Slashdot Mirror
China's Response To the Internet Addiction Death
eldavojohn writes "Last week, news broke of a tragic incident that resulted in the death of a 16-year-old boy at one of China's internet addiction camps. Details were scarce except for reports that the camp remained open. New reports are now coming in from China Daily that report 13 arrested and the camp closed down on Friday with 122 participants being sent home. The vice-chief of the district has stated that the authorities are working on the case to identify and punish the criminals involved in the death. Xinhua is reporting that the camp was unlicensed. This is directly in conflict with what the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter is saying, 'When the reporter arrived outside the rear wall of the school, children on the third and fourth floors started to stick notes into aluminum cans, drink bottles, and slippers, and others folded notes into paper planes. They tried to throw them over the wall, but owing to the distance, none of them succeeded. Some children had papers bearing the messages "SOS" and "beating" which they waved out the windows. Some wrote calls for help on their clothing, which they displayed to the reporter. Some even yelled for help. They were all stopped by the instructors.' Here is that original story in Chinese. Is China handling this delicate issue appropriately or are the news reports of justice and monitoring treatments merely a facade?"
There was a similar case at a Florida boot camp a few years back. A kid was beaten to death, and it was all caught on tape. The murderers were acquitted, but Florida did shut down its boot camps. We'll probably see similar results from this incident in China.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Is China handling this delicate issue appropriately or are the news reports of justice and monitoring treatments merely a facade?
Of course it is not, you cannot say that a country that allows for few basic freedoms, has a mostly state-run economy, and has almost no non-state run news. Along with no real way for its people to voice their opinion in government matters. So lets see, we have no third-party news service, no public records, and no way for Chinese citizens to act against this. How can anyone say they are anything but a facade?
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Are they gonna send them to a 'addicted to killing your clients' camp? ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
You remind me of me when I was young.
"Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
Is China handling this delicate issue appropriately or are the news reports of justice and monitoring treatments merely a facade?
I'd think that the 6 sentences this preceded that question would answer to that.
You just got troll'd!
Just send internet addicted kids to a "concentration camp"
What the Southern Metropolis Daily reported was a case in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in contrast to the other case in the Guangxi province, where the death happened. See the difference here?
Is China handling this delicate issue appropriately or are the news reports of justice and monitoring treatments merely a facade?
You used "China," "Justice," and "Appropriately" all in the same sentence. I think that means you get triple-points in geo-political Scrabble.
And in the news, /. readers go blind trying to read a poorly written summary.
/. editors - please do some editing - it took me three reads to fully understand the summary
I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
various practices of western governments. i won't aggrevate your prejudices too much by suggesting some of your fears of an unstoppable march to orwellian fascism in the west are somewhat hysterical or overhyped
but did any of you stop and think that what is going on in iran or china is perhaps exactly what your orwellian fears allude to? and that it might pay more dividends, at least in the realm of intellectual honesty, to criticize those governments rather than western governments?
because no matter how bad it is in the west, surely you can see how downright horrific it is in some other places in the world. not that the west doesn't have problems. not that horrible problems elsewhere doesn't mean you should ignore little problems close by. and of course, it is invalid to be only able to criticize practices in other countries, not your own
its just that, to me, there seems to be a lot of people in the west who fall into a ridiculous trap: some people's ability to criticize ends at the borders of their own countries. you are a human being, right? or does the rationale for your ability to judge right and wrong magically vaporize at the straits of bosporus or the rio grande?
while you make mountains out of molehills in the practices of governments in the west, all i am asking is that you sometimes actually pay attention to the real mountains outside your border. they represent a threat to you just as much, if not more. its not THAT big of a planet you know, and its not the days of slowly sailing ships. what happens in beijing and tehran does have a real and measurable impact on your life, and it isn't a good impact. some days, you should stop beating the drums of the evils of the west, and turn your moral and intellectual concerns outside your borders
the only valid moral and intellectual point of view is a global one, not a western one, nor an indian one, nor a chinese one. its just that, if you only concern yourself with criticism of the west, you fail this qualificiation for being able to consider yourself as having a truly human conscience
stand up, criticize beijing and tehran. it doesn't mean you are suddenly a dick cheney style neocon. the rationale and ability to criticize nonwestern governments does not start with the assumption that you are enamored of western governments. you can hate washington dc just as much as you hate beijing. criticizing the former does not mean you love the latter, and visa versa
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
In the picture from the linked article, it shows his father on the beach with two children.... but I thought you were only allowed one child in China? Is this not true?
