Katherine Dolan's blistering attack on New Zealand attracted a huge response from Stuff readers. Within eight hours of the article being published there were 850 comments.

In the first of five instalments, Dolan wrote about growing up in rural New Zealand hating the country. She's been travelling the world for the past decade and still considers the New Zealand she knew as a child to be a "uniquely lonely and uncomfortable place".

Some agreed with her, others are glad she's overseas, some gave up part-way through the article, and others congratulated Dolan for being prepared to speak out.

Supplied New Zealanders were "bred for the trenches", Dolan wrote.

Rural New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s was: "a puritanical, misogynistic, authoritarian, anti-intellectual, alcohol-dependent society that specialised in casual brutality," Dolan said. She accepted things may have changed since then.

When she was growing up, the country "worshipped the Spartan virtues: stoicism, masculinity, physical strength, group cohesion, terseness".

Dolan felt New Zealand troops "eagerly died by the thousands in Gallipoli" and said Kiwis were bred for the trenches. In peacetime, the closest thing to war was rugby, which she considered to have been a "national religion".

Derek Flynn/Fairfax NZ "... in peacetime, the closest thing to war was rugby."

Cold homes were also on the list of unfortunate aspects of her life in this country. She had to "wear thermal underwear, a woollen hat and woollen socks for most of the year."

She linked rugby to bullying and described an incident where a small boy at her school was being kicked by older boys. The vice-principal walked past but she intervened, "a little bit crazy with depression", and the circle of tormenters vanished.

Rural areas were male dominated, not just through rugby but also in pop culture such as Footrot Flats, Fred Dagg, Bogor and Barry Crump. She and her friends were encouraged not to be "girls".

123rf "Rugby is a legitimate way for a group of young boys to inflict injury on others. But because New Zealand has a strong rugby culture, the chimp-gang ethos is not limited to the paddock."

Dolan writes about unknowingly being taken to see a steer being shot and butchered. Eight years old at the time, she couldn't breathe but realised it was a test, so assumed a poker face. "The sacrament was over, the lesson had been taught."

Dolan's views about the dominance of rugby in New Zealand were echoed by many readers.

Maudhib wrote: "I agree totally with the author's views on violence and sport. New Zealand is a country that revels in violence and hatred. Boys are taught that physically maiming with intent to permanently injure is an appropriate response. Watch any rugby game.

"Males who don't like rugby get assaulted - I carry visible scars from this. It's clear that "Kiwi Blokes" are expected to be violent and this is actively encouraged in the sports world. I saw the same appalling attitude to violence at my school as noted in the article.



"Of course the sick violence obsessed population will ridicule this comment. It's how New Zealand works."

DeafNakedHipster contributed: "I agree with her on rugby and that's about it, from my experiences rugby breeds blockheads and and pissheads with deep-rooted emotional issues who start fights at pubs because they lost."

Honkyghost appreciated Dolan's efforts: ​"Finally, someone's writing about this stuff !!!!! Good on you."

Some readers partly shared Dolan's dim view of rural life in New Zealand.

Among them was nica, who wrote: "Rural upbringings are brutal and misogynist, with rugby being the most acceptable form of cultural expression, but they are also a little wild and free compared to the city version, with a lot of opportunity for children to get lost in nature, and experience a free, happy, roaming childhood full of summer days and swimming and all the rest.

"However, to evolve, for those that want, it really is necessary to move on, but that kind of freedom from the stifling parochial culture can be found in New Zealand's bigger cities, where there is plenty of other stuff going on. And let's face it, cultures all over the world have butchered animals for millennia. It's just an unpleasant fact of life. NZ can be very insular but it also has a lot going for it compared to many other parts of the world. It's still a relatively safe place to live with unspoiled nature still preserved in some parts and still one of the best places to raise children."

Jimbob liked rural life: "I have always found the sense of community in provincial NZ far outweighs the anonymity of big city life. And in rural areas, even more so."

The countryside also appealed to Glacier23: "I grew up in rural NZ and it was paradise.....killed plenty of animals for the table and did our very best to make it as humane as possible, this is REAL life and I am so glad I was a part of it and gained the skills I have....I feel with her leaving... NZ may have gotten just a little bit better."

Farmgirl45 had a different recollection of a rural Kiwi childhood than Dolan: "To quote your article: 'Rural New Zealand in the 1980s and '90s was a puritanical, misogynistic, authoritarian, anti-intellectual, alcohol-dependent society that specialised in casual brutality.'



"As a young girl/ teenager back then, I grew up during those decade. I can't think that any of those things impacted my life. While my life wasn't perfect, I wasn't deprived of anything. Alcohol was rarely consumed in my family, intellectual understanding was encouraged. Misogynist? Well, I have two sisters and no brothers so that never worked in my family! Puritanical and authoritarian - well that just depends on your definitions. As for 'casual brutality' is simply an emotive literary term, to get a reaction.



"Reading your experience, I actually felt sorry that you didn't experience the rural NZ that I did (and still do). You missed a lot of good living and it shows in the bitterness you write about now."

For dolly, perspective was important: "I grew up in a rural New Zealand town. There were good things, there were not so good things, there were nice people and not so nice. It's called life. I'm happy that I had loving parents and nice friends and good people around us, but I guess if I chose I could turn them into drinking, cursing, animal-killing monsters. I think this piece says a lot about the writer's attitude to life in general, she seems to be looking for badness everywhere. I hope she finds happiness somewhere."

While Dolan continues to have a bleak view of New Zealand after 10 years overseas, some readers viewing this country in the context of their international experience came to a different conclusion.

For example, jezza83 wrote: "I've been living overseas for 10 years in a number of different countries and cultures for work and can say that NZ still has amongst the best of everything overall. If you think these issues don't occur overseas and in worse extremes in many circumstances then you haven't seen the rest of the world properly."

Few readers seemed to have much sympathy with Dolan's upsetting experience being made to watch a cow being shot and butchered, although Boy4747 acknowledged: "Learning how animals are slaughtered is undoubtedly upsetting for any child, or any first time viewer. But this is the reality of life. I would rather my kids understand how meat arrives on their plate. This is by far a more honest view of the world (animals being killed for us to eat). Sheltering them from this truth by only purchasing pre-packaged meat from the supermarket will only ultimately instil a sense of entitlement along with a skewed appreciation of life. If they have an ethical issue once they understand the process, then they can choose to be a vegetarian. Anything else is simply ignorance.

"As for the rest of the article. Depressing, biased and boring. I travel internationally 5-6 times a year for a business I own and every time I return I feel utterly blessed. I am so happy to be a Kiwi and try to never take my good fortune for granted."

Lynners thought Dolan might need new friends: "The writer has been hanging out with the wrong people. I've never had a friend invite me to a cow-killing, or been smashed around because I don't like rugby. The article sounds as if it is a work of fiction, a genre called New Zealand Gothic. Didn't you have any happy times here, Katherine? None at all? Or is it just that you've concentrated on the worst? Anywhere there are humans, there will be cruelty. It's human nature, not Kiwi nature."

Gone was in complete agreement with Dolan: "NZ is no place to live."

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