Many joke and jibe at the impression New Zealanders are a mindless heard of sheep ect ect lol… but there is some truth to that as herd mentality is a very real thing here in New Zealand, generally this social phenomena is a boon to the nation, our society and our collective way of life, however there are certain scenarios were herd mentality seems to quite often vaguely morph into Mob mentality.
Although diverse in both opinion and culture, New Zealanders share a common ideal of how life should be lived, politically a very centrist society. What this means is that when contentious issues arise the population is almost never polarised.
In many other democracies there is generally an even balance between those that believe and buy in to ideals and those that do not. But New Zealand’s Societal imbalance creates a majority and a minority in often extreme proportions and in these scenarios the majority often enforces their rights at the erosion of the rights of the minority.
As the country continues to push vaccination the debate on the measure of individual rights and how they interact with the collective rights of the community in a free and fair society has taken backstage.
As like many other contentious issues society is imbalanced, in this example pro-vaccine far outweighs anti-vaccine, and with support by the Government pro-vaccine has become a domineering presence, an ideal that people rally too in this time of fear and uncertainty. Unity has given us strength to continue to successfully battle the pandemic, but we must be careful not to use that strength to oppress those that have different ideals or disagree with how we do things.
Vaccine certificates which have been in use from Mid-November and this Mob mentality that if your not with us then your against us limits unvaccinated citizens from meaningfully participating in society, creating a stigmatized group whose chances, for a life of dignity and opportunity is significantly reduced.
During the pandemic we have justified the suppression of individual rights in the name of Public Health and the collective rights of the Community, which in hindsight on balance throughout the pandemic has been the right thing to do.
But as the nation approaches 95 percent vaccination of those aged 12 and over, we can no longer in good conscience say limiting the access of the unvaccinated to daily and often necessary activities is what’s best for society. when 95 percent are fully vaccinated the threat to society from the unvaccinated no longer outweighs the damage society is doing to them.
Continuing the mindset that we are safe because they are not around is wrong and i hope that people do not lose their kindness to fear, there is a way for us to move forward together and i just don’t believe that separation and Tyranny of the Majority is the right way to do it.
Just remember we are not bad people, but neither are they. We are social creatures and it is easy for us to lose our way but as Friedrich Nietzsche somewhat abrasively alluded too, one of Humanities redeeming factors is “its ability to recognize its own wretchedness”
…
CryptoShrink 