SOLO-Youth Op-Ed - Spate of NZ Murders = Backfire of Collectivism

Callum McPetrie

No one in New Zealand is pleased with the recent spate of murders across
the country recently, with 10 so far in this month. Even less encouraging
is the age group of most murderers and their victims.

Take the recent murder of 22-year-old Krishna Naidu in a dairy in south
Auckland. That was committed by a 16-year-old, who stabbed and killed the
dairy employee after producing a knife. He was tackled by a civilian after
acting suspiciously after the murder, and had been arrested when the
police arrived at the scene.

18-year-old Michael Hutching was found floating dead down the isolated
Clutha River earlier this month, in a mattress weighted down by wrought
iron bars, but was stabbed before being thrown in the river. The accused
murderers (a middle-aged couple) also face charges for raping a 15-year-
old girl less than a fortnight before the time of the murder.

A 15-year-old was killed by a 50-year-old for tagging a fence in Manurewa,
the same suburb of Auckland where the stabbing of Krishna Naidu took
place, which was the suburb's second murder in two days.

Most shocking of all, a 14-year-old (!) - that's my age - has been accused
of the murder of a 24-year-old man in Tokoroa two days ago. New Zealand's
youngest murderer, who murdered a pizza deliverer when he was just 12 back
in 2001, has had his parole delayed. Even so, he's only serving a
seven-year jail sentence.

But surely, the 10 murders this month are hardly normal, and hardly
representative of New Zealand life?

You may want to think again. We live in a PC, cotton-wool society where no
one is ever responsible for his actions, good or bad. Murder someone? It's
society's fault. Accomplish something? Society's responsible. This kind of
collectivist philosophy, which provides a philosophical incentive to lie,
cheat, steal and murder, is the result of over 200 years of Kantian and
Hegelian philosophy.

Back several decades ago, murders were a rarity in New Zealand, and
everywhere. If you committed a murder, you were given a long jail sentence
without parole, and you did the time right through. It was your fault; you
paid. These days, if you murder, you're back out on the street within a
few years, and the jails are full of people doing time for victimless
crime - all the while, making NZ all the more dangerous.

A perfect example of exactly how far this is entrenched in New Zealand
society are the recent absurdities surrounding Grahame Burton. Arrested
for murder in the early 90s and thrown into jail, he terrorized prisoners
and guards who were too terrified to speak up, and had a successful parole
hearing in 2006. The result was the death of a man and the injury of two
others above the hills of Lower Hutt.

Now, he's rightfully on trial again. But here's the story: the
investigation into the murder makes a costly legal mistake, wasting
$18,000 dollars in legal fees. So who pays the bills? The murderer? Hell
no! Instead, the wife of the murdered man has to pick up the cost, adding
to the terrible distress she will undoubtedly be feeling.

So how does a society operate on these premises? You're seeing it in New
Zealand. A society of crime is the natural result of a society that
philosophically treats murder indifferently, the initiation of force as
morally equivalent to retaliatory force. Logically, a society with this
underlying amoral, collectivist philosophy will lead to lack of self-
esteem, self-responsibility and mutual respect among its participants. And
this leads to crime and murder. After all, how can a man with no respect
for himself and his achievements possibly have respect for others and
their achievements?

ENDS

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