So long, and thanks for all the apathy
9 June 2014
It could come at no more appropriate time than the approaching anniversary of World War One, a time when we remember the millions who died in senseless wars.
Many of those poor dead dudes believed they were dying for the greater good of mankind, and freedom from oppression.
My father, who fought in World War Two and Korea, certainly believed he was fighting for freedom from oppression, both against Nazi German/Japan and North Korea/China/USSR. He was decorated in the Pacific and believed that people had a right to go about their business without fear of the SS or KGB monitoring them. He despised anti-Vietnam War protestors with a passion, but would have given his life to defend their right to protest.
Proof of this last point exists by his writing a letter to Norma Kirk - another absolutely hated foe - in 1972, offering to serve aboard HMNZS Otago when it sailed for Mururoa to protest the French nuclear tests. He wanted to save a young sailor from getting too close to the nukes.
He was not alone, and we now have the millions who died and the countless millions who have died since 1945.
Yes, we recoil in horror during the tour of Yom Kippur and Auschwitz, the Hiroshima Museum and weep tears for past generations at Gallipoli.
At the same time as sitting idly by and allowing our governments become that against which we have fought for the past century, and many before it.
back in the 1960s and '70s, students were our voice and consciousness in morality, protesting against the killing of Vietnamese people in the name of some idiotic diplomacy, demanding that all young Kiwi men were not forced to join this meat-grinder of human flesh.
Even in the 1980s, the tour of a goddam rugby team created riots and civil unrest unseen since the days union lockouts in the early 20th century.
In 2014, we sit idly by and let our government spy on us[1], kill our citizens[2] and take away our right to protest[3] without a whimper.
[1]
Vodafone joins Google, FaceBook, et al admitting
government access to all communications
[2]
Key admitting NZ involvement in death of Daryl Jones
[3]
Occupy Auckland protestors arrested for protesting
Copyright © Alan Charman