DEFENCE IN DEPTH
»Sir,-In reply to "Helpful," I suggest that our "defensiveness" is due to the fact that we have something to defend. Those who have travelled know, those who haven’t suspect, that this is the finest country in the world. Nevetheless, we do not indulge in aggressive boasting like citizens of many other lands, and we are glad of wise criticism, although our faults are often the minor and necessary concomitants of our virtues. These "defensive" statements are usually made from a kindly desire to prevent people like "Helpful,"’ or the’ "superannuated crackpots and inane tourists" he mentions, from falling into error. The lack of a sense of humour which appears in "Helpful’s" criticism of "Sundowner" is surprising. I would suggest, in the kindliest spirit, that he would have done better to migrate to a country with an "aggressive" complex.
DEFENDER
(Kumeu)
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530402.2.12.8
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 716, 2 April 1953, Page 5
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143DEFENCE IN DEPTH New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 716, 2 April 1953, Page 5
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