New Zealand is in a dangerous place right now.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush has come under intense criticism in the media for withholding the police guidelines that are being used to enforce the lockdown.
In other words, the rules are secret and the police aren’t going to tell you what they are. Welcome to a Police state.
If you get jailed for disobeying the rules, don’t expect your lawyer to be able to help you. He or she won’t know what the law is, any more than you do. Nor will the judge, if it goes that far.
Nobody knows the rules, except the police. Sometimes. Maybe.
How do you know if you’re disobeying the law? You don’t – not unless a “friendly face” of the NZ Police force comes and tells you.
Feel safe yet?
How do you know that the cop is obeying the law, and doesn’t just have an axe to grind? You don’t. You just have to trust that the cops know what they’re doing, even though there’s no reason why they would, when nobody else seems to know.
How do you know that the cop has interpreted what they’ve been told correctly? You don’t know that either. You don’t know that they’ve been told anything at all actually. You don’t know what they’ve been told, or by whom, or when. You don’t know if they got yesterday’s version of the rules, or last week’s, or today’s.
Or maybe they’re just making things up on the spot.
This is like being told you’re allowed to play rugby, but you aren’t allowed to know the rules, and neither is the opposing team. The referee might know the rules – but, then again, he might be getting them wrong. Or he might have no idea, because there’s no public rule book.
Does this sound like democracy to you?
If you enjoyed this BFD article please consider sharing it with your friends.
