 We're living in extraordinary times aren't we? Yesterday the Captain, what was it? The Captain Cook Hotel decided to come out and and say it was going to change its name because it was hurting people. He had a lady who was upset in Wellington because she lived on Picton Ave and she felt that she didn't want to live on a street anymore that that be a, what was it? George Picton's name and then again this morning the media have gone to several people in Cromwell with the title Cromwellians divided over the town's murderous namesake and divided, well they've spoken to four people who have given various opinions. So are we going down a road that actually doesn't really exist and are we playing into the game of dividing people for the sake of it because it suits a news agenda perhaps in a country that may be irrelevant in the international conversation or is this a necessary discussion? Well let's go to Lindsay Perrigo now who's a former broadcaster and political commentator who writes a lot about this type of thing. Lindsay good morning and thanks for your time. Good morning to you Chris and I'm sorry to hear about the demise of Christchurch. I assume the name of the city has to go on two counts Christchurch. Well you know what it's interesting you say that because a labour activist on Twitter has already said that the name should go this is how this is how the rules of engagements have gone now Lindsay. Has the world gone nuts or are we simply playing into people who want to be seen to be offended in the media or do you think there's a bit of both here or I mean are there genuine concerns? Winston Peters called it a wave of idiocy and he's part of the problem actually so coming from him that is quite a statement but I would go further and say it's not a wave it's a tidal wave it's a tsunami of hysteria and outright evil I don't think there's anything innocent about it at all. I'm reminded of what journalist Bernard Levin the late Bernard Levin a great British journalist said decades ago and it's even more apposite now he said the atrophy of moral judgment is the characteristic disease of our times the inability to see evil and the willingness to condone it and it's vital now that we identify this insidious wokery as evil and call it that and resist it accordingly and when we have woke politicians running the country given that we still have the vote we must vote them out. Do you think that in some respects Lindsay the media is partly to blame because it seems to me there was a story on radio New Zealand that actively you know was publishing lists of what it deemed to be offensive monuments and I thought that actually was encouraging vandalism and I think you know back in my days at the TVNZ newsroom I can just imagine some sitting there with delight and glee hoping for a statue to be vandalised because that creates news. Well it's an upside down world now it's an Orwellian world it is the world of 1984 and Winston Peters told these snowflakes to read a book they wouldn't have read a book called 1984 but that's the world they have brought about and in that world good is evil so violence is peaceful which I saw a CNN reporter standing in front of a burning building in one of those cities that is ablaze in America to say that the protests have been mostly peaceful and there was this raging fire behind him that is George Orwell and that is where we are yes the media have a lot to do it I think we're we're looking at an unholy diabolical alliance the media definitely academia the universities entertainment the churches even the churches now have gone woke the politicians who pander to it all of course who are rampant in the current government and it's not just political it's in the private sector as well human resource departments in private industry they comprise usually the gender studies graduates and even the police are going woke in this Orwellian world and you may be aware they go door to door now asking people about their political opinions so it's not just we're on the road to fascism we are there but fortunately we do still have the vote and we must use it to to resist this tidal wave of workery and get back to normalcy it was wonderful over the weekend chris to have the rugby back and to see you could have big crowds gathering for purposes other than rioting looting and burning and having a good time yeah it was nice to see that it's nice to see some sense of normality return to New Zealand Lindsay I wonder whether I mean there are some genuine Māori who have been aggrieved by some of the captain cock statues in the past and I get that and I understand that and of course there are awful examples of racism New Zealand but I just wonder whether the media is actually being counterproductive because it seems to me Lindsay they're blurring the lines between genuine racism in New Zealand and sort of that mob mentality of just being offended for the sake of it and when you blur the two together I think it's quite counterproductive and dangerous because it makes a mockery of people who may genuinely feel aggrieved by various statues around New Zealand because this isn't new the whole captain cook thing but it seems the media seems to go to you don't look at it well that's true just pass it bye I mean heaven's above captain cook was a hero and he had no particular problem with Māori when he was here nor they with him wasn't Māori who killed him at least not here and this demonizing of explorers is is typical of what goes on anyone worthy of hero worship has to become a villain and James Cook is is now in that category but this kind of sentiment is being exploited to create the racism that is real now in this country and that is anti-white racism I don't know a single white racist I'm sure there are white racist I don't happen to know any and I don't know any white supremacist I think the vast majority of people of all colors genuinely believe as Martin Luther King said judge people by the content of their character not the color of this their skin skin color is irrelevant and where there is historic discrimination by all means redress it in a rational sensible common sense way if possible but don't get out of bed every day to relitigate grievances from centuries ago but why do people do that Lindsay I would say it's because in order to be outraged and I've seen this before is to have an identity of some sorts and people want an identity and if that means waking up and going on twitter saying today I'm offended by the name of prom well then so be it but it's group think you see it's just seeking the approval of of fellow twitter users and really people should get out more or read a book as Winston Peters would say it's a mob mentality and it is mob behavior and when they do take to the streets we see what happens it's just a logical extension of what they do on twitter but people need to exercise their own individual judgment more and I think we need to repair to the notion that each of us is a sovereign individual with certain inalienable rights and those rights are not only under threat they've already been taken away to a significant extent here in New Zealand and we must reclaim them why we can Lindsay I know that the there have been several white Hollywood actors who I think they've actually been condemned because of their so-called privilege by which is ironic in itself but they appear to have brought into the false narrative that somehow they have to announce their collective white guilt to the world but I would argue that's not only disempowering but it's narcissistic because it only makes them feel good about themselves by saying you know they're repenting this hideous history well that's the so-called virtue signaling they have to signal your virtue by proclaiming your your guilt as if you participated in the in the offending events in some way when of course you had you had nothing to do with them you you have to wonder just why is all this happening is there some hand behind it and I'm an atheist but the normative the enormity of the evil is so great that I sometimes ask myself is there in fact an independent agent of evil that is behind all this of which people are voluntarily partaking but he nonetheless is the architects that would be the devil now that's for me that's a crazy thought because I don't believe in supernatural agencies but this is so bad I have to wonder there is a real life devil who does have a lot to do with it his name is George Soros and he funds a lot of these groups like Antifa Antifa should be called pro-far because it is pro-fascist it is fascist it is Mussolini's black shirts it is Hitler's brown shirts and book burners it is Mao Tse Tong's red guards pro-far remember that next time you're tempted to say antifa call it pro-far they're fascists but they're funded by George Soros's open societies foundation or its proxies he has a lot to do with it and his purpose is globalism he wants to see the end of sovereign nation states by means of open immigration and no borders a borderless world that's what he's after well it's already started now with some of the cities not having you know what do they call them now are chairs cities where there's no police authority but I note that those who have been pushing for no police are also the same politicians who have their own private police armed guards standing at the door so the hypocrisy is not lost on many people Lindsay we're out of time it is really nice to speak with you this morning Lindsay Perrigo former broadcaster and political commentator very hot on these issues