Rednote right now

American here, yes. To be fair I don't think about China a lot.

Just goes to show you how deeply permeating the Red Scare is. Reminds me of that "exploding helmets" story that was obviously bogus but peddled as though it was true.
- That’s one I never even heard of until now! I’m not surprised that the CIA-backed Falun Gong’s Epoch Times covered it: China Develops Helmets for Soldiers With Self-Destruct Button: Report. You can just make up any zany thing about the US’s designated baddies, and people will buy it.
  
  Yep, I remember that one as it came out. Super silly.
Try to keep in mind that is far from the only thing you've been lied to about. Not just about China either. The US propaganda machine is massive, and far reaching.
You have credit scores in the US?
- We have real credit scores in the US that keep people unhoused
  
  Yes, that's the sad truth. It doesn't have to be a government program to be a systemic issue.

But... social credit literally is real... There are government legislations on this. It is not a conspiracy theory.

On the other hand Western media definitely has exaggerated and demonized it a lot. The social credit is basically your credit score, but it is more expansive and uses information some might see as encroaching on their personal privacy and freedoms.

The credit score in China is to keep tabs on businesses to prevent corruption and excesses, just basic things the US used to do back in the 1950s, but would now be considered "authoritarian".
The credit scores in the US are used to prevent regular people from getting housing.

Plenty of people also still believe the secret Chinese police stations bullshit.

Never heard of mintpress. Looked it up and ooof. What a record
- mintpress
  From Wikipedia:
  MintPress News supported former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and the governments of Russia and Iran.[3][4] It opposes the governments of Israel and Saudi Arabia,[5] and reports geopolitical events from an anti-Western perspective.[6]
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MintPress_News
  And
  Further, they have frequently promoted conspiracy theories and misinformation regarding Covid-19, such as this A DARPA-FUNDED IMPLANTABLE BIOCHIP TO DETECT COVID-19 COULD HIT MARKETS BY 2021.
  https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/mint-press-news/
- Uh huh. Looked them up where, MB/FC? Quoting myself:
  The first step is to understand the media, which Media Bias/Fact Check and the Ad Fontes Media* are never going to teach you. The only people who are taught it are those who get degrees in marketing, public relations, political science, history, and journalism; and even then only some of them.
  The new post-Trump/“post-truth” media literacy curricula won’t teach it to you either, because it was paid for and crafted by the US military-industrial complex: New Media Literacy Standards Aim to Combat ‘Truth Decay’.
  This week, the RAND Corporation released a new set of media literacy standards designed to support schools in this task.
  The standards are part of RAND’s ongoing project on “truth decay”: a phenomenon that RAND researchers describe as “the diminishing role that facts, data, and analysis play in our political and civic discourse.”
  None of it is a secret, though, and it can be learned.
  Noam Chomsky - The 5 Filters of the Mass Media Machine
  Propaganda model
  Edward Bernays
  Walter Lippmann
  Council on Foreign Relations
  Powell Memorandum
  The Trilateral Commission’s report, The Crisis of Democracy
  I’ve criticized MBFC & Ad Fontes before:
  https://lemmy.ml/post/12705767/8913172
  https://lemmy.ml/post/13566156/9605612

Yes, people genuinely believe that the social credit exists.

In America we call it the credit score...
- Or skin tone.
- So I'm not crazy? I could've sworn I looked into it, and it was basically just a credit score where you also get dinged for police interaction or living with someone who committed a crime
  
  That type of system is not really accurate. There is a credit system, but it's largely for companies and businesses as a way to exert control over shady business practices.
  
  "Criminal record"
  Not sure how this shit works in China but it is all about the same at the end of the day.
- the average Chinese person barely knows just how much surveillance their government is doing on them (it’s a lot) or how much it impacts their daily lives (deeply).
  Unlike you, of course. You, the enlightened Westerner, the true free thinker, know so much more than those orientals.
  
  There's a big difference between the commonly reported western idea of a social credit system, and the actual credit system that exists in China. Chiefly, it is primarily for businesses, not citizens. You're making an error in attempting to equate the scope.
  
  First, don't use that term to describe Chinese people, that has racist connotations.
  As for your claim that the entire MO of the PRC's government is "control for personal gain," can you elaborate?
  
  It is not a "me problem" that you use outdated terminology with racist connotations, don't double down. Own up to it and revise your comment.
  Either way, the National People's Congress is not controlled by the Bourgeoisie, rather, the people control it. As a consequence, we see the widespread poverty eradication campaign reach a successful conclusion, large public infrastructure, and dramatic improvements in working class purchasing power and working conditions.
  Consider reading China Has Billionaires if you want to understand modern China from a Marxist perspective.

I mean I feel real stupid reading into it, but up until now, yes

Social credit scores were a thing. People were punished for low scores. It only happened in a few cities and it was described as a pilot.

Obviously the pilot got a lot of bad press in and outside China and it is no longer happening

does it surprise you when a non neglible amount of americans believe the earth is flat? or that vaccines have nanomachines to control your brain? 😂

Indeed.

And they believe Uyghur genocide too. They're fucking brainwashed. They completely lack critical thinking capabilities.

A great way to get people to understand is to insult them. That always works well