebee]

Hahahah :)
Holidays.

[Leviathan_Charmer]

@Tomblebee Nice! Holidays are the best.

[Tomblebee]

yeah.. unless you got homework

[ToughChick]

Lord of the Rings
Haka Dance
Rugby
Earthquakes

[Anonymous]

The last place on earth (technically it's actually Antarctica, but noone really lives there), so, new Zealand is the last place on earth (with people)

[Tomblebee]

What do you mean?

[Tomblebee]

To be found by people with guns?

[anmari2001]

Kiwi and lord of the rings

[BornFree]

Lord of the Rings and the Haka dance

[smahala1991]

@RedRobin and Australia's cousin

[ImSoSquishy]

new zealand lambskin leather jackets!

[BonnieBunny]

Where's the Old Zealand?

[RedRobin]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealand

[NeglectedChild]

@RedRobin Oh man, now it's less special. So unoriginal lol

[RedRobin]

@NeglectedChild I guess people just got sick of making up new words lol

[Tomblebee]

Aoteroa. Is it's actual name.
Before the borin Brits Couldn't make an original one.

[NeglectedChild]

@Tomblebee That's way cooler. I'm gonna call it that from now on to confuse people!

[RedRobin]

Home haha

[Tomblebee]

YO yo ma homie!

[ZeussLightningBolt]

Mountains
Geysers
Maori

[TimeSplittersxvc]

Duplicate of UK
Kiwi
All Blacks
Maori
Geysers

[MidnightCowboy]

Lord of the Rings

And cute flightless birds

[Tomblebee]

They are badass what are you saying..

[Sucram]

Kiwi and hobbits.