On the rare occasions that I wade into the political situation of a foreign country, I inevitably receive a lot of very impassioned feedback from the locals. That’s especially true when the country is relatively small. Discussing political developments in a tiny, out-of-the-way country is a bit like talking about, say, anime, or the video game industry. Ordinarily, it won’t take long until I’m swarmed with people who insist that I’m in way over my head. After all, I’m a podcast host in Tennessee, talking about some country thousands of miles away. They’re the ones who are actually living through whatever nightmare I’m describing, so naturally they can probably pick me apart on the details if they want to.
That’s why I was surprised to see the reaction after my commentary on New Zealand on Friday. It wasn’t remotely what I was expecting. In case you missed it, on Friday I discussed the outbreak of a primal, stone-age war chant on the floor of New Zealand’s parliament. Here’s a mercifully short clip of the chant, which is all over the Internet at this point:
.png)
.png)