China involved in a human rights issue? No way. I don't believe it.
This couldn't happen in the western world... Those camps would be at least named bootcamp. You wouldn't be beaten to death, they just make you run until you drop dead.
you might want to make sure to help him put it out, before the whole neighborhood is aflame. rather than watch his house burn down while you obsess over the fact the upstairs toilet's flush handle stays stuck
really, that's about the scale of comparison when it comes to the "stripping of our freedoms" under western governments (now there's a loaded concept) with what goes elsewhere in your world. do you think it made sense to focus only on fascist elements in great britain in 1939 as germany invaded poland? same concept in play here
as for your suggestion that you have very little influence over other world governments, while you can only wield influnece at home: this is like letting a murderer run away from a murder scene you witness because he won't stop when you yell "stop!" at him... meanwhile, the jaywalker stops and turns around and acts responsibly when you yell "stop!" so let's prosecute the hell out of the jaywalker instead of the murderer. your moral conscience should not be calibrated only to how receptive a criminal is to your prosecution of him, but by the scale of their crime
in fact, the very notion that you DO have influence at home, in a western democracy, speaks volumes about how good you really do have it in the west: your government listens to you. do you know how vital and fragile a concept that really is in the history of the world?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
In China attempting to find "justice" in it's corrupt and intentionally repressive system. That would give hope to their slaves, I mean people hope, and they can't have that.
Interesting to read that the majority of responses here seem to be in sympathy of china because it apparently happened here. Makes me wonder how many slashdot readers are dupes for some chinese propaganda machine... I know that sounds paranoid, but the fact that these stories about china continue to surface, and the "anonymous" internet response is a collective yawn... The fact remains that one cannot know anything of any country that engages in such invasive propaganda management. It may all be true, but I don't believe it. I can't. Not until the chinese people get a chance to express for themselves their condition, no matter how unflattering it may be to "One China".
So please, continue to reply to this message with 'But you do this in your country' or 'your press is just as bad' or 'you're just a stooge of western media'...
http://www.beanleafpress.com
if you have a mile length of road, on one end is pure fascism, and on the other is pure democracy
you have two guys on the road. one guy is a lot closer to fascism, and another a lot closer to democracy
the guy closer to democracy wiggles around a bit, and moves a few inches towards fascism. OMFG! IT'S A SLIPPERY UNSTOPPABLE SLOPE TO ORWELL
but, since its still mostly democracy, the next moment he wiggles a few inches back towards democracy. silence on your part
meanwhile, the other guy down there, right close fascism: he steps a couple of feet deeper towards fascism, cheerfully turns to you, and in classic propaganda, tells you of his great strides towards democracy
and you believe him
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
one guy flat out murders a bystander. you yell "stop!" at him, and he pays you no attention. so you let him be
the other guy litters. you yell and "stop!" at him, and apologizes. you proceed to read him the riot act in high holy moral outrage
so in other words, your sense of moral conscience is not calibrated to the depth of a criminal's crime, but only to the level a criminal is willing to engage with you and attempt reconciliation for his crime
but in this simple analogy, we're glossing over a much more important point: yes, you weild a lot more influece in the west than you do in china, but the take home lesson from that observation is that YOU WIELD ANY INFLUENCE AT ALL. as a citizen of a western democcracy, your government LISTENS to you, the common citizen. do you know how rare and vital a gift that is, and how revealing how bad they really do have it elsewhere in the world in comparison?
