What belongs down a rabbit hole?

My first article in a while and by “a while” I mean since June. When I look around me I see profound change at a level that frightens me and at a dizzying pace.

The death of my Mum in the middle of it all has been very confronting but also a reminder of the values I was raised to adhere to. So, although this article is not strictly about business, it is about adopting a certain view on life and business practice is very much part of life.

I never believed that New Zealand society, flawed as it is and always has been, would be in danger of fracturing. What do I mean by this? I mean there are two significantly brittle parts of society to be deeply concerned about.

The flash point for both is COVID, but the drivers are quite different. My first concern is for Maori. Slowly but inexorably we have managed to acknowledge the wrongs done to Maori over the last few decades and although it seems never enough, progress is progress and needs to be looked at in the context of time. But now we have a real and existential problem.

The restrictions that we have lived under to protect us from the worst ravages are about to be lifted and from where I sit, this is being driven far more by taking the temperature of the community and responding to the frustration and growing anger of the “average citizen” than by science or medical advice.

In a sense I completely understand the need for pragmatism here. All governments are political and are not going to intentionally do things that will jeopardise their future. Some will have more taste for risk than others and evidence of that abounds with the current Ardern government which has pushed a quite unique approach to public health that has not only saved countless needless deaths but has left the economy in pretty good shape.

To all the people in hospitality and tourism, there is no doubt that the suffering has been profound but to reframe the situation, name the member of your family you would be ok with dying of COVID?

Back to the point. Any decision based on how the “average citizen” feels is highly likely not to represent the average of the Māori population. Combine the two undeniable facts that Maori vaccination rates are considerably lower than the national average and even more so when compared with the pakeha average and you have a looming crisis.

This is not the place to discuss why Maori rates are lower and nor is it the time to critique why Maori are more vulnerable to COVID than other populations. They are both facts and not ones we can just blame Maori for. When the Titanic hit the iceberg and started sinking, it wasn’t the time or place to be discussing shipbuilding anomalies.

Opening up the country to free domestic travel will predictably bring an explosion in COVID infections and this will be inevitably mean proportionally higher infections and deaths for Maori. I don’t know if this is true or not, but I fear that what this will bring back into sharp focus is the belief that we are very New Zealand and not very Aotearoa. That Maori don’t really count when the chips are down. It doesn’t have to be objectively true for it to be very real for families losing people they love and are integral to their whanau.

Race relations is a loaded subject at any time, but this could be seen as an utter betrayal and to be honest, if it is I will feel that way too.

The second fracturing I see is even more frightening. I have watched over the past 6 years or so the United States coming apart at the seams. It isn’t the difference of opinion about the facts that is so toxic. It is that there is no agreement on what facts are.

An integral part of living in a cohesive society is that there are things that are objectively true. People can and will interpret those facts and use them in ways that are supportive of what they believe should be the outcome, but at the centre, the facts are the facts.

Now we have entered George Orwellian 1984 territory where objective truth does not exist. In this new paradigm, facts are whatever you say they are. If you have a point of view on something, invent facts to support it. Make it truer by publishing your point of view and the facts that support it on the internet. Then, when someone else shares that point of view, they can “do their own research”, find your opinions and validate their own point of view.

This is incredibly dangerous because it means there is no common basis for communication. Historically, consistent lack of comprehension between two parties and no shared understanding over a prolonged period leads to bad things happening.

The problem here is that the divide is not narrowing. In fact it becomes wider by the day as the stakes become higher. Politicians spreading malevolent untruths that corrode the culture. Religious (whatever they are but I struggle to call them leaders) scammers dragging their vulnerable followers into places and thinking they cannot comprehend the consequences of.

It feels like we are at the very edge of a precipice. It’s not just about how Maori have been turned from being the proud custodians of this country with a vibrant culture into victims and invalids and problems to be solved. It’s not just the lunatic fringe and their conspiracy nonsense. It’s the fact that the climate crisis is inevitable because our whole economic model doesn’t and can’t account for a future of sustainability vs endless growth. It’s the knowing deep down that when we go, our kids will have a world far more hostile and dangerous to inhabit and the possibility that they or their kids may be the last generation.

There is so much that could be done to change everything. We are a species that has the power to do magnificent, bold and inclusive things. We are also a species that is ridden with pettiness, greed, hatred of the other and an inability to get out of our own way.

I am not by nature an optimist but nor am I a pessimist. I think I am both compassionate and realistic and look to the past to hint at and inform the future. I feel like going over the edge of the precipice is almost inevitable and I am sad and guilty about what I will leave behind for those who come next and I have no idea what to do about it.

So, to answer the question – who belongs down rabbit holes? Rabbits.