Slashdot Mirror
Blogging Sweeps China
An anonymous reader writes "Dissident astro-physicist, Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at UC Berkeley, interviews Isaac Mao, founder of CNBlog for New Scientist. Asked what is his strategy to expand blogging under China's censorship regime, Mao's response is typically Taoist: 'What is our strategy? We do not have a strategy. But the information flow in the blogosphere has its own Way. The Way is our strategy: personal, fast, connected and networked.'"
China is one of those funny places where they really crack down on the incoming news. Taking a look at some of their latest news, it's hard to reconcile the rosy glow that they have in regards to their country with the actual happenings of their military overseas (submarine in Japanese waters) and communist neighbors (not a word about the imminent overthrow of Kim Jong Illmatic).
On the other hand, unlike many Western countries *cough cough* that send the secret police to "visit" people who wish to express an unpopular opinion, China allows its dissidents a full voice. They of course drown out the voices with their own party-led voices proclaiming the benefits of the Komintang. But as far as stifling free speech, China has one of the best records in that area.
The sound of one hand blogging
99 bottles of beer in 175 characte
.. of a Douglas Adams quote:
He believed in a door. He must find that door. The door was the way to... to...
The Door was The Way.
Good.
Capital letters were always the best way of dealing with things you didn't have a good answer to.
But are the bloggers as accurate and trustworthy as the mainstream media?
More spam comes from the US than from China or South Korea. It just happens that there are more servers that allow spam in China.
So how would you like to write an apology to 1billion+ people? Perhaps a mass email?
Sounds like an IBM ad!
Tomorrows news.
China blocks all blog sites.
I like muppets.
s/servers/Windows zombies/
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
Wrong, there was more spam hitting our servers from APNIC blocks and since we don't have dealings with that region...
"The Way is our strategy: personal, fast, connected and networked.'"
I think they forgot "...and censored, too."
It is interesting that once again sex became the big reason many people have jumped on to a new technology. As that article said, blogging got a big boost from a sex blog, the sex increased visibility for the blog server and introduced many new users to blogging. It just seems to be a pity to me that people can't find something better than sex to get people to assert their collective voice.
99 bottles of beer in 175 characte
Considering that our only real drive while alive is to procreate, what would be "better than sex"?
Despite the cries of the so-called "intelligentsia", sex is still the prime incentive of ALL human interaction. Whether it be indirect challenging of hierarchy or straightforward appeals to the opposite gender, sex is the real reason behind any action.
You say: China allows its dissidents a full voice.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1964
Tiananmen dissident tortured to the point of becoming psychotic. He splattered paint on Mao Zedong's portrait.
Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) - An imprisoned Chinese dissident has become psychotic as a result of the torture inflicted upon him, one of the man's friend told Free Asia after fleeing China.
Yu Dongyue is a former newspaper editor who was arrested during the Tiananmen protests and sentenced to life for "counter-revolutionary propaganda": he had defaced Mao's portrait by splattering it with paint.
In 2001 Lu Decheng, another dissident, who was jailed for years but released early, saw Yu in Hunan No1 Prison. "He was almost unrecognisable," Mr Lu said who recently escaped the mainland in a perilous three-month journey. "He had a totally dull look in his eyes, and he kept repeating words over and over again as if he were chanting a mantra. He didn't recognise anyone."
"There was a big scar on the right side of his head. I asked his mother if Yu had ever received a head injury, but she said he never had."
Mr Lu said that another inmate at the prison told him that Yu had been tied to a power pole and left in the sun for several days.
"After that, they locked him in solitary confinement for two years and that's when he got like that," Mr Lu stressed. "He has been tortured to the point of psychosis."
Officials at the Hunan No1 Prison were not available for comment.
Yu Dongyue, Lu Decheng and Yu Zhijian were school friends from Hunan province and had been active in the pro-democracy movement before travelling to Beijing in May 1989 to join thousands of demonstrators on Tiananmen Square.
As a result of his involvement, Mr Lu said, his house was demolished, his wife threatened to the point that the authorities forced her to divorce him, and his minibus confiscated, depriving him of the means to earn a living.
Phone tapping, mail interception and surveillance became a regular part of his life, he added.