don't you think they deserve what you have?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Posts here seem to have some kind of assanine over-reaching international agenda. Kid here was beat by overzealous camp counselours that abused their authority and deceived parents for financial gain. They screwed up and now they're covering it up. I believe this issue was covered in America some time ago..anyone remember the Camp Krusty episodes of the Simpsons? This is not some kind of symptom of an elusive and corrupt communist state, it's simple greedy bastards taking advantage of lax regulations of other people taking care of their kids. Sure, China's head government is an soulless autocracy..but quite frankly that has nothing to do with it. You may as well blame GW Bush's Invasion of Iraq for...increased divorce rates and proponents of teaching ID in schools. Not really related..
"In the history of the world? It means nothing, its the blink on an eye"
its nice of you to sit so oblivious and detached from any concern for any suffering in the world. and yet to be so horribly upset by my call to actually care
i know its difficult for you to maintain the sneer on your upper lip as you look down from on yonder high at us mere mortals in the mud actually trying to care about the fate of other people in this world. i apologize. next time when i call for you to care about the suffering of your fellow human beings who made the error of being born outside the borders of your country, i'll try to keep in mind how difficult it is for you to do that
listen closely to what i am asking for: care about and be concerned if citizens in other countries are being abused. not even out of pure altruism, but also because if it goes down the shitter far away over there, it will affect you someday. do you really have a criticism of me for that suggestion?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I find that the international media gives a misleading view of what goes on in China. In such cases, for example, they make it seem like China is actively trying to fight corruption and other major issues. In my experience, the reality is nothing like that. The average person, and particularly poor people are constantly getting screwed, both by companies and the government and no one lifts a finger to do anything about it. Action is only taken when something happens to someone wealthy, as was the case here. Most people in China would probably be lucky to earn $1000 a month, let alone pay that much for an internet addiction camp. The only other time the government takes action seems to be when people raise enough furor about an issue.
And the Chinese government likes making a big event of trials and often ends them with harsh punishments. They're almost show trials, except that the charges aren't necessarily trumped up. I wont be surprised if some of those arrested in this case end up being executed.
Is China handling this delicate issue appropriately or are the news reports of justice and monitoring treatments merely a facade?"
China is the most worthy heir to the title of Evil Empire (after North Korea at least). Like all communist regimes, it is a despotic tyranny that tramples the rights of its victims, the citizens. So no, China is not handling this appropriately. The governement there cannot implement a solution when it is the source of the problem.
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
Tienanmen Square taught us an important thing about ourseïlves. We can't nor are willing to do anything about any of this. Until China commits a sizable atrocity involving millions of people at once, the world is content to read about it with guarded "shock and horror."
doctor's without borders?
the international criminal court?
this is now your opportunity to:
1. say these organizations are ineffectual. when they obviously aren't
2. press me for why i am not invading another country as a one man army, which suggests the intellectual dishonest concept that before YOU lift a finger, i must demonstrate substantial effort on my part (somehow, over a anonymous internet forum, i am required to present to you ironclad credentials of my efforts and you are dishonestly suggesting that you will actually believe them)
truth be told, in your posts, you are not describing to me a coherent understanding of the world you live in. what you are describing to me is your personality, your level of character: i don't care, and i'm angry at you for suggesting that i should
fine, go ahead and don't care what happens in iran and china. you go on with your bad self
but don't for a moment believe that your attitude is intellectually sound, responsible, moral, humanist, or even coherent
you don't have a coherent world viewpoint. what you have is an attempt at rationalizing your desire not to care about anyone else. again, that's fine. just know yourself and what you really are and stop attacking me just because i'm suggesting the really wacky far out concept that maybe you should care
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
>or are the news reports of justice and monitoring treatments merely a facade?
Dude, you really don't know your Chinese history, about how cruel the Chinese government is to their own people...almost as bad
as any other 3rd world country such as many of the African countries that have genocide etc...I know for sure they would have no problems to do what this reporter is claiming, if that is what the government had decided.
