Background: I’m Chinese by origin but grew up in the west. He’s English. He’s kind of a 
but in a lefty way and has been with me to China multiple times, we’ve been together for years. He has had misconceptions before but is always learning. He does go on Reddit still, mostly to talk about land value tax which is his big political obsession right now.
Anyway last night we were at dinner and talking about an idea for a project that’s like quora but with only expert/academic researchers as responders. Part of it would need a reputation rating for the researchers. We were then talking about the use cases/audience for the project and I said “this might be better suited to Asia” (because of how highly education is valued and the pressure on kids to study/achieve grades). And he immediately responded “because they’re used to social credit scores?” Like. Without missing a beat. Maybe I’m overthinking it but it really pissed me off that his first association when I mentioned Asia was… this.
We talked about it and he explained that the concept was already in his mind when he was thinking about the reputation system so it wasn’t just a reaction to Asia specifically. But he insisted that he knew social credit scores were a real thing. I think he did listen when I said these types of jokes were what made Reddit such a hostile environment to be in, though.
I’m not sure what I’m asking but I just wanted to get it off my chest. Does anyone maybe have resources on internet Sinophobia / explanation of where the social credit stuff came from I can share with him?
Thanks crew. Sorry that was so long x
one of my very good friends made a ‘social credit score’ comment the other night off-hand (they were referring to a relative of theirs who apparently lives in China and ‘has’ one - but it sounded like bs to me lol) but I knew the argument wasn’t worth pursuing so instead of I just went “huh?” & kept asking him to elaborate until he realized he was just spouting some insane propagandized State Department BS straight from either his’ relative’s dumbass mouth and/or from some bs alternative source. Works every time and he actually felt dumb about it afterwards.
Literally:
“yeah my cousin lives in Beijing and actually has a social credit score…”
huh??
“you know - the social credit score thing that China has?”
huh?? like the credit score we have for renting/purchasing property and loans?
“no no - its different than that, its a lot more fucked up you’ve surely heard of this you fucking communist”
huh? how?
“basically its how China prevents people from doing…”
huh?? that doesn’t sound real to me lol - how has it affected your American cousin who is living in Beijing with a Chinese wife??
“he has a social credit score now”
so like an American credit score??
“NO NO NO HERE HOLD ON LET ME GOOGLE IT FOR YOU”
^ imagine this for like an hour and a half and you’ll have my experience in NYC a few days ago.
Your BF is a lame nerd.
Even if “social credit scores” were real, imagine thinking a system based on being a good community member is worse than whether you’re rich or not.
Stupid shit like this is why I don’t date white westerners anymore. I could only hear about “LATIN CULTURE” and “machismo” for the 8,000th time before I just got sick of it. Nothing wrong with discussing complex issues in your culture but these types always act like they have some authoritative knowledge on topics that they know nothing about.
Americans are so propagandized they think parroting that propaganda will somehow increase their fico score
I get you, fam.
I’m from Wuhan but have spent 2 decades in Australia. Sydney, from what I can tell, has been alright, but in my part of the country, western propaganda has penetrated deep enough that blokes at the pub will bring up shit like China wants to take over the world or social credit score or whatever.
I generally try and steer the topic away or do a uno reverse on like how they’re only here because Britain was actually trying to take over the world and whatnot. I can see how this probably wouldn’t work with your partner (I wouldn’t know, my volcel pledge has prevented me from dating since ~2019. That, and also a very shallow dating pool where I live)
But as for your request for sources:
Also, admitting I’m from Wuhan gets a bunch of bat soup jokes so I’ve kinda stopped doing that to strangers.
not only is that just fucked up in general, it’s also so painfully unfunny. It’s like making a joke about someone’s name as if you’re the first motherfucker who ever thought of it in the x number of years they’ve been walking around on this planet introducing themselves to people
He does go on Reddit still, mostly to talk about land value tax
Oh no, I’m so sorry.
Here is one of the FP articles on social credit. I believe they wrote another few about it. It’s been deeply misportrayed in pop culture.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/16/chinas-orwellian-social-credit-score-isnt-real
Here is another (lmao at the fucking url tho):
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/15/china-social-credit-system-authoritarian/
The subheading sums it up well:
A supposedly Orwellian system is fragmented, localized, and mostly targeted at businesses.
Thank you!! Really appreciate this.
Block reddit on his browser lol
FICO scores/no fly lists/hooligan lists in england especially/felons can’t vote in the usa/you may be denied entry in usa as a member of communist party/background checks in workplaces, especially government.
Even if social scores existed exactly as described, they do exist in the west, he just doesn’t perceive them as such
And credit scores aren’t even for pro-social/anti-social behavior. It’s a measure of how likely banks think they are to trap you in to a debt cycle that you can service but not escape.
Plus steam vac bans, ai plagiarism detection software, and a dozen other fragmented systems tracking you and deciding your fate.
FWIW he is certainly not an apologist for UK or US policy on anything, but I appreciate these examples
He does go on Reddit still, mostly to talk about land value tax which is his big political obsession right now.
You managed to find a Georgist in the year of our Lord 2023…
Also Here’s the actual law translated, reading the primary source really reveals how sensational western reporting is on the subject. There’s almost nothing in the laws about individuals. It’s 90% bans on obtaining business licenses if you do financial crimes and travel bans if you have fucked over a community you’re in until you rectify the damage you did.
They also get specific with lifetime bans in participating in the dairy industry for dairy executives that don’t follow health and safety standards, bans on participation in financial investment for predatory investors/fraud, and bans on owning real-estate for predatory landlords or real-estate holding executives.
All good things in my opinion.
