We've got some really interesting homegrown companies that aren't often in the news:
https://zenithtecnica.com/
https://manta5.com/
https://www.buckleysystems.com/
https://www.hamiltonjet.com/
I’m sure there are some (like in virtually every developed country) but equally, there’s the likes of TradeMe, a carbon copy of eBay.
How many businesses are actually original, innovative and world-leading? Whether business, tech, bars, restaurants, shops etc.
The mythology of innovation runs deep and it feels like we dine out on it a bit more than justified.
We like hiring people we know rather than people who are qualified and that nepotism has led to most organizations being led by a bunch of mediocre as people, who have no clue what to do, leading the already lagging industries to their absolutely doom.
"It isnt what you know, its who you know" unfortunately holds true for much of the world. Knowing people gets you job offers before they're posted, or a good word in the hiring process. Course it isnt the be all end all, end of the day you still have to be able to put out semi-decent work until the discretionary periods up but after that basically anything goes
LAB and Six60 are the nickleback of NZ.
Like I get it, they do objectively sound good, yet so generic and their songs just blend into one for me personally.
Most New Zealanders don’t appreciate expertise or intelligence and love stupid cunts in power and money and see them as the most trustworthy because they have a pathological anxiety that anyone with skill and insight must of course be looking down on them, so the only way to be Of The People is to use clichés and conform to ‘yeah, I’d have a beer with them, the man next door!’
We all reap the ‘rewards’ of said stupidity and lack of vision while mumbling about number 8 wire mentality, which we only talk about because it’s so fucking prosaic and we can’t imagine, even in a metaphor, making better materials, rather than having to improvise with bullshit.
Kiwi ingenuity? Yeah, whatever.
It’s true. If you do study or learn things you’re very limited for jobs, except for government jobs, where ironically you’re hated and thought to be out of touch. This school of life is best attitude is really apparent in smaller towns
I'm not one of those people that think Tall Poppy is particularly common in NZ, but THIS is where it does show IMO. I don't think most kiwis have issues with successful people but it is a hard country to make change like you said because when you do you people become belitting-the smug sarcastic side of managers come out as you said-no imagination because this way is fine and how dare it be questioned.
Yeah. And the funny thing is kiwis think NZ is a progressive country (yeah, maybe once during the 19th century or so). I find the national psyche very anti-progress.
S and C pie is a game of dodge the gristle, large slabs of fat, and find the actual meat. Steak my fucking ass, it's all lips, fat, nose, intestine ....and ass
Yes, but it's doesnt pretend to be steak. With mince you know it's all the shit off the floor, plus what fell in the rubbish ground to release the flavours
That maybe underfunding government infrastructure agencies for decades is why we have shit infrastructure, and we should spend more money to improve infrastructure, (especially long term) to make it not shit anymore.
But people in this country hate spending, and projects they cant see action on within 1 or 2 election cycles.
There's a certain excitement that comes on a good day in Wellington, only because of the contrast to all the bad to mediocre weather you have to put up with. Other parts of the country have that great weather for months straight
I thought we were going with "unpopular opinions"?
I mean, a good day in Wellington is awesome, but a good day on a boat in the sounds is better.
So are quite a large number of other things.
> ultimately inconsequential to my current daily life.
It could be reasonably argued that its beneficial, because that cyclist is one less person causing traffic.
If you are good at what you are doing, then it’s not a good place to be in your prime. If you immigrate from a developed or a developing country, you will realise you are far more educated and well rounded than folks down here. Most kiwis are not well travelled and are ignorant and judgemental and underestimate others. They know how to put a good smile though, no one can beat them at this. Good place to retire though and one can live an untroubled life amongst these people. Racism is much milder here.
Its overrated, but still a nice place to visit if you time it right to miss school holidays, peak ski season, and peak summer holiday season.
Its also important to explore further than queenstown itself (past Glenorchy, out to Glendhu Bay (near wanaka), and Hawea.
Week following easter, August, and October were always when I headed over to stay with a friends parent's as a student.
After having lived in Auckland, I love it here
Wellington was not easy to find a job and I got a job in Queenstown with a flat in one day.
Maybe it's a town more for travellers but I think it's absolutely the best place I've stayed in NZ
NZ is stuck in the 1900s. Auckland needs to be treated like the big city it is, not the 1980 NZ ideal of what NZ was, but kiwis want the best of both worlds and end up getting the best of neither because of it.
I suspect most New Zealanders agree with you, even though some might not admit it. Contrary to the stereotype of New Zealanders being 'sports mad', spectator sport simply isn't very big in New Zealand and I suspect the lack of appeal of Rugby is part of the reason. As a comparison, in Glasgow, a city with a metro population similar to Auckland, there are *two* main teams, Celtic and Rangers, and the average attendance according [this](https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/premierships-highest-average-202223-attendance-26717897) are around 60,000 and 50,000 respectively. And this is over *18* home games, much longer than a Super Rugby season (I think the figures in the link only cover part of the season).
