China Censors History
There is something to be said about the Chinese government's hypocrisy, demanding some sort of recognition from the Japanese for war crimes committed during WW II (Japan does not acknowledge the Rape of Nanking, for example) while at the same time pointedly censoring any discussion of key points in its own history.
The Wired.com reports that Chinese authourities have "instituted censoring measures to block access to several internet sites and services in anticipation of Thursday’s 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest and massacre."
Twitter, LJ, MSN Spaces, Flickr, Hotmail - all manner of internet spaces wherein the Chinese could communicate, are anticipated to be blocked in a shameful silencing of the people. In a space of two billion people, where it's conceivable that only a slender minority actually have access to the World Wide Web, the Chinese people are being denied the chance to speak about an incident that shook so many people to the core back in 1989, an incident where innocent young persons were gunned down for calling the government out.
To be an activist is dangerous. To speak out is to live on the edge. To have a voice that speaks against tumultuous issues is to live in fear that somewhere, someone with the power to take you out and kill you brutally simply because they don't agree with you.
Sometimes, I find it's pointless for that first Chinese emperor to have united all the Chinese states together. He probably meant well and it probably did stop the infighting between the feudal states, but how does it matter when people still live in fear of their own leaders?
People's Republic of China, my ass.
The Wired.com reports that Chinese authourities have "instituted censoring measures to block access to several internet sites and services in anticipation of Thursday’s 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest and massacre."
Twitter, LJ, MSN Spaces, Flickr, Hotmail - all manner of internet spaces wherein the Chinese could communicate, are anticipated to be blocked in a shameful silencing of the people. In a space of two billion people, where it's conceivable that only a slender minority actually have access to the World Wide Web, the Chinese people are being denied the chance to speak about an incident that shook so many people to the core back in 1989, an incident where innocent young persons were gunned down for calling the government out.
To be an activist is dangerous. To speak out is to live on the edge. To have a voice that speaks against tumultuous issues is to live in fear that somewhere, someone with the power to take you out and kill you brutally simply because they don't agree with you.
Sometimes, I find it's pointless for that first Chinese emperor to have united all the Chinese states together. He probably meant well and it probably did stop the infighting between the feudal states, but how does it matter when people still live in fear of their own leaders?
People's Republic of China, my ass.
Comments
Post a Comment