Clive Bibby: The disinformation (misinformation) debate is becoming a war we can’t afford to lose

I want to congratulate Caleb Anderson on his well-researched assessment of where this country is heading but at the same time feel the need to put it a bit more bluntly.

I don’t do “nice” anymore and being “kind” doesn’t cut it either.

The devil lies within. Our opponents in this battle are those who share our privileges but not our respect for the rights of our fellow citizens. We are at war in a battle of ideas.

It is becoming clear that the greatest threat to our membership of the alliance of “Free” societies is our indoctrination by those who currently control our thoughts.

At least in New Zealand, the process remains a more subtle form of infiltration into the hearts and minds of those who seek the truth. In other countries like the United States and Australia, the formula being used is similar but much more obvious and destructive. In all cases it is a failure of trust in a democratic process that is being abused by those whose agenda is no longer secret. They must not win.

On a daily basis we are being fed stories that are clearly distortions of the facts or outright lies and yet we are expected to accept them without dissent.

Our MSM have become the front line troops operating on behalf of a democratically elected government in defence of those half truths or lies that are repeatedly offered to a public that doesn’t yet have the resources or the political authority to oppose this wilful sabotage. We have become easy pickings for those who would pretend to want to save us from ourselves.

You may well ask what evidence do l have in making these extraordinary claims.

You don’t have to go very far to find proof that we are being lead like lambs to the slaughter. Caleb’s list of examples is a good start but the whole truth is even more unsettling to the impartial observer.

While l will be decried for making this analogy, particularly by those who have everything to lose from being exposed, l see direct comparisons with Goebbels’ propaganda machine to our current media presentation of their version of the truth.

As with the Nazis, often there is no need to report a distortion when you can get away with not saying anything at all about the parts that don’t sit well with those whose interests you serve. You simply conceal the truth until it is too late to make a difference if we had known.

In this country, the He Puapua report is a classic example of how the promoters of this deceitful practice intend to achieve their political ambitions.

Thankfully, now that we know about the existence of this time bomb, we can rally our defences before it becomes law but time is of the essence. We need to act now.

However, that will not be as easy as it first appears because already deliberate steps have been taken to enshrine these lies in the statutes of parliament. The rewriting of our school history curriculum is, for me, the most glaring example of how the record of our heritage is being misused to divide us for the benefit of a select few.

The selectively sanitised version of Maori history is presented as justification for the deliberate apportioning of blame that in turn justifies the transfer of wealth as compensation for historically acknowledged misdeeds. A part truth is still a lie.

Adding to that difficulty is the apparent reluctance of those politicians who may soon be in a position to repeal the offending legislation, to accept they have a responsibility to act expeditiously on our behalf.

It is hard to understand why this is so.

My guess is that they don’t share my contention of how far we have come by appeasing the groups who want to deny us the freedoms our forebears have fought and died for.

If they truly want to represent us, they will have to show a greater degree of intent to return this country to a state where equality determines the outcomes.

We won’t accept anything less.

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