Speaking from an undisclosed location, he said he fled so that he could tell Yu's story. He did not reveal any details about his escape.
Good for the Chinese. Courage to communicate in spite of government's attitude is a positive sign from a country coming out of the dark ages. Now, how about some Iraqi blogs? For all the funds being pumped in there, one would think the Iraqis would have something to say. I'm tired of hearing everything about what is really happening there, third hand. Just so they use a language that can be translated by services such as http://www.worldlingo.com/
Just what the Internet needs, another 1.3 billion bloggers letting us be privy to their inane thoughts.
What is our strategy? We do not have a strategy.
Erm.. Yeah, because doing something without a plan is the best way of going about things.
1) No idea how to approach your goal
2) Create problems rather than solving them
3) ???
4) Profit!
At least we know if he decides to open up shop in America, he will be gainfully employed.
Your situation is only limited by your own interpretation of the events that you've experienced. You had bad experiences which turned you off to relationships with women. Since, as you claim, you are not gay, this limits you to celibacy.
The problem only lies in your inability to accurately predict the future. Your current outlook presumes that you are through with sex. Unless you are hideously deformed or incredibly old, this is a bad bet. Your current attitude is temporary like most any decision we make is. At some point you will realize that sex without love is one of the greatest gifts to mankind and gladly take part in it again.
That will open the door to the possibility of impregnation and the spreading of your genetic material. And we arrive at the place where my original post left off again.
Just because you think you are "through" with women doesn't mean that Nature is done with you.
shouldn't that be "brogging"?
Asexuality is a designation or self-designation for people who lack sexual attraction. There is debate as to whether this is a sexual dysfunction or an actual sexual orientation. The term is also sometimes used as a gender identity by those who perceive their lack of sexual attraction places them outside the standard definitions of gender. There has been little research done on asexuality, but those studies that have been conducted suggest that, if it is a sexual orientation, it is the least commonly occurring one.
There is disagreement over whether or not asexuality is a legitimate sexual orientation. Some argue that it falls under the heading of hypoactive sexual disorder or sexual aversion disorder. Among those who do not believe it to be an orientation, suggested causes include past sexual abuse, sexual repression (of homosexuality or otherwise), hormonal problems, delayed development of attraction, and not having met the right person. Many self-identified asexuals, meanwhile, say that these things are not true of them, or that because their asexuality does not cause them distress, it should not be labeled a disorder. Others argue that, in the past, similar things were said about homosexuality, despite the fact that many people now consider it a legitimate orientation.
Because of the lack of research on the subject, there is little evidence in favor of either side of the debate.
A study done on rams found that about 2% to 3% of the individuals being studied had no apparent interest in mating with either sex. Another study was done on rats and gerbils, in which up to 12% of the males showed no interest in females. Their interactions with other males were not measured, however, so the study is of limited use when it comes to asexuality.
A UK survey of sexuality included a question on sexual attraction, and 1% of respondents replied that they had "never felt sexually attracted to anyone at all." The Kinsey Institute conducted a small survey on the topic, which concluded that "asexuals appear to be better characterized by low sexual desire and sexual excitation than by low levels of sexual behavior or high sexual inhibition." That study also mentions a conflict regarding the definition of "asexual": the researchers found four different definitions in the literature, and stated that it was unclear whether those identifying as asexual were referring to an actual orientation.
There are differences among people that identify as asexual, chief among them the presence or absence of a sex drive and romantic attraction. Among asexuals, some only experience one or the other, while some possess both, and others neither.
The sex drive of those asexuals who have one is not directed at anything: it is only an urge for sexual stimulation or release. It can range from weak to strong. Some asexuals experience sexual feelings but have no desire to act on them.
For those asexuals with romantic attraction, it is often directed specifically towards one or more genders. These asexuals desire romantic relationships (ranging from casual liaisons to marriage) with their preferred gender or genders, but often do not want these relationships to include sexual activity. Because of their romantic orientation, some asexuals describe themselves as gay, bisexual, or straight asexuals; this is related to the concept of affectional orientation.
