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July 27, 2008
Climate Cops
Posted by Dave Blount at July 27, 2008 8:19 PM
One of the most frightening aspects of the totalitarian dystopia depicted in George Orwell's 1984 is that parents have to live in terror of their bratty children, who are encouraged by authorities to spy on them and turn them in for minor transgressions against the State. Once again, liberals appear to have been using the novel not as a warning, but as an instruction manual. Watts Up With That reports on Britain's alarming Climate Cops campaign:
Launched today with large colour ads in the Sundays, it appeals directly to children, urging them to enlist as "climate cops", to root out "climate crimes" [PDF], and thus "save the planet".
In a luridly-designed website, mimicking the style of "yoof" cartoons, it offers a bundle of downloads, including a pack of "climate crime cards" [PDF], urging its recruits to spy on families, friends and relatives, inviting each of them to build up a "climate crime case file" in order to help them ensure their putative criminals do not "commit those crimes again (or else)!" […]
How nicely this ties in with James Hansen's call to put the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming.
Climate crimes for which tykes are encourage to rat out Mom and Dad include:
- "Leaving the TV on stand-by"
- "Leaving a tap running"
- "Using the tumble dryer on a sunny day"
- "Leaving lights on in an empty room"
- "Leaving a mobile phone charger plugged in"
- "Putting hot food in the fridge or freezer"
- "Not using energy-saving light bulbs"
- "Boiling a kettle full of water for one cup of tea"
- "Leaving the room door open on a cool day"
Not even Winston Smith had to deal with a form of totalitarianism so jealous of mankind's free will as to consider it a crime to leave the telescreen on standby.
If a foreign army tried to impose such rigid and idiotic restrictions on us, we would fight to the last man — or at least, there was a time when we would have. But since we are being conquered from within, by an army of clowns too absurd to take seriously, there is virtually no resistance.
Particularly alarming is that the Climate Cops campaign is not sponsored by the usual villain, the British Nanny State, but by the power company npower. Normally capitalism protects the public from encroaching authoritarianism, because powerful corporations serve as a counterbalance to overreaching governments. When the government and corporations read from the same playbook, the people are in trouble.
On a tip from Lou.
