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A little reflection daily about my language acquisition

Wednesday 18 August 2021

780

 I feel that there are parallels between the historical colonialization of Maori culture and the current, largely politically driven, response to Covid 19 over these past 18 months. I'm not suggesting that they are equivalent, of course, or on the same level, but I can well imagine the effects of a lockdown mentality if it had been imposed upon a people for over a hundred years. Point of commonality:

  • the people are controlled for their own good
  • the people's opinions and viewpoints are disparaged as being less-informed
  • people are conscripted into "our team of 5 million" whether they agree to that or not
  • people are expected to conform to the majority viewpoint or common consensus
  • people have imposed upon them the 'correct' view of the situation
  • laws that people had little or no say regarding rule them
  • dissenting views get censored and canceled
  • legitimate questions are given short shrift
  • discussions about alternatives are shut down
  • the justice system, the police, religion, and even the medical establishment enforce the way things self-evidently 'ought to be'
  • respect is withheld, and those who don't toe the line are patronized 
  • no leniency is shown to those who have formed their own worldview
  • only the one economic, political, spiritual, and sociological stance is permitted
  • all protest is scoffed at and eventually declared illegal
  • One universal living arrangement swamps all others 


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