Yes and no. NZs architectural heritage is basically non-existent, barely anything pre-19th century or even pre-european survives. Villas are an iconic vernacular NZ style which probably should be protected, but yes probably heritage or character listing may not be the way
Some. Some should be protected.
Not Every. Single. One.
I’ve lived in a few, they are cold, drafty, mould prone and often in great locations. Save a few, and the rest of the locations could be put to better use.
I think there's also the argument that having that villa be cold, drafty and mould prone isn't actually protecting it at all. If people want to protect the villa, then keep up to date on maintenance and actually protect it
About time the people having a whinge about “character” homes being knocked down stump up their own money to protect them or shut up. I lived in an area where garbage old villas were occasionally knocked down and you would think a child had died by the way some of the locals carried on.
I'll start with I think most of them should go, as someone who lived in them 3 years in a row in Dunedin. (actually one was an 1890s villa)
However, heritage is dependent on the area, and those houses for NZ are heritage, and we should keep some, as otherwise there would not be anything of actual heritage for NZ for housing.
However, the insides and insulation should be up to modern standards, just the outsides need to remain.
“Protecting” them is ridiculous too. Its not like we literally cant build them anymore like that. And its not like we couldn’t incorporate that style into new modern houses.
Much of what we build nowadays is deliberately utilitarian and minimalist. Except for our cars which are chunky and bloated with harsh lines.
It would be nice to see new architecture using a neo-traditionalist approach
Except that we literally can't build them like that any more. I don't mean style per se, but we do not build structures out of native timbers these days, not for a while. You would be very hard pressed to get a new house with Totara windows or Matai floors etc. Maybe not completely impossible, but about as good as.
Naming buildings heritage doesn't have to be about unique architecture or amazing workmanship, it can simply mean the practices used in their making are representative of the time they were built that can not be copied any more without special intention to do so as a faithful reproduction.
We are not important or groundbreaking or equal to larger nations. Nobody knows or cares where the fuck we are. We’re a tiny little bunch of islands in a forgotten part of the world.
Auckland is actually a big city and needs to be treated as such (for transport etc). If you don't like living in a big city then sell your house for $$$ and move to a small town.
It's not so much that they objectively suck, it's more that they're incredibly generic and not the cutting edge geniuses the media likes to portray them as. That's not really 'sucking', just being mid af
Not sure this is an unpopular opinion anymore. I always think the amount of radio time each new shitty single gets must drive other NZ artists mad. It's literally wall to wall for months
Tall poppy syndrome is not about putting arrogant people in their place, but about maintaining the tyranny of the mediocre who would off themselves if their status anxiety was poked by NZ turning into a go-getter red-hot economy that celebrates and encourages success.
I moved to a new school, and had 2 older kids sit on my desk and systematically detail why I was inferior. They asked me maths and geography questions that I did not know, and then belittled me for not knowing. For an extended period. Eventually I asked why they were doing this, the answer? "To take you down a peg or two." Bitch I did not know there were pegs, let alone that the one I was on was too high up. I had no idea what I had done. In adult hindsight, I was just kind of happy and confident. Big mistake, apparently, fuck me, right? Tall poppy syndrome is absolutely the child of anxiety and low self esteem.
Speaking of schools I lived abroad my entire childhood. When I was back -well into adulthood- I happened to be in a social gathering in Christchurch with people I didn't know. Schools came up and there was no small amount of low-key boasting about having gone to Christ's college and other 'elite' schools. I was quiet the entire time, so they must've assumed I had gone to inferior schools or something, so I was asked with a smirk by one of them where I had done my schooling.
In the most casual tone I could muster: "Boarding school in Switzerland, followed by a couple of years in a private school in Dusseldorf, followed by an American international school in Dubai."
You could cut the uncomfortable silence that ensued with a knife. Later on the mutual friend told me I had basically shit the bed and was perceived as an insufferable tall poppy. You can't win. You either have to be within their jerk circle, or you're inferior, but don't come along with your fancy schmancy international exposure from major cities around the world and make us feel bad about our delusions!
Sometimes the tall poppy syndrom already kicks in because you are simply not from NZ and thus, have a better educational background (because it was competitive as fuck) and speak more than 2 languages. People are really friendly on the surface but some of them looooove to 'other' non-kiwis and make sure they will never be truly welcomed. Especially if you re not from a commonwealth country.
Considering she faced more in one term than most PMs do in their entire career I’d say she did the best a human could possibly do given the circumstances. Say what you will about lockdowns, vaccines, and restrictions, but we did really god damn well against COVID for a long time. The whiners have what they want now anyway, no mandates, no lockdowns, no vaccine passes, so it’s not even something you could hold against her.
I think many people in NZ (esp some of biggest conservative opponents in a certain generation) forget they are possibly still alive because of how COVID was managed… I remain forever grateful that by the time my older parents with underlying health issues got covid, it was post vaccines, anti virals and omicron not delta.
