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Foreign-owned Hotels To Install Firewall In China
Frosty Piss writes "Foreign-owned hotels in China face the prospect of 'severe retaliation' if they refuse to install government software that can spy on Internet use by hotel guests coming to watch the summer Olympic games. Republican Senator Sam Brownback produced a translated version of a document from China's Public Security Bureau that requires hotels to use the monitoring equipment. The Public Security Bureau order threatens that failure to comply could result in financial penalties, suspending access to the Internet or the loss of a license to operate a hotel in China. The policy was designed to 'ensure the smooth opening' of the Olympics, as well as 'promote the healthy and orderly development of the Internet, safeguard state security, maintain social order and protect public interests,' the translation of the one of the documents read."
They generate a lot of negative media OUTSIDE of China. It probably doesn't matter much to the Chinese government that foreigners view the administration with disdain, as long as Chinese nationals view the administration with respect and trust. In that sense, the People's Republic of China is very successful, as the vast majority Chinese nationals respect their leaders and believe that their leaders are doing their best to protect and promote the interests of China and its citizens.
Because they do not care what you think. They do not care what your politicians think. As long as they can control the information that their own people have access to, any outside fallout is more than acceptable.
They don't care what you think.
China, like much of the world, is very nationalistic, and it's hard for Americans to understand. Your nationality, ethnicity, language... all the same. They can't seperate a criticism of China the government from a criticism the people.
So the government have the Chinese people happily convinced that China is the greatest ever, there ever was, and all criticism from the outside is basically racism. Calling the government corrupt is as personally offensive to the average Chinese citizen as personally calling him a slant-eyed chink.
So, from the Chinese nationalists perspective, they're doing a good job blocking all that "racist propoganda". It's basically (to them) analagous to many western governments banning "hate speech".
So, from the Chinese nationalists perspective, they're doing a good job blocking all that "racist propoganda". It's basically (to them) analagous to many western governments banning "hate speech".
It's not just analogous, it's the same thing. One man's political opinion is another man's hate speech.
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Incompatible with liberalism
If by "liberalism" you mean the philosophy of letting people do their own thing (i.e., what libertarianism used to be called), you couldn't be more wrong. Capitalism is the ideal economic system for such a political philosophy.
Incompatible with conservatism
I guess that depends on how you define "conservatism". You may have a point, but don't be so vague.
Incompatible with human rights
The fact that the US has always been capitalistic, and done ok on human rights (not great, but not terrible either), contradicts this.
Incompatible with human nature.
Absolute horseshit. Capitalism aligns PERFECTLY with human nature. Human nature is to improve one's own lot in life as much as possible. Capitalism is to make as much profit for oneself as possible.
Somebody please tell me why we're still fisting Adam Smith's very dry corpse?
Maybe because it's worked out pretty damned well? It's not perfect, but nothing is. Maybe you live in a world where everything goes right all the time, but most of us sure don't.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Yeah I was thinking something similar. On the upside, at least in China you KNOW when the government is watching. They aren't that courteous in the U.S..
I'm sorry, I tried a number of times to write a polite reply, but it still came down to this - WHAT THE FUCK!
Did you guys notice that TFA was talking about the hotels for foreigners? For an average Chinese, the government does not just monitor you, it simply BLOCKS you from seeing what it doesn't want you to see.
Did you guys know that in China everybody has to disclose their real life identity before they get online? Did you guys know that there have been people in China going to jail just for posting on the Internet to question government policies?
Now try and show me how much worse - or less courteous - it is in the US.
I mean, I'm upset with the warrantless eavesdropping issue as much as the next guy. I have gone so far as to rent my own dedicated server and ran all my traffic through thor. But on the other hand, I think that going as far as stating "they aren't that courteous in the US" only shows how ungrateful you are.
Tyranny isn't the worst enemy of a democracy. Cynicism is.
It probably doesn't matter much to the Chinese government that foreigners view the administration with disdain, as long as Chinese nationals view the administration with respect and trust.
Especially if they can pass off any negative foreign views of China as being an anti-Chinese bias.
what's that now?
Not that much different than the Bush admin
You're an idiot. The very fact that you can badmouth Bush or call him a chimpanzee and get away with it shows how far we really are from China. Stop fearmongering -- yes, there are issues. Yes, we should be vigilant. But that doesn't also mean we can't be thankful for the freedoms that we do have.
Stop fearmongering -- yes, there are issues. Yes, we should be vigilant. But that doesn't also mean we can't be thankful for the freedoms that we do have.
And what has being vigilant gotten us?
A) The worst excesses of 1960's wiretapping & spying on citizens (Nixon & COINTELPRO)
B) Politicization of the Justice Department
C) Weakening of Federal regulatory Agencies & environmental protections
D) All of the above.
And those are just the first non-debatable items I could pull off the top of my head. Obviously the USA has free speech & China doesn't, but the USA is heading in China's direction as opposed to a transparent and open Democracy.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
They don't have to disclose their real-life identity just to get online. In every town there are many many internet bars full of computers where you can pay a couple rmb an hour to surf the internet. The people who run these establishments couldn't care less about who is on the computers.
Just for a new perspective. Replace in "China/Chinese" with "USA/American" and "Nationalistic" with "patriotic" and read this again. It sounds eerily like the US public debate.
As a foreigner living in the US, it amazes me how much the government officials and the press need to tout the virtues of America being the grates and the best in everything. Even if they are not.
If it is healthcare, education, banking, recycling, solar energy, hydrogen technology, cell phone technology, Internet access and technology, or infrastructure from bridges to roads to trains to airports, the US is far behind the leading nations in this world. And the vast majority of Americans have no idea that they are not leading, and that they are not even in second or third place.
Only a patriotic/nationalistic drumbeat prevents the democratic America from taking on their pressing issues and fire their leaders that have long failed to work in the interest of the American people. Don't get me wrong, most US politicians don't have the power to imprison citizens for opposing or simply provocative views. But they still try to sell the Americans a happy story that they know is not right. And the mass media in this country does the very same. I guess they don't care enough about the truth, but rather about keeping the audience entertained and paying.
I didn't say it was good or bad, just in line with human nature. That's not a debateable point, imnsho. It's just plain fact.
It is very much a debatable point. Are you arguing that Jesus, Buddah, Mandela, Ghandi and countless others are not human? It is my belief that it is you that subscribes to an inhumane philosophy.