censorship, it affects you and me...

Reading the articles assigned for today stirred up turmoil inside of me. Censorship in China was nothing new to me since I have gotten so used to it. But censorship in America? Seriously? What about democracy? What about freedom of speech? What about all those nice things that America so proudly labeled itself as?

My bubbles about the infallibility of this great nation have constantly been punctured. America also has censorship. Big corporate medias in America collaborate with the government and the elite to produce news that are of little or even no values, as the independent medias are suffering from governmental oppression and the lack of understanding in the public domain. This is neither a healthy nor a sustainable model. People should not be fed lies.

I cannot believe journalist Matthew Lee’s “Inner City Press” was once “unsearchable” on Google and both Google and UN blatantly denied their involvement in this shutdown, using lies to cover lies.

Just on a side note, I have to say his web site is really sketchy and I have difficulties appreciating the values of his blog.

Google and Yahoo! Collaboration with Chinese government is no news to me. I was really disappointed to see large companies like them compromised their ethics to the unreasonable demands of Chinese government. But then again I shouldn’t be surprised, ethics and the greater good is already pretty far down the priority list in the realm of business. I heard from somewhere that it is American company that helped Chinese government to shut down facebook in China. It would be interesting to figure out which company it is.

I usually think to myself: even though medias in America are very problematic, they still enjoy freedom of speech to a certain extent; maverick journalists or independent filmmakers are still relatively free to voice different opinions and have themselves heard. Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 was allowed in cinema and sold massively; Outfox by Robert Greenwald also had great reception in American public. Sometimes I wonder if Americans are being overtly skeptical and cynical about the current state. But after reading all these, I realized the skepticism and the criticism are all very important. Who is it to say that America will not one day become a heavily censored country like China? It is in every government’s interest to have less trouble and exercise more control over the political narrative, censorship, in this case, is a great way to exert such power. If Americans do not fight for their freedom of speech, if Americans think these censorships are only transient therefore should not be paid close attention to, America could be the next en route to becoming the next totalitarian state. Look at the power that U.S. government possesses, and how effectively it has demonstrated this power all over the world. American people cannot be too comfortable with this discounted freedom and fight for its full extent.