The Great Firewall

Big surprise: Many Web sites are blocked from viewing in China.

As much as I hate to say it, this doesn't scare me. Censorship scares me, but this is neither new nor unique. What scares me, what absolutely terrifies me, is the sentiment expressed in this quoted statement by a representative of the Foreign Ministry:

“I hope that the Web sites in question will be able to self-regulate, and not do things that will violate Chinese law, and for the sake of both sides, develop conditions for Web site cooperation."

This from the Foreign Ministry. In other words, not to be inflammatory: If you want to stop being censored, stop saying things we don't approve of.

I have a serious problem with the quoted representative's attitude. It suggests that the only "appeal" against censorship is censoring oneself. It suggests an incontrovertible rightness to their behavior.

I have nothing pithy to end on. I'm just going to go be furious until I have time to do some research, and determine if China's government really is the fascistic, facile 1984 derivative that this article paints them to be.