The Chinese government is putting severe restrictions on the amount of information that can be posted on the internet. In an article posted on Yahoo News on Sunday, China is planning on only allowing “healthy and civilized news†into the country. As the article states,
“While the communist government encourages Internet use for education and business, it also blocks material it deems subversive or pornographic. Online dissidents who post items critical of the government, or those expressing opinions in chatrooms, are regularly arrested and charged under vaguely worded state security laws.â€
Ouch. Imagine if our government decided to take away our right to rag about Bush or the government's crappy response to Hurricane Katrina? We could all be arrested for the blogs we are writing right now! I honestly feel bad for the people of China, not only because life under a Communist regime makes things a little difficult, but because they are currently living in the biggest bubble in the world. The government has realized what a great tool the internet is for stirring up unrest in their country. I mean just look at the U.S., the internet has made it possible for anybody to be published. Their ideas, legitimate or not, can be circulated around the country in a matter of seconds. In an oppressive country like China, the internet is a dangerous place, so much so that they are even closing internet written against the government. Is their any point to being a journalist in China, if everything has to be healthy and civilized? Life isn’t always healthy and civilized, unless you control it as the Chinese are attempting. Trying to keep the population healthy? Yeah right. Squashing people’s right to live outside, a communist bubble, even if just through a computer screen? That’s about as unhealthy as you can get.
willemmarx @ September 26, 2005 - 4:36pm
I think the Chinese use of the concept, "healthy and civilised" is slightly unwarranted, as you rightly indicate in the last few lines of your post. But I don't see that it is anything to do with Communism; governments in many other parts of the world, including that of Saudi Arabia, and that headed by Bashar Assad in Damascus, are equally repressive when it comes to internet content.
It is the totalitarian nature of a regime or government which typically predicates its attitude towards new media such as the internet.
As a separate point, isn't it interesting/illuminating that the news source you quote, Yahoo, was the one which has been previously accused of complicity with Beijing? Do you think the rather critical piece was an attempt to undo the damage engendered by their actions which led directly to the arrest of the journalist Shi Tao? His emailing behaviour was reported by Yahoo to the Chinese government when requested, which led to his identification and imprisonment. Rather sinister to think of that happening to any one of us who write emails that our governments don't particularly enjoy....
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