tones

Some thoughts on Christchurch, a week on:

Arohanui to the victims and their families. No one should have to go through that. Much aroha too to the people of Christchurch, some of whom I know and care about, and who have already been through so much.

The gunman is an enemy of humanity, and a fucking coward. I hope he’s tried behind closed doors and denied a platform of any sort.

Some of the stuff circulating on the internet is vile, but all the talk of doing something about it will ultimately come to nothing. That horse has well and truly bolted.

It was disturbing to find that a basic gun licence holder in this country could so easily get hold of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. The government was right to act on this so promptly, although it remains to be seen if they’ll go too far. They probably will.

Criticism of Islam as a system of thought — or Christianity, or any other system of thought for that matter which purports to have all the answers and presumes to tell others how to live — should not be conflated with dislike of Muslims as people. We need to always be able to debate systems of thought.

No one chooses their skin colour, and regardless of it most of us here in NZ try our best to be good, and kind, and to raise our kids to be the same. Can we try harder? Of course. Always.