@TemujinKhan
https://www.theatlantic.com/technol...inas-dangerous-dream-of-urban-control/553097/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-sig...-using-apps-to-snitch-on-neighbors-1514566110
Now, this highlights a few key things.
1. There is a digital tool for reporting fellow citizens. This is also referenced in the Wall St. J article this article references.
2. There are citizens that are understandably uncomfortable with the idea of such and it's likely they are remember, or are influenced by fellow citizens that remember, the Cultural Revolution and all that came with it in regards to informing on ones fellow citizens.
3. As governmental and social pressure increases with the ongoing development of this program, which isn't designated to reach its fuller super sayan form till 2020, resistance to such a program is likely to be eroded. That doesn't even factor in those communities that will simply have no issue with utilizing it. And once those elders that remember the CR are dead and gone and only citizens having grown up in this brave new future take their place in Chinese society?
Fair enough, although I don't know the extent of this digital tool they are supposedly implementing, it sounds a bit extreme for the CCP to do this when things are working fine for them at the moment.
It could be an app that asks general questions to the owner about their neighbors, focus group type stuff. Maybe to be used for marketing purposes, or it could be a full out reporting tool, which would not be received well by the people at this time. The article does state that people rejected using the tool, so its not like anyone was directly forced to use it, yet. There's not enough evidence yet to make a clear determination imo.
I have no allusions to what the CCP is, nor did I state that I agree with everything they do. Mao was a great soldier but a horrible leader, no need to return to Mao era policies. Xi is a sharp guy though, so it would be a surprising move for him to implement this to the extent thats being speculated.
I suspect that this is all more about $$$$ than anything, what corporation wouldn't want a complete demographic profile on every citizen?
But also I think the more westerners try to change the Chinese the more they will stay the same, culturally they are polar opposites on some levels. The west has embraced individualism while the east focuses more on communal values.
They are a confucian nation for 1000s of years, western style democracy might not work for them the way it does for westerners. Let them sort it out, as long as they don't impose it on other nations then I have no issue with it. And I do like some aspects of the system like rewarding good behaviour for doing charitable work and pollution cleanup, theres some creative thinking going on there, new ideas.
So far nothing bad has really happened, if it ends up being a shitshow then I'll condemn it at that time.