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> The Chinese government seems much more concerned about making their country and society better as a whole. They do what is best for themselves, which at time

> The Chinese government seems much more concerned about making their country and society better as a whole. They do what is best for themselves, which at times means doing what's best for the Communist Party. Suppressing dissent, denying Chinese people freedom and self-determination is only good for the people in power. In case someone wants to argue that authoritarianism provides better governance (which is BS anyway - if it's so great, then hold an election and people will vote for you; who are you to decide that it's so great for everyone else?), all the most wealthy, most stable countries in the world have those freedoms (Europe, the U.S.), including the most wealthy and stable parts of China (Taiwan and Hong Kong).

jlarocco 9y ago
> They do what is best for themselves, which at times means doing what's best for the Communist Party. Suppressing dissent, denying Chinese people freedom and self-determination is only good for the people in power. The United States is often nearly as bad as China on human rights. At least China is overt about it. Nobody denies they're watching everybody, but it took an NSA contractor leaking information to bring up the issue in the United States. For example, here's a story about 1300 people in jail >4 years with no trial: http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2018/04/imprisoning_people_4_years_wit.html http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2018/04/imprisoning_p... Here's a guy who spent 13 years in prison for having 2 joints: https://www.alternet.org/drugs/louisiana-man-13-years-prison-two-joints https://www.alternet.org/drugs/louisiana-man-13-years-prison... Our systems punish people for different things, but they're both pretty bad. > In case someone wants to argue that authoritarianism provides better governance (which is BS anyway - if it's so great, then hold an election and people will vote for you; who are you to decide that it's so great for everyone else?), all the most wealthy, most stable countries in the world have those freedoms (Europe, the U.S.), including the most wealthy and stable parts of China (Taiwan and Hong Kong). I'm not saying China's system is absolutely the best without any downsides, but in a lot of cases it's clear that what they're doing is good for nearly everybody. For example, when they cut off imports of foreign waste and when they build and maintain infrastructure to their rural regions. Likewise, there are many cases where the American system has results that are clearly bad for us, like paying our teachers so little that they strike or move away because nobody wants to pay extra taxes.
- forapurpose 9y ago
  Yeah, I hear a lot of Americans saying that they want to move to China for the human rights. > The United States is often nearly as bad as China I just can't get enough of that song! And I get to hear it about ten times in every discussion that includes the string "China".
  - jlarocco 9y ago
    I don't know what your point is, but you haven't provided any evidence that the United States is better than China on human rights. And since it's on topic, just today I read an article about a state government trying to use eminent domain to kick people out of their own houses and build a FoxConn factory: http://beltmag.com/blighted-by-foxconn http://beltmag.com/blighted-by-foxconn I live in the United States, and love it here, but it doesn't do us any good to stick our heads in the sand and pretend that we don't have human rights problems of our own.

jlarocco 9y ago

> They do what is best for themselves, which at times means doing what's best for the Communist Party. Suppressing dissent, denying Chinese people freedom and self-determination is only good for the people in power. The United States is often nearly as bad as China on human rights. At least China is overt about it. Nobody denies they're watching everybody, but it took an NSA contractor leaking information to bring up the issue in the United States. For example, here's a story about 1300 people in jail >4 years with no trial: http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2018/04/imprisoning_people_4_years_wit.html http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2018/04/imprisoning_p... Here's a guy who spent 13 years in prison for having 2 joints: https://www.alternet.org/drugs/louisiana-man-13-years-prison-two-joints https://www.alternet.org/drugs/louisiana-man-13-years-prison... Our systems punish people for different things, but they're both pretty bad. > In case someone wants to argue that authoritarianism provides better governance (which is BS anyway - if it's so great, then hold an election and people will vote for you; who are you to decide that it's so great for everyone else?), all the most wealthy, most stable countries in the world have those freedoms (Europe, the U.S.), including the most wealthy and stable parts of China (Taiwan and Hong Kong). I'm not saying China's system is absolutely the best without any downsides, but in a lot of cases it's clear that what they're doing is good for nearly everybody. For example, when they cut off imports of foreign waste and when they build and maintain infrastructure to their rural regions. Likewise, there are many cases where the American system has results that are clearly bad for us, like paying our teachers so little that they strike or move away because nobody wants to pay extra taxes.

forapurpose 9y ago
Yeah, I hear a lot of Americans saying that they want to move to China for the human rights. > The United States is often nearly as bad as China I just can't get enough of that song! And I get to hear it about ten times in every discussion that includes the string "China".
- jlarocco 9y ago
  I don't know what your point is, but you haven't provided any evidence that the United States is better than China on human rights. And since it's on topic, just today I read an article about a state government trying to use eminent domain to kick people out of their own houses and build a FoxConn factory: http://beltmag.com/blighted-by-foxconn http://beltmag.com/blighted-by-foxconn I live in the United States, and love it here, but it doesn't do us any good to stick our heads in the sand and pretend that we don't have human rights problems of our own.