The Victor Davis Hanson Show

Always enjoy the show. My only wish would be for Jack to talk less and Victor to talk more.

I have been listening to your podcast and reading some of your books over the last few years. I haven't got to all of them, but find the style engaging and really draws the listener in. While the focus is on the US, I'm fascinated from listening from a New Zealand perspective, as we're in the Anglosphere, and cultural and social trends here tend to follow the US and Europe. The saying goes here, that Sydney is 10 years behind New York and London, and Auckland (our largest city in New Zealand) would be ten years behind Sydney. Today though, it feels like cultural trends are happening real time. Most notably for New Zealand is: 1. The focus on transgenderism (about 6 years ago out of a population of just under 5 million, there would have been about less than 10 people who wanted surgery to transition per year. From my children’s friend groups, I know of about 10 kids who want to change their gender. Note we don’t have drug companies or healthcare providers pushing this here. 2. The focus on identity and sexuality, my children are learning from Primary School about their sexuality and gender identity 3. The focus on race, this is contentious in New Zealand, we have an indigenous population, but we've always had assimilation, and while there are tensions, people rub along together well. We have no enclaves of separate communities in reservations. There is a lot of inter marriage, and race does not impact social mobility, but like much in life, outcomes are not equal, and these are being focussed on by an educated elite who invest in telling us how we should behave and speak. Although you will be able to tell from my surname, I'm not indigenous or of English/European stock. My great grandfather came here in the early 1900s when New Zealand was a dominion, and there was freedom of movement within the commonwealth. Although he eventually returned to India to settle, his sons all came to New Zealand, as did their wives, and children, and I was born here. I know New Zealand well and have also lived in England for many years. My husband I returned after we had children, as we wanted them to have a childhood that was like mine. This means a childhood like the 1950s (as British migrants in the 1980s would often comment when they migrated to New Zealand) I’m curious as to your take on the importing of woke from the US to the Anglosphere, and where you think we will all end up. I hope you are now getting close to recovering from Long Covid, please take care. Kokila Patel