Don’t be a Loser Through Apathy – Get Involved.

An Opinion by J B Smith


I wonder about the issues confronting the fishing and hunting fraternity such as anti-firearm measures, Fish and Game reviews with DOC intent on getting control, dwindling rivers in terms of flow and quality, nitrate levels in water and rivers, the 1080 poison sham and a few other critical issues and I wonder where are the warriors?
Yet there is great work being done such as COLFO and the Sporting Shooters Association NZ on firearms issues, LEGASEA on sea fishing issues and the NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers which has initiated nitrate testing and exposed the high nitrate levels, toxic to both fish and by a big Danish study of 2.7 million people, toxic to human health by way of stomach cancer. 
But these organisation are driven by a few energetic and hard working, committed people.
Why do the majority watch as spectators or aren’t even at the arena?
I wonder why people are not more positive and active in pursuing their goals and ambitions in life.

Perhaps the majority procrastinate because the journeys seem too long and taking the first steps seem to achieve so little?
I wonder what happened to qualities like persistence and perseverance like when you have a long slog to get to a hut by nightfall, or to climb a hill.
People are all inclined to avoid doing much until there is a crisis of some sort that forces us to act.
Even so, there’s always just a few battling for the common good, most sit lamely and watch. Some just sit lamely by looking the other way and don’t even take any interest.
Some stupidly say they’re not interested in politics.
Poppycock! Politics is about democracy.
Perhaps people tend to do the easier things before attending to the more difficult ones because we are afraid of failure.
It is also true that everyone to at least some extent, fears rejection and that stops them from speaking up.
Many people do not take an interest in “politics” or even vote because they are afraid that they might not get what they want, so do not try.
If you do not try you can avoid feeling that you failed. 
If you are not a player in the game you can avoid losing.
But, of course, those who do not try and play the games are already the losers and failing is part of the proves of learning to be a winner.
In most circumstances a 10 to 20 percent of the people do more than the other 80 or 90 percent because they are not so afraid of criticism or failure.
Well shed the negative attitudes and get in there and help.
To not do so will be at the peril of your outdoor sport. 





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8 Responses to Don’t be a Loser Through Apathy – Get Involved.

  1. Frank Henry says:

    The death of democracy is not likely to be rapid although the current NZ government is moving fast in that direction. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.

  2. Andre Topeka says:

    We’re forfeiting “people power” if we give in to apathy. The article is very timely in view of the erosion of democracy. It is not just the Ardern government but National were bad enough with John Key and Nick Smith and their repugnant sacking of Environment Canterbury and putting state puppets in. Very odd because the coup by Smith and Key smacked of communism yet it was a National government.
    While most people couldn’t care less, democracy will continue to be diminished.

  3. Alice Pureblood says:

    “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to stand idly by and do nothing.”
    Sometimes it seems that New Zealand is full of good people who are standing idly by terrified of being “politically incorrect” or “racist.”

  4. Justice Will B. Dunn. says:

    All explicitly predicted by the eminent Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek in “The Road to Serfdom” published in 1943. Little by little, under the guise of “planning” promoted by “experts” the powers that be, in response to “market failures”, shut down competition, limit entrepreneurship, strangle freedoms and choke innovation until we find ourselves as serfs. You have a choice – freedom or serfdom, a middle ground whilst tempting in theory, does not exist. Live free or die (trying).

  5. Lew says:

    How do we get those apathetic people to get off their arse?

  6. Dave says:

    It is good to see more and more people putting up their hands to join in the freedom movements. It will only be the smaller parties who can take it forward and combine is the answer. Anything will be better than either one of the bigger parties being in power again.

  7. Dr. Charlie Baycroft says:

    There are people of a certain type who somehow feel entitled to decide what everyone else ought to think, say, do or own.

    Understandably, the gravitate toward and become active and influential in political parties.
    Politics was, is and will always be about having authority and power over the rest of the people.
    Power tends to corrupt those who seek it and the more they get the more corrupted they become.

    The price we pay for Democracy is vigilance and refusal to allow the people we elect, to be our EMPLOYEES, to be corrupted by the authority and power they seek.
    We have not been good Employers and the people (red. blue and green) in our governments are getting out of control

    C. S. Lewis warned us about these Omnipotent Moral Busybodies.
    “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.
    It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated;
    but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
    They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth.
    This very kindness stings with intolerable insult.
    To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

    It’s time to say NO to the red, blue and green busybodies and stop hiring them in the next election because we do not need them and have plenty of other “candidates” who would appreciate and serve us better.

  8. Stewart Hydes says:

    A huge problem in New Zealand .. is the propensity to sideline those with a different view.
    A lot of people do not like a lot of things that are going on. But when they try to speak out .. they are undermined, ridiculed, and discredited.
    The mainstream media lead this charge.
    Take the current witch-hunt going on, trying to identify local body election candidates who are affiliated to various so-called “conspiracy theory groups”.
    People who don’t like what’s going on tend to gravitate towards like-minded people.
    These people tend to congregate as members of various groups and associations.
    When the media and others label these groups as “conspiracy theorists” .. they very effectively neutralise them, from speaking out and being taken seriously by the wider population.
    New Zealanders need to refuse to participate in this process. Respect those around you who have the courage to stand up for what they believe in. Listen to what they have to say. And if their views resonate with your own concerns – then support them. Have the courage to join them .. and air your own concerns, too.
    Remember .. a lot of what has been labelled as “conspiracy theory” has turned out to be nothing more than the truth.
    The official narrative is not always right. What the government tells you, is not always right. Have the courage to question, and engage your own critical thinking.
    Remember .. as an extreme example .. Hitler was the Chancellor of Germany, the head of their government. And look what his government told the German people .. and how they led them up the garden path. And there’s plenty of other examples around the world where wise people should not listen to everything their government tells you.
    If we keep cutting down anybody who tries to stand up and espouse a different view .. we’ll never get anywhere different from where we are now …

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