OF BOOKS AND BLOGS

The debate over the publication of a "tell all " book by the mother of the Kahui twins Macsyna has been interesting to watch.

I would not buy it - That's my decision to make.

I write a blog - its about my thoughts and it pisses some people off but I dont care if people read it or not. Thats their choice.

Someone can put up a facebook page and say that the retailers should not sell the book. That's their right too. And its the right of Booksellers to stock it or not.

Everyone can say what they think, say what they want to, say what they believe and say what they want people to believe.

Just as its everyone's right to think and read what they want.

That's a basic tenet of our NZ society.

The social media machine is the modern day equivalent of the persecutions of the witches of Salem.

And its up to us all to ensure that just because the platform for communication is a huge machine that can sow the seeds of discontent in a nanosecondm that we should not worship it and everything that it germinates. And what it germinates is a weed that induces an online form of mass hysteria.

We need to hold fast to our values. As individuals we are strong enough to make choices. And the less we are driven by our heads and hearts to make those decisions and the more we listen to the machine the weaker our society will become.

So we will not buy the book. But that's because our heart says its not the story we want to read. And not because of some "page" on an internet site.