By Jarren Minorgan
Love him or hate him, Jordan Peterson is notorious for controversial takes and his pro-lobster stance. In a recent tweet by Peterson, it appears he warns of a planned movement to force humans into a dystopia where there’s only one thing you can do. Walk. So, let’s explore this a little and see if there’s any truth to his forewarning.
The Right to Bear Cars
Just two and half hours into the new year, Jordan rushed to his device to warn us of our awaiting fate for 2023. He had to let us know that powerful underground elites would be deciding where we are allowed to use our freedom machines, our cars.
Imagine the year is 2077, all cities in Australia have entirely walkable suburbs. Mark McGowan is not only a cyborg but also the Supreme Leader of New Western Australia. Walkable neighbourhoods would mean that anything you could ever need is only a 15–20-minute stroll away. Work, school, places of worship, parks, leisure centres, 24/7 massage parlours, everything. Now, The Supreme Leader sees no reason as to why someone would need to leave their own suburb unless of-course for the occasional visit to family and friends that he will nicely permit using a pass. This will allow for the rare passing through the metal walls that enclose each neighbourhood within the country.
Though this walkable dystopian future sounds like it could never happen, I noticed that Peterson had linked an article under the tweet that seemed to share similar elements. In this Oxford Mail article, it warns that road blocks will force Oxford residents to only use their cars in their neighbourhoods and pay for a pass they can only use twice a week to visit other areas.
Shortly looking into the story though showed this wasn’t exactly the case. One article discusses how traffic filters will restrict drivers access to some main roads during certain hours to benefits public transport, pedestrians, and cyclists. Another article also states this and points to a TikTok video for the explosion of conspiracy theories surrounding walkable cities. In the linked video, walkable cities are described as ‘Human Settlement Zones’ which would see the abolition of private car ownership, airfare travel (for some reason) and carbon credits. Really just diving straight down the rabbit hole at this point.
The Irony
The sad reality is if you want to really want to look at a form of control, you really must look no further than the automobile. Petrol prices, services, insurance, a license, having to be a certain age and the fact you are forced to drive almost entirely on those things called…roads (which I think Peterson may have forgotten existed). There are also road laws and rules (obviously) and with the electrification of cars, it’s almost certain that even more control will be put on consumers. Some may be beneficial in certain cases, like being able to remotely turn off cars to reduce high speed chases and thefts, though others may see more functions become subscription based.
Additionally, this control goes further than just the lives of individuals as cars have greatly impacted how we can plan for cities that are reliant on them. As shown in the graphic below, most car-centric cities are trapped in a cycle all because of the freedom machine.
My faith in humanity was slightly restored reading some of the comments under Peterson’s tweet such as those below. Regardless, the fact conspiracy theories regarding one of the most ancient and equitable forms of transportation known to humans, and something that literally all abled people can do is a bit scary. Even more so for planners who are so tired of hearing about the benefits of walkable/rideable cities and simply want to help implement the aspects in car orientated cities.
Summing up
Freedom is more than just driving on the roads that have been created for your expensive metal box you’ve been made to believe is a necessity and a statement about yourself. Freedom is walking. Where it’s accessible, equitable and paths only aid in your movement, not dictate it.
Walkable cities aren’t faultless. They could see neighbourhoods become more gated as well as see even greater increases to house and rent prices. Compared to car centric cities found within the US and Australia however, these cons are completely outweighed. Reducing road deaths and pollution, improving small businesses, reducing risk of diabetes, obesity and benefitting quality of life and social interactions. Not to mention the benefits to climate change though, perhaps that is another well-documented plan too.
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