Wednesday, November 23, 2011

where is the humanity?



I feel, especially in these last days leading up to our elections, that it is vital that New Zealanders see this.  Actually, stuff the elections, this is something that every person in Aotearoa needs to watch and think about because this is about us as a community, this is about us taking responsibility as human beings.  This is about us putting people before corporations and profits.


After my initial surge of rage, disgust, and extreme sadness at watching this clip, my main three questions are these:


Firstly, what on EARTH are they teaching at the police colleges that produce policepeople that are so eager to inflict serious harm on other humans?  When I was at primary school, even at high school, to want to become a policeperson came out of a desire to help, protect and generally do good in a community.  Not sit on a desperate and upset man and calmly beat him around the head and ribs with a police-issue baton in front of his extremely pregnant partner SO THAT A LUCRATIVE POWER COMPANY WHO TURNS OVER MILLIONS EACH YEAR CAN SAVE A FEW BUCKS!!  (which turned out to be a mistake on the power company's part anyway!)


Secondly, what lack of humanity allows contractors to carry on their job when they can see the result it is having?  What is this crazy hold over people that lets them use the excuse 'I was just doing my job' when they can see that doing their job is causing a man to receive head injuries?  When it is causing immense distress to a woman who is overdue to give birth?


And, in conclusion to the first two questions I guess, as it was so VERY obvious that things weren't going so well in this situation (to put it lightly) why on earth could the police and contractors not take the sensible approach, pull back, and reassess the situation??  I cannot think of any reason why the disconnection of power had to happen at that specific time, given the resulting circumstances.  Not exactly a life-or-death situation for the power company was it?  Are we really the type of society who would rather see another human beaten till they bleed rather than have a company lose out on a few profits??  Do we truly worship money that much?  Should we really let it control us in that way?


To those of you who say, regarding the police, that they were only doing their jobs, then I say - well, if that is their job, then I think it's time we thought about what sort of system we're living under.  Because I don't want any part of it.