Clive Bibby: The Age of Double Standards

In spite of the fact that the evidence is mounting in their favour, the Swedes are struggling to make headway convincing a world that is dominated by media fixated with a pandemic narrative that is quickly running out of credibility.

We could have seen this coming.

Tragically, but perhaps unsurprisingly, when the true nature of the Carona virus first became known, it was already too late for most countries that did not enjoy natural borders like New Zealand to take meaningful action in mitigation.

Indeed, the most vulnerable, especially those who had been most exposed to the disease before the Chinese came clean about their little gift to humanity, were in an impossible situation of trying to shut the door after the horse had bolted.

In is now becoming apparent that those who chose the total lockdown version of response are paying a heavier price than those who decided to implement strategies that would be far less damaging economically and consequently result in far less deaths from associated trauma ie. suicides due to business failures etc.

Yet we are still witnessing many governments (central and local) refusing to admit they might have got it wrong - either in their initial diagnosis of the true nature of the disease or in their subsequent granting of extraordinary powers that provided authority to pursue their manic responses.

What is worrying, particularly in this country, is that it didn't have to be this way.

The government has wasted the enormous amount of goodwill it had at the beginning of this crisis when it could have adopted a more responsible and less tyrannical method for controlling the outbreak.

At the time when the original total lockdown was imposed, we already knew that this virus was more deadly than its predecessors but only in limited areas ie. aged care facilities and in clusters where the bulk of the population were of Pacific Island and Maori decent. In other words, we knew what we needed to do and where to concentrate the effort.

Subsequent outbreaks should have proved beyond all doubt that our border advantages were robust enough even when dealing with some serious lapses in oversight. We were in better shape than most to get out of jail free. No need to over react as we have done.

Unfortunately, moving forward, this government seems incapable of reassessing the need to proceed in a less destructive fashion. They appear oblivious to the carnage that goes unreported because, by choosing to ignore it, the populace are not exposed to a double standard that can't be explained away at the Monday morning Prime Ministerial briefing. And the defence of the indefensible is not confined to problems within the Labour leadership. It is accepted as smart practice by even the Government's support parties.

This morning's (7th September) classic came in the form of a prime ministerial denial of the truth about James Shaw's recollection of his own actions during the Green School grant scandal. 

Shaw tried to brush off his support of the $12 million grant as an unfortunate oversight on his part. Subsequent investigations have proved that to be a blatant lie. 

In fact records show he tried to blackmail the PGF into approving the Green grant or suffer a veto of all the other hapless candidates. What hypocrisy! 

Isn't that what amounts in the trade to a "sackable offence" even by Mother Teresa's standards yet she has obviously decided that there are different standards for those who might be important to her own survival in this coming election.

Let's look at some other inconvenient truths.

Recently, a casual media report noted a weekend of carnage on the roads. No fewer than 8 people lost their lives within the space of 24 hours.

Yet the response from the government to this tragedy for some was non existent at a time when the daily count of survivors at the old folks homes seems to be the principle focus. Nothing else mattered, least of all the fact than those who did die overnight or throughout the week in those institutions may well have simply departed this earth due to natural causes. Sad but it comes to us all.

It gets worse!

You don't have to be a clinical psychologist in order to observe that we are living in an age where those who control our lives are exhibiting signs of excessive, compulsive behaviour. Victoria's Premier Andrews is definitely out of his tree but some of our guys are not far behind - supremely confident in their own inability to get it right!

What is it about this controlling influence that turns seemingly rational, intelligent individuals into mindless dictators frightened of their own shadow?

Isn't it about time for them to be acknowledging that the "extermination" approach will never work here or anywhere and that we should be doing our best to develop plans for a recovery that needs to happen soon irrespective of whether we believe the past 6 months of "police state" mentality has been justified or not.

It is interesting to note that those braves states like Sweden who suffered taunts from organisations like WHO for merely having the temerity to buck the popular trend and follow their instinct are finally being rewarded with the results they dared to hope for.

We could so easily have been part of that little bubble of free thinkers.

Sadly, for us, the worst is yet to come!

Don't be surprised if next week's Prime Ministerial briefing will note the passing of a couple of the Reserve Bank printing presses that have collapsed under their own weight.

RIP!

Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.