Slashdot Mirror
A Single Re-Tweet Lands Chinese Woman in Labor Camp
lee1 writes "A woman in China has been sentenced to a year of 're-education' in a labor camp for the crime of 'disrupting social order' after retweeting a joke on Twitter (which is entirely banned in China, but popular nonetheless). Cheng Jianping had repeated a Twitter comment suggesting that nationalist protesters smash Japan's pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, adding the words 'Charge, angry youth.' At the time, China and Japan were feuding over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, and groups of young Chinese had been demonstrating against Japan, smashing Japanese products; the tweet amounted to gentle chiding of the protesters. Ms. Cheng may also have been targeted because she is a human rights activist: she had signed petitions calling for the release of China's jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. She has been detained in the past for several other 'crimes,' including criticizing China's Communist Party."
Twitter Kills!
Bottles.
Anyone using Twitter should be sentenced to a year of 're-education' in a labour camp.
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
The political right hates China because they see them as a threat to American national security interests, so Slashdot posts a story about "OMG they accessed all our traffic for 18 minutes, they're trying to get intelligence secrets". The left hates China because of their disgusting intolerance of any human rights, so Slashdot posts a story about someone being jailed for a Twitter post. See, fair and balanced! Who says this is a left-leaning website?
Dislike the Electoral College? Lobby your state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
hate speech is not protected in the USA either. plus she was inciting racial unrest by targeting a specific group AND trying to get people to kill them. the KKK were arrested/imprisoned in the US. why didnt anyone whine about that ? ohh..because in this instance communist china is eevil.
If you are a political activist in any country (not just China), don't post things publicly that are unrelated to your cause. Don't post things electronically that are or could be considered illegal, or be used as blackmail material. Remember that you are not representing yourself anymore, you are representing your cause. Everything you say and do will be put under a microscope, and the internet never forgets and never forgives mistakes.
Now that that's out of the way: China, you suck.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Really. Well I guess its not like in the U.S. where a sports athlete will be fined at least 20 grand for posting nothing out of the ordinary. AKA Terrel Owens, Randy Moss
you know, the snide comments "well, its almost just as bad/ the same/ worse in the usa/ uk/ western nation"
no
it actually isn't
when you confuse hyperbole and reality, you are no longer commenting intelligently, you are merely broadcasting your ignorance
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I can Tweet!
What would happen if someone tweeted a "joke" about a bomb threat in the EU or the USA?
Oh that's right, they get a visit by their friendly neighborhood police officers. http://boingboing.net/2010/11/13/twitter-users-re-twe.html
This is probably front page news because we clearly all hate China, and Twitter is involved. In full seriousness, relying on the humor of law enforcement/secret police to keep you out of trouble is a bad bet. Relying on that sense of humor when seemingly inciting violence against a nation with whom ties are already strained is an even worse bet. Is this seriously anything new or surprising?
Signatures are the new names.
I really am glad
1) not to be chinese
2) not living in china
3) not stupid enough to talk bad shit against my gov.
ok, so 2 out of 3 aint that bad i guess.
Who cares about the human cost as long as we can continue to get cheap electronics, right?
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
Anonymity exists for a reason. Not using it if you want to post messages not liked by a repressive government is idiotic.
to China. I will pay for it.
Paradoxically, the Chinese leadership's need to quell
even the slightest expression of dissent, or the slightest expression of
free-thinkng, simply telegraphs the inherent weakness and illegitimacy
of their system of government. If the government is truly legitimate, is
truly based on the consent of the people, then it does not require such
measures. The most legitimate form of government is that which requires
the least repression of individual expression and will while still being able
to function in a stable manner.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
She has been detained in the past for several other 'crimes,' including criticising China's Communist Party.
So in the USA the Republicans would be locked up for criticizing the Democrats, and the Democrats would be locked up for criticizing the Republicans. With almost everybody locked up, who could work as prison guards? I guess this could be solved with some H-1B visas.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Its populace is in a frightening situation, where speaking out against the regime is often a criminal activity. Its economy feeds off itself and other countries, and is reflected strongly to foreign markets, but the smoke-and-mirrors reality draws many comparisons to Cold War Russia, specifically its unsustainable growth and complete disregard for things like environment and human safety. Its foreign policy is bullheaded and unrepentant - and they get away with it, because the rest of the world admonishes it with one hand and spoon-feeds it with the other.
Firstly, it's all in a foreign language, so you don't need to be too accurate with the facts and you can carefully translate things to sound very evil. Hmm, what sounds nice and Orwellian? Ah, "re-education labor camp".
Secondly, the girl is quite pretty. It's much worse when something happens to a girl who could be seen on your favourite TV show!
Finally, we all like Twitter don't we? Let's sit back, crack our knuckles and have a good, long relaxing stretch with smug looks on our faces as we think about how great it is that we can post whatever we like on Twitter, as if we can.
