IOC: No Chinese Internet Filters During Olympics; All Other Times It's Fine
from the why-just-for-the-olympics? dept
Back in February, a New Yorker story claimed that China was planning to disable its "Great Firewall" for the Olympics, so it may not mean very much to hear that the International Olympic Committee is now demanding that China do exactly that. If the Chinese government was already planning on opening up the internet, it's pretty weak to then demand it anyway. Besides, there does seem to be something rather sketchy about the IOC demanding China drop the firewall just for the Olympics, saying it "would reflect very poorly" on the country. Does it not "would reflect very poorly" on China during the rest of the time as well? It's a cheap ploy for the IOC to demand the filters be taken down just for that period of time. It gives the IOC publicity as standing up to censorship, even though it doesn't care what happens when the Olympics aren't in town.
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Filed Under: china, filters, great firewall, ioc, olympics
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I honestly don't think they are trying to make it look like they care about censorship... rather, they are just making sure to *ensure* their profits by guarding against pissing off their advertisers/media that will be paying big bucks to be there.
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I still don't care
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So? Why should I care what another country does. Who am I to say their way of life is wrong and mine is right?
Unless every person who says we should be against their oppression is willing to go to war and "free" these poor people quit complaining. It has absolutely nothing to do with us.
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Why? Because we enjoy freedom and therefore assume everybody will? Who says that people in China are suffering anymore than people in the USA? China has a much lower crime rate than the USA and they even have more people than us. Just because they do things differently does not mean they are wrong in how they run their country.
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I just described China. Taking away peoples' liberty can never be just a different way of doing things, it's unethical. Is there any treatment of a populace that would not qualify as "doing things differently" in your worldview? Was Stalin just doing things differently? Your position seems to be that nobody has any rights, and anything a government wants to do to its people is fine. As long as YOU don't live there.
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What the hell do you mean "It has absolutely nothing to do with us."?! Where do you think the vast majority of the stuff you buy comes from? The truth is, that you, we, are very much invested in the situation. Here in the states there is a lot of talk about the poor conditions in China and how they are so mean to their people, yadda yadda. That only goes so far though because we can get them to make shit for us on the cheap. As long as they keep doing that it's okay.
I would say that at present the goings on of that country are very much affecting your everyday life, and it's in your best interest to keep at least a casual eye on it.
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Attentition
While it is a PR stunt to make the IOC look good, it may draw more public critisizm of the practice.
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Re: Attentition
And that matters? Because if we all say we're outraged, the Chinese government will say "Ah well, those westerners disapprove, we'd better live by their standards"? How about we leave other countries the fuck alone.
If there western world is so free, how about we give China the freedom to run their country as they see fit. It's amazing, I am able to tell you're American by a single post.
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It's amazing, I am able to tell you're an ignoramus by a single post. It's a damn shame too, because I (American, by the way) agree with you to an extent in regards to China. I don't condone the repression of people (mostly because I would be screwed if dissenting wasn't allowed), but if the purpose of a government is to provide for its people, then China could (though they aren't) do a much better job than most Western powers.
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Since when...
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It's all about....
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The IOC
Oh, by the way, this comment: "Also, if people in China really cared about the censorship, they would move" is possibly the studidest thing I've ever heard. Good work, sir!
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Isn't the IOC ..
Or was that somebody else?
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I guess we shouldn't have done anything when Hitler decided to kill a bunch of Jews. I guess we shouldn't care what happens in Tibet or Dafur. We ignored Sudan, so hey, whats another genocide?
Ignore everything just like in WWII until the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.
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Re:
Except that he wasn't confined to his own country and we were afraid of the resources he was accumulating and feared he would try to take over the USA. Bad example.
I guess we shouldn't care what happens in Tibet or Dafur.
Have we gotten involved yet? Nope...
We ignored Sudan, so hey, whats another genocide?
China isn't involved in a genocide...the only reason the Sudan genocide happened was the country was in the midst of a civil war. Did you see any other countries going to their aid. In fact, did anyone come to the USA's aid in our civil war? No, because it doesn't involve them or us.
Ignore everything just like in WWII until the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.
Um...that was Japan. And we dropped a couple nuke's on them...
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Re: Did Germany REALLY bomb Pearl Harbor?
?!
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It was in the contract
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Germany? Really?
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dont support china
we dont need them they need us i call upon all countrys
to boycot the games
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What a maroon.
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