It's not just the young men who are angry

This just in from a supporter:

Thanks John, your new piece with the video of the tirade on the bus is interesting.

 I live beside a reserve that’s enjoyed by runners, walkers,  cyclists and families,  people walking dogs — all enjoying the natural peaceful atmosphere. 

One day two people decided to ride up and down the park on their screaming motorbikes.  

I was out walking at the time, so in passing  I pointed out to them that the motorcycles were really noisy and disturbed the peace, and they should know motorcycles were not permitted in the park as per the council bylaw. 

I know, it sounds grouchy-old-man and petty.

But I refuse to let the ignorant few spoil it for everyone.

The woman motorbike rider snapped,  “So what, we’re Tangata Whenua!”

And the man eyeballed me, thrust his face to within a few inches of mine and screamed abuse at the top of his voice. 

What he said was much less imaginative than the tosser in your video.

But  the abuse was like a tsunami of hatred. 

Since I was walking past them, I really had no reason to stay at that exact spot.

But I had to for a bit — I wasn’t going to be pushed away by his ridiculous Once Were Warriors attempt at intimidation. 

I was half expecting to get  decked.

But I refused to back off,  and calmly stood there and let his torrent of abuse wash over me. 

Actually he didn’t have much interesting to say. He kept repeating the same couple of sentences over and over. 

After a bit, his repetitive screaming began to sound quite comical.

As I said,  I had no reason to stay.

So eventually, after what seemed an eternity but was probably only a minute — and when I hoped he’d realised I wasn’t going to be intimidated — I moved on in the direction I had been walking.

And as I turned to leave he called me a “f***ing honky”. 

I turned back to him and calmly pointed out that if I were to refer to him using the same kind of language then that would make him a  f**king nigger.

I would  never use this word.

I was trying to point out his own racist language, but a wasted attempt on my part I’d say. 

Interestingly, as I write this, it seemed acceptable to me that I spell ‘honky’ in full.

But I hesitated over the word ‘nigger’,  even though both words are used as a form of  abuse.

I worked in a building that adjoined a crumby little flat and the walls between the two buildings are paper-thin. 

The flat was rented by a Maori couple who used to fly the Tino Rangitiratanga flag out of their window. 

They used to scream at each other in exactly the same way as I was screamed at, and much like the guy on the bus. 

One thing he’d scream to her, and which amused me no end,  was “I f**king love you, you c**t!”

And her abuse to him was no better.

Thankfully, they’re long gone now, raided,  arrested and probably in jail I think.