Has this even been confirmed? I live in Shanghai, and not everything that shows up in the news is true (i'm shocked, shocked!). There was just a professor here a while ago who was taking credit for "Chinese-developed CPUs". He got national awards, grant money, the whole works for years. Too bad he was literally just scratching the logo off another brand of chip (I forget which one).
Very good point, and I'm in no way saying that people shouldn't be able to vote for these fringe parties. I'm just trying to say that the fringe parties have more influence in a proportional representation system -- i.e. a first-past-the-post system will tend to result in more moderate gov't (tend is the key word).
Regarding the US voters giving the gov't the finger, I think the votes for the Green party were a bit of 'fuck you' to the system. They're pretty fringe, and it had an effect on the outcome of the election.
And the two major parties in the US are not fixed. About every 80 years or so there is a shake-up of the status quo. One or both of the parties will break apart and new ones will form in their place. It has not always been the Dems and Repubs, and it won't always be them in the future. I could see a break-away of financial-conservatives (of the Schwarzenegger type) from the social-conservatives, with the financially conservative, socially liberal group picking up part of the centrist Democrats. At least, I hope so, because I'd like to join a party like that;-)
Proportional representation isn't always a great thing. I know it's hard to believe with our current situation, but a winner-takes-all election system leads to more moderate parties.
The incentive structure is set up so that the two parties are rewarded for having more centralist positions, because that lets them pick up modest, independent voters. The people in their party that are farther left or right of center, depending on the party, will still have to vote for them, because they don't really have another choice.
If you have a proportional representation system, it's much easier for extreme groups to develop and thrive -- remember, the National Front got nearly 20% of the vote in France and their leader made it into the second round of the election. And they're like freaken Nazis.
Digression: Obviously the party can't pull too far to the center, or new groups will start to form on their rear. That's one reason why the Dems have had trouble the last few elections. The Greens keep them for moving closer to the center. The Repubs, at least for now, don't have this problem.
The censorship situation in the US/England/Europe is in no way comparable to the degree of control they have in China. Does everything really have to be 0 or 1 to you? Being 1% bad is the same as being 70% bad?
Nothing is every going to be perfect in any country. But pretending that you can't rate things along a scale is just being intellectually unserious.
Would you rather have access to news available while you're in the US or news available to you while you're in China?
I've lived in China for almost four years. When SARS broke in the Western and Hong Kong media, none of my friends here new about it for months. I distinctly remember the night when Beijing released the news. No one was on the bus the next day.
When there was the power transfer to Pres. Hu, there really was a media blackout. I can usually get CNN, NYTimes and the WoPo (but not Wikipedia, the BCC or some blogs), but nothing was available then.
If you think it's just as bad at home as it is here, then fine. Get your news from Xinhua. I'll take take Western news any day.
---Australia, a "developed" country, has 20 million fattening middle class aspirants.
And of the $200 spent per head in lazy republics---
No one in developing countries ever uses scare quotes around developing countries and developed countries. The difference between a developing country and a developed country is real damn obvious to everyone here (China), and everyone is working their ass off to become a developed country.
You have to be a pretty big wanker to think it's an insult to call a country both fat and lazy. That's a fucking achievement. Many countries -- wait a second, I think they're called developing countries -- are hard-working and starving-thin.
I've lived here for more than three years now. It's hard to explain without sounding like a dick, but the threshold for what is an acceptable 'white lie' is a lot lower here than in other places. I'm not saying that everything you hear from a Chinese person is a lie, but you just need to be careful. They're not less honest than Westerners -- I lie all the time about stuff. But it's about stuff that it's you'll understand as culturally acceptable to lie about. Different culture, different idea about what's 'true'.
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Has this even been confirmed? I live in Shanghai, and not everything that shows up in the news is true (i'm shocked, shocked!). There was just a professor here a while ago who was taking credit for "Chinese-developed CPUs". He got national awards, grant money, the whole works for years. Too bad he was literally just scratching the logo off another brand of chip (I forget which one).
12% of Americans are starving? That's absolutely ridiculous. That would be 36 million people.
v. starved, starving, starves
v.intr.
1. To suffer or die from extreme or prolonged lack of food.
You can't be serious.
Regarding the US voters giving the gov't the finger, I think the votes for the Green party were a bit of 'fuck you' to the system. They're pretty fringe, and it had an effect on the outcome of the election.
And the two major parties in the US are not fixed. About every 80 years or so there is a shake-up of the status quo. One or both of the parties will break apart and new ones will form in their place. It has not always been the Dems and Repubs, and it won't always be them in the future. I could see a break-away of financial-conservatives (of the Schwarzenegger type) from the social-conservatives, with the financially conservative, socially liberal group picking up part of the centrist Democrats. At least, I hope so, because I'd like to join a party like that ;-)
The incentive structure is set up so that the two parties are rewarded for having more centralist positions, because that lets them pick up modest, independent voters. The people in their party that are farther left or right of center, depending on the party, will still have to vote for them, because they don't really have another choice.
If you have a proportional representation system, it's much easier for extreme groups to develop and thrive -- remember, the National Front got nearly 20% of the vote in France and their leader made it into the second round of the election. And they're like freaken Nazis.
Digression: Obviously the party can't pull too far to the center, or new groups will start to form on their rear. That's one reason why the Dems have had trouble the last few elections. The Greens keep them for moving closer to the center. The Repubs, at least for now, don't have this problem.
Nothing is every going to be perfect in any country. But pretending that you can't rate things along a scale is just being intellectually unserious.
Would you rather have access to news available while you're in the US or news available to you while you're in China?
I've lived in China for almost four years. When SARS broke in the Western and Hong Kong media, none of my friends here new about it for months. I distinctly remember the night when Beijing released the news. No one was on the bus the next day.
When there was the power transfer to Pres. Hu, there really was a media blackout. I can usually get CNN, NYTimes and the WoPo (but not Wikipedia, the BCC or some blogs), but nothing was available then.
If you think it's just as bad at home as it is here, then fine. Get your news from Xinhua. I'll take take Western news any day.
And of the $200 spent per head in lazy republics---
No one in developing countries ever uses scare quotes around developing countries and developed countries. The difference between a developing country and a developed country is real damn obvious to everyone here (China), and everyone is working their ass off to become a developed country.
You have to be a pretty big wanker to think it's an insult to call a country both fat and lazy. That's a fucking achievement. Many countries -- wait a second, I think they're called developing countries -- are hard-working and starving-thin.
I've lived here for more than three years now. It's hard to explain without sounding like a dick, but the threshold for what is an acceptable 'white lie' is a lot lower here than in other places. I'm not saying that everything you hear from a Chinese person is a lie, but you just need to be careful. They're not less honest than Westerners -- I lie all the time about stuff. But it's about stuff that it's you'll understand as culturally acceptable to lie about. Different culture, different idea about what's 'true'.