The Politically Incorrect Show - 27/10/1999

Music - Die Fledermaus

Good afternoon, Kaya Oraaa & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Wednesday October 27, proudly sponsored by Tuariki Tobacco Ltd, the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit, & excellence, against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.

Music up, music down!

As you know, Radio Pacific is currently selling its calendar for next year, Calendar 2000. We hosts were asked to nominate a New Zealander of the century & say a few words about our choices for inclusion in the calendar. You don't get to find out who they were of course until you buy one! Except today, when I'm offering two for nothing . each caller between now & 2 o'clock will go in the draw, & I'll announce two winners at the end of the show. But there's a catch. Whatever else you might want to call about, I want you to tell me whom YOU would have nominated for the award of New Zealander of the Century and why.

It's an interesting exercise to perform. Most of us find it easy to name villains. Naming a hero doesn't come so readily, especially in a culture notorious for its Tall Poppy Syndrome. Chris Lewis, finalist in the 1983 Wimbledon tournament against John McEnroe, has another name for it . the "crab bucket mentality."

Writing in my magazine, The Free Radical, Chris explains:

"Anyone familiar with the behaviour of a bunch of crabs trapped at the bottom of a bucket will know what happens when one of them tries to climb to the top; instead of attempting the climb themselves, those left at the bottom of the bucket will do all in their collective power to drag the climber back down. And although crab behaviour should not in any way be analogous to human behaviour, I can think of many instances where it is."

And he goes on: "As a tennis coach running a comprehensive junior & senior development programme for Auckland Tennis Inc., it is my job to produce future tennis champions. Among other things, this involves demanding the maximum amount of effort from every player with whom I work. If a player is to become the best he can be, he must dedicate himself from a relatively early age to the single-minded pursuit of his tennis career. Along the way many obstacles & barriers will be put in his path. One such obstacle, which brings me to the point of my article, is the tremendous amount of negative peer pressure that is brought to bear on anyone who attempts to climb life's peaks by those who have defaulted on the climb."

Chris Lewis is not imagining things. Ours is a culture, remember, which saw a school swimming champion refuse to compete for the championship a second time because she was given such a hard time for being champion the first time round!

So let us break free from the crab bucket mentality today & pay homage to heroes. In my book, Chris Lewis himself is one such hero, both in his sporting exploits & in the way he lives his life. He's not the one I chose for the calendar, but he was certainly among the contenders.

What makes a hero? For me, it's achievement. Not mawkish altruism garishly displayed, but the quietly determined conquest of nature, creation of a value, fulfillment of a goal. I don't ask of a hero that he share his achievement with me, though very often, as in the case of a Bill Gates, for example, I get the opportunity to do just that. I just enjoy the contemplation of the heroism, the crabs climbing over the top of the bucket.

Politically Incorrect Show, celebrating Tall Poppies - phone me now with your New Zealander of the Century nomination - 309 3099.

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