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Andrew Dickens: Rising tide of misanthropy nasty and distasteful

Author
Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date
Thu, 21 Jun 2018, 12:03PM
Andrew Dickens says the outpouring of bile over the PM having her baby is nasty and unnecessary. (Photo: NZ Herald)
Andrew Dickens says the outpouring of bile over the PM having her baby is nasty and unnecessary. (Photo: NZ Herald)

Andrew Dickens: Rising tide of misanthropy nasty and distasteful

Author
Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date
Thu, 21 Jun 2018, 12:03PM

I want to talk about the rising tide of misanthropy in this world.

There’s two stories in play right now that illustrate that misanthropy or hatred of your fellow man which is rife right now.

The first is the child separation story playing out on the Mexican border right now.

I think it is right to be horrified by the scenes. After all what decent society has a policy that puts 2000 kids in a mass detention centre behind wire fences in a disused Walmart.

But defenders of the policy including the President of the United States and many people on talkback say all they’re doing is following a law. A law that came into place in 1997 by a Democrat called Clinton.

Now, it is important to understand the difference between a policy and a law. A policy outlines what a government hopes to achieve and the methods and principles it will use to achieve them. Laws set out standards and procedures that must be followed.

So yes in basic terms a Democrat law, the Flores Settlement, says children can be separated from parents in criminal situations amongst an awful lot of other things. But it doesn’t say they must be separated. It does say if they are separated the kids have to be returned to parents or family without unnecessary delay. The kids have to be in facilities that are appropriate to their age and needs, that are the least restrictive possible.

Two thousand kids in cages in a disused Walmart doesn’t seem to fulfil those requirements

That’s a policy decision on enacting a law. The Trump administration chose to enact the law this way. It chose to stick 2000 kids in cages in a disused Walmart. Bush chose not to. Obama actually did it for a while and got into trouble. Trump finally got it and signed an executive order today to stop the policy but not stop the law.

Border security is a big problem. I’m not saying that the zero tolerance policy is bad. But the enactment of it shows a misanthropy, a basic disrespect of other humans that is very distasteful and I’m glad that the President saw sense. Now let’s work to find a way of doing this that doesn’t make us look like monsters.

I know the President is talking about tent cities where families can stay together while they’re processed and then sent home. Might have been a good idea to put that in place before pulling the pin and putting kids in jails.

The second misanthropy regards the Prime Minister’s forthcoming baby. I have been besieged with correspondence on this baby. People can’t stop talking about it. But it’s not people saying how excited or interested they are in the child. It’s from people saying for goodness sake don’t mention the bastard child.

You may or may not have noticed but I have purposefully not mentioned the Prime Minister or the baby on this programme all this week. A woman is having a child and I’ll be slightly interested when it finally happens. But the people urging me not to mention something I’m already not mentioning seem obsessed with the story.

Their anger whenever they hear anything about the child is thermonuclear. And it’s all deeply nasty and misanthropic. Chill out. Calm down, breathe, and show some human decency. The new Jacindamania appears to be an anti-Jacindamania and it’s more revolting than the original.

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