Yesterday Chris Trotter spoke on radio saying New Zealanders must not beat themselves up over the Christchurch terror act. His analysis of what happened and how we should react is here:
What happened at the Linwood and Al Noor mosques was horrific, but it wasn’t our doing. As we begin the long journey towards recovery, it is vitally important that we keep that fact squarely before us. New Zealand is a good place. New Zealanders are good people. We are not responsible for Brenton Tarrant’s dreadful crime. This is not us.Today Anne Salmond writing in the DomPost infers New Zealanders are responsible if only indirectly:
In the wake of this terrible tragedy, let's be honest, for once. White supremacy is a part of us, a dark power in the land....In its hard version, it's violent and hateful, spewing out curses, incarcerating young Māori in large numbers, denying them a decent education, homes and jobs, telling them they have no future, and are better off dead.....The Muslim community has suffered a terrible, heart-breaking loss, and it needs all our love and support. It is not the only group who are targeted by white supremacists, however, and there are more ways of killing and maiming people than with a gun.
Interestingly Chris Trotter predicted this sort of reaction:
The Prime Minister will, doubtless, come under increasing pressure from angry and misguided persons to curtail the rights of New Zealanders articulating unpopular views concerning Maori-Pakeha relations, the Islamic religion, multiculturalism and immigration policy. In defence of the liberal-democratic values that Tarrant assaulted so violently, Jacinda should calmly resist all such calls. We must not allow the unanimity of our grief to be translated into a demand for unanimity of opinion.I hope, in this instance, Trotter's pen is mightier than the sword.
5 comments:
Chris Trotter's comments are that of a thoughtful reasoned person and in my view quite correct. Anne Salmond's comments unfortunately show her judgement has been clouded by academia and not reality. Racism is present in any society and it is not just a one sided matter as it is present in all sectors and religions not just in those who are of European origin. Fortunately the majority of us just want to get on with our lives and live harmoniously so therefore freedom of speech and opinion should in no way be curtailed because of the actions of a minority of hate filled individuals.
With no consensus, the contentious issues surrounding Pell and Jackson have overnight been relegated to page 10 and replaced with something more newsworthy.
Many years go after leaving my rural lifestyle for the benefits of a 5 minute walk to the shops, and having no use for my firearms anymore, I legally disposed of them. With no guns, I never bothered to renew my firearms license. A couple of years passed and I received a letter from the police asking why i had not renewed my firearms license? They informed me it was an offence to be an unlicensed firearm owner. I informed them of my change in circumstances and thought no more about it. I then received another letter informing me the police were considering prosecuting me for not informing them of my change of address. The penalty for this misdemeanor was $500. Thankfully sane heads prevailed. It gave me a new insight into the benefits of reading the fine print, doting the T's and crossing the I's.
Not long ago I was discussing legitimate firearm ownership with some long time associates whom I would describe as mature old school hard men. Asking them why, in their twilight years and one step away from the Rest Home they haven't disposed of their weapons? "We may need to defend ourselves" was their response. Are they wrong I wonder?
Last week my wife and I were shocked when we were challenged over a very minor matter which quickly escalated into something with elements of underlying racism. It was superficially resolved in a prompt manner. I have no reason to think the prejudices which simmer under the surface of polite society are going to be resolved anytime soon.
in light of Friday's chaos, I suspect the powers that be will attempt to create harmony through the use of greater government controls over our live's, which I know will be designed to keep us safe.
I understand where that leads, but I suppose they mean well!
Chris got castigated by all the usual suspects on the Left, however, starting with Marama Davidson who has been using her Twitter account to point score against her right wing enemies and clip free speech since the bullets stopped almost.
Typical that Anne Salmond would identify White Supremacy. She's trying to help lead the way in our culture processing what has happened with easy handles and convenient boxes like this and 'coward'.
Not White Supremacy at all, but rather a violent expression of the urge to have ethno states. This is shared by any (probably every) race you can name. Even Maoris have a little sub-section that would like things done that way and African Americans certainly do. Paradoxically, perhaps, these groups get along OK with each other because they all agree that humans need human territory to realise their individuality.
I've been confronted with these ideas too but have been looking for a peaceful solution. Tarrant, on the other hand, took a different fork and down a rabbit hole. We need to tell the truth about this problem and come up with better answers than violence. Salmond is not telling the truth. Big part of this is that guns start talking when people stop. In August 2018 Stef and Lauren were unable to talk and nor were their supporters who were jammed by loud portable speakers in the Square. The more speech is clamped down upon the more violently those rules will be broken. Tarrant in March is the Australian sequel to the Canadians from August.
An interesting dichotomy.
It would appear that freedom of speech and by default freedom of thought are dead in most peoples mind.
Most comments I see say that ALT Right (whatever that is ) is evil and shouldn't be allowed.
Why not?
Why does alt right hold such a special place?
With the current leadership being emotionally driven, I see free speech becoming a historical concept in NZ, Similiarly in UK and other so called free democracies.
Although the US Constitution enshrines free speech, even there hate speech has been legislated for when it urges people to "do something""
I am thankful that I am no longer young and no longer worried about facing George Orwells 1984 prediction.
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