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Comment by prolikewh0a | Hacker News Reader

>Another way to say it is - If China was a democratic nation with the highest level of freedom and openmindedness and fix the issues US has.

I would be surprised if they didn't have nearly the same freedoms we have in USA, if not more in some ways. A lot of their culture is based in confucianism as well, which makes their society different than USA.

We have an oppressive system with humanitarian issues, that's unapologetically Orwellian, that cheats and lies. Our workplaces are authoritatian. I don't see us as too much different, just the USA really doesn't want to lose their #1 economic superpower status, so we're inundated with low quality propaganda. We're both capitalistic systems, China is not economically communist or the people would own the means of production.

https://m.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/rapporteur-United-Natio...

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Not too much different? I can speak out against the government here and not get disappeared, or have a negative impact on my social credit score. A social credit score which can limit my ability to associate with certain people, get good employment, good housing, and unrestricted travel. I don't understand how that translates to "nearly the same freedoms". Let's not get started either with freedom of religious worship as well.

>I can speak out against the government here and not get disappeared

Wrong. Try speaking out against the US government in any meaningful way and you'll be murdered by it. Dissent is not welcome here and you will be punished for it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

>A social credit score which can limit my ability to associate with certain people, get good employment, good housing, and unrestricted travel.

How is this different than our credit score system and 80% of people living paycheck to paycheck? Employers check it, housing checks it, travel is about to implement face scanning. Not seeing a huge difference here. There aren't even many good jobs (https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1809629002If). If we don't fully have it yet, we sure as shit will soon.

Everything we do is tracked, watched, listened to, recorded. Look up and view all of the easily hackable cameras loaded with back doors literally everywhere. It's really not much different than what we're told about China. Talking in work Slack I often get "move to Signal" because our workplaces are authoritatian and strip you of your rights when you walk in the door.

Are there even any examples so far of China's social credit having any effect on anyone?

That's silly. I (and millions like me) have been speaking out against the U.S. government loudly and publicly, under my real name, for over 20 years. I have berated public officials in person. I have never once been threatened, censored, or murdered.

It's hilarious that the evidence you give to back up your position is a wikipedia article about a well-known stain on American history from forty years ago.

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