GYMA
at 4:49pm on Tuesday, 14th February 2006
I found this post yesterday by John Battelle Never poke a dragon while it's eating on China and censorship - a US perspective. Do you agree that there is such a difference between human rights abuses by a company like Nike and companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL (GYMA)?
It's tempting to think that two cultures increasingly entwined in economic relationships are somehow becoming more alike. Another view is that they continue -- culturally -- to move on parallel lines. Neither is very useful. We interact and I'd be very surprised if both sides didn't change as a result.
I found this post yesterday by John Battelle Never poke a dragon while it's eating on China and censorship - a US perspective. Do you agree that there is such a difference between human rights abuses by a company like Nike and companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL (GYMA)?
But companies like Yahoo and Google don't traffic in sneakers, they traffic in the most powerful forces in human culture - expression. Knowledge. Ideas. The freedom of which we take as fundamental in this country, yet somehow, we seem to have forgotten its importance in the digital age - in China, one protesting email can land you in jail for 8 years, folks.
But... should GYMA decide they wanted to create some kind of pact that actually, well, had an opinion about how those forces of freedom should be let loose in a place like China, well, we all know how that would fly in Beijing. Not to mention Wall Street, of course.
But, some protest, the US policy of constructive engagement is working! Look how the Chinese economy is booming! How a new middle class is rising up! It's only a matter of time before that middle class demands some form of democracy, and the US policy will be vindicated.
Oh, really? Really? If you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you in Baghdad.
It's tempting to think that two cultures increasingly entwined in economic relationships are somehow becoming more alike. Another view is that they continue -- culturally -- to move on parallel lines. Neither is very useful. We interact and I'd be very surprised if both sides didn't change as a result.
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