Subject:
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Re: Update on Maori/Bionicle dispute
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.technic.bionicle
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Date:
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Sat, 27 Oct 2001 06:24:20 GMT
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Viewed:
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644 times
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Dave Low writes:
> from BBC news:
>
> "Maori take on hi-tech Lego toys"
>
> "After challenging Danish company Lego to stop using Maori words for its
> hi-tech toys, New Zealand Maori are now planning to work with the company to
> draft guidelines on how to use traditional knowledge.
Lego has nothing to gain by poking fun of the Maori, but, someone has to
tell them that they are not the only people in the Pacific! The original
challenge was silly, because they are not exclusively Maori words.
"If an agreement can be made and the stories and the names are used
appropriately so you couldn't put the name tohunga [a spiritual advisor and
healer] where it didn't belong, then there can be a whole generation of kids
around the world that get to know and understand about things Maori."
After arguing that Lego is unfair to Maori by mixing it with other cultures,
how can he be sure that the future will be all Maori?
On the other hand, perhaps from now on all Mata Nui leaders could be known
by the totally unrelated name "kahunas" to avoid using any words with
cultural meanings in ways not intended by their original speakers. Oops,
that one is already taken? Maybe they should call them "bishops" or something...
I wonder if we can refer to Mr. Hippolite as "tohunga"?
Anyway, this BBC article probably ignored substantive issues. The real
landmines are some of those Makuta names like Kane-Ra, and certainly not
the Toa and Tohunga names, which are so common as to not even be
specifically Maori.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Update on Maori/Bionicle dispute
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| (...) <snip> (...) But the Maori are the only ones to make a stink, so they are the ones LEGO is kowtowing to...squeeky wheel syndrome, ya' know? You'd think the Maori might notice this, but of course, there's money and press to be had. I still (...) (23 years ago, 27-Oct-01, to lugnet.technic.bionicle)
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