In this century, many authors have been producing many novels about utopian or idealistic society to describe the world in a perfect environment. For example, in The Giver, Lois Lowry tells the story of the absolute perfect community. In The Giver, there are full of many controlling in society such as controlling of relationships, career, languages, behavior and, knowledge in order to maintain peace and harmony. People must follow the strict rules for making the elimination of war or unpleasant feeling in society. Compared to a country like China, a social-communist country, there are many strict policies or devices to make China become a perfect community. For example, the Social Credit System, a vast ranking system that will monitor the population, and rank them based on the social credit system (Alexandra Ma). It aims to protect the community from having terrible people or pushing citizens under their control in their country. This platform will encourage people in China to do an excellent role and keep themselves under the power of control’s government. If they do infractions, the system will reduce their social credit score and they will be punished by the government. The punishments are banning to buy a ticket of flying, banning from the best store to buy groceries, banning from applying for the best job and, from public services. This system will catch and watch people inside out. Then there is no privacy at all. As mentioned before, The Giver’s controlling and China’s Social Credit System have similarities and differences for making the best community to pushing people under government control like in several utopian novels. Both of controlling in The Giver and the social credit system should eliminate the monitoring of the population in the community, the society should be given the freedom to people for the community will be developed more.
In The Giver, the chief elders of the community which have controlled the elimination of all things. He is not allowed the people in the community to have choices in their own life. He controls languages. The member in society could not an opportunity to use normal words to share their experiences. For example, in The Giver, people mostly use specifically precise language to express their feeling which is control of though such as the apology, when Jonas was trying to transmit the memory of an elephant to Lily by his hand. Then Jonas said an apology to Lily(Lois Lowry, 101). In Jonas’s community, saying an apology is permitted. When Jonas was saying I apologize for hurting you and Lily accept it. This demonstrates control of languages can decrease the true feeling of words when they use it. They do not know what apology really is and they say apology and accept without any feeling or meaning behind it. Second, in Jonas’s community, there is the controlling of access to knowledge if they are not the giver or the receiver. The books are forbidden to citizens(Lois Lowry, 102). For example, when Jonas became the receiver and stayed at the giver’s house to receive the memories of the previous world. Jonas saw the books on the shelf. Then he knew that is the giver’s hobbies after he asks. This demonstrates books as know as knowledge is not permitted to everybody in the community. The elder is in control of knowledge for keeping citizen under his control. If they can access the books like the giver or the receiver. They will ask the questions as Jonas did with the giver. The government uses this term to the giver as a hobby for a special job. Then other people will not access the knowledge. Moreover, in this dystopian novel also has the controlling of relationships. In Jonas’s society, there is no way to choose a spouse and children on their own. The spouse and children will be given to people in the community. They are a family unit without feeling any love. It is very different from in reality. It is organized by the government which is all decisions of people are made from them. For example, the spouse have to apply if they want to have a family if they are match for each other. They will become a spouse(Lois Lowry, 48). When Joans and his parents talked about how this community that they lived in was ordered. Chocies and decisions were made by elders. This term of control demonstrates that everything in this society was chosen by the government to decrease differences and make it more same to everyone. The controlling in The Giver are communist if looking at it closely. If compared to China that has the same situation now.
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China, a communist country, now there is a platform called Social Credit System (SCS). It is a trustworthiness score to decrease the citizenship score for making people be more excellent citizens. In addition, there are surveillance cameras and facial recognition software to collect all data from people in the country(Bernard Marr). Social credit system is a platfrom that will become the power of China’s government to control people. An individual’s actions will effect the trustworthiness for people. If they have an excellent behavior they will get high score to buy, access, apply to the best services. In the other hand, if they have a bad habit, the government will reduce their score. Then they cannot buy, access, apply to the best services. For example, the bad behavior includes infraction of driving, smoking, buying too many video games and posting fake news online(Alexandra Ma). They still will get public services from the Chinese government but it is not as full options as who has excellent behavior. For example, they can get ban from buying ticket for flying and use the public bus instead if they have an awful action. This can show that Chian is trying control their people to keep them in good ways. Hence, there are many banning from China such as banning them or their children from the best school. Banning them from the best application ot finding their best spouses. This system will control all Chinese to be in good behavior. Therefore, in The Giver and China’s social credit system have the power of control in the government’s hands but there are differences ans similarities in those power to force their citizen in sameness.
In The Giver, There are many controls in Jonas’s society. For instance, controlling of languages, access to books or knowledge and, relationship. In this novel, Sameness is peace and harmony. That’s why people in Jonas’s community have to be the same under these elders’ rules. Controlling in this community is more communism than China’s social credit system because if look at it closely, in The Giver, elders want to keep or control their citizens for making the community be more peaceful. They think the differences will make people become separated and wild. For example, In ancient Chian, there are 3 religions in a nation such as Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, and, Islam. When it came to problems, all believers in those 3 religions had fought for each other for the number one religion of China. This demonstrates that differences can lead to chaos like in history. In the other hand, in Jonas’s society, people become robots because of the decline of emotions. People always are under elders’ strict rules then they do not know what is the real emotion is. The controlling of relationships is linked to China’s social credit system because in the novel, marriage is ordered or chosen by the government if they are a match. Also in China,they are using credit score to find their best spouse from the luxury and best applications. Second, in controlling of access to knowledge is also like China’s banning citizens from the best school. This can show that control behavior works with people because they all want their children to go to the best school as possible. China is well known for this. The similarity is in The Giver, people is under a government with no choices but in China is different. Chinese have choices to choose if they are genius enoguh they will do the right things and then they will get high scores for social credit. As a result, they or their children can go to the best school. Last, the control of citizen in The Giver or China’s social credit system have similarities and differences in their own way. The similarity is they controls people for making peace and harmony. In differences are in The Giver, making a choices are not permitted they must follow the rules no matter what. They are all the same. They have no choices. In China’s social credit, the Chinese are still have chocies. They can choose their own life compared to The Giver’s control of relationships, access to knowledge and, languages. moreover, the elimination of control in China and The Giver are going to perfect for society to develop more than strict all controlling. If they watch all people and keep control, a citizen will afraid and cannot to do anything creative if government think it as an awful behavior. As in the giver that nothing is creative. Just boring because people are always under the rules for keeping them as sameness. Then there will no development. To control citizen in a perfect way is great but if the government do not give them the freedom to express themselves and access to what they want. They will become like robots like in The Giver. Giving freedom to choose is way more better than block it. For example, in the United States of America, freedom is given to everybody. They can ask, choose, be different. This makes them develop themselves to be more good citizens than control it. Last, the controlling has both side of using if China and the elders use it to protect their security not to destroy civilians that have diffrent thinking from the government. It will be next step of digitalization to be more developed but if there are several controls, they will be like dystopian controlling as in The Giver where humans increasingly become robots.
To summarize, controlling is great if use it in limited ways. It will be more technologies to help people and communities to be more perfect society. China’s platform will righteous for citizens if there is necessary control. The Giver and China’s social credit system have both controls in action of political, they should avoid screening all people in their praivacy and increase freedom for citizen to access every platform for making the better and developed society.
Citations
- Lowry, Lois. (1993). The Giver. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin
- Ma, Alexandra. (2018, October 29). China has started ranking citizens with a creepy 'social credit system — here's what you can do wrong, and the embarrassing, demeaning ways they can punish you. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com
- Marr, Bernard. (2019, January 21). Chinese Social Credit Score: Utopian Big Data Bliss Or Black Mirror On Steroids?. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com
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