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I presume you are talking about the recent "facebook related arrests". Just so you know, not every country outside the U.S., is a single monolithic block where

by eshvk 14y ago

I presume you are talking about the recent "facebook related arrests". Just so you know, not every country outside the U.S., is a single monolithic block where just because some asswipe cop(s) decides to hassle kids, it means that the entire country has decided as an official policy to hassle people on that charge. Some other examples of similar specious arguments: 1. Austria is bad because a tor exit operator got raided. 2. The MPAA/RIAA decides to sue a bunch of kids for music torrenting. Ergo America is bad. Also, presuming from the comment to the OP, I assume you are somehow leaping from "Charge people for criticism" to "unplug the internet": I would really love to hear your reasoning for this. (FYI, this is not a defense of the Indian justice system or me "taking offense" or even an attempt to assert that India is not at low risk of being disconnected: I personally give 0 fucks. I just find these specious arguments silly and have no idea why intelligent people make these arguments when it comes to foreign countries. )

potatolicious 14y ago
And you've gotten my exact point. It may also surprise you how local China's suppression is. I'm well aware that India isn't one monolithic government (nor any other country) - I'm pointing out the exact point in OP. For example, the many human rights abuses related to enforcing the one-child policy - forced abortions, confiscation of property, etc. If you actually look at them you will realize that the bulk of it originates in local government. Much of China's most galling, shocking abuses come from the minds of local politicians, rather than by central dictat. The rampant nepotism and corruption in the Chinese government is largely an expression of just how little control its central authorities have over their localized branches. Moral comparisons between countries is usually ill-advised for this exact reason. This sort of baseless moral superiority bugs me - India is not nearly as far from China as OP seems to think it is, at least when it comes to online freedoms.
- eshvk 14y ago
  > Moral comparisons between countries is usually ill-advised for this exact reason. This sort of baseless moral superiority bugs me - India is not nearly as far from China as OP seems to think it is, at least when it comes to online freedoms. Completely agreed on making moral comparisons. I have noticed this in a few threads involving developing countries where people emerge out of the woodwork to rant about either A) How everyone is victimizing aforesaid developing country and they should just stop. or B) Make a completely irrelevant argument about how the developing country in question making progress in X is irrelevant because of abuses or oppressions or whatever. Both of these are from opposing camps but are founded on bad logic.

by eshvk 14y ago

potatolicious 14y ago

And you've gotten my exact point. It may also surprise you how local China's suppression is. I'm well aware that India isn't one monolithic government (nor any other country) - I'm pointing out the exact point in OP. For example, the many human rights abuses related to enforcing the one-child policy - forced abortions, confiscation of property, etc. If you actually look at them you will realize that the bulk of it originates in local government. Much of China's most galling, shocking abuses come from the minds of local politicians, rather than by central dictat. The rampant nepotism and corruption in the Chinese government is largely an expression of just how little control its central authorities have over their localized branches. Moral comparisons between countries is usually ill-advised for this exact reason. This sort of baseless moral superiority bugs me - India is not nearly as far from China as OP seems to think it is, at least when it comes to online freedoms.

eshvk 14y ago
> Moral comparisons between countries is usually ill-advised for this exact reason. This sort of baseless moral superiority bugs me - India is not nearly as far from China as OP seems to think it is, at least when it comes to online freedoms. Completely agreed on making moral comparisons. I have noticed this in a few threads involving developing countries where people emerge out of the woodwork to rant about either A) How everyone is victimizing aforesaid developing country and they should just stop. or B) Make a completely irrelevant argument about how the developing country in question making progress in X is irrelevant because of abuses or oppressions or whatever. Both of these are from opposing camps but are founded on bad logic.