"These absurdities are multiplied throughout today’s New Zealand. I cannot say 'modern' New Zealand because we see here a reversion to the prehistoric."

"[T]he Northland Regional Council['s] 'draft blueprint for improving freshwater' tells its readers that .. 'the water cycle is an expression of love between the heavens and earth, and each stage is a critical component. The Atua who control these elements [says the 'blueprint'] are in charge of condensation, evaporation, collection and precipitation.' Atua, according to Williams's 'Dictionary of the Māori Language' ... is 'God, Demon, supernatural being, ghost.'
    "By these words and others, the regional council is indicating that its draft freshwater plan has been informed by ideas that freshwater is a living being deriving from the gods, that it should be respected as an ancestor, and that the plan weaves together those views and 'western world views' so that the well-being of the water cycle is prioritised, respected and protected. ...

"These absurdities are multiplied throughout today’s New Zealand. I cannot say 'modern' New Zealand because we see here a reversion to the prehistoric. The absurdities bring to mind the title of a collection of Ayn Rand and Peter Schwartz essays: 'Return of the Primitive: the Anti-Industrial Revolution.' ... In his Introduction ... Peter Schwartz noted that:

'Primitive, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, means: "Of or belonging to the first age, period or stage; pertaining to early times…" With respect to human development, primitivism is a pre-rational stage. It is a stage in which man lives in fearful awe of a universe he cannot understand. The primitive man does not grasp the law of causality. He does not comprehend the fact that the world is governed by natural laws and that nature can be ruled by any man who discovers those laws. To a primitive, there is only a mysterious supernatural. Sunshine, darkness, rainfall, drought, the clap of thunder, the hooting of a spotted owl—all are inexplicable, portentous, and sacrosanct to him. To this non-conceptual mentality, man is metaphysically subordinate to nature, which is never to be commanded, only meekly obeyed.'

"This is the world that the Northland Regional Council would return us to. ... that countless councils, other governmental bodies, some political parties and others would return us to ... to which some of our judges and the New Zealand Council of Legal Education would have us return ...

"It has taken centuries for humanity to struggle and claw its way out of a swamp of ignorance and superstition to gain an understanding of the world, of the universe in which we live, and to use that understanding to create better lives for all. Yet, there are those who act as if they wish humanity to reverse course and return to a world of ignorance and superstition, to travel along a pathway to ignorance as I have heard it described. I cannot comprehend how any rational person could honestly desire that to occur."

~ Gary Judd from his post 'Return of the primitive'