As far as Chinese justice, we know that the movie in which Richard Gere starred in was based on a true story... just because they gave us a glimpse of a "fake" "swell" Chinese olympics, do not be fooled by what goes on behind closed doors. "They are foreigners, it is not to them to decide how we rule or dictate life for our people".., a very sad and horrifying quote...
All I can say, this obsession on thinking that surfing the web is in itself an obsession, is pretty lame, anything in moderation is ok, anything beyond is considerable as an addiction, whether it is drugs, sex, alcohol, or even surfing the web...you teach moderation, you don't beat it into people!!!
You're reasoning on the basis of short slogans, and not actually the rules that these slogans imperfectly summarize.
In the USA, the criminal court system operates on a presumption of the innocence of the defendant. This means that the prosecution has the burden of proving that the charges are true; defendants don't have the burden of proving themselves innocent, and have the right to not testify during the process.
A person truly does commit a murder, but is acquitted of the charge for it, is quite simply an acquitted murderer. If you call somebody an "acquitted murderer" there's of course the issue of why do you believe you are justified in believing that person to be a murderer when the court ruled in his favor, but we're all certainly entitled to our own opinions.
Are you adequate?
amnesty international, doctors without borders, financial and emotional support to dissidents, etc.
but your refinements of my point are otherwise dead on, thank you
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
And when authorities want to go after somebody, theres lots of rarely enforced regulations they can invoke to stop them. China law enforcement is probably more arbitrary than US. But its a matter of degree.
Let's recap: in that case the guards
- were videotaped punching and kicking a 14 year old, who died soon afterwards
- they did not deny it. In fact, they said it was normal boot-camp procedure. You don't get a much clearer admission than that.
I'm sorry, but I don't need media hype to think that those assholes should be in jail. If not for murder, then for the assault that they're not even denying. It's hard for me to imagine them as innocent of at least that savage beating, when even they admit it. In fact, that it was common procedure and they did it to lots of other children.
We're not even talking about a belting or spanking (much as I'm against those too, but, ok, let's skip that part for now.) We're talking a group of adults punching and kicking a 14 year old child.
To add insult to injury: it wasn't even because said child had actually done anything bad. They were beating him because they thought he was simulating an illness. Except it turns out that the illness was real, and in fact they argued in court (and that was why they were acquitted) that the kid died of the disease not of the punching and kicking received. Again, it's stuff they themselves argued in court, so I'm not doing more than taking their own word for it.
Roll that around in your head a bit: a child received that savage beating (whether lethal or not), just because he was genuinely ill. No other guilt, infraction, misdeed, or anything else involved. Get sick, get beaten. Does that sound right to you?
I mean, FFS, even the advocates of corporal punishments argue that it's to correct some antisocial behaviours. Whereas in this case a child was savagely beaten just for being ill. Instead of being taken to a doctor, he was punched and kicked by a bunch of adults. I can't imagine any scenario, no matter how convoluted, where that can possibly be morally right.
But at any rate, murder or not, by their own confessions they are at the very least guilty of assault. And for that, they earn my heartfelt contempt. Bunch of scumbags.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
according to 12 of Chinese criminal procedure law no one is guilty of a crime without a people's court rendering a judgment according to law.
I'll assume that this people's court has nothing to do with televised arbitration.
Milgram did his experiment because he wanted to understand why the holocaust happened. How did the German guards turn so brutal? There was a myth that it had to be something to do with the German character. Milgram dispelled that myth.
Ignorance of these facts will lead to more beatings in the future, and more deaths. China, Florida, Germany, it doesn't matter where.
