Is Governing by Bully Tactics the New Normal?

Why have we allowed this?

How people react in a crisis is always very revealing. Do they stay calm or do they panic? Do they pull together or do they fall apart?

When a crisis occurs it really brings out our true selves.

And not always the best in us.

Traits we may usually keep hidden from everyone have a habit of revealing themselves under pressure.

Let’s face it, our current government have certainly had a lot of crises to deal with. Their whole term has been one crisis after another and our government have built their whole reputation on their responses to crisis situations.

This has earned our dear leader a lot of international praise with the press. With both local and international media fawning over our young female Prime Minister. Singing her praises for her kindness and empathy and for bringing the country together in times of tragedy.

So when the covid pandemic came along, many New Zealanders had a lot of faith and trust in our government. That they would handle this new crisis with kindness and empathy and with our best interests at heart. And that was certainly the vision we were being sold.

We were the team of 5 million after-all!

As the saying goes, ‘a change is as good as a holiday’ and many welcomed the shutdown of our economy, full of glee and excitement at the paid time off from work. That they were getting something for nothing. All the reward without the effort.

But for the most vulnerable in society this was no cause for celebration or excitement.

It was the most vulnerable in society that would bear the brunt of the governments restrictions.

For some it would mean extended suffering. For others, the restrictions became an existential threat.

It became very real for me in April 2020 when my doctor told me I may not make it if I didn’t get surgery very soon. I was told I could not afford to wait until the restrictions were over.

While the public were being told the restrictions were to keep people like me safe, the shutdown of hospital services to “flatten the curve” was killing us.   

As time wore on, tempers wore thin. Many came to realise their normal state of happiness in life wasn’t built on good foundations, but solely based on their normal daily routines. It highlighted the importance and role of freedom in their lives when suddenly it was taken away.

With cracks starting to appear in the team of 5 million, public mood was changing. How would the government react?

There was a lot the government had been saying which didn’t quite make sense. A lot that seemed counterintuitive. And much which respected scientists overseas were disagreeing with.

Initially the public were happy to gloss over these discrepancies and exaggerations for the sake of the common good. In the belief that if we all just stick together and have faith in our government that triumph would follow and we would win this battle against the invisible enemy called COVID-19.

Sadly, as we have witnessed, it wasn’t with kindness that our government reacted to the changing public mood.

Instead, they sunk to the level of high school bullies with the name-calling and blaming others, threats and emotional blackmail.

They employed tactics of division, fear and misinformation to turn one part of society against the other. Gaslighting anyone who dared stray from the official government guidelines.

A good case in point would be Dr Matt Shelton and the good Doctors at NZDSOS - and others of their ilk. Another example the parliament protesters.

The government rallied their followers as an army to shut down all dissent.

It was in effect, permission to bully their fellow citizens for the public good.

Our government had condoned bullying on a national scale yet no one batted an eyelid.

I think people had been whipped up into such a frenzy of fervour, fear and hate that many were too blind to see the governments behaviour with any objectivity.

It seems it’s put the government’s followers into such a blind rage that they are oblivious to how this bullying behaviour must look to our children.

Watching this behaviour from adults en masse could very well be a major defining moment in their emotional development. Let’s hope too many don’t grow up thinking this is acceptable human behaviour in order to get what you want.

I don’t hold out much hope for the future if it’s left unaddressed.

Is this going to be the new normal for the government of New Zealand to achieve its goals?

Are the effectiveness of these tactics just too valuable for them to discard now they have a taste for them?

And why are no opposition parties calling this government out for their high school bully mentality?

One can only look on in disbelief.