3 ms·

If the Chinese are making mistakes on who they are silencing, there is nothing to suggest the west isn't making as many mistakes in who they are allowing to spe

by Sven7 12y ago

If the Chinese are making mistakes on who they are silencing, there is nothing to suggest the west isn't making as many mistakes in who they are allowing to speak. As far as I can tell no one at Twitter or Facebook et al, is measuring how much the platform has been used to spread ignorance and terror. The media (mainstream and social) have as much capacity to spread hate as to do good. Anytime there is a difference of opinion, there are people waiting to take advantage of that difference for their own purposes. And the media (mainstream and social) have not only provided a platform for these lunatics, they have profited handsomely from it. If the Chinese are hypocrites so are we. Nobody is counting the number of families that have been affected by ISIS or destabilized dictatorships in the middle east.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago
I have no idea how to parse this. Is it just another "china does bad but so do we so it is ok" rant? How are China's mistakes related to the west's at all? You are comparing developing world to developed world problems, which are fairly incomparable.
- Sven7 12y ago
  Just saying we have as much to learn from them, as they from us. It's not productive to look at their censorship tools as one dimensional attacks on freedom of speech. Both sides are programmed to look at the issue (of censorship) differently, while in fact they are trying to solve the same problems. When China is attempting censorship of mainstream and social media, they do so with the specific goal of preventing sudden/unpredictable destabilizing scenarios i.e. they are proactive. This has well known costs which gets quite a bit of publicity in the West. The West on the other hand while "protecting freedom of speech" is forced into being reactive (https://twitter.com/nytimes/statuses/567805738173886464 https://twitter.com/nytimes/statuses/567805738173886464 + see Twitter CEO's comment about the failure to deal with online abuse\hate) There is a massive cost\consequence to being reactive i.e. ISIS\Charlie Hedbo etc that keeps accruing. When a family gets displaced from their home in Iraq or Syria, directly or indirectly, thanks to ISIS recruitment on Twitter or some clip on YouTube, currently, there isn't any serious pressure on companies or governments in the West to take responsibility. Everyone is programmed\biased to "protect freedom of speech" as a default position. There needs to be more pressure. Censorship and reducing anonymity shouldn't be treated as holy cows, that CEO's and Govt officials are afraid to publicly talk about. Complicated story apologies if I am being overly brief.

by Sven7 12y ago

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

I have no idea how to parse this. Is it just another "china does bad but so do we so it is ok" rant? How are China's mistakes related to the west's at all? You are comparing developing world to developed world problems, which are fairly incomparable.

Sven7 12y ago
Just saying we have as much to learn from them, as they from us. It's not productive to look at their censorship tools as one dimensional attacks on freedom of speech. Both sides are programmed to look at the issue (of censorship) differently, while in fact they are trying to solve the same problems. When China is attempting censorship of mainstream and social media, they do so with the specific goal of preventing sudden/unpredictable destabilizing scenarios i.e. they are proactive. This has well known costs which gets quite a bit of publicity in the West. The West on the other hand while "protecting freedom of speech" is forced into being reactive (https://twitter.com/nytimes/statuses/567805738173886464 https://twitter.com/nytimes/statuses/567805738173886464 + see Twitter CEO's comment about the failure to deal with online abuse\hate) There is a massive cost\consequence to being reactive i.e. ISIS\Charlie Hedbo etc that keeps accruing. When a family gets displaced from their home in Iraq or Syria, directly or indirectly, thanks to ISIS recruitment on Twitter or some clip on YouTube, currently, there isn't any serious pressure on companies or governments in the West to take responsibility. Everyone is programmed\biased to "protect freedom of speech" as a default position. There needs to be more pressure. Censorship and reducing anonymity shouldn't be treated as holy cows, that CEO's and Govt officials are afraid to publicly talk about. Complicated story apologies if I am being overly brief.