[107245] in Cypherpunks
Re: maginot line, er, Great Firewall, political spam
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (jeradonah lives)
Thu Jan 7 08:51:28 1999
To: wrath@eudoramail.com
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
From: jeradonah@juno.com (jeradonah lives)
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 08:29:53 EST
Reply-To: jeradonah@juno.com (jeradonah lives)
On Thu, 07 Jan 1999 08:43:45 -0000 "Bloody Gorefest"
<wrath@eudoramail.com> writes:
>
>Unfortunately, the commie government stranglehold over the public in
>China is almost total.
almost? well, consider the facts: jiang's grip over the communist party
is tenuous at best. chinese cultures have a tradition of student-led
rebellion (can you say indonesia?). unemployment is fairly high and the
government is currently laying off workers in its restructuring program.
oh, and then there is the asia financial crisis that is killing hong kong
(now under the control of mainland china) and threatens the chinese
currency and its export power...
>Remember Tianannmen? Hundreds of students massacred simply
>because they dared to protest against the Chinese government's
>suppression of democracy and human rights.
yes, do remember tianannmen. remember the two months where chinese, but
especially students, from all over the country gathered in one place and
began a serious political dialog -- especially amongst themselves.
remember tianannmen, because this is the first obvious example as to how
limited government is in an age of instant communications. the same
tools that help business (faxes then, the internet today) also spur the
free exchange of ideas, and this marks the death knell to the sovereignty
of governments. remember tianannmen, because despite our preference for
dissidents of the democracy wall era, it is tianannmen that is most
likely to have a long term effect on what happens to china. tianannmen
dissidents are less concerned with the theoretical basis of dissent and
more interested in applying the tools of modern communications to
increase the impact of dissent. and remember tianannmen, because it
gave up the lasting image of the emergent principle of individual
sovereignty: a lone chinese man, with shopping bags in his hand, standing
up against a whole column of pla tanks...
>And we have the audacity to talk about Iraq?
the clinadmin has chosen its chinese policy based on commerce not
principles. why even suggest otherwise?
>Remember the Chinese oppression of Christian worship in China till
>today? Try conducting a prayer service or mass in China and you
>could be in prison within the hour.
so are you suggesting that the free export of western-style
protestantism, with its message of compliance to existing political
structures, will help free china?
>The systematic torture, persecution and oppression of the Tibetan
>people, whose lands the Chinese forcibly occupied, simply puts Iraq
>and Cuba to shame. And now they want Taiwan to merge with
>mainland china and they are prepared to use force.
tibet has already been assimilated. the rush of western tourists to the
area has only helped the government here. taiwan will resist -- and
could easily win this confrontation...
>This poor sod who is getting screwed by the Chinese government has
>no way out. I think he will land up in jail for another 20 to 30 years -
>that's what happens to dissidents there.
there will be lots of innocent victims in the fight to free china. that
is why the dissidents "spam" chinese internet users! they were supposed
to be providing plausible deniability. the limits on what is acceptable
to the chinese government will be noted and tested by the dissidents.
that is what always occurs. and the poor sod, well, i doubt he will
spend more than two years in jail. he is not a dissident, merely an
example for the government. indeed, he serves multiple purposes:
allowing the government to send a message to both the political
dissidents and the economic losers from reform...
ac
"A hacker is a machine for turning caffeine into code" -- Alfred Renyi
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i commit crimes against reality -- i do chaos...
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