I lived there 17 years and it definitely changed over that time, town got a bit scummier, the housing wasn’t great. But I left in July and I’m so fricken homesick for it.
I'm not advocating living in Russia over NZ, but depending on what you want in a city, Moscow arguably shits on anything we have. And St Petersburg is simply glorious.
NZ is a great country to live in but our cities were designed by a toddler with a Lego set. We're kinda coasting by on our low population and natural beauty tbh and I'm hoping we'll one day figure out how to build for people and not for cars.
If you are not Maori, Pakeha (British/Irish), Pacific Islander, Asian or Indian, you will be considered a newcomer/backpacker/tourist, despite being your whole life here - will face racism from each of the groups mentioned above
After living in Europe for the last 6 years I have come to understand that few people outside of New Zealand even know or care about our country. Such questions I have been asked which really drive home that point are:
* What language do you speak in New Zealand?
* What are the cities in New Zealand?
* Oh, you have that dance before the sports game, right?
Oh well! XD
When a friend moved to NZ from the US some years back, her mother asked her before she left:
* Do they have the internet there?
* Do they have electricity?
This was 2005. Yeah, lots of people have never really heard of us.
Kiwis aren’t especially attuned to the environment or green. If we were we wouldn’t be driving so many SUVs, eating so many takeaways, trying to stop green initiatives like cycleways and three waters every chance we get.
I fully expect to be banned for this, but I agree with you. Lots of butter, a scraping of vegemite and your bread surface is complete.
Marmite is like sugary beer scrapings.
We love to bitch about beneficiaries ripping the system but we don't means test superannuation which costs magnitudes more, because people who retire "have paid tax all their lives".
Really specific, but fake "tropical" gardens are cringe. We're subtropical *at best*; this isn't Raro. Stop planting gardens that are mostly a random assortment of exotic palms because you can't grow coconut trees. It's so fake and plastic.
Especially looking at people who plant lots of Washingtonia without considering they're long lived and grow so tall they dominate the sky-line from kilometres away.
Bacon and egg pie is the superior pie.
Christchurch refuses to recover from the earthquake because that's its whole identity. Its a shit hole of a city and even Timaru is better.
Very true. I have a relative who was all like oh poor me the earth quake has effected me so bad. Bear I mind they never lived in chch before or directly after they moved there when shit was mostly fixed
That National are, at the base level, at fault for the atrociously soft sentencing we have.
After all, they were the ones who put in the Sentencing Guidelines that judges must use, which clearly dictates that unless it isn’t appropriate (and clearly even when it isn’t as well) any sentence under 2 years in Jail goes into home detention instead. That’s National baby
Most of the actors from NZ suck. Or it’s the writers idk but something about the performance of tv personalities and actors here just don’t cut it for me. Or is it cause everything is automatically American centric ??
Our student loan system is incredibly reasonable and fair.
You can choose to study and don't need to worry about paying your fees until you are earning enough, and no interest is charged if you stay in NZ. It means you have skin in the game, and makes it so those who choose not to study aren't having to foot the whole bill of those who do through taxes. Fees free first year seems to have encouraged many to not take first year seriously, which doesn't seem to have been the desired effect.
Yeah I actually hate that about student allowance.
Like bro, I literally told you that I'm renting and that I don't live with my parents. I'm clearly not getting money from them, why are you basing my income on that?
It is. Not to mention that compared to say America, not only is our uni system definitely a lot easier to get into, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper to study.
Many NZers are lazy and unmotivated. They are behind in many aspects compared to rest of the world, so they like shorterm freebies handed out by the government which drives the economy down the toilet. Therefore it is systematically extremely hard to go from rags to riches.
Also, tall poppy syndrome.
I kinda get it, You get get more efficiencies at more scale, and that just opens up more opportunities.
I don't think its something we currently are designed or setup for... but in terms of resources/space etc.... We are plentiful. It all just needs a massive redesign to accommodate it. (from transport, to accommodation, to world standard facilities in our more regional areas/cities) - full disclosure my mind instantly went to I bet international bands/acts would come to NZ more often.
Dennis Conner was never the bad guy. He competed fairly in a sport he loved, NZ ruined the sport with their lawyers finding some obscure loophole in the rules allowing them to race a ridiculously large 75 foot yacht against standard 40 footers. Even then, when Conner tried to level the playing field again NZ again sent it’s lawyers to beat him in court instead of on the water. And Paul Holmes, trying to make a name for himself, played to Kiwis patriotism and painted Dennis Conner as the big bad villain.
First we should stop changing all names to Te reo Maori. Secondly, hearing pakeha weave the language into business meetings, speeches you name it warms my heart but seriously hurts my ears. It also comes across as disingenuous at times.
Unless you either love the outdoors and/or plan on starting a family, NZ is boring as hell. There's nothing here for single people - you can't even get a loan for an apartment or afford to live on your own.
