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Obama Talks Internet Freedom, China Censors

eldavojohn writes "In a town-hall-style Q&A with (hand-picked) Chinese students in Shanghai, President Obama made several statements knocking China's firewall and censorship. Quoting: 'I am a big believer in technology and I'm a big believer in openness when it comes to the flow of information. I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable. They can begin to think for themselves. That generates new ideas. It encourages creativity. And so I've always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I'm a big supporter of non-censorship. This is part of the tradition of the United States that I discussed before, and I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet — or unrestricted Internet access — is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged.' The Washington Post notes that the event was broadcast only on the local level, and in fact Chinese authorities removed from view what little coverage it had gotten, after about an hour. But at least American news media are gobbling it up."

3 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Meanwhile on Fox News by ArcherB · · Score: 0, Troll

    The main headline : Obama SELLS American Freedom to Chinese

    Bill O'Reilly - Obama is betraying all Americans by giving away the secrets of freedom to the Chinese

    Glenn Beck - Obama is raising a Chinese Army to take over the United States

    As I sit here and read all these comments about how great it is that we live in a free country and how terrible it is that the Chinese don't, I am shocked by your comment. The primary tool of the Chinese government is the control of the media. As long as they control the media, the rest doesn't matter. They can even give their people the absolute freedom of speech. It won't matter because the only information that the people receive will be good news about the people in power. How can they say anything negative when they don't know of the government doing anything negative. Sure, the party leaders don't read every news cast that every reporter reads, but if a reporter says something they don't like, they are whipped back in line with a quickness.

    Fortunately, here we have the Bill Of Rights. It guarantees your right to say whatever you want. Just as importantly, it guarantees the right of Fox News to say whatever they want. It's sad that that right now, Fox News is the only network that is critical of the Obama administration. In other words, Fox News is the only network that is DOING ITS JOB! I find it sad that so many like yourself will openly mock the only network that separates the American media from the Chinese.

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  2. Re:Meanwhile on Fox News by brainfsck · · Score: 0, Troll

    People mock Fox News because it lies and gives so much airtime to pundits who are clearly divorced from reality.

    But I'm sure you knew that already.

  3. Re:Meanwhile on Fox News by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 0, Troll


    Far Left - "Obama is perpetuating cultural hegemony and displaying his intolerance toward other cultures' ways of life by forcing Western cultural norms down their throats."

    The what? You have a far left in the US? What're they called?

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