In chasing the antecedents of blame, one must look at the organisers of the boot camp. Perhaps they should have known better.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
....stumbleupon can kill.....
coherent point of view on any issue in the world is a global one
your entire post consists of nothing more than an attempt at rationalizing your lack of concern for humanity past the rio grande or the straits of bosporus. you wish to say that you have no authority, therefore, you should have no conscience
you have it completely backwards: authority flows from conscience, not the other way around. on any issue, regardless of geography, anywhere in the world, at any time period in the history
look: if everyone in the west spent all of their effort perfecting the west to a state of such ideal civilization as the world has ever known, while the rest of the world was allowed to slide into the shitter, you tell me what would happen: the west would be destroyed by what lays outside its boundaries
this is not the days of sailing ships and the silk road. this is an era of the internet and jet air travel. nigerians scamming stupid western pensioners, someone sneezing in mexico city leading to someone dying in london, religious fundamentalists from riyadh driving airplanes into office towers in new york city: there is no way to isolate anything along the lines you wish to isolate them
there is only one region, only one neighborhood: the world. all other divisions are meaningless and arbitrary at this point of human development. those of us who realize that are just waiting for everyone else to catch up to this realization. not because i say so, but as a direct consequence of simple cause and effect in a modern technological world
you better care about what happens beyond your nations borders, because someone else most certainly does, and they may not have your interests or your values in mind. and meanwhile, those beyond your borders most certainly care about what happens where you live, and again, their agenda might not exactly jive with your ideal of perfected seclusion. the days of the hermit kingdom are over. get used to it. we live on a tiny ball of dirt and water, and you wish to divide it up by magic lines and think that has any validity in terms of actually being effective. maybe in 1609. certainly not in 2009
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
They should have been convicted of manslaughter, but he was not beaten to death. He was an undiagnosed anemic in the presence of idiots.
Manslaughter, yes - but he was not beaten to death. He was an undiagnosed anemic in the presence of idiots.
the world would be a much simpler place if no one actually cared about anyone else
but people do care if someone else suffers, for better or worse. and so you must make peace with that, as butting out isn't an option, and never was, and never will be. its only an option if you can magically alter fundamental human nature
besides, forget altruism, you protect your own selfish interests by taking a keen interest as to whether or not your neighbor's house is on fire. the best defense has always been a good offense
i would rather the front line of the war between open societies and authoritarian societies be waged primarily in authoritarian societies, not my own. and making believe no such conflict exists is just delusional. all ideological systems either expand or contract, none of them exist in stasis, ever, in the history of the world, anywhere
so i would much rather be involved in extending openness to closed societies rather than be involved in a weak rearguard action protecting open societies form becoming closed. mainly because extending openness is the best way to reinforce openness at home, while giving up on closed societies and adopting a bunker mentality at home is pretty much accepting defeat before the enemy is even met
its a difference in personality, rather than worldview. the history of every epoch has always hewed to ideological divides, and the winner has always been the one on the offense. and i simply have no respect for authoritarianism. so i fight it, over there
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Decades ago, they were "deprogrammers", verbally, mentally, physically, even sexually abusing kids and adults because their victims had belief (by choice or force) that were different their own, so they forced their victims, through abuse, to follow THEIR beliefs, rather than teach them to have a choice. Making them "reprogrammers", not "deprogrammers".
Years later, it was so-called mental health professionals who believed that various forms of abuse against adults and children could "cure" their victims of homosexuality. Even creating "camps" to "change" them.
Then, there are the troubled youth, the fat, the depressed, and more. All finding their way into "camps" to "cure" them through verbal, mental, physical, and/or sexual abuse.
But you know what? The common element in all this is? Not that there are people who need help or need to be "cured". But that there are sick sociopaths and psychopaths out there who found a way to get off on their sick desires of a variety of abuses against children and adults alike.
They find a scapegoat, something to blame, so that they can create a reason to "cure" something.
In the case of those who had been taken advantage of by groups who used brainwashing techniques to force their victims to follow a particular belief, the "deprogrammers" co-opted the same tactic to do the same thing, only they programmed their victims to believe in an "acceptable" religion.
