As AFN reported yesterday, the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government met to talk about "de-banking" – the trend of financial institutions and some online payment apps to close the accounts of people or groups with whom they disagree. One of those offering testimony was Dr. Jordan Peterson, who has become somewhat of a cult hero among conservatives – although he does not claim that political characterization.
At the House hearing, Peterson warned members of Congress that the U.S. is fairly far down the path to becoming like a well-known dictatorship that employs widespread video surveillance on its citizens.
"There are now 700 million CCTVs in China under the rule of the Communist Party," he pointed out. "The system to which those electronic eyes are attached is the most complete state apparatus of surveillance yet imagined."
Peterson said the life of a Chinese citizen revolves around their "social credit score" – a rating the government assigns a person based on what that surveillance caught them doing. According to Peterson, the U.S. government is already rushing down that dark, dystopian path.
"Because we already fell prey to the terrible temptation of lockdown employed by that state in the face of hypothetical crisis once – and partly because any problem whatsoever that now confronts us can easily be used to justify the increasing reach of the security and nanny state," he explained.
De-banking, said Peterson, is another marker through which the federal government is tracking the lives and habits of conservative people and groups.
"Governments can, and are, colluding with these corporate agents to develop a picture not only of our actions, but of our thoughts and words, so that deviation from the desired end can be mapped, rewarded, and punished," he stated.
According to the Viewpoint Diversity Score website, financial entities such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, PayPal, Regions Bank, and Wells Fargo have de-banked many conservative and faith-based individuals and groups over the past several years.
Editor's note: Dr. Jordan's testimony begins at the 19:10 mark in this video at C-SPAN.