Everything you read in the news is accurate, you are happy in your Western home, the booger monsters are all in nasty foreign countries oppressing brown/yellow people, drink Coca-Cola.
when you confuse hyperbole and reality, you are no longer commenting intelligently, you are merely broadcasting your ignorance
...when you go and put your cart in front of your horse?
Or when you jump the gun?
Could it perchance be that you have failed to hold your horses, and that by bootstrapping your own argument in anticipation of hatched chickens you are actually tilting at windmills and thus producing a tempest in a teapot?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/18/pakistan.blasphemy/index.html?hpt=C1
"This month a Pakistani court sentenced Isham's mother, 45 year old Asia Bibi, to death, not because killed, injured or stole, but simply because she said something."
"The town cleric, Qari Muhammad Salim, reported the incident to police who arrested Bibi. After nearly 15 months in prison came her conviction and the death sentence."
USA's best friends, China and Pakistan. Awesome.
Seriously, no mention in the "free press" of the joke?
I don't have a Twitter account, but when I go to China I'll make sure that won't be the time I decide to become popular and make one. "Re-education" no thanks.
What would happen if someone tweeted a "joke" about a bomb threat in the EU or the USA?
The woman is a "human rights activist" who was "detained in the past for several other 'crimes,' including criticising China's Communist Party".
Clearly, in order to make an accurate comaprison, you would have to replace "someone" in your argument with say... Julian Assange.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
With all of the new surveillance requirements of our friendly government and the alphabet soup laws and treaties pushed on us by the **AA, we are not far behind China in this.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Because "Being an anti-government activist lands Chinese woman in labour camp" isn't nearly exciting enough.
...they let you keep the piece of brain that they take out.
If the government don't lock up disruptive individuals who cause public unrest. The harmony in the country will be gone, and the whole economy will tank. Personal freedom is a small price to pay for a thriving economy. Look at the US and Europe now. Their freedom of expression mires them in endless internal silly arguments while not solving any pressing problem.
This is actually a popular view in China and the party actively promotes it. Our increasingly frustrating politics make it more and more believable.
More power to her! She should be able to tweet, write or say whatever she wants.
"Anonymity" does not exist in a communist country in complete control of your ISP. Got an IP address? Got an on-line account that requires registration (e.g., Twitter)? And anything you "submit" online is monitored; so you're fucked!
It won't be as bad as inventing 2 wars against harmless countries countries from the other side of the world, with intention of creating boogiemen and plundering whatever can be carried.
Or overthrowing many south american countries' constitutional governments in the 70s to indebt them, causing around 100k deaths.
Or funding Israel, which also does its fair share of genocide on a daily basis, pretending they have a right to do so (and throwing lawsuits and smear campaigns at anyone who barely questions them)
I have no idea what china does, or doesn't do... But i'm pretty sure it's not as bad as what the US does on a regular basis.
I get a little tired of the bitching about China's human rights problems not because they aren't problems, but because people seem to just like to bitch rather than suggest what might be done. See the US can't just make China play nice and respect human rights that movie about Team America: World Police was a comedy/satire, not a documentary, if the puppets didn't give that away. The US can't just police China.
Now, the US could of course do things like refuse to trade or embargo China. Ok, ignoring any consequences to the US itself, what makes you think that would work? What evidence is there that wold do any good? It has been tried time and time again and never seems to improve conditions in countries, only make them worse. That isn't to say it cannot be a useful tool for security related issues, but it doesn't seem to do anything good human rights related.
In fact a rather strong argument can be made that the only way China will get better at human rights is if their own citizens demand it. They will have to force the change internally. Like with most things in human nature, people have to want to change before you can help them change. You can then also argue the best thing that the US can do for that is to keep as much free and open trade as possible. With free trade comes free information. though the Central Committee might not like it, they can't just cut off the flow of information, it would hurt business.
Free trade with China is producing dramatic increases in the standard of living for many people, and has actually improved the human rights situation from what it was. It is far, FAR from good but it is a hell of a lot better than when the great leap "forward" happened.
There's a strong argument that the best thing we can do is just to trade freely and make all our information and culture available. If you've a different suggestion then let's hear it as well as the defense for it, but please less with the hand-wringing.
Living in a free country you forget that things like this can happen. While it is true that if an American did what she did, they would be penalized. It is also good to know that the penalty should meet the crime and you would not be sent to labour camp. It's amazing and scary that a company that corrupt still is on the verge of becoming a global power house.
Serious question here. Do people assigned to these re-education camps actually come out thinking that oh, they had it all wrong, and they'll be on the right path once again? Because I have a hard time believing, after nearly 40 years of dealing with people, that this is the result. If anything, I'd believe they come out even more convinced than ever that whatever got them in trouble was right, but more cautious about expressing it.
