The Star: May 04, 2023
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>May</strong> 4 <strong>2023</strong><br />
14<br />
NEWS<br />
THE CO-OWNER of<br />
Christchurch-based Williams<br />
Corporation, the second biggest<br />
residential building company in<br />
the country, has stated on social<br />
media he imagines himself as<br />
a Jewish business owner being<br />
hauled off to a concentration<br />
camp in Nazi Germany when<br />
facing “external” issues.<br />
Managing director and coowner<br />
Matthew Horncastle told<br />
his Instagram followers, after being<br />
asked by a user how he deals<br />
with “the media attacking” him,<br />
that he employs the “wee mental<br />
exercise” and reminds himself<br />
that the world is “not just”.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Holocaust Centre of New<br />
Zealand said, in their view,<br />
the comparison “belittles the<br />
memory of six million people<br />
murdered in the Holocaust”.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>se things are not equivalent<br />
in any way.”<br />
In Horncastle’s social media<br />
story, he said: “For example,<br />
the media attacking me or the<br />
Government doing some form of<br />
poor behaviour that affects me or<br />
my business. Something external.<br />
I have a wee mental exercise<br />
and I imagine that I am a Jewish<br />
business owner at the same time<br />
as you have the Nazis.<br />
“And I imagine if I’d worked<br />
so hard my whole life, I’ve done<br />
everything right, I’ve followed<br />
the rules, I’ve saved my money,<br />
I’ve paid my taxes and then I<br />
get hauled off to a concentration<br />
camp. And I remind myself that<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
Williams Corporation co-owner’s comment<br />
‘belittles those murdered in Holocaust’<br />
FLYING HIGH: Williams Corporation co-owners Blair<br />
Chappell and Matthew Horncastle. PHOTO: NZ HERALD<br />
the world’s not just and there are<br />
bad people that do bad things<br />
and all I can control is how I feel<br />
about myself and what I do every<br />
day and then I just block them<br />
out and keep living my life and<br />
keep doing me.”<br />
Horncastle did not wish to<br />
comment on the Instagram story.<br />
Holocaust Centre of New<br />
Zealand board chair Deborah<br />
Hart said while she believes<br />
Horncastle was not trying to<br />
denigrate the Holocaust and its<br />
victims, that is the outcome of<br />
comparing the horror Jews and<br />
other minorities faced in the<br />
Holocaust with a business being<br />
scrutinised or criticised by the<br />
media or dealing with government<br />
actions.<br />
In her opinion, Hart said people<br />
need to take care referencing<br />
the Holocaust.<br />
“Not every perceived injustice<br />
is comparable to the Holocaust.<br />
“Making the comparison,<br />
when it is plainly so different,<br />
belittles the memory of six<br />
million people murdered in the<br />
Holocaust and does nothing<br />
to further an understanding of<br />
the Holocaust. Neither in this<br />
case, incidentally, does it further<br />
an understanding of what Mr<br />
Horncastle and his business are<br />
experiencing.”<br />
Hart said the Holocaust was<br />
the deliberate attempt to exterminate<br />
the Jews, defined by antisemitic<br />
ideology, propaganda,<br />
legislation, and the systematic<br />
implementation of unprecedented<br />
extermination techniques.<br />
Earlier this week, Horncastle<br />
shared an image of the BCI New<br />
Zealand top new house builders,<br />
which listed their Christchurch<br />
company as the number two<br />
residential builder.<br />
Last year, Horncastle also<br />
told social media followers that<br />
women should use their “youth<br />
and beauty” to get the “best<br />
possible man”, but later said the<br />
comments were “written in seconds”<br />
and that it would be wrong<br />
to take them “out of context”.<br />
<strong>The</strong> property boss said in a<br />
now-deleted Instagram story<br />
that he believed traditional gender<br />
roles worked.<br />
When approached for comment<br />
by the Herald at the time,<br />
Horncastle said he had been<br />
replying to “hundreds of questions”<br />
and in that answer he was<br />
referring to “tools the different<br />
sexes use to attract a partner”.<br />
He said women, people, and<br />
relationships are more complex<br />
than a few words on an Instagram<br />
story.<br />
Men, he said, value more<br />
than just youth and beauty and<br />
“women use more than youth<br />
and beauty”.<br />
– NZ Herald<br />
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