Conspiracists start somewhere, but we don’t have to listen
In my last year at high school, a long time ago now, we were told about the atrocities of the Nazi regime throughout Europe during World War II. Some of our teachers were former soldiers who had seen the death camps.
During class discussion, we wanted to know how so many people in Germany, and other European nations, could support such a monster as Adolph Hitler?
We were told that Hitler had appealed to an economically depressed German population with a constantly repeated illogical doctrine about the superiority of German culture, that they had been unfairly punished by the rest of the world after World War I and that they had been cheated out of their entitlement to European dominance.
He encouraged them to refuse the defeat of German ambitions or even the possibility of being wrong or mistaken.
At a time when we were taught to accept defeat, usually in sporting contests, with grace and dignity those reasons puzzled us.
A lifetime later, I watched the pathetic spectacle of a defeated president of the United States of America turn from the bizarre and alarming to piteous.
It is alarming because Donald Trump, like Adolph Hitler, has the support of millions of people who believe his constantly repeated but baseless claims of a nation-wide conspiracy to defraud him of victory and their entitlement to political dominance.
They are also prepared to forgive his fixation on personal ambition while thousands of Americans die every day from a virus he initially refused to acknowledge and has made no real attempt to stop or control.
Now I know why and how such people attract the support of so many.
That said he has a right to challenge the election result through the American courts but it is his repeated unfounded conspiracy claims which have the potential to do the most harm as they have the potential to undermine rights of free speech and encourage many people to make ill-advised decisions.
We have had conspiracy theorists here many times and while they are easy to ignore, they occasionally create alarm, mistrust and fear.
However, in a free society there must be a place for the dissenting voice and the challenging opinion.
If we deny the right of people to be heard and, more importantly the right of other people to hear them, because some of us don’t agree with their opinions, we put at risk a fundamental right thousands of people have fought and died to protect; the right to hold and give voice to a contentious opinion in public.
That said, none of our rights, even in a free society like New Zealand are absolute.
All our rights, including the right of free speech, are qualified and constrained to some degree.
The recent cancellation of a venue booking in Hamilton by the latest socalled conspiracy theorist, on a national speaking tour called Beyond Politics, is an interesting case in point.
While at first glance the cancellation may appear to have infringed the right of free speech, the publicly professed beliefs of the presenter throw a different light on the matter.
They reportedly include accusations that the World Health Organisation was involved in a conspiracy to inflate Covid19 fatality figures, opposition 5G technology, vaccines, environmentalism and an alleged international system of satanic ritual abuse.
It has also been reported that, in a presentation at the Grey Lynn Library Hall in Auckland the organiser said he would teach people ‘‘tools on how we can bring this Government down, and how we can take back our God given rights’’.
We don’t actually have God given rights.
We have rights under New Zealand and international law and they are balanced by legal responsibilities and restrictions against inciting violence.
We have heard similar unfounded claims about the evils of modern technology, the supposed dangers of vaccines and bizarre religious claims many times before.
Unfortunately, they also have been repeated so many times by so many people that, like Adolph Hitler’s and Donald Trump’s constant stream of outrageous accusations, growing numbers of gullible people believe them with some prepared to use violence to support them.
The stated aim of ‘‘bringing down the Government’’ is a very different matter.
The organiser of the speaking tour subsequently said he did not ‘‘unlawfully want to overtake anybody or take anybody down . . . lawfully, yes.’’
In fairness he may well have unintentionally used the wrong words but to encourage people to take that action is very close to the crime of sedition as there is no peaceful way in New Zealand to ‘‘bring the Government down.’’
The only way we can ‘change’ our Government is through a general election every three years.
The decision to cancel last week’s booking at the Western Community Centre was clearly the right one.