Those who do want romantic relationships are in a difficult position, as the majority of people are not asexual. Asexuals able to tolerate sex can pair up with non-asexuals, but even then their lack of attraction can be psychologically distressing to their partner, making a long-term romance difficult. Asexuals who cannot tolerate sex must either compromise with their partners and have a certain amount anyway, have sexless relationships with those few who are willing, only date other asexuals, or decide to stay single.
Some asexuals use a classification system developed (and then retired) by the founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education
What you never heard on the news at any point is that these people who practice Falun Gong/Dafa were primarily peasants and farmers in the country side. These people became so enamored with it that they made their kids do it too, and then everyone became so enamored with the promise of Falun Gong that the kids stopped going to school. Now whats better for poor peasant kids? Hoping to find a spinning wheel in your stomach so you can ascend to heaven, or going to school to learn some skills so they can join the world economy? You decide. This wasn't happening to people in the big cities. It was happening to poor peasants who have little to hope for, and for them, Falun Gong is a cult just like the Branch Davidians, Heaven's Gate, etc. While peasants aren't stupid necessarily, they don't realize the value of education in the same way that people in western/modern cities/nations do. These idiotic Falun Gong cultists find solace in the western idea of ideological freedom, because it's the easy way to cover up their true beliefs. I have no problem with people wanting to perform exercises to maintain health of mind and body - I do have problems when people want to start a cult with little kids in it.
help a poor college grad get a free Mac Mini
Somehow I'm a little skeptical of the "meh, it'll all work out by itself in the end" style of planning
Blogging Sweeps China
Great that those bloggers are lending a hand! With the economic expansion and lack of time and all, the dust has really been piling up in the corners lately.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
The failure of Chinese society is the failure of its culture. Look at Taiwan and Singapore, both being Chinese states. In the latter, the Chinese practice eugenics and have repeatedly banned or censored journals like "The Economist". In the former, the Chinese actually support all the geopolitical objectives of Beijing, including the integration of Tibet into "One China".
date and time stamps won't be the only things forged.
I was wondering when you would show up. You're like my favorite troll.
...of the current government in China. It'll one day, not to long from now, end with political protest, but the government will be virtually dead by then due to the internet.
Chinese Blogger Executed After Testicle Electrocution.
There are a lot of cats in China.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Schools are usually feminist indoctrination centers (atleast in the US). I would never send children to those places.
You were betrayed because your women were worthless women's-rights loving bitches... as are just about all women today. Women band together against men... and men defend them.
You know it's defacto legal for a woman to chop a man's penis off now in the US and Canada... the women never get any substantial sentances for that capital crime.
I don't read blogs anyway.......who cares what some script kiddie had for breakfast.........
=== 'Kernel Panic' no sig found:
Better for poor peasant kids? How about growing up in a society where one can believe in or do whatever one wants so long as it doesn't harm someone else?
Ummm.. don't you mean proclaiming the benefits of the CCP (or now CPC as they call themselves)? The Komintang/Guomindong is the Nationalist Party which is in Taiwan.
On the other hand, unlike many Western countries *cough cough* that send the secret police to "visit" people who wish to express an unpopular opinion, China allows its dissidents a full voice. They of course drown out the voices with their own party-led voices proclaiming the benefits of the Komintang. But as far as stifling free speech, China has one of the best records in that area.
Robin: Holy communist propaganda Batman! The Slashbots are at it again, attacking the US and making the Communists look like the good guys!
Batman: Don't worry Robin, the American people don't buy this kind of idiotic communist propaganda that has no basis in reality. Look at who won the 2004 election.
Robin: Gee Batman, you are right but why does it seem like the world hates us?
Batman: Yes, Robin, sometimes it seems the world is against America, and rooting for the bad guys.
Robin: That is ok Batman! It's the World against the United States...The odds are still in our favor!
