Quote:
Originally Posted by pumpum
Firstly i will admit i am choosing thelazy option in satisfying my curiosity.
Secondly i dont see them doin anything wrong in what you just laid out its not necessary to human life to be able to access facebook or twitter, i mean cmon thats just shallow.
saddam hussein was opressive
stalin was oppressive
mugabe is oppressive
Can China really be on par with those people?
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No, they're no on a par with them, but they're still far behind the rest of the developed world. Not being able to access Facebook seems trivial, but the fact is they ban almost all social networking sites; people aren't allowed to freely discuss. The only information you can read about the Chinese government in China is what THEY write or permit to be seen, such as pro-party websites. Criticism of the government, even a mild form such as what I'm writing now, can result in police investigation if your anonymity fails and arrest. People have lost their livelihoods, university students have been dismissed from college, or lost their liberty, simply for expressing the opinion that "our government could do better". Control over people is staggering. Prior to the Olympics several thousand internet cafes were forcibly shut down. Bars known to be youth hang outs were forcibly shut in case they took the opportunity of foreign diplomats visiting to make a public cry of dissent. You will not find comics poking fun of politicians in Chinese papers. An Artist recently received the 2010 nobel prize. Well, technically he didn't. He was awarded it, but he's sat in a Chinese prison because of his work, which criticizes the government, and he's probably going to be there for a very long time.
And it gets worse. In some areas, chemical works have been built in towns without any consideration for the people living there. The pollution makes people ill and ruins their farmland, but they can't even complain about it for fear of the retaliation they'd receive. The corruption scandals are numerous and hushed, and you have a case where the rich have opportunities to improve the lot of all with schemes and policy, but it's easier and more comfortable for them to keep the poor poor so the rich can stay really rich. Their environmental state is abysmal.
So what do you have as a U.K. citizen that Chinese people don't?
The right to access to healthcare regardless of your birth position.
The right to education.
The right to live in a non mix-use locality (i.e., it's forbidden to build a refinery in a suburb by U.K development law)
The right to a fair and democratic vote.
The right to impeach your government should they fail you.
The right to complain or demand compensation without fear of incarceration.
The right to print in accordance to the Freedom of Information act.
The right to pensions and benefits.
The right to never face torture of execution at the hands of the British state.
The right not to be detained without trial.
The right to not be discriminated against because of your ethnicity.
Fair property rights.
Fair use of eminent domain land seizure.
And most of all, that these are followed through on and legally enforced. China has a number of these on ~paper~, including freedom of speech, but little to no practical use of them, unless, perhaps, you're rich and live in a city. All fairly fundamental stuff and by no means trivial. China might be stable after a pretty gruesome civil war, and they may be gradually opening, but that doesn't mean everyone is happy, or that things shouldn't be better.
(And in before anyone says something like "prove it", well I say if OP can't be bothered to research himself, I can't be bothered to justify it with references. )