I subscribe to a blogger by the name of Bill Bonner. He writes daily on financial matters mostly pertinent to America. His latest article is headed – A Nation of Poltroons. The word poltroon was used as a common insult in the nineteenth century and its meaning is an utter coward. He has a subheading – The Flaw of the Masses. He makes the point that the federales (read Ardern, Bloomfield et al) have a fatal flaw. They alarm the public (citing bogeymen and hobgoblins) and then use the crisis to extend their own power and control. He says command and control may be a good way to fight a real war, but in a fight with an economic crisis, a heavy hand is always disastrous.
In his opinion though, the masses have a complimentary flaw in that they want to be scared. Too timid to face the risk calmly, they beseech authority and vote for bullies and windbags. Locally, you know who! He says the mob is always timorous and always ready to give up its dignity, common sense and independence in exchange for security. As examples, we wear our seatbelts, let goons frisk us at the airport, and are afraid to have a beer before driving. And now we cower in our homes because the feds (or in our case ‘Comrade’ Jacinda Ardern) tell us to.
Now you can debate the legitimacy of those comments but as they pertain to COVID-19 and this Government’s handling of it they are, in my opinion, not too far wide of the mark. That Ardern has used this health situation to extend her own power and control is beyond doubt. This woman has activated a strand of her DNA, which like a dormant volcano has erupted, spewing out uncontrollable flows of molten lava burning up the economy. As has been noted above, this has disastrous consequences and they will be felt for a decade or more. Isn’t it ironic how often we have heard about the terrible legacy the baby boomers, of which I’m one, are going to leave subsequent generations due to our behaviour? Now, one control freak has done it single handedly.
We should never have gone to level four. Even allowing for Ardern making a complete pig’s ear of handling the crisis, open borders etc, there was no need to impose such heavy-handed restrictions. There was plenty of scope for a more commonsense approach, like closing the borders. Unfortunately, the doctrine of the far left doesn’t allow commonsense. We’re all in this together COMRADES to show SOLlDARITY. Two words, prominent in the vocabulary of the Marxist left. The more mature of us, recognising the dangers, have voluntarily self-isolated. We didn’t have to be told by some control freak half our age.
Her decisions on level three, with no consultation with those involved, will, when enacted, turn out to be a complete dog’s breakfast. Her beloved education sector has been the first out of the blocks to tell her so. Why isn’t Parliament back deciding on these matters? That, of course, is the last thing Jacinda Ardern wants. That is not the modus operandi of the far left. Quite the opposite. The idea is to use the occasion to achieve other undemocratic aims like pushing through the Bill to give her criminal “comrades” the right to vote. What is going on is absolutely disgusting. Again, the only opposition MP speaking up on all fronts is David Seymour. Where is National demanding that Parliament be returned?
Bill Bonner makes the point that so far about 138,000 have succumbed worldwide, a fraction of the 650,000 who will die from the flu. He quotes the Washington Post (that left-wing bastion of fake news) opining that comparing COVID-19 and the ordinary flu is a “zombie claim”. They say the reason the figures are so low is because of the extreme measures taken. His, and my, sledgehammer reply to that is: well why don’t we do the same for the flu and reduce the numbers for that? Or don’t we care how many die from the flu? The question Bill puts, and I put is:
WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT COVID-19?
What is so special about it that we have to do untold damage to the economy for years, if not decades to come, when hundreds of thousands more will die EVERY YEAR from the flu. I just don’t get it. When the next virus comes along, (and it will), if Jacinda Ardern is still our PM, God forbid, she’d better ensure that the strand of her DNA she let loose this time is well and truly deactivated.
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