China publishes Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009
chinadaily.com.cn
chinadaily.com.cn
It's the same political stuff - it's about free market, currency control, exports of cheap product and access to the raw materials of developing countries - but they say it's about free speech so that they can activate the democratic grassroots movement in support of this.
Politics will come and politics will go, I don't think it's relevant to technology. All it will do is inflame passions and lead to name-calling on both sides.
These are two different systems, and if they want to fight each other, let them, but why should we be involved? The chinese have an 80% satisfaction with their country, the Americans have a 50% satisfaction with their countries. Their leaders are the ones saying that the people of the opposing country are unhappy.
Politics is people talking a lot, getting very angry, digging opposing trenches and changing very little.
We can talk about this forever, why don't we stick to the topics we can change?
Sorry to digress. This is a genuine question out of curiousity and I am not trying taking any sides.
I am not an expert on the history of the world, but is there any example of a first-world country that got from a rural agririan economy to its developed status without either 1) relying on exporting its abundant natural resources, or 2) exploiting its people under some form or authoritarian system during its early stage of industrialization?
Scandanavia, Canada, and Australia were resource-based. Europe, America, and Japan had their dark days. The Asian Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) were all authoritarian until the late 20th century. Israel started off with an educated population. Did I miss anyone?
I am a bit pessimistic that there existents a good example of development for the poor countries to follow at all, and I really hope someone can prove me wrong. Of course, I am not saying a vague umbrella precedence justifies any particular wrongdoing, that's a big topic on its own. I just want to get a birds-eye view of where things came from and where they are going.
It's 86% satisfaction.
At any rate, it's an interesting, yet somewhat odd report. Everything else I read tells me China is destroying itself in its rush to the top, so it's strange the Pew report shows such satisfaction.
This isn't "politics". Sure, the Chinese are playing politics by publishing this, but this information is quite valuable, and it should not be viewed as political trickery.
These are things most Americans ignore and need to know. I was not aware of many of the topics in the article, and feel much more informed now on a number of topics.
You don't need to accept the article as being "right" or "wrong" -- it's just a collection of factual information. You can take what you want from it, check sources, apply this knowledge to situations in your life.
Dismissing this as a political boon is foolish. Did you even read the article?
Everything in the article is public knowledge, and could, on the whole, been lifted verbatim from the reports of several non-profits in the US (ACLU, etc.). That's the difference between China and the US.
Disclaimer: I am not American, I'm Australian living in Europe. I think all countries could benefit from similar assessments from external perspectives.
There's some level at which I think you do have to take the source into consideration. Would you really spend a lot of time taking seriously a Greek government report on human rights in Turkey, or a Turkish government report on human rights in Greece? There are probably better places to get that information from.
As for your other point, if what the Turkish government says about Greece is true though, does it matter the source? Sure, some claims can be extremely biased, but if (to make up an example) n people actually are locked up without trial per year, then that's a factual statement that can be addressed. In these cases, we need to strip back the propaganda and look at the facts :)
[1] If you're interested in a lot of work on reflexive governance theory & practice, there's an EU project that has done a lot of work on it here: http://refgov.cpdr.ucl.ac.be/
Women account for 51 percent of the US population,
but only 92 women, or 17 percent of the seats,
serve in the current 111th US Congress. Seventeen
women serve in the Senate and 75 women serve in the
House (Members of the 111th United States Congress
http://en.wikipedia.org
"In the United States, civil and political rights of citizens are severely restricted and violated by the government."
"Abuse of power is common among US law enforcers."
"Campuses became an area worst hit by violent crimes as shootings spread there and kept escalating."
"The US citizens' freedom to access and distribute information is under strict supervision."
That magnifies our flaws,
hides our virtues,
shatters our illusions.
If we hold our leaders responsible,
will you hold yours to account?
However, the US is not squeaky clean and could do a few things to improve.
But China has much much further to go than the US. Nice example of propaganda.
But that doesn't make the facts false.
Some of the points do hit home. Racism and sexism aren't as bad as they used to be, but they still exist. Our military harms civilians around the world. Various government agencies have increased surveillance of Americans since 9/11. A lot of people would prefer a world in which these things did not happen. This article is hypocritical, but it's not without merit. It shouldn't be dismissed so quickly and completely.
Pity that the only response this will get in the US is possibly a derisive snort from the White house press secretary.
They actually missed the important human rights issues in the US; things like how nobody gets a trial because to avoid overly-harsh penalties, innocent people just take the plea bargains. That is a real threat to human rights, but it's not mentioned.
It's pretty much documented that this does not happen in china. Do you know the countries that it does happen in?
I think it's unfair that you accuse china of doing this without any proof, but you will not lift a finger to stop it in the actual countries that it does happen in. Even though you can go watch YouTube videos showing this.
If you care about that, then fix it where the problem is, don't accuse countries where it pretty much does not happen of it happening.
If you want people to stop suffering, then go save people being executed on the streets everyday in the cities across west africa. Go watch sahara reporters and see the truth about extra-judicial killings. It's documented and available for all to see - you can watch the videos and then make a difference. Saying that china is doing this even though there is no evidence to support this thesis is just a way of keeping the argument abstract - you can blame the country but not have to actually do anything.
I would not ever argue this point if I had not been in all the countries. I've been in China, in the U.S and in Africa. I've seen how the different systems work, and I believe the chinese system is a system that is right in bringing such a huge and diverse country into wealth without devolving into war.
There is no nerve to hit here, this is my open opinion about the issue. I am not anti-american or anti-freedom, it's just my opinion that the chinese system at the moment is the best system for china.