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Comment by vegabook | Hacker News Reader

There is a case to be made for the idea that America-hosted, America-doctrine birthed, websites, do not jive with everybody on the planet. The idea that Github is beyond reproach and blocking it makes no sense is superficially tempting, until you realise that the vast, vast majority of projects on it are America-led. Why is it so surprising to block a culture which is permeating the planet, to the detriment of other cultures? And of course many non-Americans will object to this idea, but that is because they tend to me the top of their local game and looking to be hired into (or otherwise benefit from) the America-led capital-driven, individual first at the expense of the community, ideology.

There is a tendency to knee-jerk condemn these blockages, including those in China, or indeed in Europe. It is not obvious to me that some kind of barrier to the Americanisation of the planet, including via its dominant websites, is such a bad thing.

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>>kind of barrier to the Americanisation of the planet, including via its dominant websites, is such a bad thing

India is a democracy, if they want to block it for 'cultural' reasons they should get the people's approval to block it for 'cultural' reasons. Right now they are acting on the wrong mandate. We are most likely looking at a case of gross detachment from the constituents they serve.

That is true, but you must also realise the ability of the world's greatest power to influence thinking across the planet via the dominance of its corporations, institutions, and yes, dominant sites. In this situation, democracy is maleable by capital.

And I am not saying these blockages are good. Only that we should always question who is served by all this openness.

I'd understand the argument if GitHub was an opinion news site of some kind, but the fact is that it's a place where code is shared, code used to create software.

GitHub is a US company but so are many others. To say github is "pushing" to Americanize the world and trump local communities is either foolish or a complete misunderstanding of what github does.

I don't mean to be a jerk but you're really missing the point here and barking up the wrong tree.

yes of course the choice to block Github is unfortunate, but I am making a wider point about the overwhelming dominance of the US in all things online, and that, clumsy as the execution may be, one might want to try to understand the underlying issues behind these actions, even if they appear misguided.

I hear if you close your eyes, the whole world stops existing. Try that.

quite the contrary - it is by opening my eyes that I question the hegemony of the current internet culture. It is not 100% obvious that a global information free-for-all has only upsides. And you will hopefully recognise that this kind of post will be a magnet for downvotes, but so be it. I wish to assess all angles, no matter how unpalatable they may be to the majority thinking.

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