Dear Editor
Edmund Burke said that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.
I don’t necessarily think of myself as a “good man” but I can recognise evil when I see it.
I’m old enough to remember the days when we protested in this country over the proposed Springbok rugby tour. Much as I loved rugby (still do), and especially the challenge of a test match between the All Blacks and the Springboks, I understood the reason for the protests. Apartheid, as practised in South Africa at the time, was wrong. It was evil to think of and speak of some people as second class citizens, remove freedoms from them and maintain a social distance from them.
While the government of South Africa practised apartheid, we in New Zealand rightly stood up and said No. We drew a line in the sand. We declared that Black people should not be treated as second class citizens in South Africa or anywhere else for that matter. And we refused to play rugby with the South African test team again until this evil was removed. I can also remember the day on which the NZ government, in solidarity with the people who were out protesting in the streets, shut down the South African embassy over that very issue. Those were the days…
How times have changed. Now, there is a small number of people whom the Prime Minister has matter of factly declared to be “second class citizens”. Freedoms and other rights and privileges are now being removed.
We will not congregate with you. You will not come into our workplace, our restaurant, our church or our store. You must keep your distance. If you want to gather, let it be over there, away from us. And why? Because we must protect our health. We must maintain our safe places of work and of social interaction. You are a threat to us. Why is that? Because there is a target on your back. Covid 19 is searching you out right now and if you come near us, you will likely give it to us. We can’t have that. True, we are double vaccinated, with vaccines that the PM and the Director of Public Health assure us are safe, and what’s more, they work! They afford us great protection from Covid 19, especially after a booster or three. But those of you who choose, for whatever reason, not to receive that vaccine, must stay away from us. Go away. We feel unsafe around you!
Those of you who are old enough might remember back in the day, how David Lange wittily declared that he could smell the uranium on the breath of the Oxford debaters. Well, here, in our day of much greater enlightenment, if you are not double vaccinated, and if you have not received the latest booster, we can see the Covid 19 oozing from your very pores. Stay away. We don’t want you. It is only fair and just that you lose your job and have your freedom of movement cut off at the knees.
I think I understand that argument. It’s not like apartheid as practised by the South Africans at all. Black people couldn’t change the colour of their skin, but you can easily go and get your regular vaccine shot. And if you refuse, for whatever reason, you are a bad person. It is only right that you should be made to suffer. We have done our bit for the team. But you? You must now pay a price. Get away from us. You don’t belong in the ranks of the first-class citizens.
Yep, I get it. So today the UNVACCINATED teachers must leave the classroom. The VACCINATED have the right to be able to work in a safe environment after all. It’s about health and safety, don’t you know? And (perfectly healthy) teachers who do not have Covid-19, but who are UNVACCINATED, are now unwanted. Call the police! Have them escorted off the school property like any other unwanted trespasser. Just make sure you do it kindly! Then the teachers, who are VACCINATED will feel safe. They will have nothing to fear from UNVACCINATED colleagues and neither will the tamariki. They must be kept safe too. How could you even think of putting our beloved and vulnerable tamariki at risk?
Right, well, today it is announced with great fanfare in the MSM that early next year vaccinations will magnanimously be provided by the government for all 5-12-year-olds. Hmm. So, just to be clear and consistent, at that point, we must surely make a distinction between UNVACCINATED and VACCINATED tamariki. Why should any VACCINATED teacher or student have to come into contact with a student who is perfectly healthy but who is UNVACCINATED? That’s not safe. It’s unhealthy and a serious threat to both the VACCINATED staff and the VACCINATED students. So it is only fair and right for all school age tamariki to be given a month to get their first jab and if they don’t comply, for whatever reason, they must be removed from the school grounds. Dial 111. Call the police. Get them escorted off the school property along with any remaining UNVACCINATED teachers who somehow managed to survive the first purge. Just be kind about it when you do it.
This is what it means to evolve as a society and become more scientific, more educated, more empathetic. We are much smarter and much better than New Zealand back in the 80s. Back then, we knew that apartheid was wrong, and that it was right to protest against it. Now we are more socially and ethically advanced. We now realise that sometimes you need to apply and enforce a form of apartheid in order to be loving and kind and in order to maintain social health and safety for all.
Sorry, but I don’t buy it. Call me old fashioned if you will. It’s just plain old evil to me.
Michael Flinn
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