It's been a bad week for maturity.

Trump suggesting Meloni begged for a photo op is all that is petty and pathetic about a bloke who has bigger fish to fry.

Simeon Brown treating his business partners with verbal contempt by calling them children is not the crime of the century, but it's also not good conduct from people running countries.

But it all pales against the astonishing nonsense peddled, mainly on social media, by those opposed to these so-called conservation changes.

Now, this is not about whether those changes are half decent or not. Personally, having read it all, it's hardly the end of the world and a lot of it may well lead to better, smarter outcomes for the estate.

But I came to that conclusion by informing myself, which will be of great upset to the peddlers of the lies because it became clear fairly quickly they were not interested in the truth.

For them it was more about the alarmism that a misleading headline can produce.

Social media gets blamed for a lot and it's true that there is tsunamis of nonsense on it. But it, at all times, remains our responsibility to sift through and work out what's real and what isn't.

But sadly that is theory, not reality, and that's why the conservation scrap got so out of control. Because people too often on their feed see a headline and swallow it hook, line and tramping path.

There will always be, especially around contentious issues, some fizz or hyperbole and a little colourful theorising.

But this week has been a joke.

Between the Greens and Forest & Bird and their other worm-loving mates, they're saying the Coromandel is for sale, billionaires are buying Mt Cook and you'll be charged to enter the South Island.

All I ask is we try harder. Defend your corner, argue your case, point out the pitfalls, problems and failings.

But don’t make it up. Don’t put it out there in a way you know will be misinterpreted and run with.

Those behind this week's campaign of bollocks know people are busy and know they have limited time to consume detail so prey on that for political advantage.

It's our responsibility to be properly informed but it is those who run the place's job to do it on a level playing field.

Hysteria and lies and deliberate manipulation should be crimes.

But given they are not, all we can hope for is a better version of adults.  

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