In the case of the victims who were homosexual, they had been the victims of various forms of abuse because society had taught that that is how you treated homosexuals. As many are taught that being the victim of abuse for ANY reason and the resulting emotional horrors from it is actually the victim's fault. So the so-called mental health professionals blamed, not society's obscene teaching that abuse is good, homosexuality as being "bad" and "harmful". So, to get their sick, perverted rocks off, they had a justification for abusing homosexuals.
Scapegoat after scapegoat has been created. All to feed a sick need to have their desires to abuse others justified.
But each and every time, it backfires and shows itself for what it really is. A sick, obscene, perverted desire to abuse others, whether it be verbally, mentally, physically, and/or sexually and whether the victim be adult or child.
And there's no end in sight. "Spare the rod, spoil the child." We've seen just how far THAT is taken. Even the so-called Seat Of Morality, the Vatican, attempts to cover that up. Look to the recent events in Ireland for proof.
It isn't the victims who are the most in need of "curing".
It's the people who claim to have the cure.
Andrew
So this topic has of course brought up the "well the US ain't perfect either!" argument. And no, we are not. However I'd like to think that we do try and have in place the tools to make our trying actually mean something. (Our constitution/Bill of Rights/etc.)
That being said this morn one of our local radio talk shows stumbled upon a serious subject, kiddy porn, via the "My cat downloaded that kiddy pron" excuse story. They then even went deeper and talked about how given how harshly kiddy porn is dealt with here how that can be, and is, used as a weapon vs people. (IE put kiddy pron on your targets computer and then turn them in.)
They actually did a relatively decent job talking about the issue given the show and then an actual IT guy called in and spoke about it. He dispelled a lot of their jovilaity by underlying how serious the issue is as well as, getting to how this relates to China now, telling this story:
Some Chinese national was working here in Fla and left his laptop in some computer lab at some point. The person in question was a journalist working to show the various human rights violations that the Chinese government perpetrates. And so in response to this the Chinese government had an operative call the FBI and tip them off that there was kiddy porn on the guys laptop. The operative then went to the lab and planted the kiddy porn onto the laptop.
I'm sure you can see the mistake, he did it backwards. In court it was proven that the porn was put on the laptop after the tip. But you can imagine the hell that the Chinese national went though even while trying to prove his innocence. (The IT guy said that the attitude surrounding kiddy pron is guilty until proven innocent pretty much right now.)
We may have our issues here in the US, as do the other 1st world free nations, but China still needs to go a long way before they can even close to being viewed as a nation that is not known, and rightly so, for abusing it's own people.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
WHAT can be done has never been a problem with the human species. if we wanted to do it, we always figured out a way
all that ever mattered was the desire to do it
it really escapes your vast imagination about what a committed group of people can and can't do to change the world?
i mean, honestly, it feels rote and pedantic to me at this point, like i'm holding a little kid's hand. you want a list or something of possible tactics? why not ask that to yourself? you honestly cant' think of any. am i supposed to supply intellectual charity to a simpleton at this point and pedagogically list to you possible avenues of influence?
meanwhile, what exactly is your argument: if 2 million people in the west wanted to do something about china, they can do NOTHING that matters? that's your position? you really believe that?
the will to do something matters, that is all. the how something is done is an afterthought. as long as you convince enough people a tough job needs to get done, it gets done. its not like one guy figures out the perfect tactic by himself and that makes all the difference. the tactic is nothing. what matter is that a mass of people want to make the difference
if a group of people is dead set on doing something, they are going to do it. you realize that, right? motivation is everything. tactics are easy. we seem to be talking about 2 different things, and what you are concerning yourself is the afterthought
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Under Scottish Law, a jury can retuen verdicts of "Guilty", "Not guilty", or "Not proven guilty". That third option might be a useful addition to the legal system in the USA. Basically, it means that the accused cannot be judged innocent or guilty on the evidence presented...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
I live in America, and I do wish more people would carry guns.
It bothers me how people freak out when I say things like that. The simple fact is, the most effective deterrent to actual violence is a credible threat of violence. Or, put more simply, nobody is going to hold up a restaurant if he knows that most of the customers are packing heat.
