The blog vs. totalitarianism
Interesting NYT article about a young woman who is using the internet to surreptitiously defy the authorities in China (pictures are slightly on the risky side, but it's very relevant to what we've been talking about in class).
The story didn't go into great detail about what her posts actually say, it focused more on examples of the live video-type stuff she shows (it's suggestive, but not pornographic). Of more interest to me was the examples of other blogs kept by Chinese. If you didn't know, the Chinese government works ridiculously hard (actively trying to block anything that smacks of democracy) to censor what the Chinese people see and do on the internet. To show up in suggestive poses, like our friend Mu Mu does, is to push the envelope even further.
She'd better hope the government can't find a way to trace her, because no one would probably ever see her pictures -- or see her in real life -- again if they did.
Another point of interest in the article: discussion of the mascots for the 2008 Olympics. The mascots that were developed were praised by the press, but roundly criticized by blogs, which the article says are the best indicator of true public opinion.
Does this government care at all about the welfare of its people? Rhetorical question. It's a disgrace.
The story didn't go into great detail about what her posts actually say, it focused more on examples of the live video-type stuff she shows (it's suggestive, but not pornographic). Of more interest to me was the examples of other blogs kept by Chinese. If you didn't know, the Chinese government works ridiculously hard (actively trying to block anything that smacks of democracy) to censor what the Chinese people see and do on the internet. To show up in suggestive poses, like our friend Mu Mu does, is to push the envelope even further.
She'd better hope the government can't find a way to trace her, because no one would probably ever see her pictures -- or see her in real life -- again if they did.
Another point of interest in the article: discussion of the mascots for the 2008 Olympics. The mascots that were developed were praised by the press, but roundly criticized by blogs, which the article says are the best indicator of true public opinion.
Does this government care at all about the welfare of its people? Rhetorical question. It's a disgrace.
posted by Jeremy and Ashley Wood at 9:32 AM
1 Comments:
i read the article, too, and didn't quite know what to make of it. ok, some youngish chinese is parading around in her underwear (and what look to be cooking utensils). if the point is the growth of blogs and the buds of democracy they represent, a story that more empirically shows this would in my mind be more important than the one girl with a blog approach. and it was on the front page (of the print edition)?
slow news day?
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