NZ owns the commonwealth games

Great to see NZ getting a weight lifting gold medal today! How good is that!

nzlockie: ... not to mention, you know, those cycling gold medals, the shooting gold medal or the swimming gold medal. Winning those was cool too.

Also, is it just me, or has there been really poor coverage of these games in general?

admin: Not just you, I've actually had to remind myself they're on. Yeah the cycling team have really done a great job. Things are looking good for the Olympics!

Valerie Adams!

nzlockie: We don't watch them here. They're only broadcasted on Canadian channels, and even there they're only ran with minimal coverage.

Blackflag: That would make sense since you guys haven't been in the commonwealth for several hundred years...

nzlockie: Canada isn't big on the royalty thing either. It is intolerable dealing with the snarky British who constantly immigrate to Canada and northern United States. No joke, many of these people treat Canada like their colony.

Blackflag: Hey, we get that in New Zealand too! I swear NZ and Canada are more closely related than most people give them credit.

admin: Agreed!
I actually think in most areas, kiwis and Canadians have more in common than kiwis and Aussies!

admin: Damn straight. That has always been my problem with my commonwealth. No matter what you try to change about it, people will associate you as a British entity. From a third party perspective, we think British every time we look at Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. At least I do. As for similarities between Canadians and Zealanders, I can't say. Canadians live almost identically to Americans in most respects though. They aren't really that culturally different, but they have more Anglo-Saxon roots.

admin: The relationship between America and Britain is quite odd. We are political allies, but we secretly trash talk each other. Ever mention the American Revolution to a brit? They'll start ranting about how "Britain was to busy to fight for the puny states"

I'm a bit of a royalist, so I actually associate us as British entities as well. I don't think it's a bad thing.

nzlockie: It makes people question the sovereignty and independence of your nation. As long as the Queen rules Britain, you will all be considered colonies.

Blackflag: Silly people who haven't read the statute of Westminster. Though to be fair I'm a believer in a New Zealand Republic, which we pretty much are already in all but name.

I'm OK with people thinking we're a colony. I know we're not and most of the people you're talking about think that London is a country.

I'd feel pretty comfortable that outside of the US, most people who actually knew where we were would know that we're not some subservient backwater eating crumbs off mother England's table.

nzlockie: My canadian friends disagree. There are less than strong ties in most of these nations. It isn't a in the United State outside the United States thing. It is a universal opinion that some may hold or some may not hold. In clarification, I don't believe that New Zealand is a colony, I think that whenever I picture the country.

admin: Why would I have read the statute of Westminster? I'm pretty sure President Obama hasn't read other nations laws or constitutions. I'm definitely in favor of larger countries like New Zealand becoming self sovereign, and finding their own culture/identity. I believe the Statute of Westminster dictates that the Queen is monarch of the commonwealth, not a British entity. No matter how you try to spin it though, the monarchy will always be British.

Blackflag: Sorry you kind of lost me there. I'm guessing your Canadian friends don't see themselves as having close ties to Britain any more... Is that it?
I think a lot of people in the commonwealth fell the same way.
That's OK. I don't feel that way as strongly as others, but I do feel it.

I guess what I was saying was that as a Kiwi, I don't really care what people think of my country's dependence status. People who have a preconceived idea of what a "colony" looks or behaves like, probably aren't going to be too far off the mark when they think of us anyway!

Blackflag: New Zealand has an extremely strong culture and identity. And we have a treaty between the crown and tangata whenua that our identity and values will be protected and upheld.