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Praise for a totalitarian system is not acceptable, neither debatable. That's all. End of story. We kind of learned about that in Europe, the hard way, several

Praise for a totalitarian system is not acceptable, neither debatable. That's all. End of story. We kind of learned about that in Europe, the hard way, several times in XXth century (Italy, Germany, Russia, Soviet era invaded countries, Spain); some of us still having forgotten sadly. A social credit system that is used to expedite what is normally the responsibility of law, debate, judgement - and can then be used to impose arbitrarial rules from the state (don't be fooled about that) _is_ totalitarian per nature. It is even more that because it relies on automation. Don't use exceptionalism or pride to defend or justify such a system.

dnomad 8y ago
This rhetorical maneuver, where you simply declare a system you don't understand to be totalitarian is no different from shouting Nazi at anything you don't agree with. Even a cursory analysis would show that the defining characteristic of totalitarianism, "absolute control over public and private life," doesn't apply to a system where people are completely free to travel anywhere whenever they want and the government invests hundreds of billions to encourage this free travel both within the country and abroad for its citizens.
- WillPostForFood 8y ago
  Free travel? By your own definition China has the defining characteristic of a totalitarian state: https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/07/13/one-passport-two-systems/chinas-restrictions-foreign-travel-tibetans-and-others https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/07/13/one-passport-two-syste... https://eurasianet.org/xinjiang-uighurs-grapple-travel-restrictions https://eurasianet.org/xinjiang-uighurs-grapple-travel-restr...
- Juliate 8y ago
  It's not rhetorics. It's perspective. * Power structures never favour the weak - it takes a democracy (distribution and separation of powers, education, free speech) to handle that, however imperfect it can be, it's the least imperfect we know as of today. And, there's no prospective new system at play anywhere today. * Automation favours who controls the machine. * The state controls the machine. * No democracy, no control. Failing democracy, no control either. * That's dangerous.

dnomad 8y ago

This rhetorical maneuver, where you simply declare a system you don't understand to be totalitarian is no different from shouting Nazi at anything you don't agree with. Even a cursory analysis would show that the defining characteristic of totalitarianism, "absolute control over public and private life," doesn't apply to a system where people are completely free to travel anywhere whenever they want and the government invests hundreds of billions to encourage this free travel both within the country and abroad for its citizens.

WillPostForFood 8y ago
Free travel? By your own definition China has the defining characteristic of a totalitarian state: https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/07/13/one-passport-two-systems/chinas-restrictions-foreign-travel-tibetans-and-others https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/07/13/one-passport-two-syste... https://eurasianet.org/xinjiang-uighurs-grapple-travel-restrictions https://eurasianet.org/xinjiang-uighurs-grapple-travel-restr...
Juliate 8y ago
It's not rhetorics. It's perspective. * Power structures never favour the weak - it takes a democracy (distribution and separation of powers, education, free speech) to handle that, however imperfect it can be, it's the least imperfect we know as of today. And, there's no prospective new system at play anywhere today. * Automation favours who controls the machine. * The state controls the machine. * No democracy, no control. Failing democracy, no control either. * That's dangerous.