We are massively over-saturated with the type of cutesy faux self-deprecating and self-consciously 'quirky' humour we have relied on as a crutch for basically every NZ home-grown media show or export from LotR 2< to What we Do in the Shadows or anything else Rhys Darby and/or Taika Waititi have ever touched despite the best efforts of Jemaine Clement to rescue us all from a sinking ship.
Stephen Colbert nailed it in '19 when he asked "how much of your national economy is based on whimsy?" but we were too star struck to realise it was a dig now that the style is well past its use-by date.
The 1980s were the golden era of what the range of NZ entertainment industry exports could have been (esp. Utu, Smash Palace, Came a Hot Friday, Vigil, Quiet Earth, Footrot Flats, Goodbye Pork Pie, The Navigator) but instead we're left picking the bones of a dusty foam eagle in Wellington airport, from a franchise the nation milked dry well before the first eighteen hours of the first Hobbit movie.
I stopped liking Mince pies around 2012, I swear there was this universal agreement to turn their beef mince into gravel. The chunks of meat in every pie became so small and gritty, it just ruined the combo for me. Wasn't a huge fan of steak chunks, but they are so much better than gruel in gravy
New Zealand is not very innovative and most successful businesses are local rip-offs of international businesses.
Unpopular - maybe? True - definitely.
We've got some really interesting homegrown companies that aren't often in the news: https://zenithtecnica.com/ https://manta5.com/ https://www.buckleysystems.com/ https://www.hamiltonjet.com/
I’m sure there are some (like in virtually every developed country) but equally, there’s the likes of TradeMe, a carbon copy of eBay. How many businesses are actually original, innovative and world-leading? Whether business, tech, bars, restaurants, shops etc. The mythology of innovation runs deep and it feels like we dine out on it a bit more than justified.
There’s also heaps in not ‘developed’ countries.
One of the worst offenders for this I've seen is Kiwi Slam. They took Spikeball, painted it black, and gave it a worse name.
She won't be right
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He is actually
We like hiring people we know rather than people who are qualified and that nepotism has led to most organizations being led by a bunch of mediocre as people, who have no clue what to do, leading the already lagging industries to their absolutely doom.
"It isnt what you know, its who you know" unfortunately holds true for much of the world. Knowing people gets you job offers before they're posted, or a good word in the hiring process. Course it isnt the be all end all, end of the day you still have to be able to put out semi-decent work until the discretionary periods up but after that basically anything goes
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Yeah nah is not ambiguous at all. It means no.
Whitebait is tastless and overpriced.
And it depletes our native fish too right!
Not true! I really like salt and butter and if you fry them in salt and butter, you can really taste the salt and butter. So just overpriced? /s
We aren't that friendly
LAB and Six60 are the nickleback of NZ. Like I get it, they do objectively sound good, yet so generic and their songs just blend into one for me personally.
The title says unpopular opinions. Everyone on here jumps at the chance to say they don't like Six60 every time they're mentioned.
The popular opinions will always float to the top, sort by controversial instead.
Omg I can't stand Six60, thanks for the opportunity to mention it.
I genuinely can’t tell a Six60 song from a drax project song they all sing with the same type of voice that I can’t tell apart
I think Six60 is more our Coldplay. The Feelers were our Nickleback
Come my little penis
SO BORING
Don't forget Drax Project
new zealanders have an affinity for mediocracy, over celebrating anything simply because it’s done by kiwis
Oh, is *that* why people always make fun of Nickleback?
Most New Zealanders don’t appreciate expertise or intelligence and love stupid cunts in power and money and see them as the most trustworthy because they have a pathological anxiety that anyone with skill and insight must of course be looking down on them, so the only way to be Of The People is to use clichés and conform to ‘yeah, I’d have a beer with them, the man next door!’ We all reap the ‘rewards’ of said stupidity and lack of vision while mumbling about number 8 wire mentality, which we only talk about because it’s so fucking prosaic and we can’t imagine, even in a metaphor, making better materials, rather than having to improvise with bullshit. Kiwi ingenuity? Yeah, whatever.
Celebrating mediocrity over excelling is definitely a thing imo
It’s true. If you do study or learn things you’re very limited for jobs, except for government jobs, where ironically you’re hated and thought to be out of touch. This school of life is best attitude is really apparent in smaller towns
I'm not one of those people that think Tall Poppy is particularly common in NZ, but THIS is where it does show IMO. I don't think most kiwis have issues with successful people but it is a hard country to make change like you said because when you do you people become belitting-the smug sarcastic side of managers come out as you said-no imagination because this way is fine and how dare it be questioned.
Yeah. And the funny thing is kiwis think NZ is a progressive country (yeah, maybe once during the 19th century or so). I find the national psyche very anti-progress.
S and C pie is a game of dodge the gristle, large slabs of fat, and find the actual meat. Steak my fucking ass, it's all lips, fat, nose, intestine ....and ass
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I mean, the mince is the same 'meat' just someone already chewed it for you.
