BBC News – China condemns ‘groundless’ US criticism of web control
BBC News – China condemns ‘groundless’ US criticism of web control.
‘Information imperialism’ is an interesting concept. Consider the effect of an open internet on China’s population. Is China saying that if people are exposed to predominately Western values, that this will overwhelm their sensibilities and become a threat to national stability?
Can the same argument be made in the US, regarding television programming? I think it can. If most Americans watch several hours of TV every week, and if that programming is shown to affect behavior (it does – violence, generational attitudes, smoking/drinking, external political efficacy, the list goes on) then at what point does national stability, or the ability of a democracy to flourish in spite of coercive consumerist propaganda, compel the US government to intervene? Unfortunately, once the people are disconnected from the political process, they lose traction and lose the voice that provides feedback to a political machine.
Challenge for the day: Engage in a political discussion about the cost and benefit of a completely corporate controlled mass media in the US. Discuss the democratic and propagandistic potentials of the internet.
