The Ponderer
Stuff ran an article yesterday about a woman who was disgusted her 11-year-old daughter was asked to deliver an “extreme religious publication” on her paper round. Because they disagreed with the publication, rather than delivering it (as her daughter is legally and contractually obliged to do, and the sender has paid for) they were going to burn the entire stack of books.
The books would be going in the woodburner, Rivas Herrera said.
stuff
There’s nothing wrong with the document itself. I received a copy – it is simply an exposition of the Book of Revelation, an attempt to link the symbolism in the Book to modern-day nations. It is both political and religious but is fundamentally no different to thousands of other books and articles on the same topic (and coming to a whole host of different conclusions). It’s not encouraging violence or anything dangerous. It’s just a long sermon.
Stuff posted a selectively edited quote from a representative of the NZ Seventh-day Adventist Church, in an attempt to bolster the case that this is an extreme document. But the NZ church rep only said clearly that they were not the sender, he made no comment positive or negative about the content. He is probably disgusted at how his words have been twisted to appear to support the suppression of free speech.
It is, in my opinion, a stupid waste of resources by the sender. It’s such a long sermon almost nobody will read it, and if they do read it they’ll find it’s about the USA not New Zealand. It will be used by most recipients to light the fire. But everyone’s free to throw away their own money. However, the Stuff article sets a very dangerous precedent.
The delivery contractor’s mother has stolen this mail from the delivery contractor (her daughter) and destroyed it. This is deliberate premeditated theft and vandalism. She should be arrested and dragged before the court, to be fined at a minimum.
Furthermore, she is teaching her daughter that it would be ok for her to breach her employment contract and burn things she doesn’t want to deliver, which is terrible parenting.
She could have advised her daughter to return the mail to her employer for someone else to deliver, and accept having her pay cut or being fired as the just legal result of her actions as theft and destruction of mail is illegal. Yet, in our mad world, she probably won’t be arrested. There is no mention anywhere in this article about the criminal nature of her actions.
The sender fully complied with the law. The delivery contractor’s mother is a thief and a vandal. But the sender is vilified and the lawbreaker is held up as a hero.
This is not a moral issue. The mother is quite happy for her daughter to deliver liquor store pamphlets and says so clearly. She is simply objecting to the religious/political content because it disagrees with her own views.
If postal contractors can burn mail they don’t like instead of delivering it, what else might they choose not to send?
This is fundamentally no different to many other religious and political documents that are delivered in the mail, and that people might disagree with. If this precedent is allowed, will postal workers next election burn the pamphlets of political parties they disagree with? Or next Easter or Christmas, will the religious brochures churches have invested large amounts of their limited resources into printing be burned by the postal workers instead of being delivered?
This should be of enormous concern to every political party and every religious group.
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