"Some of Mr Li's pronouncements are certainly unconventional, some would say just plain strange. He believes aliens walk the Earth and he has reportedly said he can walk through walls and make himself invisible. Mr Li says that he is a being from from a higher level who has come to help humankind from the destruction it could face as the result of rampant evil. "
Similar characterization from articles in magazines like Newsweek and Times I've read in the past paint him as just another charlatan using a bogus mixture of old traditions and modern fads to spread his own crazy ideas. The tragedy is, China is just begining to open up and so is ripe for reception of this kind of crap. We in the US have had more than our share of lunatics like David Koresh and Marshall Applewhite. By now, we are jaded by bizzare ideas like this. But most chinese are still relatively naive about such things, and so they get caught up in the frenzy. To be fair, you can characterize this thing any way you like. But it is important to keep in mind most slashdotters can't really understand either the Beijing Government or Falun Gong from the perspective of an average Chinese citizen. At the end of the day, most of these political comments from tech enthusiasts are just hot air.Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
...So then what d'you do? Sell them to the circus? Send them to a coal mine?
Be careful my friend. One is just as free to choose ignorance and self limitation as one is of choosing happiness and prosperity. The thing about Falun Gong is that it takes obsolete ideas that are often detramental to one's well-being and guilding it over with a thin layer of spirituality and metaphysics. As a health regiment, practitioners have more often than not forgone legitimate medical treatment for serious conditions. You can say such tragedies do not harm anyone else, but that is only in the physical sense. Consider the case when out of 70 million practitioners, true medical health care is devoted to treating the late stages and serious consequences of neglected illnesses. The burden to the national health care system would be huge. It would be like Christian Science being revived in America on a massive scale. Everyone begins to engage in medicinal prayers for health. Meanwhile, doctors in hospitals all over the nation are being forced to deal with the expensive and often fatal late stages of easily treatable ailment. Would *you* be willing to subsidize such religious freedom?
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
So how would you like to write an apology to 1billion+ people? Perhaps a mass email?
They deserve nothing. As compared to administrators in the US and Canada that i've had to deal with, admin types in China/Korea/Taiwan have been useless when dealing with spam.
In fact, I don't think i've ever recieved a single piece of return communication when trying to resolve an unsolicited-mail problem with someone in those areas - the crap mail just keeps coming, and I finally had to go ahead and summarily reject or delete any mail I recieved from the aforementioned countries.
The fact that the idiots send a lot of it in a language I can't even read makes it a lot easier to filter, too.
You haven't been to Europe, have you? The difference in coverage is drastic.
But that difference has more to do European TV vs American TV. If you just watch any program there are drastic differences. A nipple on non-cable TV in America causes an uproar, in Europe it's commonplace.
You don't see any Americans killed or wounded (the latter only after they're safe, cleaned up and "wanting to go back there, sir" even without their legs).
Nor do they show any Iraqi's killed or wounded, nor do they ever show any graphical violence in a newscast or on network television.
You don't see many Iraqis killed or wounded, save the occasional wounded child from an insurgent bomb.
Uhhh,proof please? You would not see a mangled childs body from an insurgents bomb on American Television. You are merely making this up due to your own bias. I guess the mods find your bias 'interesting'.
Usually either of these happens only if the story is 'big' like the one time a helicopter fired on civilians and got on tape (or the torture). Those films, too, are edited.
American press is strange in that regard, they will show a helicopter going down, or a car accident but they will never show a murder caused by a gunshot or a beheading. Look at 9/11, the news networks saw people jumping off the WTC and then STOPPED showing it because they were told it wasn't 'tasteful'. The American press isn't being censored, they are simply self-regulating. They fear the backlash they would encounter for showing graphical violence.
Personally, I have seen plenty of the beheadings, American soldiers and Iraqi's being killed via the internet. I think the American news channels that are on cable should show these, the American people have a right to know what they are up against. If you think Americans were pissed off post-9/11...if half of them had seen the beheading videos on Ogrish.com you would have them calling for a stronger effort on the war on terror.
It's called home schooling. If you don't want your child to become a feminazi commnist you have to educate them yourself.
Consider the case when out of 70 million practitioners, true medical health care is devoted to treating the late stages and serious consequences of neglected illnesses. The burden to the national health care system would be huge.
You can say this about just about any lifestyle choice. Smokers burdon the national health care system, should smoking be illegal? Gay Men are more likely to catch aids than straight men, which would ruin a national health care system. Should anal sex be illegal then? Moreover, homosexual women are less likely to catch aids than hetrosexual women. Maybe women should only be allowed to be gay, and men should not be allowed to have sex at all. Lesbian women can just mine their sperm. After all, that is what would cost a national health care system the least amount of money.
