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Another way in which we know that ‘moderate’ and ‘conservative’ Jacinda Ardern is really a figure of the hard left is her disregard for the rule of law in her handling of the COVID ‘crisis’.
It doesn’t seem to have concerned her that the first lockdown had no basis in law and resulted in legal challenges after police threw people off beaches and dragged them away from their barbecues – cautioning them for the ‘crime’ of being Kiwi.
Ardern saw absolutely nothing wrong with ruling from her throne by decree, and in securing compliance by means of threat and innuendo: ‘read between the lines’; ‘you’ll know it when you see it’.
When the Empress finally deigned to legislate for lockdown, she immediately armed the police with the ability to search without a warrant. This is a move almost entirely without precedent in the free and democratic West. It’s a tactic of the Stasi; the modus operandi of central Asian dictators.
The similarity between this second lockdown and the first is that we, like an audience addicted to a television drama serial, are being kept guessing. Auckland Mayor Phil Goff secured a cameo role in Friday’s ‘Shortland Street’ COVID episode, played across all media outlets, saying that Level 3 might be extended – or it might not.
As I said previously, Friday is always ‘cliff-hanger’ day in the world of soap opera. The PM plays an excellent Rachel McKenna to Ashley Bloomfield’s Dr Ropata – and the nation is hooked.
If only she would sell the advertising rights. That way we might recoup some of our money. Conversely, why not treat us the way adult constituents ought to be treated, and tell us what’s going on?
We are beginning to find out that there are significant differences between the second lockdown and the first, which the socialists have been working hard behind the scenes to implement.
For starters there is the nationwide tracer app and accompanying QR codes. Government language is currently that we ‘must’ or ‘should’ use the app, and it is compulsory for businesses to display a code.
Tough times require tough measures, you might say. But this is nothing more than a state surveillance system designed to track and record the detailed movements of every man, woman and child in the country.
Once mobile phone users are identified through the provision of their personal details, there’s nothing to say they won’t also be identified on the authorities’ network of CCTV cameras, or that QR scanning won’t be used for other purposes, such as criminal surveillance or counter-terrorism.
Or for simply monitoring you if you are a ‘person of interest’. Or perhaps a conservative who holds the ‘wrong’ views on gender and climate change.
Shouldn’t a measure as far-reaching as this be backed by legislation?
Next up is the wearing of face nappies. These were not in vogue last time, possibly due to our reliance on the People’s Republic of China for supply. This time we are being encouraged to make our own and it’s the sewing shops which are running out of supplies.
Face coverings are not foolproof in preventing the spread of this illness, but they are excellent as an analytical tool, and can be deployed to great effect for propaganda purposes. The nation will immediately divide into two groups: the complying majority, and a dissenting minority.
Dissenters will be easily identified without the need for polling or focus groups. They can be denied access to key services, such as supermarkets and public transport. They will be easy to ostracise in public once mob rule kicks in, as the PM stands in the background fanning the flames of fear.
The ancient Greeks, who invented ostracism, often used it pre-emptively as a way of neutralizing someone thought to be a threat to the regime.
Countries with limited democracy, such as Singapore, legislated quickly to make face nappies compulsory. It remains to be seen whether the same will happen here, or whether enforcement will be devolved to roadside Maori militias.
A further reason masks are much beloved in dictatorships is that they are dehumanising, in the same way Muslim female attire is. Wearers resemble programmed robots. The unfortunate reality is we care much less about the fate of people whose faces we cannot see.
Masks prise us apart from our neighbour; they do not draw us to him. One hopes that this is a feature of face nappies which the government does not intend to overly exploit.
Third, is the new regime of ‘compulsory’ COVID testing. It technically isn’t compulsory, but it certainly is a ‘thing’ and ‘testing fever’ (the medical equivalent of Saturday Night Fever, I suppose) has gripped the nation. Eden Terrace testing station was so overwhelmed on Thursday, Lockdown Day 1, that people had to be turned away.
Where were all of these people on Wednesday? One day Auckland is well. The next, it’s the sick man of New Zealand – a city of hypochondriacs. Did this happen by chance, or was it by design? What is the agenda? Is it to gain medical knowledge, or an exercise in more intrusive information gathering?
The ramping-up of the testing operation certainly appears to contain an element of social control. The government rings the Plague Bell and a captive population salivates like Pavlov’s dogs in a straightforward case of classical conditioning.
Interesting, though I hope not too saliently for us, Pavlov’s dogs were eaten during the siege of Leningrad.
We have learned that people who test positive for COVID-19 will be transferred to ‘compulsory isolation facilities’. Isn’t this just a nice way of saying that those with the plague are going to the gulags? What happens to those who refuse to comply?
By contrast, Sweden’s model of gentle social democracy is looking more attractive than ever. During New Zealand’s first COVID outbreak I hypothesised about Sweden’s adherence to civil rights and the rule of law while the rest of Europe turned authoritarian.
Sweden, with its reliance on herd immunity and belief in individual autonomy, has become a beacon of light as we disappear down the red rabbit hole.
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