James Elliott looks back at a week dominated by people invoking divine vengeance in response to legislated rights. And it wasn't pretty.
Today is not a good day. And neither was yesterday. There haven’t been many good days of late. Covid is still killing, inflation is now gouging, and there’s even the prospect of Winston Peters and Brian Tamaki merging. Good days are few and far between.
Last Saturday was a good day. At least it was if your name’s Simon O’Connor. We know this because he posted “this is a good day” on social media. It was the day the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade decision that recognised a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. And that’s why it was a good day for Simon O’Connor. He’s anti-abortion. Very anti-abortion.
Sunday was an even better day for Simon O’Connor notwithstanding that his right to make that post was overturned and he was, without any trace of irony, ordered to terminate it by Team Blue leader Christopher Luxon. Better because come evensong on Sunday even more of the faithful knew how Simon O’Connor felt about abortion rights and the overturning of Roe v Wade. Better because it was an opportunity to remind the faithful of what Simon O’Connor had said in Parliament in 2020 opposing the passing of the Abortion Legislation Act - “Vengeance is mine; I will repay saith the Lord”.
“Vengeance is mine” has also had its fair share of appropriation in popular culture, most notably, and appropriately, as the war cry of the perpetually thwarted megalomaniacal baby, Stewie Griffin, in Family Guy.
It’s a line from the Bible, a tremendous source if you’re looking for quotes about vengeance. That particular claim to the right of vengeance comes from both the book of Deuteronomy and the book of Romans. I can only assume that Simon O’Connor didn’t pair it with “I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger” because that particular vengeance vow from the book of Ezekiel is too easily recognised as the pre-killing catchphrase used by Samuel L Jackson’s character Jules in the movie Pulp Fiction. Of course “Vengeance is mine” has also had its fair share of appropriation in popular culture, most notably, and appropriately, as the war cry of the perpetually thwarted megalomaniacal baby, Stewie Griffin, in Family Guy.
In any event, Simon O’Connor’s point then, and presumably still now, is that divine vengeance for providing a legal right to abortion is coming. And according to the book of Deuteronomy, God is reasonably prescriptive about the form that such vengeance will take: “I will heap disasters on them; I will spend my arrows on them. They shall be wasted with hunger, Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction”. You don’t have to doom-scroll through your chosen social media feed for very long to conclude that God may have jumped the vengeance gun just a bit.
Chris Hipkins is already Minister of Just About Everything Else albeit that he’s only pursuing a career in politics because he lost out on the movie role of the reverse-ageing Benjamin Button to Brad Pitt.
It may also be jumping the gun to assume that abortion rights may be under threat in New Zealand as a result of the US Supreme Court decision. Christopher Luxon has said repeatedly since the weekend that a Team Blue government will not pursue a change to our abortion laws. He also said he’s not interested in importing “culture wars” into New Zealand. I think he’s well behind the gun on that one. As the guy in a ‘Democracy NZ’ cap who abused me for wearing a mask in a St Pierre’s sushi shop earlier this week would probably say, “The culture wars are already here”. And if he wouldn’t say it, I would.
Not here is PM Jacinda Ardern, who’s been in Europe doing her bit for the print media industry by posing with other world leaders for photos that magazine readers can provide captions for to win prizes. Her absence left Grant Robertson in charge as the Acting PM. However, he tested positive for Covid late in the week so I’m unsure as to whether he’s still the Acting PM, whether there’s now another Acting PM, or whether there’s a new Acting Acting PM. My money’s on Chris Hipkins for either role. He’s already Minister of Just About Everything Else albeit that he’s only pursuing a career in politics because he lost out on the movie role of the reverse-ageing Benjamin Button to Brad Pitt. By my reckoning Chris Hipkins still has plenty of reverse time available to become the youngest ever prime minister of a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. William Pitt the Younger became the PM of Great Britain at the age of 24, and Chris Hipkins has now reverse-aged down to 43, so he’s odds-on to become PM in 2042 at the record-breaking age of 23.
No doubt many of you will see the obvious flaw in my prediction. While Chris Hipkins will be 23 years old in 2042 there’s less certainty that New Zealand will still be a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy by then. Particularly if our political class is dominated by people invoking divine vengeance in response to legislated rights.
Have a peaceful weekend.
