Are you sitting comfortably? You may use Google, confer with your teammates, or consult any books on your shelves. The important thing is that you name that country in as few clues as possible. First, I will give you a clue which is that I am writing this somewhere in the Far East, on the verge of returning to the United Kingdom. OK; here we go:
Lockdowns: did this country react hysterically to a mild outbreak of a virus and confine people to their homes, close businesses and mete out considerable brutality while shaming those who decided that their personal freedom was of greater importance than the arbitrary wishes of the state?
Suppressing freedom of speech: has this country ever put a stranglehold on the mainstream media, used covert powers to control social media including closing people’s accounts? Have professional bodies, for example in medicine, ever been encouraged to act against members who speak out in opposition to government policy and labelled them with spreading misinformation? Have people been arrested for the same offences?
Restrictions on movement and association: has this country ever tried to stop people moving freely within their country, out of their country or freely meeting with others to worship or protest against government policy, including brutal treatment, imprisonment and court appearances?
Currency: is this country suppressing the use of fiat currency and moving towards the use of digital currency? Are there already many places such as shops, bars and entertainment venues where fiat currency is no longer accepted? Are there efforts, by electronic means, to consolidate currency, identity, medical records, driving licences, criminal records and social credit in a single smart phone app; indeed, does such an app already exist?
Closing bank accounts: have people in this country ever had their bank accounts closed because their views are not in accord with those of the government? Have websites which facilitate safe transfer of currency and safe payments ever closed people’s accounts with the threat of retaining their money because they were deemed to have unacceptable political views?
Mind control: are there signs in this country that the government is complicit in promoting blatant fabrications and using these to corrupt the minds of children. As an example, this country might try to convince the population that cats are dogs and that weeds are flowers, and not just for fun. Are people who refuse to go along with these fabrications being arrested, losing their jobs and being shunned by polite society?
Corrupt political classes: do the political classes form an elite who live in splendid isolation from the remainder of the population? Is there evidence that, while they impose one set of laws on the population, they blatantly disregard those same laws with impunity?
Denying deaths at the hands of the state: are there a suspiciously high and demonstrable number of people dying as a result of government policy and is this being denied by the government? Despite reasonable and credible requests to investigate these deaths, is the government refusing to investigate them?
State monopolies: Does this country have any organisations which are state monopolies into which vast amounts of money are continually poured with no discernible improvement in their output?
The quiz is over, please set aside your mobile phones and books and stop conferring.
The answer is given below.
Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He is a columnist with Unity News Network and writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.
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Virtually all of Roger’s criteria fit Australia as well
With a few exceptions, it fits all of western so-called civilization.