In his essay 'Politics and the English Language” George Orwell writes: 'But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
New Zealand provides a perfect example of how a single word can corrupt the thought of a whole nation – with serious political consequences.
That word is ‘bicultural'. The term suggests that it concerns two entities of a similar nature, cf. ‘bilingual', ‘bilateral', ‘bisexual'. In this case, however, the suggestion is misleading.
At issue are a tribal culture and modern civilization, which is not a culture in the anthropological sense. The former constitutes a closed society, which is determined by tradition. The latter represents the open society, which is based on rationality, personal responsibility and freedom.
The contrast shows that the two entities are not of a similar nature. In fact, modern civilization is essentially transcultural. Its basic characteristics are, in principle, common to all mankind.
The New Zealand term ‘bicultural' is a hybrid, whose insidious deceptiveness has, indeed, corrupted the thought of the nation. The ensuing political correctness is costing the country dearly.

Kees de Leeuw, Mt Maunganui.