Every so often people reveal the state of their hearts and minds with comments that "prove far too much". Sometimes folk betray their origins. They appear to be from distant planets: we are left wondering how they made it to this planet in the first place, and hoping that the return journey occurs soon.
Here is a spokesman for the Consumer New Zealand--Hamish Wilson. He is quoted commenting upon pre-pay electricity plan, where consumers pay in advance for power. Hamish gravely warns us that such plans are "unfair". In Mr Wilson's bizarre world-view, power companies are one vast criminal enterprise. Get this:
But Consumer NZ testing manager Hamish Wilson said the consumer rights group suspected systems like Glo-bug might mean retailers became more aggressive about channelling customers towards pre-pay. It was also concerned by planned increases in power prices.Power companies "effectively plunder people's bank accounts". Using electricity and having to pay the power supply company for it constitutes an act of theft by the power company.
"All of this is about making life easier for the electricity companies to do what they already do very well, which is effectively plunder people's bank accounts. We don't think pre-pay is in the best interests of most of the people who are likely to end up on it," he said.
It would appear that Mr Wilson hails from a planet where "what's yours is mine, and what's mine's me own" is the prevailing ethic. This apparently is what it means to look after the interests of consumers. Everyone else owes me their property for nothing, and I owe diddley squat.
How has it come to pass that some (perhaps many) in our society casually treat other people's property with such contempt? The kind of consumer advocacy now being promulgated by Consumer New Zealand appears blighted by unethical, bad-faith dealing and sharp practice.
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