Speaking out against censorship in China is important in becoming a more prosperous country. Censorship in China is not anything new: "The Chinese government has long kept tight reins on both traditional and new media to avoid potential subversions of its authority" (Xu). Media is a medium through which free thoughts and ideas may be expressed, but, on the flip side, it could also potentially become the grounds for a "potential subversion of [Chinese] authority." However, for China to advance both culturally and politically, people must speak out against the government if they wish to have freedom of expression. While speaking out may spark civil unrest, it is far more beneficial than simply accepting things as it is because it proposes new ideas or disproves of current ideas; thus, if not at least improving society, speaking out will make others have a better understanding of the situation. In a speech against censorship in China, Michelle Obama said, "....that's why it's so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the Internet and through the media, because that's how we discover the truth...Because time and time again, we have seen that countries are stronger and more prosperous when the voices of and opinions of all their citizens can be heard" (qtd. in Muncaster). By physically going different places and speaking out against censorship, Obama brings awareness of the issue and encourages people to take action. Speaking out is the closest people can come to discovering the entire truth because it allows for multiple perspectives to be taken into consideration. From such a large pool of information and perspectives, people can question and debate ideas, listen to other sides of an argument, and ultimately, decide which values they think are best. Individually, it is always better to know the truth because the consequent decisions people make will be reliable and fully thought out because it was based on a reliable assumption. However, most people in China actually choose to stay blissfully ignorant of the problems of censorship; while living in a bubble with no resistance or unrest is comfortable, if it continues along, Chinese citizens will not be globally on par with the rest of the world's citizens who have had exposure to a wide range of information, thus putting Chinese citizens at a disadvantage in the future when globalization forces are even more extreme. In the novel Night, other countries were aware of the Holocaust and its horrific events, but because nobody spoke out against the horrors, horrific things continued to happen. China can learn from the Holocaust; taking action and speaking out paves way for change to happen. By speaking out, people share their knowledge and opinions with others and encourage a different, perhaps better, way of looking at things, thus better advancing their country and preparing them for the global setting.
Works Cited
Muncaster, Phil. "Michelle Obama Speaks Out." The Register. The A Register, 24 Mar. 2014. Web. 30 May 2014.
Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Stratus and Giroux, 2006. Print.
Xu, Beina. "Media Censorship in China." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations Feb. 2014. Web. 29 May 2014.
This is a good overview of the effects of censorship by mainstream Chinese media outlets. Taken alone, the effects of censorship may precipitate into the problems you outlined. However, censorship on the internet and on state sponsored television is widely-known and many people also seek news from sources that are more difficult to censor such microblog sites or peer-to-peer networks such as Weibo or WeChat. This makes it difficult to accurately predict based on known precedents since China's case is not a complete censorship.
ReplyDeleteIt's an overall good blog, but when you discuss about how "Chinese citizens will not be globally on par with the rest of the world's citizens who have had exposure to a wide range of information," are you implying that only the Chinese government is censoring the media? I'd say to keep in mind that there are other countries that use censorship such as in Thailand after the military coup.
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