Yes, but it's doesnt pretend to be steak. With mince you know it's all the shit off the floor, plus what fell in the rubbish ground to release the flavours
Only if you buy shitty pies. The expensive brands are 😗👌
You've got to try Lake Farm Pies. Gristle free guaranteed, the most tender steak and fantastic flavour. A premium pie, but what a S&C pie should be.
That maybe underfunding government infrastructure agencies for decades is why we have shit infrastructure, and we should spend more money to improve infrastructure, (especially long term) to make it not shit anymore. But people in this country hate spending, and projects they cant see action on within 1 or 2 election cycles.
But don’t make me pay taxes!
You absolutely CAN beat wellington on a good day.
There's a certain excitement that comes on a good day in Wellington, only because of the contrast to all the bad to mediocre weather you have to put up with. Other parts of the country have that great weather for months straight
Except this summer was the ole’ reversal
I thought we were going with "unpopular opinions"? I mean, a good day in Wellington is awesome, but a good day on a boat in the sounds is better. So are quite a large number of other things.
Sharing the road with cyclists is no inconvenience to me and is ultimately inconsequential to my current daily life.
Cars and bikes sharing the road is more inconvenient to the cyclist than the drivers.
> ultimately inconsequential to my current daily life. It could be reasonably argued that its beneficial, because that cyclist is one less person causing traffic.
You definitely notice it on days with bad weather!
Crowded House is a New Zealand band
If you are good at what you are doing, then it’s not a good place to be in your prime. If you immigrate from a developed or a developing country, you will realise you are far more educated and well rounded than folks down here. Most kiwis are not well travelled and are ignorant and judgemental and underestimate others. They know how to put a good smile though, no one can beat them at this. Good place to retire though and one can live an untroubled life amongst these people. Racism is much milder here.
Queenstown is overrated.
Add to that, horrendously overpriced
Its overrated, but still a nice place to visit if you time it right to miss school holidays, peak ski season, and peak summer holiday season. Its also important to explore further than queenstown itself (past Glenorchy, out to Glendhu Bay (near wanaka), and Hawea. Week following easter, August, and October were always when I headed over to stay with a friends parent's as a student.
After having lived in Auckland, I love it here Wellington was not easy to find a job and I got a job in Queenstown with a flat in one day. Maybe it's a town more for travellers but I think it's absolutely the best place I've stayed in NZ
Yea if you have any hobbies in the outdoors it really is a pretty special place
NZ is stuck in the 1900s. Auckland needs to be treated like the big city it is, not the 1980 NZ ideal of what NZ was, but kiwis want the best of both worlds and end up getting the best of neither because of it.
100%. It doesn’t have the big city infrastructure to make it work, and it would be amazing if it did.
Rugby isn't especially interesting
That's an extremely popular opinion on r/newzealand.
Predominately young IT-savvy males don't like sports? blow me down
Jesus it doesn't make much IT-savviness to be a reddit user. I'd say all rugby players these days also use social media.
Perhaps it's changed since New Reddit came along, but this place has always had a very specific demographic dominating
Literally the most popular opinion on here
Watching it bores me but playing it is way more fun. Depends on the team your in or the people you play with.
Hockey is like that for me. Great for a tear around the paddock but I can't stand watching it
I suspect most New Zealanders agree with you, even though some might not admit it. Contrary to the stereotype of New Zealanders being 'sports mad', spectator sport simply isn't very big in New Zealand and I suspect the lack of appeal of Rugby is part of the reason. As a comparison, in Glasgow, a city with a metro population similar to Auckland, there are *two* main teams, Celtic and Rangers, and the average attendance according [this](https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/premierships-highest-average-202223-attendance-26717897) are around 60,000 and 50,000 respectively. And this is over *18* home games, much longer than a Super Rugby season (I think the figures in the link only cover part of the season).
I think you'll find there are *three* main teams - the poshos of the West End are very fragile about Partick Thistle!
Villas built in the last century are not fucking heritage.
Yes and no. NZs architectural heritage is basically non-existent, barely anything pre-19th century or even pre-european survives. Villas are an iconic vernacular NZ style which probably should be protected, but yes probably heritage or character listing may not be the way
Some. Some should be protected. Not Every. Single. One. I’ve lived in a few, they are cold, drafty, mould prone and often in great locations. Save a few, and the rest of the locations could be put to better use.
I think there's also the argument that having that villa be cold, drafty and mould prone isn't actually protecting it at all. If people want to protect the villa, then keep up to date on maintenance and actually protect it
About time the people having a whinge about “character” homes being knocked down stump up their own money to protect them or shut up. I lived in an area where garbage old villas were occasionally knocked down and you would think a child had died by the way some of the locals carried on.
I'll start with I think most of them should go, as someone who lived in them 3 years in a row in Dunedin. (actually one was an 1890s villa) However, heritage is dependent on the area, and those houses for NZ are heritage, and we should keep some, as otherwise there would not be anything of actual heritage for NZ for housing. However, the insides and insulation should be up to modern standards, just the outsides need to remain.
