Elections, Court Decision and Soap
10th October 2022
With local council elections closing this week, there was concern that Voices for Freedom’s efforts to have their members run for office without disclosing their affiliation would result in councils being stuffed with conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. Thankfully that appears to not be the case, as a Stuff article claims that fewer than a dozen VfF aligned candidates were voted in.
Of course, the email that landed in my inbox yesterday from Voices for Freedom disagrees with this summary, claiming that:
“Our inboxes tell a different story with their continuous dinging with news of more and more successful candidates. Already we have heard of at least two community boards where the entire elected board is friendly towards VFF and our values.”
I guess only time will tell whether the seasoned journalists or the conspiracy theorists are right in this instance.
This week’s newsletter looks at the decision in the Peter Ellis case, and the history of the NZ Skeptics’ involvement in the case - as well as how we deal with people who might disagree with our organisation when it comes to hot button topics. Bronwyn has chosen a subject that already has me enthralled, Dr Bronner’s soap, and I’m already looking forward to reading the second half of her investigation next week (and talking with her about it on the podcast). Finally, I went down a brief rabbit hole after I watched a documentary on Dr Bronner which led me to the 27 Club of dead musicians, and I figured I could use my l33t IT skillz to see if there’s anything to it.
