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I don't think you understand. There are people going to work every day in China doing the job of censor and they reckon they are doing something good and patri

I don't think you understand. There are people going to work every day in China doing the job of censor and they reckon they are doing something good and patriotic. Even at the level of policy makers, the censorship is there in the first place and continues to be there because many legitimately think it is good for the country. Without being educated on a topic, you're unlikely to figure out most things about it on your own. Without an education in rights and civil liberties, you're unlikely to conclude on your own that censorship in principle is bad. If you want to make a difference, get off your high horse and construct an argument against censorship for someone who wasn't educated in a Western country like you were.

swordsmith 7y ago
Even a significant chunk of educated Chinese with exposure to Western democracy and political system often justifies the censorship with "most Chinese people are not educated and get easily influenced by things on the internet and this results in social instability". I can see the reasoning behind that, and can't think of a satisfying counter-argument.
- yorwba 7y ago
  It would be a good argument if censorship were actually used to protect the uneducated e.g. from scammers selling miracle cures to the desperate, but that's not what happens. Instead, the scammers are better organized than their victims and can co-opt the censorship mechanism for their own purposes. Someone sceptical of the scam might check Zhihu to find out whether it is legit, so the scammers can ask a question and answer it themselves, claiming that it totally works. Then when a burned victim tries to post their own answer to warn others, the scammers report it for illegal content, causing an account suspension. The government is too busy hiding embarrassing mistakes like confusing 农 and 衣 to even think about benevolent uses of censorship.

swordsmith 7y ago

Even a significant chunk of educated Chinese with exposure to Western democracy and political system often justifies the censorship with "most Chinese people are not educated and get easily influenced by things on the internet and this results in social instability". I can see the reasoning behind that, and can't think of a satisfying counter-argument.

yorwba 7y ago
It would be a good argument if censorship were actually used to protect the uneducated e.g. from scammers selling miracle cures to the desperate, but that's not what happens. Instead, the scammers are better organized than their victims and can co-opt the censorship mechanism for their own purposes. Someone sceptical of the scam might check Zhihu to find out whether it is legit, so the scammers can ask a question and answer it themselves, claiming that it totally works. Then when a burned victim tries to post their own answer to warn others, the scammers report it for illegal content, causing an account suspension. The government is too busy hiding embarrassing mistakes like confusing 农 and 衣 to even think about benevolent uses of censorship.