When the Devil promised Christ all the kingdoms and riches of the world, all he asked was that Christ just bow down once and worship him once. The West faces the same proposition, but genuflecting to the Gods of climate change obsession comes at a price. With calls for 15 minute cities, The Oxford Council in the UK is planning to implement a 15 minute city, all that Oxford will loose is it’s freedom, a small price for an alluring proposition.
It sounds like a utopian dream. All public amenities would be available within a 15 minute radius of where you live. What more could you ask for? But this seemingly charitable act of political virtue and climate conscious policies hide the more insidious face of the policy. The Oxford council also intends to utilise police assistance by using number plate recognition surveillance cameras to police the movement of its constituents.
So while the people of Oxford may enjoy the luxuries of the 15 minute city scheme, people’s personal liberties and freedom of movement would be restricted and policed in a kind of radius lockdown.
After such a pause, things may seem amazing, shops, GPs and transportation systems all close, but then as you notice an increasing number of police restricting movement beyond a certain radius, you may wonder about the costs and the benefits. Closer to home in Australia, Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece of Victoria has sheepishly claimed that “there is nothing to fear and a lot to love about the 15 minute city.” He went on:
“ The wild conspiracy theory that the 15 minute city will require people to obtain a pass to leave their zone or stop them from leaving their local areas is beyond ludicrous.. In fact, 15 minute cities will give people more freedom and opportunity…”
It is almost ironic that Lord Mayer Reece of Victoria can deny potential infringement on freedoms when Victoria was the most locked down city of the world. Is it a price we will pay?
Remember that the Council of Oxfords plan in the UK will be policed by camera surveillance of car registration plates. This means that if people transgress the 15 minute road boundaries, they will be fined or arrested for doing so. Now you might say that the police would never enforce such a thing.
Don’t forget, Australian police were enforcing lockdowns with severe fines and arrests while police helicopters patrolled neighbourhoods. The NSW police alone issued over 60,000 COVID fines and, on the orders of State and Territory governments, the Police closed off state borders during the Pandemic.
It was Machiavelli that once said, “fear is greater than love.”
Fear translated itself into public policy during COVID and cowardice greeted fear with open arms
When we saw brutal police crackdowns, arrests, police assaulting civilians and imprisoning and fining protesters or those not wearing masks, we’re reminded of something very important. Police officers are people and most people are cowards. They were just as afraid to question or refuse orders and that’s why we saw the rise of the polices state during COVID.
But this is a sacrifice we need to think twice about. COVID was temporary. A 15 minute city might be eternal. What are we willing to sacrifice in order to save the environment? What if the very thing we sacrifice is our soul?
I may sound a little exaggerated here, but it seems to be that to agree to such a policy in the West would be to hand over the most precious of gifts that Western civilisation has offered us, freedom, the freedom to live and move as we decide. If that is not the soul of the West, then I don’t know what is. And if the 15 minute city plan idea is so innocent, possible and plausible, then how does Mr. Reece intend on it, if not by coercion?
Once we are wedded to the devil, we are his for the taking
We have flirted with many aberrations in the West, but there are some things we should not entertain. Although the roots of totalitarian impulse run deep, our fates are undecided but it should not be determined by sheer ignorance, climate alarmism, apathy or totalitarian instincts of the political elite. We could gain the life promised by the climate change activists and messiahs alike, a world in which things were at the tips of our fingertips. And yet, all we have to do is to sacrifice the most precious of gifts, our freedom.