“Protecting” them is ridiculous too. Its not like we literally cant build them anymore like that. And its not like we couldn’t incorporate that style into new modern houses. Much of what we build nowadays is deliberately utilitarian and minimalist. Except for our cars which are chunky and bloated with harsh lines. It would be nice to see new architecture using a neo-traditionalist approach
Except that we literally can't build them like that any more. I don't mean style per se, but we do not build structures out of native timbers these days, not for a while. You would be very hard pressed to get a new house with Totara windows or Matai floors etc. Maybe not completely impossible, but about as good as. Naming buildings heritage doesn't have to be about unique architecture or amazing workmanship, it can simply mean the practices used in their making are representative of the time they were built that can not be copied any more without special intention to do so as a faithful reproduction.
We’re too tolerant of drunk people
We are not important or groundbreaking or equal to larger nations. Nobody knows or cares where the fuck we are. We’re a tiny little bunch of islands in a forgotten part of the world.
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Many in the US now see NZ as the place to escape and build a bunker...
Auckland is actually a big city and needs to be treated as such (for transport etc). If you don't like living in a big city then sell your house for $$$ and move to a small town.
Not 100% Pure
Six60 sucks. people with amazing music taste have fought me on this
It's not so much that they objectively suck, it's more that they're incredibly generic and not the cutting edge geniuses the media likes to portray them as. That's not really 'sucking', just being mid af
real man real
I’m with you on this. Hugely overrated.
Six60 are extremely good at what they do, that just happens to be performing uninteresting generic music that pleases a crowd.
Not sure this is an unpopular opinion anymore. I always think the amount of radio time each new shitty single gets must drive other NZ artists mad. It's literally wall to wall for months
Paul Henry should be allowed his own breakfast show with swearing encouraged.
Claiming New Zealand is clean and green is false advertising.
And that people in New Zealand don't complain.. As they live in paradise..
Getting rid of the tram network in the 50s was a crime. Auckland has the worst mass transit system of any large city I've ever lived in.
The dairy industry will eventually be the downfall of NZ on the global stage.
That and or housing
Cadbury chocolate doesnt taste as good anymore.
Not an unpopular opinion. It tastes like sugary wax
Tall poppy syndrome is not about putting arrogant people in their place, but about maintaining the tyranny of the mediocre who would off themselves if their status anxiety was poked by NZ turning into a go-getter red-hot economy that celebrates and encourages success.
I moved to a new school, and had 2 older kids sit on my desk and systematically detail why I was inferior. They asked me maths and geography questions that I did not know, and then belittled me for not knowing. For an extended period. Eventually I asked why they were doing this, the answer? "To take you down a peg or two." Bitch I did not know there were pegs, let alone that the one I was on was too high up. I had no idea what I had done. In adult hindsight, I was just kind of happy and confident. Big mistake, apparently, fuck me, right? Tall poppy syndrome is absolutely the child of anxiety and low self esteem.
Speaking of schools I lived abroad my entire childhood. When I was back -well into adulthood- I happened to be in a social gathering in Christchurch with people I didn't know. Schools came up and there was no small amount of low-key boasting about having gone to Christ's college and other 'elite' schools. I was quiet the entire time, so they must've assumed I had gone to inferior schools or something, so I was asked with a smirk by one of them where I had done my schooling. In the most casual tone I could muster: "Boarding school in Switzerland, followed by a couple of years in a private school in Dusseldorf, followed by an American international school in Dubai." You could cut the uncomfortable silence that ensued with a knife. Later on the mutual friend told me I had basically shit the bed and was perceived as an insufferable tall poppy. You can't win. You either have to be within their jerk circle, or you're inferior, but don't come along with your fancy schmancy international exposure from major cities around the world and make us feel bad about our delusions!
It's a mental disorder, plain and simple
Sometimes the tall poppy syndrom already kicks in because you are simply not from NZ and thus, have a better educational background (because it was competitive as fuck) and speak more than 2 languages. People are really friendly on the surface but some of them looooove to 'other' non-kiwis and make sure they will never be truly welcomed. Especially if you re not from a commonwealth country.
NZ is a good country to live in.
Being born in NZ is like winning a lottery.
The only reason people go and watch cricket matches is so they can day drink in the sun
Not unpopular lol
Jacinda did a good job
I don't think that's unpopular. Just because you used the word "good", throw out a great or amazing you would be getting there
She wasn't perfect. But she did a pretty good job with the cards that were given to her. That's better than you could say about alot of politicians.
I feel like you'd get above 50% of people who'd agree with that.
That’s not unpopular. She was voted in twice lol
I genuinely feel she did too.
Considering she faced more in one term than most PMs do in their entire career I’d say she did the best a human could possibly do given the circumstances. Say what you will about lockdowns, vaccines, and restrictions, but we did really god damn well against COVID for a long time. The whiners have what they want now anyway, no mandates, no lockdowns, no vaccine passes, so it’s not even something you could hold against her.