While we are on that subject, gay marriage in America would mean that gays would be able to collect social security pensions upon their partners death. This will burdon an already stressed social security system. Is this a good enough reason to deny marrage to homosexuals? Or are personal freedoms more important than socialist programs?
In that case I'd propose those individuals be denied care unless they can pay for it themselves. I'd have no problem with tax money being spent on educating people about the possible consequenses of their actions (just like anti-smoking commercials). People should be free to live their lives as they see fit, even if they are harming themselves, but they must also take responsibility for their actions. Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. I'd rather have both than neither.
Do you teach your daughter anything other than how to embroider, or would that reek of feminism?
By now, we are jaded by bizzare ideas like this. But most chinese are still relatively naive about such things, and so they get caught up in the frenzy.
China had groups that got into these "bizarre ideas" long before Western cynicism. A recent example (by Chinese standards) that Westerners might remember was the Boxer Rebellion, very similar to the Falun Gong, which occured about a hundred years ago.
I wouldn't write the Falun Gongs off as unsophisticated rubes just yet. There's a reason why the Beijing government wants to get rid of them, and it's not because they care how superstitous their people are; China is filled with superstitions. It's because when lots of people in China (and perhaps, to a lesser extent, other countries) start joining a religious society, it's generally because they're tired of their political society. Those guys may sound like they're talking daft superstition, but what they're really talking about is a change in the government, and I'm quite sure that Beijing knows this.
There's no sig like this sig anywhere near this sig, so this must be the sig.
The Boxers were *nothing* like the Falun Gong of today. The boxers, right from the beginning, had political motives. Primarily though, they were anti-foreigners rather than anti-government and were not rebel in the strictest sense of the world. But that is besides the point. It seems to me such a pairing compares apples to oranges. The Boxers incident may be recent relative to the entire history of Chinese culture, but in terms of direct influence (and by this I mean the continuity of cultural consciousness) it was a lifetime ago. The Chinese society of today bares little resemblence to the one of the early 1900s. For the culture of the period, the ideas that sustained the boxers were not strange at all. A more appropriate analogy of the Boxers would be with the Native American "Ghost Dancers" of wounded knee. My personal opinion is that both groups had legitimate grips and were confronting them more or less directly within the expressive limits of their beliefs. Falun Gong, on the other hand, is a cult that spews wishy-washy political criticism under the veil of religious activities. As a religion, it is too inconsistant and immature to be taken seriously. The only thing it has going for it is really the same kind of momentum generated by a good advertising campaign in a large consumer population hungry for a new fad. In spiritual beliefs, I think they're closer to Christian Science. (For a good expose of Christian Science, consult Mark Twain or Martin Gardner.)
But you are right on several points. Falun Gong is blatantly political in private motives if not public expression. And they are not unsophisticated at all. More than any conventional dissident political movement, they have mastered the use of the Internet (instant messaging, usenet, etc.) to effectively coordinate activity and communicate among organizers. The sordidness lies in the fact that ordinary practitioners are being unwittingly manipulated into being foot soldiers for political oposition against the central government. Think about it, if you practice any religion properly within the privacy of your own home, who really cares? Falun Gong, on the other hand, has organized huge crowds of practitioners who perform in public places as publicity stunts to intentionally piss off critics. The Falun Gong movement is a tool for political motives with no real regard for what little spirituality it embodies. I think you're right Beijing knows Falun Gong has ill intentions toward the current regime, but the sad thing is most Falun Gong followers don't.
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
I think that is a very good private attitude to adopt. In fact, I'm inclined to endorse such an action for public implimentation out of personal conviction. But I feel such a thing is not practical or realistic. The ACLU (or it's equivalent, should there be one) would be up in arms over religious discrimination. Comparing it to anti-smoking commercials just illustrates how silly the whole thing really is. I mean, why do we even bother to continue allowing tobacco products to be produced and sold given it's negative effects? Is there anything of tangible value in cigarettes? The idea of freedom is concieved with the goal of removing obstacles and barriers to growth and development. In contrast, the american attitude of "just because I can" is just an idiotic notion with no redeeming value.
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
Well, of course! Proper fallatio techniques are essential skills for any young woman.