An Aussie bloke’s rant calling New Zealanders “bummy” and “lazy” after living here for a year is getting a mixed bag of reactions from Kiwis.
Kashi, a 20-year-old personal trainer from Queensland, shared his take on Aotearoa after a short stint living here with his girlfriend. The pair are now heading to Melbourne.
“I can’t take it any more,” he says in the nearly 10-minute video, which has racked up over 26k views.
Despite saying he enjoyed much of his time here, Kashi claims it doesn’t outweigh the toll on his mental health, physical wellbeing, diet, and career motivation, which he says have all taken a “significant hit.”
“I’m sick frequently,” he adds, blaming the “cold, dark, gloomy, depressing and wet” weather - something he believes shapes the way Kiwis live day to day.
I have never met in my life people more unmotivated, depressed, bummy and doing it rough than I have since I’ve moved here.
“There are so many people here who are just lazy, fat bums that aren’t doing anything with their lives,” he continues. “And they’re living off welfare.”
He puts this “bummy” lifestyle down to unemployment rates, young families “spitting out kids,” a “shit” education system, and low-paying jobs.
“This feels like an out-of-touch take that completely misses the mark on what life in NZ is actually like. Where’s the data, the examples, the context? It’s all opinion, no substance,” one Kiwi responded to the clip.
“His rant comes across more like rage bait than a real lived experience. It’s all heat, no substance.”
Despite branding us as “lazy, fat bums,” Kashi complains it’s hard to get into a gym because they’re all overcrowded. He also reckons people go barefoot, smell bad, and don’t wear deodorant.
It’s a rough day to be a Porirua gym-goer, apparently…
But the real nail in the coffin for Kashi is that our issue is with Tall Poppy Syndrome. He describes his experience of viewing this as the people who think they’re “God’s gift to earth” walking into Pak ‘n Save in their Pyjamas on “WINZ payment night”.
It’s really started to dig into me and make me realise that 90% of the people here have no motivation, no aspirations in life…
Look, he’s not totally wrong when he talks about a culture of projection - but to act like that’s the reason you’re packing up your whole life and raging about gym queues? There’s a mirror right there.
Commenters are torn on his rather brutal opinion.
One asked: “Has bro just discovered winter?”
“You’ll find a lot of pros and cons in every country you move to,” said another. “In a positive aspect, there are many people who - gym, make money, work hard, be productive, kind, and chill in New Zealand.”
“There are many hard workers & high achievers,” they added. “Everybody and every place has its vices."
A negative mind won’t give you a positive life.
A third said: “While many are taking offence at some of these comments, you’re not wrong. NZ has become such a shell of a country.”
“I relate to your grievances, I disagree with your reasoning behind why things are the way they are, but the material facts of how New Zealand is covered here are correct,” someone else wrote.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion - and we’re not saying you have to love it here - but maybe don’t base your whole take on one crap experience in one region before taking your "rant" online for the WHOLE world to hear.
