China, the Fragile Superpower?
Speaking of brilliant ideas, how did China get to the point where it thought blocking YouTube would be a good idea. I know a few months ago there was a controversial video about Tibet (and when I say controversial, I mean it seemed to contradict a government account), but seriously, that was a month ago. As a causal observer in China, it seems to me like having to block a website that specializes in water skiing rodents and nerdy guys singing about “Chocolate Rain” to ensure your country’s government doesn’t implode is not the greatest vote of confidence.
From my distorted American point of view, it seems to me like YouTube is exactly what you want if there are any concerns about governmental legitimacy. Let’s look at the Bush years. Do you really think a guy who used to complain that people were ignoring his single great accomplishment (the supposedly strong economy), but left office in the midst of the biggest economic disaster since 20 years before his grandfather began to serve in the Senate really wanted people to examine him with highly focused concentration?
Of course not! It’s not a coincidence that Bush won election and re-election during a period of eight years when Friends, Survivor and American Idol were the top shows six of the years? On the contrary, I’m pretty sure Cheney created these shows (and 24!!) to distract and make the American population dumber. I’m pretty sure they were hoping Punk’d would become a bigger hit, as this would have furthered the cause quite well.
Meanwhile, on the internet,s YouTube and AmIHotorNot were taking off. But things changed. By the 2008 election, Politico and RealClearPolitics were big hits on the internet. Get it? AmIHotorNot.com=Bush in office. Politico=Obama. Safe to say people being more focused on an election than a newscaster fainting, is not good for leaders trying to hide things.
And this brings us back to China and YouTube. I understand that there are tough economic times now. And I know that there are plenty of delicate anniversaries this year. Leaders are cautious. They don’t know what might set people off. But I assure you, having people watching cats throwing up is definitely better than having them asking questions about difficult political matters.
So buck down China, and give us back our wonderfully inane clips. After all, the less time people spend at the FT site, the better for you.
China’s Great Firewall Blocks Twitter, Flickr, Hotmail, Live, Bing | CNReviews responds:
Posted: June 2nd, 2009 at 9:57 pm →
[...] one would imagine that doing so would only clue the ignorant masses that something was amiss, further spurring their curiosity to find out just what’s got the government’s giant [...]