Chinese Official Blames Internet For Youth Crime

from the playing-the-blame-game dept

A reader alerted us to this bizarre story that a Chinese official is blaming youth crime on the internet. It seems like a clear case of confusing correlation with causation: "In recent years from the cases we have discovered, the proportion of young people guilty of cheating, rape or robbery who are given to using the Internet or have been corrupted by online filth, is very high. Our preliminary figures for arrested youth criminals is that almost 80 percent of them have been seduced by the Internet." You know, in recent years, I've noticed that the proportion of young people guilty of cheating, rape or robbery who are given to breathing is very high. My preliminary figures suggests that 100% of them have been seduced by oxygen. Something must be done!
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  • identicon
    Bobshaker, 23 Apr 2007 @ 6:42am

    Really Mike...you're use of sarcasm is impeccable. Keep it up. I needed that laugh to start my day with. I wonder if the Chinese would start banning internet outright. They would be the best candidates for such an act and it would be funny as hell to see that which would ensue.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      MadJo (profile), 23 Apr 2007 @ 6:50am

      Re:

      Bobshaker, why did you have to scream "first" first? That's as lame as grabbing a newspaper in a newsstand while screaming "first". You do know that for a moment you looked like a total jacka**? (before Mike deleted your first post)

      On topic, I doubt many current governments really understand the Internet, and still hope that it will go away.
      Meanwhile it makes an ideal scapegoat/vehicle for nonsensical laws for them.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Mischa, 23 Apr 2007 @ 12:29pm

        Re: Re:

        Because it is amusing. There were several times I was tempted to do the same thing but so far I've managed to restrain myself. :-)

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    mkvf, 23 Apr 2007 @ 7:01am

    Something must be done!

    Well, thankfullty, the Chinese government is doing something - they enthusiastically release hundreds, if not thousands, of criminals from their addiction to breathing every year.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Costi, 23 Apr 2007 @ 7:10am

    so the chinese official banned wikipedia.org and technorati.com? totally a subterfuge.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Overcast, 23 Apr 2007 @ 7:34am

    Oh are all these crimes new in China? hmm, guess they never happened prior to the internet then...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    dorpus, 23 Apr 2007 @ 7:35am

    Unless

    Just because Mike wants it to fit poor reasoning does not mean it does. What if the young criminals acknowledge that the internet was the source of their inspiration, where they learned how to hotwire cars, etc.?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Chronno S. Trigger, 23 Apr 2007 @ 8:59am

      Re: Unless

      I can look up hot-wiring a car on Google but I could also ask a few hundred people I already know. The knowledge is out there, the Internet is just one source.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Lynna, 23 Apr 2007 @ 9:02am

    Jeez.

    "Last November a Chinese court sentenced the founder of the country's largest pornography Web site to life imprisonment." - Holy crap. Overkill, don't you think?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    squik, 23 Apr 2007 @ 12:40pm

    you missed the real story

    Chinese officials are just as stupid as American politicians, who have also blamed the internet or video games or television or music for youth crimes.

    The real story is that the Chinese government has the power to criminalize and censor information. They use lame arguments about causes of crime to control information flow. Notice the article talks about "a new campaign against Internet pornography", but also cracks down on "rumor-spreading", i.e. news.

    Wow, that official really is stupid. Let's laugh at him while China uses his reasoning to commit more human rights violations.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Charles Griswold, 23 Apr 2007 @ 1:45pm

    Re: dorpus

    Guys, don't feed the troll. It will only encourage him.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    GeneoA, 23 Apr 2007 @ 2:43pm

    When Good Stats Go Bad

    In the US, 99.2% of all people who died of cancer in 2006 had previously used a telephone. Of course, 100% of those same cancer victims also had names. What does it all mean when you tilt stats to tell the story you want them to tell...

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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