135 Comments
Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

Super intense times eh. I’ve been getting death threats for as long as I’ve been writing (women having opinions online is hard for some) but it’s definitely escalated to a place that makes it harder to ignore. It’s the strangest thing seeing a neighbour who you chat to about plants and share cuttings with head to a protest where there are signs calling for you to be hung. Like, she knows my family, knows my kids...it’s hard to reconcile. It really impacts your mental health. And she might not mean that I would be included in a public hanging (just my colleagues?) but I truly don’t know. The proximity of all of these threats is just building to such an extent and now it feels like it’s being normalised. It has also had a big impact on how I use social media - I am much more wary about anything I write or share because the aggression from anti vaxxers is just so intense and to be honest I’m afraid for my family. We were asked to talk about disability and vaccination for a campaign but said no because we felt it would put our babies at risk. I’ve had someone scream at me in public that I’m “fake news” while I had my child with me. The end result is more people from already marginalised communities (the disability community for example) being “muzzled” as Wannabe Bono put it. And these are already very isolated members of the community - some parents of kids with immunity disabilities have been in lockdown since 2020. Anyway I’m rambling I’ll stop! Just thank you for continuing to speak out. I’ve lost so much work and so much income and I’m basically in lockdown for my whānau and it sucks but still I’m not shitting on the street...so???? Anyway arohanui x

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

David - your line about Coutts just sings out. And maybe it’s an old thought, but it’s one I’ve never had… “six decades of not caring about anything enough to protest. That is, until his personal freedoms had been encroached upon”.

I’ve heard so many say recently “I’ve never protested before, but…” as if that fact is legitimising. And I’ve given them that credence… but… what utterly selfish, disengaged, passive, injustice-tolerating fucks are these people? In this ratfucked century, to state that the only thing that has made you mad enough to get off your arse is a government trying its sometimes misguided best to keep its populace safe… yeah. You found my anger button and pushed it hard. Thank you!

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Yea... JK and NH are two ex friends from Facebook that I have deleted.... Jason in 2020 when his eccentricity changed from mildly amusing to toxic, misogynist Trump supporting rants. NH no longer a 'friend' after reading the info here. The fact that Jason - once proudly Maori - supports alt right racist rhetoric without blinking is sad. But after science and medicine saved Nathan's life after a massive battle with cancer that he survived, causes me to seriously question his intelligence. I was abused as a leftie loony at the home of another musician friend of 20 plus years even prior to covid. His wife is absolutely rabid, so I suspect he is quietly too, tho is smart/sly enough not to publically state his beliefs for fear of it affecting his music income. I do know he is unvaxed, and that he is unable to see his grandchildren for this reason. I find this sad beyond belief. But for some years I have listened astonished to his bitter rants about how you have to be dark skinned, gay and female to get attention musically in this country.... While he is a white male member of the one of the best known and most successful bands in NZ's music history. I once ignored this stuff as slightly bent privileged naivety. But it is a lot more than that. When racist homophobic misogynists are threatened or feel a teensy bit guilty about their status they seem to get real nasty.... For them, one female, one Maori, or one non straight person is too many and they sure do love to extrapolate stats when it suits them as well, to back up their narrative, without any reference to social context. They appear to have literally engaged their egos and sent their brains and hearts on a permanent vacation. And meanwhile, Bannon chaos theory of eugenics begins to take shape. I look at Stir Russell Coutts, a truly unpleasant human being, and wonder who is paying him to fi this protest support stuff because he does nothing unless big bucks are involved. And I also quietly wonder about the Yank MAGA and Trump loving billionaire given citizenship by the previous government, knowing Coutts is a good 'friend'. And that's when my own Conspiracy theories begin to blossom....... 😢

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

My nursing wage is government money. Everybody just be careful you just never know what the government has instructed me to put in that enema I'm shoving up your butt!

But seriously this scares me. I'm scared at what I'm going to have to confront as these anti people/nut bars filter through the health system. How am I going to stay professional and not let the care I provide be influenced by my views and theirs. Luckily so far I have only come across one person that refused to tell me their vaccination status.

I'm scared for how many people will die or be harmed because of the rabbit holes they have fallen into. When mandates were first introduced and before I blocked myself from Charlotte Bakers Facebook page there was this idea been pushed that if you weren't vaccinated then you would be refused any healthcare. The people that were been led to believe this were ordinary everyday kiwis. These people were falling for the idea that there was no point going to hospital if sick because they would be denied care. It's these people that are going to die or be harmed because of these crackpot beliefs not the Russel couttss or Charlotte Bakers of the world. It will be people like my unvaccinated mother in law who is a good person just very easily mis led.

