The social credit system, also known as the Ranking System, is a means to assign a rating value to individuals based on their compliance with social and political expectations. It rates whether or not people are good or bad citizens. It then rewards or punishes individuals based on their behavior. It is presently in use in communist China.
The government exercises control of its citizenry via surveillance cameras, facial recognition software, complaints from people, official documents, and records from medical, business, and government entities. It then assigns a social credit score to individuals and companies. Those who comply with the imposed social credit system are rewarded materially and socially—those who don’t are penalized.
“China’s social credit system is an ambitious initiative to build a database that monitors individual, corporate, and government behavior across the country in real time. According to the Chinese government, the system will use big data to build a high-trust society where individuals and organizations follow the law.” https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-corporate-social-credit-system-how-it-works/
According to New Horizons at https://nhglobalpartners.com/chinas-social-credit-system-explained, factors that might be considered when calculating a score for businesses could include:
- Whether the business has paid taxes on time
- Whether the business maintains necessary licenses
- Whether the business fulfills environmental-protection requirements
- Whether the business meets product quality standards
- Whether the business meets requirements specific to their industry
https://nhglobalpartners.com/chinas-social-credit-system-explained
As far as individuals go, their trustworthiness could be determined by their personal behavior in such areas as:
- Loitering
- Smoking in no-smoking areas
- Spending too much time on video games
- Paying bills on time
- Visiting your sick parents
- Spreading fake news
- When driving, stopping in front of crosswalks
Low scores can result in possible travel bands, decreased internet speeds, not getting specific jobs, or being barred from attending certain schools.
“Algorithms score people and dole out consequences. In 2018, for example, China’s Global Times proudly reported that its social credit system had blocked more than 11.14 million flights and 4.25 million train trips of people who were behind in their debts. The idea, according to China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), is to make sure that “discredited people become bankrupt.”
https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/28/democrats-equality-act-would-be-a-big-nudge-towards-a-u-s-social-credit-system/
Does that scare you? It does me, especially since I’m not politically correct. I hold to conservative Christian values, voice my opinion on political, social, and religious topics, and recommend people read and act on Scripture. That used to be okay in this country, but not so much nowadays.
Social Credit System and the United States
The precursors for social credit are alive and well in the United States. There are punishments socially and legally for those who do not comply with the increased secularization and acceptable political viewpoints. You can be punished if you do not affirm gender fluidity and LGBTQ with losing a job, having your social media accounts suspended, bank accounts denied, etc. It goes on and on.
- Transgender NYC Commission on Human Rights Announces Strong Protections for City’s Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Communities in Housing, Employment and Public Spaces – $250,000 fines for misgendering people!?
- Free Speech Horowitz: FBI comes dangerously close to criminalizing free speech by indicting man for tweeting election memes
- Conservative Christian Sephora Sacks And Smears Beauty YouTuber For Being A Conservative Christian Trump Supporter
- Politically Correct Truth NYT Column Urges Biden to Appoint ‘Reality Czar,’ Establish ‘Truth Commission’ to Solve ‘Reality Crisis’
- For more such headlines, see the CARM article List of news media articles categorized by topics.
The dangers of the social credit system
Without a doubt, there is always the potential of misuse of some technological advancements. A person’s social credit score, if implemented, would be subject to the politically correct, secular dictates of the powers that be. In totalitarianism, the state can crush any dissent-even if that dissent is good. Suppose you don’t behave the way the state wants you to (against your conscience and faith). In that case, you can be penalized with the loss of employment or only be allowed to work in lower-level jobs. You might have your social media accounts restricted or canceled. You could be forced to suffer through travel restrictions and even have your banking privileges revoked.
In America, our first amendment says we have the freedom of speech. Our fourth amendment says we have the right to privacy. But, these rights are fading under the heavy hand of leftist, socialist policies. Political correctness has become a restrictive chain around the necks of the once-free-Americans. Many resist the double-talking and intolerant leftists who preach about fairness and equality while suppressing fairness and equality. Their hypocrisy is obvious to anyone whose frontal lobes have not been atrophied by the leftist newscasts and vacuous secularist ideologies. But hypocrites don’t care about their inconsistencies. Instead, they care about their agenda: control and power. The result is conservatives getting canceled, losing their jobs, suffering restricted banking abilities, and social ostracization. The infiltration of socialist, secular morality, and politically correct agendas into our schools and society has left America on the precipice of totalitarianism. Like a rock gaining momentum as it rolls downhill, it has come crashing into the fabric of our society and is threatening to tear it apart.
I cannot help but wonder how the downhill flow of liberalism in the form of the Chinese social credit system will affect the oligarchy’s insatiable need-for-control. Will we be penalized for jaywalking, smoking, not helping someone, saying something politically incorrect, expressing conservative attitudes, not supporting LGBTQ, and being a Christian? Such fears are amplified in light of the growing presence of surveillance cameras, facial recognition software, attacks on conservative values, the cancel culture, and more. As a science fiction reader (and writer), I’ve read 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and the Brave New World – which I recommend you read. Why? Because they are strangely predictive of what is happening today! That is why periodically, I wear my t-shirts that say, “Make 1984 fiction again,” and “Truth, the new hate speech.”
What does this mean for Christians?
As our society moves toward secularism, a Chinese-type social credit system might become a reality. If it arrives here, it will be oppressive and anti-constitutional. But, that doesn’t matter to the leftist, power-hungry oligarchy in power.
Liberalism often tramples underfoot the freedoms of individuals to make way for their self-perpetuating need for control. As Christians, we stand in opposition to both the secularism and totalitarianism that are creeping into our society. They will bring oppression – as history amply demonstrates.1
Christians ought to be wary of the social credit system because man’s nature is fallen and oppressive (Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:3; Romans 3:10-12). So, pray for the deliverance of our country, and yours if you’re outside the United States, that God would miraculously provide for the continuation of the privilege of exercising our faith and proclaiming the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ – despite the increasing intolerance of the leftists.
Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.“
References
| 1↑ | https://carm.org/christian-living/persecution/ |
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