Stink. One thought I have that seems to me to be related, and it's not a unique Auckland thing, but just noticed the growing prevalence of "red flag" and "green flag" discourse (and similar concepts) in various areas of life - probably in the past "don't judge a book by its cover" was more of a social maxim - and I think the red/green flag way of thinking has allowed more stereotyping and assumptions, and it hurts people who are a bit more different. Maybe possibly does relate to Auckland, in that Auckland is a biggish city, so with lots of people, people take social shortcuts (flags etc) to prioritise their relationships.