I'm talking about what happens in real life, not what happens in Orwell's absurd fantasies.
.. Camp. Maybe it was twins.
Hey don't blame me, IANAB
If this is against criminal law in China, then this is a crime, not a 'crime'. Something being criminal doesn't mean it harms people in any meaningful way. I'm glad it's just China with this kind of thing.
girlintraining is not actually a girl.
the more you know
Meanwhile in the US...
A Single Shared CD Lands US Woman in Life-Long Bankruptcy
"A woman in the US has been sentenced to a life of bankruptcy for the crime of 'sharing intellectual property' (which is entirely banned in the US, but popular nontheless). Jammie Thomas-Rasset had shared a few Songs with other people. She has been tried and convicted in the past for several other 'thought crimes,' all involving infringement of US's Recording Party's so called "imaginary property rights".
Different countried, different priorities. China prioritizes its goverment scheme over peoples basic rights, so critics need to get persecuted. The US prioritizes having a creative industry over peoples basic rights, so ordinary people sharing culture will also be fiercely persecuted. China may be somewhat harsher than the US, but in principle they are bot just two different sides of a medal, and both regimes perceive free, uncensored information exchange between ordinary citizens as a major threat obviously to both business _and_ goverment.
A Single Re-Tweet and a History of Human Rights Activism Lands Chinese Woman in Labor Camp
There, fixed that for you
I actually *did* read it as "A Single Re-Tweet Lands Chinese Woman in Labor" - there was no between "Labor" and "Camp".
Ezekiel 23:20
Ms. Cheng is pretty hot.
Although Twitter is a place which you could share your opinion and stories, materials that related to the politics are always sensitive. From the nation's stand point, goverment does have reasons to lock up disruptive individuals who cause the public unrest. But I don't think most of the people making such statements are *really* idiots and should be 'sentenced to a year of 're-education' in a labor camp"
"... for the crime of 'disrupting social order' after retweeting a joke on Twitter (which is entirely banned in China, but popular nontheless)"
Which is it that is banned? Disrupting social order? Retweeting? Or the joke?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I only got to go to camp once. And it turned out to be a Christian camp but nobody told me that. I guess I should have known something was up when grandma suggested I take a bible but I was so excited, I said, "Yeah, sure, whatever." I was focused on the fact that I was going to sleepaway camp and that my friend David would be there. I hadn't seen him since he'd been hit by a car like six months earlier. But mom failed to mention that, due to the coma and brain damage, David most likely wouldn't remember me. I found this out when he said, "Do I know you?" Turns out he didn't. And he had a completely different personality. Now he was all into pulling mean pranks. Which I mostly went along with because it reduced my chances of being on the receiving end. Just as I was coming to grips with that, the first bible study session was called. Man, that was an awkward two weeks.
Who knew that tweeting would induce women into labor...
Do you actually believe that? Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China#Rates_of_execution
Nobody knows what how many people China executes every year, since it is classified as a state secret, but most estimates have it at 5000+ per year, compared to 50 in the US. Also, USA has mandatory appeals which take years, in China you are gone very quickly.
By the way, this is crap. Clerics can't sentence a Christian to death for blasphemy because Christians aren't subject to Sharia law. The case has to be under a civil blasphemy statute, which probably doesn't specify the death penalty. I what we have here is a failure of clerics to understand Islamic law.
In the CNN story, the incident sparking this was about "pollution" by a Christian using the same cup, which is a holdover from-- guess what-- Hindu caste restrictions, which Pakistani Muslims should be totally opposed to.
Signers of Charter 08 ought to be looking over their shoulders.
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101118/husband-of-canadian-jailed-in-beijing-101118/20101118/?hub=EdmontonHome
These are acts of revenge.
I agree with the late George Carlin ... "we are all f***ed ." I don't know if human beings can ever rise above their baser instincts. I am pessimistic.
It seems to me that it is the size of nations that leads to most of the worlds ills. I think we should have lots of small governments, loosely affiliated into a world body. Minimize the ability to accumulate power. That is the key. Power leads to oppression -- nearly without exception, and certainly without exception over time.
If you centralize power, people die. Primarily because centralization of power is a magnet for corruption that leads to ever more acquisition of power.
I cannot conceive of a world where human beings are free and oppression is absent, and yet, the absence of freedom is oppressive by definition. The middle road may be entirely unattainable ... except in the small.
Doubtless the Chinese are following the fine democratic example set by the UK terror police in similar matters.
...the bitch will conform.
Why the quotes around 'crimes'? Because they're not really illegal in China, or because you personally don't think they should be illegal?
It's official. Most of you are morons.
The idiots the poster is referring to should be pre-empted and reminded that they are idiots.
That used to be call flamebaiting. Boy, how times change.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens