@steve

@steve

“if it is possible to change this then the quote is not suggesting that Chinese are stupid genetically, only that they lack the education and knowledge to have the capacity for the vast amount of information on the internet at the moment.”

I guess it is because we still view that as absolutely ridiculous. Governments should not decide how much information their citizens are allowed access to – unless the creation of that information involves hurting other people.

if it is possible to change this then the quote is not suggesting that chinese are stupid genetically, only that they lack the education and knowledge to have the capacity for the vast ammount of information on the internet at the moment.

I suppose the thought track is that too much information too quickly will be misinterpreted and misunderstood, and this will lead to social unrest and possibly social upheaval. This therefore must be a mistake of the past where China was so closed, and therefore China must be ‘eased’ into it, similar to how China is being ‘eased’ into a capitalist society.

the only explanation I have is that if their background knowledge on world affairs (or whatever) is lacking, then how do they understand the flood of information that is thrown at them? If they had the same background knowledge as westerners, then they would have the capacity to bear the same information as westerners.

Its a bit of a stretch, but are you sure we are not simply misinterpreting the chinese journalists translation to english?

Some points:

1) I don’t believe any of the facts you put forward – the US was substantially poorer in the 40’s and 50’s, and educational achievements were a lot lower then they are now. Also where does the idea that educational achievements are among the lowest in the developed world come from.

2) Reducing people liberties to achieve arbitrary outcomes like “educational outcomes” is not a good way to run policy.

3) The idea that “culture has deteriorated” is crap. Rose tinted glasses about the past in my opinion. Also culture is a name for a current situation, it is not a goal in itself.

4) The US is in absolute terms more wealthy than Japan + Germany + China. In per capita terms the difference in wealth is even more stark. Getting 10% growth when you are exceptionally poor is to be expected, but it doesn’t make Chinese policy better.

5) We aren’t the ones saying Chinese people are stupid, they are just as smart as other people – after all they are people. We were complaining that their own media appears to be saying that they are stupid – something that we find distasteful. In fact, by hiding behind the concept of “culture” to justify limiting liberties and knowledge you are effectively saying the same thing.

China believes the West was at its peak then, and since then the drowning of Western cultures in porn and negative messaging has thrown the cultures back substantially. For example, when we had the censorship policies of the 40’s and 50’s, our students were the best in the world. Now the West, is behind every major developed Asian nation. In other words, contrary to being stupid, the Chinese are copying Western culture when we were at our best. Already they are drowning the West in terms of engineers and other knowledge areas, and will continue to do so. The West’s hard science graduate programs at Western universities are populated not by Westerners but by Asians. As we experience a zero savings rate and 10% unemployment, the Chinese have a 3% unemployment rate and 10% growth rate. Who is stupid?

Beth

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