So, it’s worth clarifying the nature of the this kind of “law” passed in Beijing. Which this article fails to do and comes across to me partially as fear mongering because of it.
Generally speaking when Beijing passes a law like this, they are not passing a law as we know it, it is a set of guide lines for the leaders of local provinces to implement their own policies and laws based on what they think will accomplish the goals set out from Beijing. Then Beijing observes what they come up with and if they like the outcomes of one, they implement it country wide.
For instance when everyone was hyper ventilating about “ ALL OF CHINA IS LITERALLY 1984 BECAUSE OF THE NEW SOCIAL CREDIT SYSTEM” in reality, Beijing had just essentially just asked the provinces to create their own systems that fallowed a vague guideline. And the provinces did, some provinces set up systems that would give people fines for saying mean things, some just set up an American style credit score system. In the end Beijing didn’t really find that any of them lived up to what they were asking for and all of the programs were quietly spun down.
Regarding the ‘1984 social credit system’ there are a lot of good resources which tell a story far diffrrent from yours. One recent example is tbe documentary ‘Total Trust’ by Chinese film maker Zhang Jialing. The film’s introduction says:
Total Trust is an eye-opening and deeply disturbing story of surveillance technology, abuse of power and (self-)censorship that confronts us with what can happen when our privacy is ignored. Through the haunting stories of people in China who have been monitored, intimidated and even tortured, the film tells of the dangers of technology in the hands of unbridled power.
Watch the film. There are many reviews about it (and other sources about surveillance in China). It’s really easy to find on the web.
I think this law has similar intentions.
Addition: <a href="">@megopie</a> it would be great if you could post a source of what you say. Thanks in advance.
That’s not about the social credit system though, that’s about the general censorship and surveillance apparatus. Which although robust and invasive is quite fragmented, there is no central database. local branches of law enforcement or internal intelligence or a million other parts of china’s own alphabet soup, manage, collect and use surveillance data, some terrifyingly effectively, some pathetically. Some not at all.
China is a big country with a lot of tasks being delegated to lower authorities, (and delegated from them to even lower authorities). Anytime I see someone talk as if the Chinese government is a monolithic entity it makes me want to pull my hair out. 90% of the time when someone talks about some new law in Beijing being created, they’re misrepresenting the reality, which is generally that the central government has directed provincial and local governments to pass their own laws and implement their own policies to address what ever Beijing has talked about.
For references about social credit in particular here you go:
Insane how many journalists they’ve killed. I still remember how fucked up it was when they bombed the Aljazeera building (and of course said that Hamas’ people were there)
Lorde performs one of her songs also in Maori (the song’s OV is in English, the song is called ‘Solar Power’). You may also be in interested in Olivia Foa’i, a singer who also performs in Gagana Tokelau, the indigenous language of Tokelau, a collection of atolls between Australia and Hawaii, and in this story.
I don’t speak this language and have no idea of this culture, but as always we must be careful as any literal translation from one language into another often conveys a different meaning, even when the words are the same.
Today, haka is used as a sign of respect and is performed on important occasions, such as sporting events, weddings, funerals, and powhiri (a traditional welcome).
The claim here from the summary is that the water is more pure than the mineral water. You could also just do distilled water and customize the mineral content with additions like brewers and sparkling water makers do. I just don’t see how it would be cost effective to ship thousands of pounds of glacier ice vs freezing as needed. You could even make a pressurized freezer and probably achieve the same effect.
This business is built on people with more money than sense.
It’s not cost effective nor is it pure. Both mineral water and glacier water are far from pure water. People want them because they’re not pure, in a chemical sense.
That’s just some hocus pocus bullshit marketing. No one would be able to pass a blind taste test on these because the alcohol would overwhelm their taste buds.
Yes but without the alcohol I’m sure you’d taste a difference between ground water and glacial water.Glacier melt has a lot of impurities that gives it a distinctive taste.
You gotta make a living. Why not make a living off of those stupid idiots who value your magic ice over regular ice. It’s like selling overpriced paper cards with pretty pictures to kids who love Pokemon. Except kids are kids and these arabs are supposed to be fully capable adults. It’s a low risk, high reward game. I can’t blame them.
Harvesting this ice is not carbon neutral.
A ship filled with ice will burn more fuel compared to an empty ship. A refrigerated ship even more so. An ice cube paid with petrodollars to travel a few thousand miles just for some asshole bragging rights, I mean, I can’t even… Why is there a demand for this in the first place?
The gall of claiming this a low carbon business is perplexing. Low compared to what, exactly? If I make solar powered freezers in UAE and freeze distilled water, I’m pretty sure I would get the same results at a mere fraction of the total cost. But hey, no bragging rights.
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