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Thursday 7 June 2012

How Many Times

The recent brain-fart from Paula Bennett, where she mused on the virtues of eugenics, compulsory abortions and mandatory sterilisation, was notable.  Apart from revealing the ignorant or vacuous nature of Ms Bennett (why should we be subjected to a Minister who muses about eugenics?), and the baser side of the populace in responding to her dog-whistle (ugh, the non-scientific polls make awful reading, at times), and the blatant attempt to distract from Mrs Parata's debacle (gosh, that's almost enough of a list), it's part of a developing theme.
Today Stuff has an article of a baby that died unnecessarily.  While a lot of the circumstances are not stated, it seems clear that the baby and family were living in terrible conditions and dire poverty.
The blame for the death is then sheeted home to the family.  The article reflects on how messy their house was and how there were inconsistencies in the descriptions of the circumstances that lead to the baby's death.  But that's avoiding the underlying issues of why the government is not addressing the issue of poverty and the consequences.  Apart from the obvious and pragmatic response that there are few votes in it.
I don't care if it was the state or private charity that should have been working with this family, it seems likely that there has been a serious systemic failure here (and throughout the country) and our media blithely dismiss it on the grounds of individual responsibility.  Here's how I'm calling it - the failure of an individual to fulfil their individual responsibilities does not affect or negate the collective responsibility we all have to look after the weak and the vulnerable and people in their time of need.
Heads should roll, and the MSM need to take a good hard look at their attitudes.

Brother Beyond - Get Even, 1988

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