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Lordandmaster -> RE: China (3/4/2007 9:03:30 PM)
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Well, there's no way I'd try to defend China's human-rights record, because it's abysmal. But the situation is getting better, even if the pace of change is glacial. These days, most government persecution is in the nuisance range (being detained for a day so you can't make a crucial meeting; having your dumass neighbor, who's obviously on the payroll, pop in uninvited for dinner now and then; and so on); to be thrown in jail or tortured, you really have to do something to piss off the leaders (and you have to have disregarded obvious warnings). Of course, it's better to live in a society where you can freely piss off the government without risking incarceration or torture, but let's not overstate their abuses either.
The education system is bad, but the main reason for their failures is that there are simply too many young Chinese people to be educated, and the system cannot handle them all. Indoctrination is typically of the light flavor; it's no longer anything like in Maoist times. Students who don't have anything except a Chinese education certainly emerge with strange ideas about how the world works, but they aren't being told that capitalism is evil. On the contrary, there's a HUGE push to teach people English so that they can engage in business with foreign companies.
Why doncha go to China if you're interested? There's no other country like it.
quote:
ORIGINAL: Stephann
China, as an 'ally' has one of the worst records of human rights abuses. Their prisons aren't filled with just rapists and murders, but political activists, philosophers, and anyone who doesn't demonstrate a precise fidelity and obedience to the communist party line.
At least, we think so. Not too many Chinese who manage to get away are talking much about it. Do you suppose that if they were to rise to a position of global dominance, they would be particularly lenient on any other country? Chinese communism hasn't spread because of any lack of effort; learning English for a Chinese person means learning Western culture. Learning Western culture means learning that thought and philosophy didn't start with Marx or Mao. Absolute truths about history that we take for granted are spun as fairy tales in Communist regimes, and used as examples of why Capitalists are evil. This sort of educational 'indoctrination' is simply too alien a concept for most Westerners to understand.
Again, this is only based on the research and capitalistic propaganda I've been exposed to. Sarcasm aside, I would honestly be pleased if someone Chinese would be kind enough to correct me.
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