New Zealand River Now A Person

[NetWatchR]

Well, this just popped up on my Facebook.

Soon, he/she/it will demand equal rights with the mountain across the valley.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...lds-first-maori-people-bill-iwi-a7630596.html

Any comments, @FollowingHim ?

This has seriously got to be a joke. LOL
I'm trying to verify if it's a satire site or legit

EDIT: Holy Moley. It's true.
NPR
The Guardian
Aljazeer
Washington Post

 

[The Revolting Man]

Hehehe. Oh the post modernists. There is no silliness they will not blush at. Of course this is deadly serious. Someone is going to claim they have guardianship of this "person".

 

[Dakota]

Wait, can they tax it? Lol what about make it laws so it can only flow a few different ways? What if it floods and kills people? Would it get a death sentence? Just some questions of my own....

 

[FollowingHim]

Yes, it's serious. We live in a crazy country. But don't let that put you off visiting! Now we're the only place in the world that you can swim inside a person, that's got to be a boost to tourism...

 

[FollowingHim]

Correction from Sarah: The only place in the world you can swim inside a person AS AN ADULT. Of course.

 

[Mojo]

Wait, can they tax it? Lol what about make it laws so it can only flow a few different ways? What if it floods and kills people? Would it get a death sentence? Just some questions of my own....

If it wants to flow upstream, will it get LGBT protection?

 

[FollowingHim2]

Traditional Maori religion is pantheistic, and it gets shoved down our throats at school as being beautiful and lovely and spiritual. Nice.
Anyway, according to them there are gods of nature. There's a god of the sun, god of the forest, and certain rivers and mountains etc. Basically what they have done here is attempted to get their god of the river acknowledged in a legal way, and the only way they could do this is by labelling it as a 'person'. Of course they will have their own people that will be the representatives of this god. This does two things, introduces their religion into the legal system, and gives them complete control over the river which I'm sure they will attempt to use for their financial benefit. There's a constant on-going debate here, where the Maori want to own everything, and the government wants to own everything. Now with this, neither the Maori nor the government own anything, the river owns itself, but it's decisions are made by the Maori, so, guess who won that debate?