The noisy fruits of liberalism

While boy racers are a minor nuisance throughout the developed world, they've started reaching plague proportions in some of New Zealand's provincial cities.

Recently a documentary was shown on German T.V, which revealed the extent of the boy racer problem in Christchurch, much to the annoyance of the local tourist industry that portrays the moderately sized city as a relaxing, "English" influenced lifestyle destination (the inner city's English appearance is debatable, given that it's rapidly being overtaken by Asian noodles bars, junk shops and 7-11s, but that's another story).

Christchurch businesses have been complaining about the incessant late night noise of young bogans (Australasian for chavs) in the inner suburbs for some years now, and the problem doesn't seem to be getting any better.

This sharp rise in "white trash" behaviour is troubling for a country which has traditionally regarded itself as more civilised and understated than the U.S or Australia.

Echoing the planned settlement vision of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who failed to take into account the then undiscovered reality of regression to the mean, former NZ Prime Minister Rob Muldoon famously stated that when New Zealanders immigrated to Australia they raised the IQ level on both sides of the Tasman.

Given the genetic level-playing field between Aussie and Kiwi Caucasian youth, the sharp rise in boy racer culture in NZ must be due to social or economic differences (gosh, I'm beginning to sound like a socialist here!)

The most obvious difference is the easy availability of imported second-hand Japanese cars in New Zealand, which the Australian's restrict to protect their domestic car industry. Naturally with so many dirt cheap 'rice rockets' on the market, the streets are filled with the sound of ill-tuned rotary engines, over-blown exhausts and bowel-dropping car stereos.

Helping this proto- Mad Max behaviour is liberal policing - in particular, the modern police preference for revenue gathering over punishment.

A straightforward way of containing these young hoons, would be to take their cars off them and put them in a crusher. Not only would this take a lot of old sports cars off the streets, but, coupled with proposed restrictions on the age on Japanese imports, would increase the cost of old high performance cars so fewer boy racers could afford them.

Unfortunately, such a straight forward and illiberal approach is frowned upon - why deprive boy racers of their cars when we can fine them instead, thus providing more jobs for police, lawyers and car dealers. Subsequently, our streets (and court rooms) are filled with boy racers that everyone complains about, but no one really wants to deal with.

Liberalism and its enemies - the old and the working class

Considering that left-liberalism is traditionally associated with standing up for the underdog, you'd think that under-privileged groups like the elderly and the working class would be worthy recipients of liberal support.

Unfortunately, given liberalism's obsession with minor points of language and "saying the right thing" the grouchy, apathetic elderly and the "rough around the edges" working class are at a distinct disadvantage in modern liberal society.

Witness the increasing number of older white guys in the media, from sports commentators and talk-show hosts, to politicians and noble-prize winners, who've had to "retire early" for blurting out politically incorrect statements at inconvenient moments.

Like radiation seeping out of a concreted-over nuclear powerplant, pre-1968 thoughts leak out into the open as the aging frontal lobes begin their inevitable decline.

Meanwhile the working class are increasingly finding that their un-enlightened voting patterns and talk radio statements, are also getting them into a lot of hot water with the liberal establishment, with liberals getting their own back by encouraging liberal-approved immigrants to take over previously working class neighborhoods (note that the working class should not be confused with the underclass, who are doing much better out of liberalism, thank you very much).

However, if tactless, politically incorrect statements are a crime in themselves then where does that leave those who suffer from disorders of impulsivity? Hence all this intolerance of un-PC speech got me thinking about whether liberalism will start reigning its otherwise tolerant attitude towards those suffering from the likes of ADHD and Tourette's Syndrome, where saying the wrong thing pretty much goes with the terrority.

Politically incorrect tactlessness was certainly an issue for an ADHD-sufferering South African ex-truck driver I meet a few years back, who'd be lucky to last 30 minutes if he were ever let loose in a modern liberal workplace.

An amusing example of the irony of liberalism's support for disabilities and intolerance of un-PC impoliteness was provided in a recent VDARE column where Peter Brimelow exchanged words with liberal radio host and ADHD advocate Thom Hartmann who strongly supported the replacement of "Merry Christmas" with the culturally neutral "Happy Holidays".

Clearly the irony of Hartmann's liberal hypersensitivity over the Christmas issue and his advocacy for an impulse control disorder (a significant symptom of which is blurting out tactless statements) was lost on him.

Interestingly, liberal society's most polite and diplomatic demographic - educated middle class women - also happen to be disproportionately well-represented among liberal work places and in liberal politics, funny that.

Going to extremes

One thing that's increasingly observable in day to day life, but which doesn't get talked out much by economists and social commentators, is the increasing tendency of people to go to extremes in recreational pursuits (i'll stick to the clean ones for the time being)

Whether this is simply due to increasing affluence I've no idea, but it's certainly a conspicuous trend.

It's always puzzled me for example, why there are so many bicycles shops still around when so few people actually cycle. But, on entering a cycle shop a few weeks back, it suddenly became pretty obvious. A good road bike is likely to cost at least $1,500, and it is not uncommon for a fashion conscious road warrior to pay over $10,000 for a premium machine.

Whereas in the past, bike shops relied on volume sales of cheap 10 ten speeds to teenagers and cash strapped students, they can now sell far fewer bikes to credit-rich 30 somethings for a king' s ransom.

It's the same story with everything from golf clubs to fly rods. Fewer people seem to be going fishing, but for those who do, it's no big deal to pay several thousand dollars on a decent rod.

While I can appreciate that people want to invest in good equipment for their favourite hobbie, it smacks of vanity to spend far in excess of what is needed, and it's also kind of irrational.

If your playing someone who is more skilled than you, it doesn't matter how good a golf club or tennis racket you've got, you're still going to get thrashed.

There also seems to a kind of impractical, conspicuous consumption thing going on with recreational trends.

Bicycles seem to come in two types only - heavily built mountain bikes designed for jumping off boulders and ultra light-weight racing bikes, which looks as if they could fall apart at the merist sign of a pot hole. If you try looking for some sort of hybrid bike that's suitable for the city, yet can handle the odd rough country road, you'll be struggling to find one.

Furthermore, the only people you see riding these kinds of "sensible" bikes tend to bearded geography professor types who have long since given up worrying about how other people think about them.

Apparently one of the reasons given for the decline in cycling, especially among the young, is that it's not safe on the roads now with so many cars. However, this doesn't seem to stop the lycra clad ones from picking the narrowest uphill roads they can find, and riding three abreast while frustrated motorists try to pass them around blind corners. At the same time of course those dedicated, rate-payer funded cycle lanes in the city are usually pretty bikeless.

In terms of recreational extremes though, it's hard to beat cross-country runners. Go for a tramp (kiwispeak for hike) up a reasonably substantial hill, say anything around the 800 metre mark, which the Brits would call a mountain, and you're likely to be quietly mocked by some fitness freak running the same trek in a pair of trainers.

Maybe its just me, but it seems a little odd that in an age where half the population is suffering from obesity and self-indulgence, a small minority seems to be on a determined quest to wear out their bodies through pain and suffering.

Anyway, I've no idea where I'm going with this, other than there's something vaguely decadent about this recreational extremes thing, and it doesn't seem to attract much attention.