Technology is certainly making it easier for authoritarianism to thrive. Western countries have a healthy skepticism of the power of technology for this purpose although the US lags behind the EU significantly in areas like data protection (see GDPR).
As more and more evidence of the importance of our personal data emerges I expect more municipalities and states to restrict it's power. California is taking the lead on data protection. San Francisco recently passed a law restricting the use of facial recognition cameras by police.
The surprise to me isn't that China is implementing these tools. The Social Credit System they are implementing is especially icky. It's straight out of a Black Mirror episode.
The suprise to me is how Chinese citizens embrace and defend the Chinese government actions. There is a collectivist ethos that is simultaneously awe inpiring and downright scary.
I live in an area with an extreme volume of Chinese expats and 1st generation Chinese Americans. The High School my kids attend(ed) is 65% 'Asian'. As you can imagine, the grades and test scores are enough for the school to rank Top 25 in the Country in US News and Reports rankings. Over the years my family has had many interractions with them. In fact, my wife taught 6-8th grade Social Studies in a feeder middle school. She loathed the few months of the school year where they'd get a huge influx of Chinese students who would be sent to the US for their "summer break" to attend school in the US. They'd stay with local families and dissapear almost as quickly as they arrived. I've long suspected that many local Chinese families are making money by housing these kids for a few months.
With all that said, there is one common characteristic among both the parents,their children and any Chinese students. It's an unabashed defense of the Chinese government to defend the collective by rooting out ner do wells. They feel the government's tactics are essential to the success of China and that is much more important than losing any individual liberty. I'd be OK with hearing this from an Expat because you expect them to eventually return to China but am dismayed at the depth of its roots in Chinese American citizens. Naturally, you'd expect the values of liberty and freedom to take hold after escaping authoritarianism but from my anecdotal experience they carry it with them and spread it to their children.
-
Like x 3
Last edited: Oct 24, 2019