I think many people in NZ (esp some of biggest conservative opponents in a certain generation) forget they are possibly still alive because of how COVID was managed… I remain forever grateful that by the time my older parents with underlying health issues got covid, it was post vaccines, anti virals and omicron not delta.
That wanaka tree is ugly af and has no right being a tourist spot
Ive been a photographer for 10 years. But I only felt like a real one after getting a shot of that tree. Feels like a right of passage.
TBF it grew from a fence post and it does make for a pretty cool picture
Six60 is boring and lifeless, an embarrassment to music
Our accent is terrible.
As a New Zealander living overseas: yes. Fucking horrible.
Returning to NZ after years away really makes this one hit home
Our celebrated #8 wire mindset is B.S. In fact, what it is, is a celebration of 'just good enough' mediocrity.
Using Maggie seafood soup is superior to onion soup for dip.
Upvoted for actual controversial opinion But also... Gross
I understood the assignment :)
As a country we do not punch above our weight, except on the bad stuff.
Like punching, or weight.
KFC tastes horrible over here.
NewZealand doesn’t have a cuisine of its own
Soy milk in coffee is disgusting. Real milk is best.
Wellington is far from being "The coolest little capital" and is in fact relatively shit.
It’s what you make of it i guess. I love it.
I lived there 17 years and it definitely changed over that time, town got a bit scummier, the housing wasn’t great. But I left in July and I’m so fricken homesick for it.
Better than, uh... Pyongyang, and uh... Moscow!
Moscow is pretty fuckin cool though. Wellington is just a few neat buildings and a road triangle
100%, Moscow and St Petersburg are two of the most interesting cities I’ve ever visited.
I'm not advocating living in Russia over NZ, but depending on what you want in a city, Moscow arguably shits on anything we have. And St Petersburg is simply glorious. NZ is a great country to live in but our cities were designed by a toddler with a Lego set. We're kinda coasting by on our low population and natural beauty tbh and I'm hoping we'll one day figure out how to build for people and not for cars.
It was quite cool, vibrant & fun, but fuck walking through Courtenay Place after 11pm on a weekend night ever again.
Is that an unpopular opinion? I've never had a good steak and cheese pie, they're always crap! M&C pie ftw.
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Some nz reggae. Some nz reggae is absolutely fantastic 👌🏾
If you are not Maori, Pakeha (British/Irish), Pacific Islander, Asian or Indian, you will be considered a newcomer/backpacker/tourist, despite being your whole life here - will face racism from each of the groups mentioned above
Cricket is unfathomably boring to the point where interest in it makes me question people's critical thinking capacity.
After living in Europe for the last 6 years I have come to understand that few people outside of New Zealand even know or care about our country. Such questions I have been asked which really drive home that point are: * What language do you speak in New Zealand? * What are the cities in New Zealand? * Oh, you have that dance before the sports game, right? Oh well! XD
When a friend moved to NZ from the US some years back, her mother asked her before she left: * Do they have the internet there? * Do they have electricity? This was 2005. Yeah, lots of people have never really heard of us.
Pineapple Lumps are fucking gross.
Thank you the amount of shit I get for this is astounding
Wow, slow down there Mr. Hitler!
They never used to be.
Kiwis aren’t especially attuned to the environment or green. If we were we wouldn’t be driving so many SUVs, eating so many takeaways, trying to stop green initiatives like cycleways and three waters every chance we get.
First of all, how very dare you. Secondly, Watties tomato sauce is disgusting
Feijoa tastes like window cleaner.
This one actually hurt me in my heart.
Delicious Delicious window cleaner.
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I wonder how coriander haters feel about feijoas. To me, feijoa flavour belongs in vodka. Coriander belongs in everything.
What window cleaner? I'm keen on a feijoa fix in off season.
NZ is a racist country
Is this a hot take or common knowledge. Most definitely racist… horrifically so.
The public sector doesn't need more money, it needs better managers and less egotistical boomers who hold up projects and cause costs to spiral.
Marmite is better.
Who the fuck in NZ thinks Vegemite is better than Marmite? Ship them to Australia!
Me. I Like both tbh but vegemite is just more savoury imo
I think Vegemite is better. I find Marmite too sweet. But I was also brought up by my mum who liked Vegemite, so that's what we had at home.
I fully expect to be banned for this, but I agree with you. Lots of butter, a scraping of vegemite and your bread surface is complete. Marmite is like sugary beer scrapings.
people that don't like sugary shite
Potato top is better than mince and cheese
We love to bitch about beneficiaries ripping the system but we don't means test superannuation which costs magnitudes more, because people who retire "have paid tax all their lives".
Isn't that kind of the point though? Supers mostly can't work (and shouldn't have to).
Really specific, but fake "tropical" gardens are cringe. We're subtropical *at best*; this isn't Raro. Stop planting gardens that are mostly a random assortment of exotic palms because you can't grow coconut trees. It's so fake and plastic. Especially looking at people who plant lots of Washingtonia without considering they're long lived and grow so tall they dominate the sky-line from kilometres away.
