When did people stop being responsible for their behaviour …

I wonder which ninny first blurted out ‘it’s not the child, it’s the behaviour that’s wrong’ and thought it was profound.

Olinale Ah You bashed, kicked and stomped on his victim, killing her and was found guilty of murder. According to the ninnies, he wasn’t bad. Only his behaviour was bad.

And child abusers? According to the ninnies, they’re not bad either. It’s not the child abusers, it’s their abusing that’s bad? It’s not the tax evaders, the thieves, the rapists, the murderers, the war criminals – it’s their tax evasion, their theft, their rapes, their murders, and their genocide that’s wrong.

When a brat cheats in an NCEA assessment, or bullies another child in school, or assaults a teacher, or steals meth-making stuff from the Chemistry lab, or smokes dope while on a field trip – it’s not the child, it’s the behaviour that’s wrong.

When did people stop being responsible for their behaviour? “It wasn’t me, Your Honour, it was my behaviour.”

If we mustn’t say someone is bad or wrong then we can’t say someone is good or right either. What, then, can we say about Charles Upham, Susan Devoy, Ed Hillary, Brian Barratt Boyes, Kiri Te Kanawa, Andrew Mehrtens and Kate Sheppard? According to the ninnies, they weren’t good people. Only their behaviour was good.

When did NZ get taken over by beige-wearing, committee-dwelling, vegetarian, cowardly, apologists?

Was it when getting a degree in Social Consciousness and Gender Issues from The Huggy Community College was also popular?

Where have our courageous heroes gone? They weren’t all killed on Chunuk Bair.

NZ had heroes who sailed to Mururoa and told the Frenchies to stick their nuclear bombs up their own back yards. There were heroes at Springbok tour time – people with the courage to speak their minds and back up their speeches with action. We have a few who’re prepared to take on the Japanese whalers. And there were some who said ‘no’ to GM food. What happened to the rest?

I know what happened. The bean curd and mung bean brigade discovered bullying. They mistook frank honesty for racism, sexism, ageism, and anti-environmentalism. They said people must not have a gender. They said spelling and apostrophes are not as important as the general idea and they said losing at sports is just as valuable as winning. What pap.

What this all means is that we have murderers and other bad people not being held responsible for their actions. And good people not being celebrated. And kids who say winning the RWC isn’t very important. This is bad behaviour. These are bad children. Very bad.

— Peter Giddens