Well, today is the election. This means that any person who blogs in New Zealand is under a set of restrictions. David Farrar summarized them very well as
The Electoral Act states in Paragraph (g) of Section 197(1) that it an offence at any time on polling day (before 7 pm) to publish any statement advising or intended or likely to influence any elector as to the candidate or party for whom the elector should or should not vote, or any statement advising or intended or likely to influence any elector to abstain from voting.
This means I will not be posting any material after midnight that could be seen as influencing any elector as to how to vote, or not to vote. I am asking all those who comment to do the same. The law should be interpreted broadly, so do not post comments tomorrow on any candidate, MP or party, current issues or policy.
I have been no more selective in the reading for today than usual. The PCUSA has four readings most days… Psalms, Old Testament, New Testament, Gospel. It would be redundant to post the entire thing — you can link to it.
But there are two parts to this.
29As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30There were two blind men sitting by the roadside. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31The crowd sternly ordered them to be quiet; but they shouted even more loudly, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!” 32Jesus stood still and called them, saying, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him.
Here Jesus does not do what the crowd want him to do. He ignores the populace. He is undemocratic. There is no election. But there is also no censorship of the cries of help. He heals the blind men…
… and that incident, one of many, is in the Gospels. It is a correction to our five year plans. Things change. One has to make them work… but one must never, never stop paying attention to the needs of others.
7The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. 8Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ.
Peter continues to talk about the fiery trial that is descending on the church (If I recall my Tacitus, Peter was literally correct — Nero burnt Christians, whom he blamed for a large fire in Rome). He talks about how we should behave, being serious, loving each other, placing ourselves in training, and doing everything for the glory of God.
In functional societies, there is no law against choosing to live deliberately, carefully, and with love for one’s brothers and sisters. We do not, yet, have this
The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one’s will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic. And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp. Orwell, 1984, Ch.1
I pray this does not happen. And I need to do my duty and vote.
That’s insanely anti-democratic! It’s bad enough here, that Canadian law prevents people in time zones where the polls have closed from communicating results to people in time zones where the polls haven’t closed. But NZ has only one time zone, no? What’s the point of the law?
American bloggers have helped Canadians circumvent the law; I hope Aussie bloggers do the same for you Kiwis.
They simply cannot. The issues have been challenged in law. The web server for dark brightness is actually in the US, but if you are physically in NZ when blogging you will be done.