If you think everyone is a crook - then you will meet a lot of crooks If you think most people are inherently good - then you will meet a lot of good people - decide for yourself

Thanks Johanna #51 for validating my arugement that was my point, we all come from somewhere else - so why do we have to resort to labels!

I have to admit that I was wondering why an article like this attracted so many comments - talk about take things to an illogical conclusion!!! What the hell does any of this mean to a story about trust?! And by the way - it wouldn't have been the journalists words, it would've been the survey that originally used the term pakeha - and to them it means non-maori, the people they surveyed weren't necessarily white - they could've been any ethnicity. Got a problem with it? Take it up with the company that did the survey instead of throwing your toys out the cot you babies!!

Thanks TP and Liam for some intelligent and thought-provoking comments.

@ James

Right on! It's seems so difficult for these so called 'New Zealanders' to grasp the concept of ethnicity. Yes, we are all Kiwis or New Zealanders, but we still have ethnicity that we need to identify with.

To those who consider Pakeha offensive, it is YOU that is turning the term into a racial slur. YOU are creating negativity around the word.

Haha, the ignorance in some of these comments is astounding. Do some of you even know why you are offended? Or are you just jumping on the bandwagon because you've seen other people don't like the word? Do you know what Pakeha means?

Liam (#48) seems to be the only one who has put forward a well thought out post.

Hahah the Reason Aucklanders & Christchurch Residents dont trust anybody is because of their High levels of corruption they are used to Scams and Crime, Wellingtonians are used to cons because of the trusting area and low crome rate. BTW Pakeha is Offensive. im sick of one way Racism in this country

Isnt it nice to see our Palangi brothers up in arms. Lol

Re: Awelly #44

"If it is all down to DNA - James#40 then is it ok to call the Maori - Taiwanese!"

What a ridiculous comment. You act as if that is the very origin of the race. By your rationale, if you are going to call Maori Taiwanese, why not go another step further and call Taiwanese African? After all, that is where we all apparently originated from. And then why not call all Africans primates? It goes right back to genes in the primeval soup.

Your argument just opens up a whole new can of worms.

Personally I have had the word pakeha spat at me in a very derogatory way many times. It is how people personally perceive the word that matters. As you can see from the small column here a lot of people disagree with being labelled a pakeha and Maoris should respect our wishes. That fact that the majority of the time it is not meant to be a derogatory term is irrelevant if the person the word is directed at takes offence (which I do).

If any ethnicity makes it very clear they don’t want to be called honky, nigger or pakeha then other ethnicities should show respect and cease to call them that.

“You can’t escape from the golden rule. If you hate something, don’t you do it too.” - Eddie Vedder