4 ms·

Their decision to universally censor the content may have been contractually obligated by the Chinese. Not saying that's definitely the case, but it makes sense

Their decision to universally censor the content may have been contractually obligated by the Chinese. Not saying that's definitely the case, but it makes sense. If one version of the content appears on approved channels in China and another uncensored version can be seen via VPN, that certainly wouldn't make the government look good. As far as Americans using China as a means to increase profits, that's capitalism working exactly the way it was designed, unfortunately. The stock market doesn't care who was best-behaved last quarter, the market cares who made the most money last quarter. Our system is woefully incapable of factoring behavior and ethics into the equation.

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
To be fair they should censor any content that would be subversive in India. Then why stop there? Make sure all media is vetted by all nations for moral and political purity.
- derefr 7y ago
  They don’t care about fairness, they care about profit (or rather, they care about how much their share value would drop if they sacrificed a given source of profit.) If the American stock market would punish an American [public] corporation for reneging on being a lapdog to China, then said American corporation is basically constitutionally incapable of leaving China (if it’s structured in the usual way with a board whose positions are controlled by shareholder election.) And right now, it seems that China is the only market that traders see as large enough to make them short the stock when you do anything to mess with it. Private corporations, public corporations that are still founder-controlled, and “public-benefit” corporations might be immune to this effect, but your average traded C-Corp or S-Corp won’t be.
  - smsm42 7y ago
    > If the American stock market would punish an American [public] corporation for reneging on being a lapdog to China If.
- save_ferris 7y ago
  I completely agree that this sets a bad precedent. I don't think CBS is in the right here. But as long as these companies have financial interests in abandoning values that we've come to rely on in the US, this is going to keep happening.

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago

To be fair they should censor any content that would be subversive in India. Then why stop there? Make sure all media is vetted by all nations for moral and political purity.

derefr 7y ago
They don’t care about fairness, they care about profit (or rather, they care about how much their share value would drop if they sacrificed a given source of profit.) If the American stock market would punish an American [public] corporation for reneging on being a lapdog to China, then said American corporation is basically constitutionally incapable of leaving China (if it’s structured in the usual way with a board whose positions are controlled by shareholder election.) And right now, it seems that China is the only market that traders see as large enough to make them short the stock when you do anything to mess with it. Private corporations, public corporations that are still founder-controlled, and “public-benefit” corporations might be immune to this effect, but your average traded C-Corp or S-Corp won’t be.
- smsm42 7y ago
  > If the American stock market would punish an American [public] corporation for reneging on being a lapdog to China If.
save_ferris 7y ago
I completely agree that this sets a bad precedent. I don't think CBS is in the right here. But as long as these companies have financial interests in abandoning values that we've come to rely on in the US, this is going to keep happening.