It's scary and makes me very angry

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

I have to admit I’ve never been more worried about threats like this before. Especially as the protests grow unchecked and unhindered.

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

David, first time commenter, long time reader. What I have noticed is a massive increase in conspiracy sentiment on sites like Gab. When you drill down though, its a small number of very vocal individuals/bots.

Take "KiwiBlokeDaza" in the New Zealand Politics group there. He has posted 93,000 times since his account was created in March last year. Thats 250 posts per day. But when you look at them, there is replication and repetition of key messages.

For example, he has posted that misattributed Nuremberg photo FIFTY TIMES in the past 12 days. People read it, and spread it.

I think people are reading these forums and detecting a groundswell of support for their crazy ideas, whereas if you removed a small number of people mass posting (probably using scripts unless they have no life), the forums would be pretty empty.

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

It’s a dilemma we haven’t really had to face before: just because people appear unhinged, delusional and just plain stupid doesn’t mean we can dismiss them. We’re having to carve out a whole new niche in our understanding about what threat looks like, and that means lifting the lid on the box labeled ‘visceral terror’. My thanks to you and Dylan for making that process feel less lonely!

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

If only these people used their power for good... protesting real human rights violations, climate change, the rising cost of living in New Zealand, bringing back the old Milo.... the more I read about these protests, the more anxious I feel. It doesn't help when Stuff releases articles saying 30% of kiwis support them.... argh. Going back to bed.

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founding
Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

Considering it's a plan to fight against the mighty forces of the evil elite illuminati global world order and Hilary Barry, I wouldn't want the plan to include bullet points that are just "etcetera"

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

Waiting for Coutts to ask for a $5m protest-joining subsidy from Wellington City Council, claiming his participation will add $700m to the local economy

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

Great article on Stuff this morning about this exact topic. https://i.stuff.co.nz/opinion/127815331/do-the-protesters-in-wellington-even-know-what-freedom-means

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

My soul hurts. Thank you for covering stories like this. Must be excruciating at times.

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

There have always been people this ghastly (the ones who designed the Inquisition, invented instruments of torture through the ages, tossed refugees into endless purgatory in assorted holding camps...the list goes on and on), but they're very audible now they've got social media at their disposal. That makes them dangerous, because they can so easily infest the minds of others who would never previously entertained such vileness. And unfortunately, I can understand the police holding off on doing anything to deter them, because, as they have recently said, having people being inconsiderate nuisances is a great deal better than provoking violence in the streets, which is exactly what some of them want. Maybe (just maybe) if we continue to treat them as the deluded fringe they are and give them as little attention as possible, they'll get bored and give up? If they do commit unprovoked physical violence on ordinary citizens, as opposed to the police, they will presumably be subject to the usual laws and can be charged accordingly.

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Feb 20, 2022Liked by David Farrier

A big red flag for me watching the Wgtn protest is the number of kids who have been brought in to the area. It worries me that very young children are being exposed to some of the more extreme messaging being touted, and surely this is planting the seeds of a whole new generation who not only distrust government and media, but will also become comfortable with the idea of publicly executing some or all of them. I’m also really concerned that there is going to be violence in the ending of this protest (I really REALLY hope I’m wrong!) and that certainly is no place for kids, I’m hoping the adults there have considered this?

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

Yeah, we have a massive problem. I went to talk to a friend - good person, kind and thoughtful - at one CHCH rally, and found him chatting to someone from the national front. It was shocking. This comes from so many sources it is not going to vanish quickly. Tempting to pile it all on the impersonal savagery of neoliberal real economics - which has seen many left behind, feeling abandoned and hopeless (while other become stupidly wealthy). The atomisation of society thru the internet, making us paradoxically more lonely, and able to find others to share this with. The decline of journalism ; HALF the journalists in NZ we had in 2000. Yikes.

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Feb 19, 2022Liked by David Farrier

Right on, David and Dylan. Having a chuckle at Coutts’ tone deaf declaration. These toxic people have their covert supporters but keep in mind that, dodgy Stuff snap polls notwithstanding, they are not the majority. Doesn’t mean they don’t need calling out, though. Keep up the good work!

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