Report from Dunedin
In the wake of recent covid-19 events, a group of like minded individuals have been spurred into action – pioneering a movement that now covers our headlines and timelines alike. Sickened by both a crippling virus and their new pandemic lifestyles, they have once again united to remind all of us of an important lesson – you can’t please everyone. These anti-vaxxers and lock-down naysayers have used the covid crisis as a catalyst for their various conspiracies. Although they’ve always been around, before 2020 no one else really cared about vaccines except for anti-vax groups and doctors. Now it’s their time to shine, and part of that means the rest of us have to patiently wait for them to run out of steam. Until then, we get to enjoy the facebook rants and maskless protests – something our flat got to see first-hand the other week.
My sister had spotted a protest on a stroll through the nearby gardens, and immediately ran back to grab us to see it for ourselves. Rounding the corner, our destination gradually came into view – greeting us with the sight of a maskless mass of people. It was confirmed within a second that this was an anti-lockdown protest. Yet despite the policeman at the rear and conspiracy-sounding speeches at the front, it felt more like a ginormous picnic than anything else. At face value, it was simply a gathering of suburban families enjoying the afternoon sun.
After settling on a grassy clearing a respectable distance away, we took the opportunity to take a good look around. Very quickly, key players were established. There was a middle-aged woman, well dressed with a nametag to boot, holding a hefty pile of reading material for curious bystanders. Beside her was the only officer in attendance, his masked face scanning the crowd between their conversations. Another individual of note was a rather scrawny old man, who’d managed to perfectly emulate both the look and irritating demeanor of the paparazzi. He couldn’t have looked more cartoonish if he tried, scurrying around behind bushes and taking pictures of anyone with a mask on. One can only hope he wasn’t accumulating a hitlist, as we’d spotted him taking sneaky shots of us cheeky pro-maskers more than once.
After observing the scene and one polite introduction later, I was talking to a member of staff – the middle-aged woman’s nametag had in fact been a badge of her involvement in the event. Chatting away, a few things became clear. She was an educated working nurse who cared about her community, she had also been diligently researching beyond mainstream media, and she believed the government was taking away our freedom through lockdowns and vaccines.
Our conversation ranged from the Smallpox virus to the illegal bribing of Aucklanders with free laptops, yet our discussion on vaccines was the most striking. Apparently our government has begun unethically pushing vaccines on us all through the last few months, using various underhanded techniques to “trick” people into the “unsafe and untested” vaccine. Hearing about how the media was tricking me into believing medicine works was interesting enough, but honestly the real kicker was hearing of all these people getting free rent and tech for taking their shots – I’d just been given 15 minutes of waiting time in the pharmacy lobby.
Halfway through a debate on how corrupt Google was, we were interrupted by a woman carrying an indecipherable poster and moving swiftly towards us. She positioned herself directly opposite us – her questioning face carrying a hint of disgust as her gaze met my polypropylene mask. After a rather pregnant pause, she crudely asked the barefaced staff-member beside me: “Why are they wearing masks?”. Within the seconds it took for me to register the comment, my flatmate had immediately moved closer to me – hand ready to drag us away. Although we had promptly been defended by the staff member beside us, the mutual decision to head home was both unspoken and swift.
While my flatmates and I had made our preemptive exit, my sister’s beau couldn’t resist going back for one last curious look. Alone and logical, he was quickly singled out as a target. Soon after returning, Dom became the only one of us to face a physical altercation. He was prepared for insults, obscenities, maybe even a rogue punch. Unfortunately, one young child was prepared for war. Eventually, a slightly damper Dom returned home – having been targeted by a water balloon wielding child. The boy had initially opened fire with a hail of balloons, before running out without a single hit. After a moment of disappointment, the kid had the bright idea of pouring out his water bucket on him instead. This was much more efficient, and after successfully drenching Dom’s shoes the child returned to his approving parents declaring he had “got the bad man”.
Sitting around enjoying the rest of the afternoon, it felt odd having finally come face to face with the anti-lockdown/vaccine/