A Facebook page dedicated to chronicling the "Shit towns of New Zealand" is attracting high praise and harsh criticism. Hell, the mayor of one of the so-called "shit towns" told reporters "the people who write that sort of rubbish should be shot".
This is Tokoroa, described by Shit Towns of New Zealand as "one of the turdiest turds in the toilet."
Shit Towns of New Zealand was created by two friends about two years ago, but remained dormant until wild media attention and criticism from local politicians led to a big increase in attention. Here's the page's review of Waiuku: "the quintessence of small town shitness."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the admins of the page, who said he was a 30-year-old New Zealand man, said the page was originally started as a joke amongst friends. "It soon became apparent that thousands of other people found it funny too," he said of the 30,000-plus follower base.
The negative reactions to the page began surfacing midway through 2017 when it became large enough for people who actually lived in the towns being described as shit to take notice. Then the media got involved and started making lovely graphics like this:
"Some of them like what we're doing and others really hate it," said the admin.
"I think the negative reactions are due to people not getting our brand of humour, combined with a sort of parochial and jingoistic culture that exists in small town NZ."
While Shit Towns of New Zealand may have been frustrating a few locals, the furore really picked up this week after multiple New Zealand politicians found it necessary to weigh in.
New Zealand's caretaker trade minister, Rotorua MP Todd McClay, said the owners of the page should apologise, and South Waikato district mayor Jenny Shattock said "the people that write that sort of rubbish should be shot" after a town in her district, Putaruru, was declared one of the shittest towns in the country that "only exists to make Tokoroa [another town] feel better about themselves".
Shattock later told Newshub she knew she shouldn't have said the creators of the page should be shot, but that she was "trying to match the joking nature of the page".
But still.
STILL.
Should be shot!!! Because of a Facebook page!!!