Double Standards
I'm pleased to see somebody else acknowledge that the calls from the world's media for unrestricted access to the internet were slightly over the top.
The foreign media outrage over the limits placed on the internet — a bit self-righteous, but fair enough over all — and the suggestions that some in the International Olympic Committee had cut a deal to renege on the agreement to allow free reporting, seemed to set up a culture clash between a China paranoid about dissent and a West that values free speech, even when it's uncomfortable.
Sunday Age Editorial - Read more ... (probably for a limited time)
I do agree that there was a story here, because there was obviously a difference between what the journalists believed they were promised and what they got. But there seems to be demands called of China that we wouldn't make of any other country.
The editorial later says that the latest agreement is for only sites that are pornographic or deemed to be subversive to the Chinese national interest will be blocked. Which sounds fair enough to me.
I've always seen the Games as an olive branch to China to start having better relations with the rest of the world. It was never conditional of adopting western social standards, and it shouldn't have been. They've got a long journey to make, and we should fear the results if they go too quickly.
Labels: pov
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