Danish MP has it right

Danish right-wing politician Marie Krarup has outraged Maori for her candid comments about a powhiri.

In a Danish newspaper, Kraup,  a member of the Danish People's Party and member of Parliament reported:

• Being shocked to be welcomed by a Maori dance ritual, with a half-naked man in grass skirt, shouting and screaming in Maori who "poked his tongue out".
• The waiata sounded like a Danish children's song about a happy ladybird. She said it was accompanied by a "kindergarten-teacher-guitar-accompaniment".
• The marae was a form of cultural self-destruction, being "decorated with God-figures with angry faces and large erect penises."

Of course she is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.

Maori are a war-like people who insist on celebrating a culture where losers were eaten.  That's their right.

That Ms Krarup was intimidated and shocked is not exactly surprising.  I've seen any number of these powhiri on the TV news and they are unsettling to say the least.  

If I were to face one I'm sure I would be shocked too.  That's the point of them.  To see if the visiting noble will flinch in the face of a stern challenge.

I dislike the way powhiri are inflicted on VIPs.  At the risk of being labelled racist, I also dislike the ubiquitous haka.  Every where drunk Kiwi males gather they want to strip to the waist and perform their (usually dreadful) version.  

Grow up and leave the haka to the indigenous.  Being drunk Kiwi does not give you the right or the skills to perform one.

As for the powhiri.  If you're going to inflict this unnecessary and embarrassing cultural 'event' on people, expect to be criticized for it. 

Civilized it is NOT.