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> “Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts.” It's interesting that we used to think the more connected we were the more

> “Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts.” It's interesting that we used to think the more connected we were the more other countries would see and appreciate our democracy and start to adapt it. This is the first time I can remember communism and censorship flowing the other way. > “It’s not worth living in a world where China controls my country’s art,” says one character in the episode. About sums it up.

vharuck 7y ago
The hope may be, in the long run, a free society will eventually reject the burdens of a non-free society once it notices the cost. But the non-free society will catch and spread the idea of individual human rights like a virus. A good virus, of course, in my opinion.
blago 7y ago
I think middle-class Americans tend to overestimate human appreciation for freedom. In my experience, most people in the world, including US, will trade freedom for prosperity in a heartbeat. Communist regimes collapsed not because they deprived people of their freedom but because their economies failed. Autocrats like Putin and Xi are popular at home because their economies are growing and people's lives are improving, even though individual freedoms are slowly but surely eroding. Trump was elected and is still in office because he gave hope for prosperity to people who had long lost it, and they will support him no matter how damaging he is for the rest of the country, the world, or their own freedom.
- onemoresoop 7y ago
  > Autocrats like Putin and Xi are popular at home because their economies are growing and people's lives are improving, even though individual freedoms are slowly but surely eroding. Neither Russia nor China have free elections. The Russian economy is shrinking fast and Putin's popularity is disingenuous. That may not be true for Xi. The Chinese are riding a humongous economic growth, they don't question their party much because they like the results and don't want to rock the boat.

vharuck 7y ago

The hope may be, in the long run, a free society will eventually reject the burdens of a non-free society once it notices the cost. But the non-free society will catch and spread the idea of individual human rights like a virus. A good virus, of course, in my opinion.

blago 7y ago

I think middle-class Americans tend to overestimate human appreciation for freedom. In my experience, most people in the world, including US, will trade freedom for prosperity in a heartbeat. Communist regimes collapsed not because they deprived people of their freedom but because their economies failed. Autocrats like Putin and Xi are popular at home because their economies are growing and people's lives are improving, even though individual freedoms are slowly but surely eroding. Trump was elected and is still in office because he gave hope for prosperity to people who had long lost it, and they will support him no matter how damaging he is for the rest of the country, the world, or their own freedom.

onemoresoop 7y ago
> Autocrats like Putin and Xi are popular at home because their economies are growing and people's lives are improving, even though individual freedoms are slowly but surely eroding. Neither Russia nor China have free elections. The Russian economy is shrinking fast and Putin's popularity is disingenuous. That may not be true for Xi. The Chinese are riding a humongous economic growth, they don't question their party much because they like the results and don't want to rock the boat.