How Our Betters Taught Us To Distrust Them And Blame Ourselves – the ugly truth
Civics - what the most privileged says the peasants lacks
It turns out New Zealanders don’t trust the government anymore. Not because they’re confused or ungrateful, but because, to paraphrase National Party elder Bill English - they’re being served cold policy leftovers by people who think “respect” is an optional garnish.
The culprits? The very institutions meant to deliver care, protection, fairness - now resembling badly run corporate retreats where everyone speaks fluent PowerPoint but no one remembers what it’s like to be cold, hungry, jobless or Māori.
From Work and Income’s “digital transformation” (now with 37% more crashing forms!) to the glorious efficiency of the health system (emergency departments doubling as long-stay resorts), it’s clear the government has mastered one thing - extracting obedience from the poor while offering tax relief massages to the already-glowing rich.
But don’t worry, say the elites. The real problem is you don’t understand us.
The answer? A civics curriculum! A new national pastime where those who have never waited on hold with IRD for four hours can teach the rest of us how democracy works in theory, while dodging any real talk of how power actually functions. It’s not elitist brainwashing, it’s education, darling.
This charming little initiative - “Civics for the Clueless” - will teach you that democracy is about voting once every few years, nodding politely when power changes hands and definitely not questioning why the same consultants keep turning up like possums in the ceiling. Sure, the outcomes are garbage. Sure, your kid’s school has a mould problem and the local hospital is running out of bandages. But chin up! Have you tried reading the Constitution (which we don’t technically have)?
Meanwhile, the real education - the kind that builds capacity to question power, challenge injustice, organise communities and shift the levers of economic privilege, is dismissed as radical, divisive, or worse, “unpatriotic.” Apparently, it’s fine to teach how Parliament passes bills, but not why most of those bills quietly help landlords.
And now, with English-style clarity, we’re reminded that disrespect doesn’t come from misunderstanding. It comes from being the subject of a system where your needs are an inconvenience.
Respect doesn’t come from a PowerPoint slide saying “We Value Inclusion™.” It comes when you stop funnelling money into management consultants while community organisations fight each other for the right to deliver trauma support on a six-month contract.
Trust doesn’t grow because of a cute campaign about kindness. It grows when people know the game isn’t rigged.
But rigged it is. Power moves in tight little circles - business to government, private school to Treasury, boardroom to Parliament. And if a poor kid makes it in, they’re lauded not for breaking the system but for learning to love it.
We are governed not by the best among us, but by the best-prepared. Not those most affected by policy, but those best insulated from its consequences. The ones who call $350K salaries a "cost-saving measure" and believe people struggling on $450 a week just need budgeting advice and “a better attitude.”
When the policies predictably fail, it’s never the system’s fault. It’s your fault for not being resilient enough. Your fault for needing food grants. Your fault for being too brown, too broken, too angry. Your fault for not trusting the very people who ignored you, patronised you, surveilled you and sold off your future like it was surplus real estate.
So here we are. A country that lectures the poor about gratitude, the colonised about civics and the excluded about engagement.
We don’t need another civics class. We need a massive redistribution of power, designed and led by those who’ve actually lived the outcomes of elite governance. The ones with scars, not portfolios.
Until then, don’t ask why we’re losing trust. Ask how on earth we trusted any of this in the first place.
Government Press Release
Ministry for Civic Renewal, Rebranding & Social Empathy (CRaSE)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, 4 August 2025
New Government Initiative Will Teach Poor People Why They’re Wrong to Feel Disrespected
The Coalition Government today launched a bold new programme, “Respect Through Understanding™,” aimed at solving widespread distrust in public institutions by educating the population on why elite-designed services are actually very thoughtful if you look at them the right way.
Speaking from a taxpayer-funded breakfast at the Northern Club, Minister for Public Enlightenment & Behavioural Realignment, Lord Nigel Patterson III, announced the rollout of compulsory civics education for low-trust communities.
“It’s not that we’re failing to deliver adequate housing, healthcare or income support,” said the Minister, “It’s simply that people don’t understand how complex it is to care while simultaneously cutting costs.”
The new programme will be trialled in regions deemed “democracy-challenged” – including South Auckland, Northland, the East Coast, and anyone enrolled in WINZ. Modules include:
Government Isn’t Ignoring You – It’s Strategically Prioritising Others
Why a 3-Month Wait for Surgery Is Actually Efficient Triage
Personal Responsibility and the Fiscal Discipline of Starvation
Participants will receive digital badges and a voucher for one free polite email to their MP.
Asked whether the Government would consider redesigning services to meet actual needs, Minister Patterson said:
“We believe it is more empowering to help people understand why things are the way they are, rather than burden them with unrealistic expectations of fairness or dignity.”
He then climbed into a Crown limo and was not seen again.
For further information, please contact -
Greer van Wankelstein
Director of Narrative Management
Ministry for Civic Renewal, Rebranding & Social Empathy (CRaSE)
📞 0800-TELL-THEM-IT’S-FINE
Letter to the Editor – From an Organisation
To the Editor,
I write on behalf of He Mana Tangata, a small trust based in Wainuiomata that works daily with whānau trying to navigate what’s left of our so-called public service system.
This week’s announcement that the Government intends to rebuild public trust through civics education is, frankly, insulting.
Our clients aren’t disengaged because they failed Year 12 Social Studies. They’re disengaged because they’ve been lied to, dismissed, surveilled, excluded and gaslit by systems designed without them and for someone else. When a mother with three kids waits nine weeks for a hardship grant only to be told she needs another form signed, she doesn’t need a lecture on democratic process - she needs food, respect and justice.
We’ve had enough of being spoken about instead of with. Enough of token consultation, enough of ministries parachuting in to extract our stories for their funding bids. If the Government wants to teach civics, let them start by sitting in our office and watching what it takes to help someone survive a week on $492.
Trust can’t be rebuilt by pamphlets and PowerPoints. It has to be earned, with equity, with honesty, and with the guts to hand power back.
Ngā mihi,
Marama Tukaki
Kaiwhakahaere, He Mana Tangata Trust
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I’m not sure what offends me more, the fact that the Government thinks we’ve stopped trusting them, or the idea that the solution is to “educate” us on why we should.
I’m 49, a caregiver to my disabled sister and I’ve been dealing with WINZ and the health system for over twenty years. I’ve spent more time on hold than most MPs have spent in their electorates. I know exactly how government works. That’s why I don’t trust it.
When my sister’s mobility allowance was cut because of an “administrative review,” no one told us why. When I complained, I got a templated letter signed “Regards, The Team.” No one rang. No one explained. No one cared. That’s what disrespect looks like.
This new civics plan is a slap in the face. It says - “You don’t get it.” But we do get it. We get that services are being gutted. We get that housing’s a lottery. We get that if you’re not white, rich or healthy, the system treats you like a cost centre.
If this Government wants respect, let them show some. Start by listening to the people who’ve been crushed by the system they claim to defend. Until then, keep your lessons. We’ve had quite enough education - in survival.
Sincerely,
Angela H., Hamilton East
📞 Phone +64 275 665 682
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