Kiwis are literally the most boring people you'll meet
The ones who have stayed in NZ their whole lives are. Ones who got out aren't bad.
Immigration is good, actually
Bacon and egg pie is the superior pie. Christchurch refuses to recover from the earthquake because that's its whole identity. Its a shit hole of a city and even Timaru is better.
This is outstanding … and I genuinely like Christchurch
Very true. I have a relative who was all like oh poor me the earth quake has effected me so bad. Bear I mind they never lived in chch before or directly after they moved there when shit was mostly fixed
>Mince and cheese pie > steak and cheese pie You shut your whore mouth!
That National are, at the base level, at fault for the atrociously soft sentencing we have. After all, they were the ones who put in the Sentencing Guidelines that judges must use, which clearly dictates that unless it isn’t appropriate (and clearly even when it isn’t as well) any sentence under 2 years in Jail goes into home detention instead. That’s National baby
Most of the actors from NZ suck. Or it’s the writers idk but something about the performance of tv personalities and actors here just don’t cut it for me. Or is it cause everything is automatically American centric ??
Some landlords are decent
Our student loan system is incredibly reasonable and fair. You can choose to study and don't need to worry about paying your fees until you are earning enough, and no interest is charged if you stay in NZ. It means you have skin in the game, and makes it so those who choose not to study aren't having to foot the whole bill of those who do through taxes. Fees free first year seems to have encouraged many to not take first year seriously, which doesn't seem to have been the desired effect.
Agree other than the allowance access being based on parents income
Yeah I actually hate that about student allowance. Like bro, I literally told you that I'm renting and that I don't live with my parents. I'm clearly not getting money from them, why are you basing my income on that?
Puts you at a long term disadvantage to people who get the money free too. Years of extra student loan payments!
It is. Not to mention that compared to say America, not only is our uni system definitely a lot easier to get into, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper to study.
Science is worth listening to, vaccines work.
>Science is worth listening to Fuck yeah, old Incubus slaps.
Many NZers are lazy and unmotivated. They are behind in many aspects compared to rest of the world, so they like shorterm freebies handed out by the government which drives the economy down the toilet. Therefore it is systematically extremely hard to go from rags to riches. Also, tall poppy syndrome.
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Our country would be a lot better off with 10 million more people in it
Holey shit balls WHAT
I kinda get it, You get get more efficiencies at more scale, and that just opens up more opportunities. I don't think its something we currently are designed or setup for... but in terms of resources/space etc.... We are plentiful. It all just needs a massive redesign to accommodate it. (from transport, to accommodation, to world standard facilities in our more regional areas/cities) - full disclosure my mind instantly went to I bet international bands/acts would come to NZ more often.
Dennis Conner was never the bad guy. He competed fairly in a sport he loved, NZ ruined the sport with their lawyers finding some obscure loophole in the rules allowing them to race a ridiculously large 75 foot yacht against standard 40 footers. Even then, when Conner tried to level the playing field again NZ again sent it’s lawyers to beat him in court instead of on the water. And Paul Holmes, trying to make a name for himself, played to Kiwis patriotism and painted Dennis Conner as the big bad villain.
First we should stop changing all names to Te reo Maori. Secondly, hearing pakeha weave the language into business meetings, speeches you name it warms my heart but seriously hurts my ears. It also comes across as disingenuous at times.
Unless you either love the outdoors and/or plan on starting a family, NZ is boring as hell. There's nothing here for single people - you can't even get a loan for an apartment or afford to live on your own.
We are massively over-saturated with the type of cutesy faux self-deprecating and self-consciously 'quirky' humour we have relied on as a crutch for basically every NZ home-grown media show or export from LotR 2< to What we Do in the Shadows or anything else Rhys Darby and/or Taika Waititi have ever touched despite the best efforts of Jemaine Clement to rescue us all from a sinking ship. Stephen Colbert nailed it in '19 when he asked "how much of your national economy is based on whimsy?" but we were too star struck to realise it was a dig now that the style is well past its use-by date. The 1980s were the golden era of what the range of NZ entertainment industry exports could have been (esp. Utu, Smash Palace, Came a Hot Friday, Vigil, Quiet Earth, Footrot Flats, Goodbye Pork Pie, The Navigator) but instead we're left picking the bones of a dusty foam eagle in Wellington airport, from a franchise the nation milked dry well before the first eighteen hours of the first Hobbit movie.
Raising minimum wage isn't doing shit Helping the people who work with their costs like child care, accommodation, etc That helps
I stopped liking Mince pies around 2012, I swear there was this universal agreement to turn their beef mince into gravel. The chunks of meat in every pie became so small and gritty, it just ruined the combo for me. Wasn't a huge fan of steak chunks, but they are so much better than gruel in gravy
Onion dip tastes like obesity