A reader reacts to the post praising New Zealand:
Are you kidding? The country has a mere 4 million people. What's next? Connecticut exceptionalism?
A reader asks:
If New Zealand is so great, why is everyone leaving it? In February alone, 4,100 Kiwis left for Australia, capping off of a 12-month period in which New Zealand lost a net 39,100 people to its neighbor.
Another is more diplomatic:
My folks just returned from a multi-week trip to Australia and New Zealand. Aside from generating a decent amount of jealousy and resentment in their two 20-something sons, they came back with a respect for how New Zealand is bouncing back from the earthquakes that wrecked Christchurch and other parts of the island. In every place they visited, the people greeted them and assured all the tourists they saw that the country is back and open for business, so send your friends and their wallets!
This contrasts to the reception tourists gawking at damage receive in New Orleans, as chronicled in an in-depth NYT article this weekend. You’ve covered the moral ambiguity of "disaster tourism" before, and I was surprised to hear my parents had giddily jumped on a bus to stare at what nature wrought in New Zealand. However, they were repeatedly thanked by everyone they came across for visiting and spreading the word on recovery efforts. All that and while attending a Maori festival, my dad met and spoke with the prime minister, John Key.
The Dish 