I'm not even sure how to make sense of what you wrote. How did you conclude everyone on the globe will get a Chinese social credit score if China becomes #1 economy in the world? Most people outside the West don't necessarily clamour for Chinese hegemony, but want to live in a multipolar world. Why should trade between non aligned countries have to be restricted when US decides to weaponize its currency?

> You paint a picture of America as an evil empire, but what do the alternatives look like?

The nice alternatives don't have big enough militaries to be considered seriously, one could point at some European nations for a more measured approach, but it's hard to do it seriously when we only exist because the US saved us and continues to do so, as Europe pretty much has no military power if push comes to shove.

No military power is short selling Europe, just not as much as it probably should have, and that's because we figured war is no longer a viable option. Unfortunately recent events have shown this to be a fallacy.

Do we want America as a world leader? Enforcing their dated moral views on us trough controlling money flow and social media? We do have accept violence but no nudity in our media when our society is the exact opposite?

Yes that's whatabouttism but the world actually does suffer from the current state as well

I'm not sure I want America to be the world leader. But I am definitely sure I don't want it to be China.

But that's not what it is about.

China doesn't seem to try to enforce global policies (right now) nether do they claim the moral right for OUR society.

Sure they do. They just do it through second-order effects so it seems less obvious what's going on. I recall an instance where an American basketball team owner said something in support of the Hong Kong protests. His team was immediately banned from China, both physically and via broadcast.

Being able to publicly censor foreigners who dislike your policies is a useful power.

When you control economic access to a billion people, you don't always need guns to get others to do that you want. (China does have plenty of those guns, though, if and when they decide they need them.)

Not even "dated", nudity being OK goes back quite a way.

That's not what I ment. Visa&Master, whoever rates movies, facebook they all allow violence but no nudity.

In Europe nudity definitely is more normal than violence. America is forcing their different moral view on our media, normalizing violence and ashaming the youth with oldschool sexual views.

I’d note Chinese culture is even more conservative regarding nudity and just as glorifying of nationalist violence.

I totally agree. But it doesn't influence me here in Europe.

And so far I haven't seen any signs that china is trying to change that.

While visa and master banning all related to sex has real life consequences. Same with social media showing a skewed censored view on sexuality because of morality views that do not fit the society I live in. Until a few years ago you couldn't watch TV without something exploding and the US military somehow saving the day in every second movie.

We have to comply to rules that do not apply to our society.

I get that but I don’t get what barriers exist preventing competition that meets your cultures norms. There’s no state mandates involved? I suspect the answer is scale of market giving scale of impact, as well as overall quality of production and post production of American media. What’s your take? Particularly in the space of internet technologies it feels like “nothing stops you.” But I also think global social media companies are generally “family” oriented more than American morality oriented, and are opting for an intersection of cultural norms to be as minimally controversial as possible. Most cultures on earth are considerably more conservative than America, let alone Europe. Europe is very much an outlier in human cultures.

You are right I guess. Movies being the best example. Netflix and all companies that followed opened up investments in international movies and within only a few years US movies appear to be the minority, at least on German streaming sites.

Today we have several real time payment methods "better" than credit card. I still can't sell a dildo with paypal, but I do have options now (if I don't care about us customers who expect credit card payments)

Social media ist lost cause anyway.

Maybe that should be my point. America is losing its influence, and it's obviously afraid. I am afraid when America is afraid because history has shown in might react wildly.

In America this is a non issue to be honest. The rest of the world rarely registers. The American market is so vast in itself that is the primary focus. The issue of China has more to do with the courting of totalitarianism (Russia, North Korea, and various other bad guys), destabilization of international institutions, aggressive economic espionage, etc. I think the #1 vs #2 GDP is about as big a non issue to most Americans as nudity in Europe. I think this is a hold over from the 1950-1980’s, but American society now is much more insular and focused more on the Kardashians clothing choice.

> And? Do you want Xi Xinping in charge of global culture, security, finance?

Why not? Granted, I'm not an American. I haven't heard any Chinese Foreign minister goading of having killed hundreds of thousands of kids the same way as the US did [1], so why shouldn't the rest of the world give China a chance instead of the US?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP1OAD9jSaI

You haven’t heard because they are very good at being quiet about what they do. Google Uighur, then google further since you now know what to look for.

At this point I'm treating any information coming from Western sources as propaganda and definitely questionable. It wasn't always like this, but that's what the last couple of years have made me think.

As such, I'd need other sources than Western media to tell me what to think about what happens to the Uighurs (whom I'm sure do not have an easy life, far from it).

Good for you. Don't assume other sources aren't propaganda, though. In fact, they're probably worse.

Chinese sources will be devoid of any information which can put a bad face on the party even in the second order effects.

It sounds like you're saying that, because you can't be certain of the truth presented by Western media, you're just going to assume that everyone be going on in China is just a-okay.

Maybe go ahead and find those alternate news sources, explain why you believe they are accurate, and present a conclusion?

You will be downvoted and ignored for 'whataboutism' but what you say is still true and one of the many many reasons why many people in the western world do not follow, appreciate or even accept the US as quasi leader.

I guessing you haven't read much of Chinese history? They killed tens of millions of their own people.

If the choice is between the US or China running the world, I'll pick the US, every. single. time.

> I guessing you haven't read much of Chinese history

Objectively speaking, the US history of genocide, slavery and global warfare and terrorist sponsorship even before becoming an uncontested hegemony hardly makes it look better.

> If the choice is between the US or China running the world, I'll pick the US, every. single. time.

Sure, but I would bet that you might just be privileged enough to live nearby the US inner economic circle.

> You want social credit scores?

This is your daily reminder that social credit scores don't actually exist. They're a myth, a meme.