It has started up again! Nastiness is back. It has only taken a day or so of level two restrictions for nasty behaviour between people to start again. Ardern’s plea for Kiwis to be kind is not working.
On Saturday, only a few days into level two, there was an example of a man in Kerikeri storming off out of a café. He was incensed because he thought someone from a group of three had sat too close to him. He possibly thought the contamination was such that he had better get away before he caught the virus. The lady with him (presumably his wife/partner) stated that the group was supposed to be two meters away from them. She left, but a few minutes later returned and publicly lectured them about not keeping their distance. The woman wanted to make it clear to everyone, that the COVID-19 rules had been broken. She carried on telling them their proximity would be the cause of the country going back into level four lockdown. Oh my, this was serious! The group asked her to repeat what she had said as they were so surprised both by her words and by the nasty way she expressed them.
Let us get to the truth of what happened during this incident. The officious couple were sitting on a large four-seater couch and the other group arrived and sat on another couch at right angles to them. There was plenty of room, the couches were not touching as it was a huge café. No one was crammed. The ‘rule enforcer’ couple did not know Ardern’s rules gave Kiwis in level two, permission to be one metre apart in a café. They were wrong and unreasonable and let Ardern spoil their day and tried – unsuccessfully – to upset others by being so nasty.
The official rules for physical distancing in alert level two say, “Keep your distance when out and about:
- 2 metres in public and retail stores, like supermarkets and clothes shops.
- 1 metre in most other environments like workplaces, cafes, restaurants and gyms.”
But wait, there is more nastiness going on in Kerikeri.
“A Northland woman says she felt humiliated after being laughed at for wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus. Far North woman Sonya Ihimaera said she felt like crying when an older man mocked and laughed at her for wearing a face mask in Kerikeri on Wednesday.
As they had been shopping in South Auckland where the initial coronavirus cases were detected, Ihimaera decided to use a mask when using the Kerikeri public toilets to protect those around her.
I’m 65, and a man who is older than me stepped towards me and laughed in my face. I said to him, ‘this isn’t funny’ and he turned around and just laughed harder, and made signs to me like I had a screw loose or was a crazy person,” she said.
His actions were stamping on somebody’s mana… I felt sad, humiliated and eventually angry. After posting about her experience on social media, Ihimaera was further disappointed to find out her experience was not isolated, with several other people also being mocked at for wearing a mask in Kerikeri.
One woman wore a mask because she was on chemotherapy and was disgusted to be mocked and laughed at. Kerikeri resident Diane Hay said a close friend, who has lung problems and had a cough, was teased by at least two people for wearing a face mask at one of the town’s supermarkets on Thursday”.
Denise Piper Stuff NZ 15 August 20.
During the NZ March/April lockdowns many people experienced being told off and yelled at for very minor misdemeanours. Kiwis became tittle tattlers and thousands reported others to Ardern’s hotline if any New Zealander stepped out of line.
I wonder if the nasty behaviour observed in the Kerikeri café was motivated by genuine fear, or perhaps blind loyalty to Jacinda Ardern and her fear mongering rules which Kiwis get told about during her daily political broadcasts?
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