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"If Google forces any change at all in China, it will have done more for China's 1+ billion citizens than it would have if it had boycotted the country from the beginning." Amen. It seems to escape people that the most effective change can sometimes come from the inside, and for that to happen you need to be on the inside first.
1 thought on “links for 2010-01-13”
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Why is this seen as a shrewd and mature political move? Surely its just about expanding ad revenue?
I for one would like to see China tell Google that its going to nationalize its offices, hardware and software and any non-chinese employees have their work visas immediately rescinded with 24 hours to get out of the country or be arrested for espionage.
Sure the Chinese government doesn’t have much in the way of responsbility to its citizens, but look at what Prime Minister Harper has done to parliament in Canada, using the letter of the law rather than the spirit to his own political advantage.
Sure China doesn’t have much respect for its students, but need I mention Kent State?
Sure China marginalizes particular ethnic groups or religions but look at the persecution of North American aboriginals or Mormons.
Sure China has a significant portion of its population living in poverty but in as much as Wikipedia can be trusted the same proportion of Canadians and Americans are impoverished – roughly 10%.
I don’t see the moral high-ground we stand on when we see announcements like this, at best we’re simply different than they are, but at worst we’re indifferent to the way we are.
We’ve seen what rapid change does to a country in looking at the nations of the former USSR, surely we don’t want rapid change like that in China. The world would benefit much more from a transition that is slow but sure footed, that builds a reasonable foundation upon which to create the delicate artwork of democracy.
In the meantime let China do what it needs to do and why don’t we stick our noses into the business that belongs to us. While the seeds of change germinate slowly in the fertile soil of China we can work on building business leaders and corporations that are governed by ethical concerns and a willingness to NOT piss in their own pool for one. Or build a populace that is as willing to pay for the crumbling infrastructure as they are to blame the politicians for letting it crumble.
“Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.” – Kurt Vonnegut (1922 – 2007)
We should find as much glory in maintaining the visions our ancestors had of the glorious and honourable future they were creating as we would find in inflicting our present circumstances on someone new.