Monday, October 13, 2008
censorship in china
While there are a lot of freedoms that people take for granted, it wasn't until reading about censorship in China did I really begin to appreciate the freedom of speech that we have in America. If I or, someone else wants to discuss their dislike of politics or nearly anything, they have the right to do so. Now, if we were in China, and we wanted to blog about these issues we could face imprisonment. In Ma Jian's article ""China's Internet Dictatorship ," he gives examples of just how serious this censorship has become.
China is quickly becoming the economic and technological leader of the world, but people do not have the rights that Americans take for granted. If I was in China, I would not be able to bolg about this issue. In fact, I wouldn't even be able to access this web page. The censorship in China applies not only to the internet, but also to the media and educational institutions. China is hurting the progress of the digital revolution by censoring their people. Chinese Government issued the "Golden Shield Project" also know as the Great Firewall in China, which is basically an orginization that polices and observes the internet. This project is holding the people of China down. It is not allowing freedom of speech, and is basically denying the people freedom of thought. There are many great minds in the world, and given the size of the population, odds are there are a lot in China, but if these young minds are continuously held back and censored, they may never reach their true potential.
"Chinese Web criminal, Lin Haiyin, was imprisoned for instigating subversive
actions in 2000 to the recent arrest of writer Shi Tao, more than 100
independent intellectuals have been imprisoned for expressing their views.
Internet monitoring is also behind the constant rise in the number of Falun Gong
practitioners executed by the state - a total of 1,692 as of April 18."
China is quickly becoming the economic and technological leader of the world, but people do not have the rights that Americans take for granted. If I was in China, I would not be able to bolg about this issue. In fact, I wouldn't even be able to access this web page. The censorship in China applies not only to the internet, but also to the media and educational institutions. China is hurting the progress of the digital revolution by censoring their people. Chinese Government issued the "Golden Shield Project" also know as the Great Firewall in China, which is basically an orginization that polices and observes the internet. This project is holding the people of China down. It is not allowing freedom of speech, and is basically denying the people freedom of thought. There are many great minds in the world, and given the size of the population, odds are there are a lot in China, but if these young minds are continuously held back and censored, they may never reach their true potential.
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A good post. What is the role of American companies like Cisco and Yahoo in China? Can the government of China operate the "golden shield" without Western complicity?
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