BEYOND A BROKEN SYSTEM #134 - SEEING OUR TRUE VALUE: MOVING BEYOND THE COLONIAL GAZE

Trapped in the Deficit Trap

The Babylonian operating system does not just extract physical resources and money from our communities, it maintains control by conditioning us in how we view ourselves. It accomplishes this through a damaging mental filter often called the "Colonial Gaze".

When government agencies, academic institutions, and media organisations look at regions like Taitokerau, they view our people almost exclusively through deficit narratives. They measure our communities entirely by our problems, fixating on unemployment rates, school statistics, health issues, and crime numbers. They produce endless reports detailing everything that is supposedly broken or lacking in local whānau.