I think our entertainment is largely to blame. Guns are always shown in a negative light. They always appear in stressful and dangerous situations, and are generally only visible when being used to kill people. Also, quite often, the bad guy is subdued once his gun is removed. Such constant reinforcement of unrealistic situations creates irrational fear in people.
A dangerous person, with a gun, is still just as dangerous if you take the gun away. The gun, however, becomes as dangerous as an expensive paperweight once you take the dangerous person away. Such simple facts, however, are lost on those who learned more about guns from movies than from their parents.
An armed society is a polite society. The high presence of firepower eliminates the need to use it. A high concentration of unarmed people attracts crime, as all easy prey attracts the hunters.
How did this get modded to 5?
"They know everything the government does..." WTF!!!! In what country on earth is this true for?
"...never have any trouble with government." Again, in what country on earth is this true for?
"Everyone uses proxies to read the foreign news in Chinese. Foreign news in English is almost never blocked..." Then why is "everyone" using proxies?
Xinhua extensively fabricates stories that could be considered demoralizing to the PRC. It's still more reputable than the KNCA or Pravda, though.
Well, that much I can understand. But just saying that I can be spared the "they were acquitted, so they're innocent people" kinda messages in this thread. Yes, legally they got acquitted, because it was "only" assault and manslaughter and a dumb prosecutor pushed for murder. But for me, by their own depositions, they're guilty of manslaughter or at the very least assault. It's not based on hearsay, or preconceptions, or anything. It's by their own arguments that got them cleared of murder. I don't need to do more than the gullible thing and believe every word they said in their defense... to conclud that they're scumbags and they should rot in prison if there were any justice in the world.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
The only one's that have Freedom(tm) are the one's that whine for their Star in the Liberty Quarts through a competent Venue Liberator; gold, purple, green, etc. All are willingly commandeered by their superior phyl-officer, or are returned back to a comfortable eco-friendly room in a big gray hotel with bars on the windows, so they may reach a mutual respect and "meeting of the minds" with the other Secured Party to insurrect Tranquility(R) and dispel your unreasonable Fear(tm) of das Governmentskyrijgaadskulpot.
Xinhua is reporting that the camp was unlicensed.
Much like ours are unlicensed, except ours rely on distance or far-off national borders. It's hard to beat people into submission if people aren't looking away.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
You'd have to know Chinese to get the joke though.
Care to share? Or are you just being facetious?
'Cause, y'know, most of us don't know Chinese, and thus can't even tell whether or not there was supposed to be a joke.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
My Response To: INTERNET CURFEW:
No government has the Right or Authority to Legislate or Mandate just how much time a child spends Online!
That is the purview of Parents & Guardians!
Mimbari.
New York City.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/chinese+people+are+not+pets/3097807
or are chinese people human beings, who desire freedom
if there is some magic genetic component in a chinese person that makes them needed to be controlled like a slave, then you win the argument
but if on the other hand, as i believe, that chinese people are just as yearning and desiring of freedom as people in the west, then surely you recognize that the west, regardless of all the problems the west has, better realizes the concept of personal freedom than the current chinese system does
so that in the end, your view of "ideological imperialism" is absurd, since all i am asking for is more freedom for you. the only ideological imperialism that actually exists is coming from beijing, not the west. beijing is trying to control you, i'm asking for you to LESS control over you. how is that imperialism? how in a million years do you view that as some sort malicious foreign influence? maybe its just a better way for chinese people to live? wheter or not i say it, as a westerner, or a chinese person says it?
in other words, when a chinese person compes up to you expressing a desire for more freedom, are they some sort of zombie under the influence of western imperialism? or perhaps they are expressing something human inside them that unites us, all humans, western or chinese, something stronger than any authoritarian system that beijing can devise, and stronger than any blind xenophobia you are suffering so strongly from, you actually view your own emancipation as a despicable foreign influence
as for more my desire to make the world one place: yes i wish upon the entire human race greater personal freedom. truly, i am an imperialistic monster LOL
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it