No room for racism but plenty for Rodney

First of all, I'll admit that Your Views hasn't had my full attention lately. So it came as a surprise to me when I browsed the topic "Can Rodney survive this perks scandal?" (which was originally posed as "Are Rodney Hide's travel expenses justified?") and found that I had missed the creation and subsequent closure of a thread concerned with Maori Party MP Hone Harawira's own "perks scandal" and supposedly "racist" comments made in an email to former Waitangi Tribunal director Buddy Mikaere. I'm not sure how long the thread was up, or what the question posed by Your Views was - the only trace of the thread's existence appears in a statement on the naughty Rodney thread:

"The other debate about Hone has now been closed because, regrettably, it degenerated into a racist rant instead of a constructive debate."

This statement reflects that the Your Views editorial team believe that the section encourages users to engage and debate in a constructive fashion, and that in this case, the thread was taken down because it was not representing this kind of engagement. Also, by claiming to remove the thread due to its "degenerat[ion] into a racist rant", they make it seem like they actively seek to stamp out any traces of racism in Your Views. Yeah right!

Argh, I took my eye off the ball for a couple of days, something really interesting happened in Your Views and I missed the lead-up! Ah well, there's still been plenty of intriguing responses to the "Has Rodney really done it this time?" question:

Kingi (Auckland)
Hide is married and not divorced. Taking his girlfriend overseas at taxpayers expense is wrong.

I don't mind politicians spending money frivolously, but by god, could they do it whilst upholding the principles of marriage?

katie k (Auckland)
Rodney doesn't deserve praise for his apology, the only thing he deserves is a good clip around the ears. He is two faced the only thing he is sorry for is that he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar

Strewth, that cheeky chappie Rodney deserves more than just a slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket, we all bust a gut to put food on the table and his actions just take the piss.

This week Your Views also raised the question "Should TVNZ have axed Dancing with the Stars?"; another addition to its list of crucial politically-engaged topics. And as if a whole thread about Rodney wasn't enough to satisfy the Hide-haters of this world, a couple also used this thread to bag the ACT leader, who appeared on the show a few years back:

Pigs snout out (Churton Park)
Yep makes people like Rodney popular. Unless they bring Rodney back and drop him on his head. I'd donate to see that.

Wouldn't we all...