Brian Holden: Of Candy Crush and Richard Dawkins

Candy Crush has millions gripped with its sweet temptation. Photo / File

Next time you see someone, probably a woman, totally mesmerised by their smartphone or tablet, it could well be that they're frantically trying to squash as many candies as they can before they use up all their moves on Candy Crush Saga, the latest online game that appears to be taking over the world. With its twinkly lights, bright colours and the challenge of getting through a game, it has millions of people in its grip.

Would you believe 700 million games of Candy Crush are played every day on mobile devices alone? It's mostly women aged between 25 and 55 who are in thrall to Candy Crush, because of the 100 per cent concentration required.

When I called into the bank in Taupo last week, the teller was intently gazing at her computer screen apparently trying to sort out a technical problem. I jokingly said, "Candy Crush, eh". Immediately the other tellers erupted into laughter.

"Oh no - not me," she replied, defensively. During the transaction, I mentioned tongue in cheek that the Betty Ford Rehabilitation Clinic in California is in the process of adding a new wing specifically for accommodating Candy Crush Saga addicts. The tellers actually believed me, and as I left the building, I could sense an air of concern about just how serious this game is.

Indeed, Candy Crush has taken a mild hold here in the And Another Thing HQ by one occupant, but we're keeping calm as a pledge has been made not to part with a single dollar to buy "lives" and as long as dinner is on the table at six, we're all - sweet.

Digging a hole

Sometimes an apology is best left unsaid, like the half-hearted plea offered by atheist Richard Dawkins after telling a woman via Twitter it would be immoral not to abort pregnancy if she knew her expected baby had Down syndrome. "Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice." I kid you not - those were his words.

He has "apologised" for what he refers to as the "feeding frenzy" from horrified critics, triggered by the grossly insensitive statement. He wrote: "To conclude, what I was saying simply follows logically from the ordinary pro-choice stance that most of us, I presume, espouse. My phraseology may have been tactlessly vulnerable to misunderstanding, but I can't help feeling that at least half the problem lies in a wanton eagerness to misunderstand."

He digs himself in even deeper, writing, "If your morality is based, as mine is, on a desire to increase the sum of happiness and reduce suffering, the decision to deliberately give birth to a Down's baby, when you have the choice to abort it early in the pregnancy, might actually be immoral from the point of view of the child's own welfare."

In my mind, you would struggle to find a more toxic example of how to dig oneself further into a hole from what was originally a shallower one. Dawkins' final slice with a shovel capped it all off when he claimed that there was not enough space in his Twitter reply to get his fuller argument across. What a heartless chap this man is. There is a place in our world for people such as Dawkins, but surely way down the pecking order. There was one such chap responsible for starting WWII who wore a little black square moustache. His mission was to cleanse the world of those who were (to him) imperfect.

We have come a long way since then - have we? Those with Down syndrome have a special place in our world, and despite the challenges to parents and caregivers, there would be few who would choose to turn back the clock. The joy that those with Down syndrome give cannot be measured. Dawkins' logic wades into the extreme. And anyway, in the quest for "perfection" where does one stop? By ridding humanity of all imperfect souls, leaving just the likes of you and me (well me anyway), plus maybe those who live in our lovely quiet street - and to heck with the rest?

• Brian Holden has lived in Rotorua for most of his life and has recently celebrated 10 years' writing And Another Thing.