When did we stop listening to each other? When did we, and I mean me not necessarily you, become such unquestioning followers of prevailing scientific thinking and lose our willingness to listen to, or at least tolerate, those who disagreed with it and us?
When did we stop listening to our fellow citizens with different views and decide to spend our energies mocking them rather than challenging things that ought to be challenged?
Was it the anti-vaxxers in the face of science, and doing the right thing by the community, acting like toddlers that won’t eat their vegetables even if they are good for them? Just eat your bloody vegetables the rest of the country yelled at their televisions as we watched the grotesque march of the morons.
The small mob enjoying their new power to give the finger back to society - and lets be clear, that is what they were doing. Not making an informed decision as to what to do with their body, not worried as to the long term effects of a newly introduced vaccination. This was their chance to say “we’re here, we’re not happy, and stop making fun of us due to our education levels. You wouldn’t mock the disabled, stupid people are people too - how dare you be so prejudiced?”
I mean they didn’t articulate it quite that - well, they wouldn’t would they.
And we thought yeah nah fuck that. Now eat your greens or you’ll have to sit on the naughty stair.
Oh and you can’t play with our kids any more until you’ve eaten them - we’re concerned based on what we see that stupid might be catching. No, not eaten the children - good grief just eat the spinach it’ll make you strong like Popeye.
Those of us who have been on many protests over the years suddenly lost our belief in the right to protest, or maybe we just don’t recall throwing human faeces at people when we protested - because it didn’t happen! Now shut up with your “my body my rights” stuff and take your vaccines like the state says - conform for the greater good.
When did we lose patience with the opinions of others and just tell them to shut up and get with the programme? We care about free speech don’t we? More than staying safe from a deadly virus? Um apparently not. For goodness sake you can have your free speech just wear the mask and don’t breath on me while you’re doing it.
Blind unquestioning compliance brokering no criticism while just ignoring the really bad stuff - is that how Stalin happened? How about Hitler?
I’m not suggesting you’re planning to stand by and watch the mass extermination of a whole group of people. But let’s be honest you’ve learned that you can’t describe the IDF as behaving badly, as you watch the latest report on them murdering a Palestinian child, or as possibly being like a certain other group in history. You’ll be accused of being anti-semitic and there is no trial for that accusation!
Go on, tell them you just cared about the Palestinians - you aren’t the servant of Satan and see where that gets you. You might as well be in Salem in 1693. No, we can’t criticise those guys but it is open season on the misinformed and bewildered in our own country.
Mandatory disclaimer - I’ve spent time in Israel, it is a fascinating and fabulous country to travel in, the people are friendly. It’s an easy place to travel, certainly compared to surrounding countries - amazing what an endless flow of American money can achieve eh? But I also deplore the actions of the Israeli government - now there is an organisation that will not accept any criticism despite the whole world being able to see they are running apartheid.
Are we not already totalitarianly there yet? I mean the anti-listening-to-the smart-folks people seem to think so. Is there really any difference between telling them they can’t come to work for a bit while they won’t get a vaccine and putting them in cattle cars and shipping them off to the big Pharma experimentation camps?
Yes there bloody well is, despite their banners to the contrary.
But are we being unfair? What if these conspiracy theorists and science deniers are on to something? Maybe the “Where is Clarke Gayford?” mob were just concerned citizens with an interest in sleuthing? Maybe the anti brigade have a valid argument - so why don’t they mention it already?
It is very hard to find any empathy for people who refer to our democratically elected PM, with far and away the largest victory margin since MMP was introduced, as a dictator - it is just idiotic.
And listening is a two-way street. Try and have a rational discussion with these people that refer to us as woke snowflakes and they get absolutely triggered by the use of logic and rationale arguments.
Ironically the “school of hard knocks” graduates who see themselves as the backbone of the country, the good old kiwi battlers, are the biggest bunch of whiny cry babies you have ever come across. Where is the kindness they ask? In getting vaccinated for the safety of others you moron - that’s where.
But its not just the educationally challenged that we’ve stopped listening to, we’ve become so partisan that we just don’t listen or consider something based on which side it impacts, and of course a lot of people just zone out cos who wants to listen to two groups of people yelling at each other while not listening.
We bleeding heart liberals didn’t give a shit about Sam Uffindell’s victim(s), the excitement was - “ha ha look at the National Party, they are so useless they’ve selected an entitled rich white prick with a history of bullying!” To be fair it did rather sound like they met the brief.
No, the only real interest in the case was the damage it would do to the opposition. How much time did you spend really caring about the actual victim, the kid Sam and his mates beat up? Yeah not so much if we’re honest.
The same in reverse of course for Gaurav Sharma, how many actually took his bullying claims seriously or were worried about him versus people delighted that this would look bad for the Labour Party? Bugger all I imagine.
The only difference I can see is that National Party supporters probably just wished the whole Sam distraction would go away. We on the left were rather keener on Mr Sharma being given a show trial and a one-way ticket to Siberia for his utter disloyalty and narcissism - but that’s just us. You know, the “kind” left.
We listen to our own side without question. The right tells its support base “Crime is bad and must to be stopped”. Their supporters don’t respond - “yeah buddy pull the other one - when John Key was campaigning in 2008 he said cracking down on gangs and crime would be his priority - and he did jack!”
The left tell us “Poverty is bad we must do something about it”, we don’t respond - “actually you’ve had five years and sure things are better than under the other lot, and you’ve had Covid, but come on you’ve hardly put a dent in it! You’ve got the biggest majority in MMP history pull finger and do something dramatic about it instead of worrying so much about not scaring the horses and getting re-elected.”,
You’re going to get voted out eventually, if not next year then almost certainly three years after that, and you’ll have wasted the chance of a generation to make substantial change.
Of course we don’t say that, that would be disloyal - not an off to the Gulag disloyalty like Dr Sharma, but enough for a swift telling off from your Labour-no-matter-what mates. Be gentle.
Meanwhile we passively watch as governments do bugger all about Climate Change that has us hurtling towards the end of human civilisation faster than if we were just swallowed by the sun when it expands. Do you think perhaps we’ve lost sight of what is important somewhere along the way? And focussed on things that really aren’t?
What about some of the things we really need an informed discussion on like Three Waters with Maori at the table vs Pee Waters with one vote for all and just ignore the treaty?
Or even the name of our country “it’s New Zealand cos that’s what it’s always been” vs “we’re changing it to Aotearoa and we’re not asking you lot, look how the reeferendum went and now we’re this backwards little country at the bottom of the world that will still have Cannabis prohibition for the next decade because you listened to Paula Bennett’s fake hysteria and not health experts and others involved at the coal face”.
Not vaccinations, they’re important - back on the naughty step and eat your broccoli idiots.
But Nick, you might say, you’re being a hypocrite, surely we should listen to all voices and not offend each other. To which I say - Meh, not all opinions are equal when it comes to science.
But also yeah, this is a slippery slope. We’re all in this country together for better or worse. Even the alternative thinkers who prepared parliament grounds for a make-over didn’t get so deranged that they badly hurt someone, no sit back down you don’t get a cookie for not hurting someone.
There are bigger issues that affect all of us which we really should do something about.
What’s that? You can’t hear me because I’m wearing a mask?
Oh for goodness sake we need to hear each other, I’ll take off the mask but don’t come any closer, and cover your mouth when you cough, and wash your hands, and look both ways when…
I also have been involved in a lot of protests over the years starting with marching against the Vietnam war when I was 18yrs old.I havealso been involved in putting together a lot of petitions, especially in the "response to family violence "area, As a feminist, violence towards women.and children under patriarchies around the world has been a focus of a lot of my energy. Unfortunately I can't say that has changed much-it seems to go around in circles. I was shocked at the personal abuse and misinformation aimed at Helen Clark when she became PM. I was even more shocked at the vile abuse of Jacinda Ardern. I had rarely been on social media but started to read the Stuff commentary and contributers. I believe the Young Nats used to have quite a presence there before Stuff changed ownership and now there is a level of moderation. I had voted Labour in 2017 -didn't split my vote that time because I did NOT want Bill English with his intent to privatise our Health system to be our ongoing PM. The proposed new Dunedin hospital to replace our run down public hospital was going to be a public/private arrangement driven by Whitehouse (whose background is in private healthcare) and English. Dunedin people said no thanks. I had already experienced the beginning of privatising healthcare under ruthless Ruth Richardson. In 1993 my husband had a severe stroke. i was sent a bill of $500.00 as part-payment for his week in Dunedin public Hospital. Richardson had introduced a part-payment system into public hospitals. Helen Clark overturned it when she was voted in.
What I found from the awful comments about Jacinda Ardern as our new PM was that I became more entrenched in my views, and loyalties. Things I might have challenged the government about I talked about in safe circles- I didn't want to give the trolls more ammunition. A big difference between the protests I have been involved in (including protests led by Grant Robertson) was that we always aimed for non-violent protest. Violence was often the response- marching for Homosexual Law reform along the main street of Dunedin we had beer poured on us and various missiles tbrown at us along with abuse, and name calling. But our actions were always to be non-violent. Unlike the current rounds of various protests where violence seems to be at the forefront. I could never imagine talking about erecting gallows, and hanging somebody.
As far as Ufindell and Sharma are concerned , I did think of his victim. Of course he is the person who spoke out. The thought of a young boy being dragged from his bed and being beaten up by four males several years older and a lot bigger- just look at the size of Uffindell- upset me. The compounding factor is that no police were involved- it was swept under the carpet. Sure- he was kicked out of Kings but immediately enrolled in a brother school to Kings-St Paul's in Hamilton- another Anglican private school. The information that has come out about Uffindell's flatting situation at Otago uni.is gross- especially the womens underwear trophy display. I have sons who flatted while studying at Otago ,and they didn't behave like that. As for Sharma- he seemed to have absolutely no empathy for his staff. He just dismisses that they have any rights, making the comment they wouldn't do as he said/wanted. He certainly has shown signs of narcissism. The timing of his public announcements was interesting!
my best friend and his family live on the GC, his wife is a midwife , and a rabid anti vaxxer - only as far as Covid is concerned I must add, to keep working she has so far paid 3 lots of AUD 350.00 for the necessary fake vaccine certificates , this has put a hell of a strain on a near 40 year friendship - we are all vaxxed to the max I might add and so far I am the only member of our family not to have caught the foul virus.