Editorial: Respect & Things Fall Apart

Censorship in China blocks other countries' cultures, thus preventing  Chinese citizens from appreciating and respecting world culture. In an article describing how censorship impacts world culture, the author states, "China's Cultural Ministry may find the rebellious and defiant nature of other cultures threatens the "social harmony" that the government is trying to promote" (Dibble). China has a specific goal in mind: they strive for political, social, and cultural unity at any cost. In order to achieve their goal, the government feeds their citizens self-promoting information and censors anything that might alludes to anti-Communist ideas, including valuable information about current events and other countries. While striving for complete "social harmony" is an admirable goal, it has long been recognized as unfeasible because of the high amount of diversity among people, in both their personalities and their beliefs. However, China continues to work towards "social harmony" at the expense of information about the outside world. Knowledge about the world is essential for advancement: "A holistic understanding of the cultures in the world is essential in advancing in the world economically, politically, and socially" (Dibble). Appreciating and understanding other people's cultures is essential in the goal to advance in society. Especially in an age where globalization is rapidly on the rise, if people do not have a basic understanding of other peoples' cultures, interaction and negotiations are extremely difficult. In the book Things Fall Apart, because the white Christian missionaries did not make an effort to understand Igbo culture, events quickly spiraled into chaos. A lack of mutual respect between both groups led to a growing distance between them, eventually leading to conflict. If China's government continues to take part in censorship, their citizens, like the white missionaries, will be heavily lacking in understanding other people's culture and are not likely to respect other people's culture; if the Chinese continue to lack understanding of other cultures and remain ignorant, conflict with other culture groups may arise. If China continues to censor other cultures in the media, the Chinese citizens will not gain the "holistic understanding" they need to in order to become an active world citizen. Blocking media and information about other countries will prevent Chinese citizens from respecting other countries' cultures, ultimately leading to many detrimental effects.

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart: With Connections. Austin: Holt, Rinheardt and Winston, n.d.                Print

Dibble, Lauren. "Censorship's Impact on China's Culture." Northeastern University. Northeastern                 University, 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 31 May 2014