Digital dystopia is already alive
The Chinese Communist Party has already partially implemented the so-called social credit system, and its main task is to Monitoring and evaluating the behavior of the Chinese population and then, based on the scores achieved, granting or denying citizens access to certain services. The operation of the system is based on the Sesame credit rating system in many respects, but it not only assesses consumer buying habits and income to rank debtor, but also examines normal behaviors and political loyalty.
So, for example, if a Chinese citizen conducts fair business deals, pays off his loans correctly, makes a donation and praises the Chinese Communist Party on the Internet, he gets a good rating, but if he commits violations, drinks a lot of alcohol, he does not repay his loans and criticizes CCP, you get a bad rating. Based on the evaluation, for example, we can travel within China at a discount, shop, get credit, get a high-quality education, On the other hand, if we rate poorly, they can be banned from flying, public jobs and good schools, for example.
The lowest credit level is 600, the highest is 1300, and the rating can be downgraded and improved at any time. Monitoring is primarily done by controlling the internet activities of Chinese citizensBut they also record spending through mobile payment systems, and they also use surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology, which is widely used in the People’s Republic of China.
“You laugh!”
It’s been a regular in recent months A commemorative campaign against the social credit system was launched from the West; In addition, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter are also full of content that also touches on topics particularly sensitive to the People’s Republic of China. It often appears in memes The Taiwan issue, the Tiananmen Square massacre, and John Cena, who accidentally described Taiwan as a country that caused a massive scandal in China, then apologized in Mandarin.
The meme mocking the average social credit system looks like this:
In videos like these, the new absurd sarcasm and post-iron millennium humor are mixed largely with memes critical of China, so it’s not certain that the core of the message will be shown to all viewers first.
In the video, John Cena tells the viewer that his social credit score is too low, so he has to take the social credit system test. The first question asks the subject how much he plays computer games per day: It’s funny because China has set the maximum online gaming time for minors at one hour. The second question is about the mandatory long-term family model with children, and the third question is China better or America. For every correct answer, a Chinese citizen gets 15 social credit points, but the last question comes: What happened in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. The correct answer would be “Nothing”, as China still denies the Tiananmen Square massacre, in which army soldiers were killed People’s Liberation hundreds of pro-democracy students, while the individual in the video is evidence of “something”, so less than 100 million get a social credit point. John Cena then informs that the citizen in the video will be executed for a low credit score, after which he will sound an ear-shaped sound of the Chinese national anthem.
Funny, isn’t it? There are generations and a half who say this is the pinnacle of comedy. But there are also plenty of similar humor videos, in which, for example, two girls are banned from listening to K-Pop because they can’t tell if Taiwan is a country:
And here’s John Cena (who’s been humorously called John Cena since the video for the Chinese apology) joking about the social credit system, but President Xi has made a nice comeback:
And in this video, an orange dog takes a social credit test, so he doesn’t get citizenship:
Finally, John Cena also helps Dwayne Johnson with Social Credits, who in turn is a player too big to maintain his positive balance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-edzjAVEcbw
We can also regularly encounter comments on Facebook during posts about China that “give” each other or the author of the post additional or minus social credit points.
Washington standing applauding
In China, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and almost every other interface where Chinese citizens can interact with these memes are banned. However, it cannot be said that China is completely confined to the cultural influence of the West, so news of the new generation of zombie humor will certainly return to the ears of the Chinese Communist Party.
It has been proven many times CCP leaders are openly frustrated if they are ridiculed; Pooh a few years ago blocked, in which the Friendly Bear Lodge began to be compared to President Shi Qing.
The American leadership is certainly pleased that the younger generation is already rebelling against the Chinese social system in its own way Washington has poured a great deal of resources in recent years into attacking China’s influence through the cultural sphere as well. The fact that young people have picked up on the topic organically is very beneficial to the US government.
Really cool beetle anyway Memes from Russia mock the social credit system ariseAnd Just at a time when Putin’s government is trying to forge closer ties with China due to conflicting interests with America. It is clear that a section of Russian society is not entirely happy with this, which is also good for the United States.
A report has just come out that the United States won’t know exactly what to do if Russia and China establish closer relations, even in the military sphere, which apparently is the goal of the two countries’ leaders at the moment:
Cover photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
