In China, the party always starts at the top
Question: In a wired world where even the CIA has a webpage, which organisation has 75 million members, controls a 3 million-man army and $US5 trillion economy, but has no website? Answer: The Chinese Communist Party.
The return of China to the centre of world power is one of the defining trends of our era. But we know almost nothing about the power that controls the power. And the party prefers to keep it that way.
It is by far the world's most successful authoritarian organisation. One reason for its success is invisibility. Chinese citizens these days are able to sue the state, but not the party that controls the state. You cannot hold accountable what you cannot see.

For the rest of the article see this link:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/po ... -20100607-xqrb.html

In China....
I get frustrated everytime I watch TVB and ATV and the news switches to ads because the party doesnt want its people to KNOW.

I get frustrated everytime I go on the internet and certain pages have the dreaded 'Page not found' because the party doesnt want its people to SEE.

I get frustrated everytime I see injustices occuring and citizens telling me 'its the way it is' and 'you have no power to do anything' as the party does not want you to THINK.

just my 2cents.....

... and you think we're not being manipulated over here in the West ... albeit more subtly ... in ways that WE OURSELVES cannot discern or recognise, precisely because we think it's normal?  

To me the most interesting thing about the contrast is meeting people in China who actually think that the Chinese system is balanced and reasonable ... which I find just as intriguing as meeting Americans who think USA is "central", or fair and constructive in World Affairs ...

I agree the west is more subtle. At least we tend to package everything so its easily digestable to the masses.

In China I get the feeling its forced down their thoughts at an early age.

[ Last edited by  yeah9911 at 8-6-2010 11:05 ]

Ah yes, the old, "Well that sucks, but what can I do about it!" attitude.

In Australia, I am absolutely amazed that anything ever gets done by the government. They spend all their time trying to score little political points for the next election - "He went to a gay bar!", etc... Because their term in office is so short, they are ALWAYS thinking about re-election, and decisions are made for that rather than the good of the country. Anything that would take more thatn 4-5 years to come to fruition just isn't going to get done.

And the beaurocracy is so big now that anyone who gets to a point where they can make a difference has already sold their soul for the shot at power.

Classic example is Peter Garrett, who used to be the lead singer of the band Midnight Oil and was always very outspoken about the environment, land-rights and such - a real hippy! He is now the Ministor For The Environment and is running around approving nuclear sites! A real party man...

I guess if you can get the right people in power who are not under the continual pressure of an impending election, at least things might get done! Problem is that human nature will inevitably interfere and corruption will follow. With the right person, perfect. With the wrong one, just a lunatic running around with absolute power enslaving the population. It's a fine line.

In the US, Big Businesses Control the Government and that's capitalism gone haywire. The system is sick. Two examples are the Government bailout of US banks and the bank's subsequent abuse of this money. A more recent example is the BP oil spill in the US Gulf. Big business never act in the public's interest. The US Govt should press criminal charges against the executives of BP but again this will never happen. Let's name nanes and blame some people. Big Government should stand up to Big Oil Companies. In a system that allows lobbyist to corrupt Congressmen in Washington and where big businesses can make huge presidential campaign contributions, this is corruption on the highest level.

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 8-6-2010 11:55 ]

Garrett approving nuclear sites!! Geezus who would've seen that one coming.

But for all the problems we are facing in the West and the injustucies in China. All this pales in comparison to the regime in North Korea. I would hate to be born in such a harsh and brutal country.

Think nuclear power is the only way to go. Less dependence on fossil fuels and cleaner energy. The technology has improved substantially since the days of Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Let's hope we never see a disaster like that again. The recent oil spill in the US Gulf as I have mentioned above is a complete annihilation to the eco system and has proved once again that fossil fuel is not the way to go. If Peter Garrett is looking at nuclear sites, the more uranium you can mine then the more nuclear plants you would have in the future. Think the Australian Government is promoting clean energy and obviously not selling the uranium to terrorists to create weapons of mass destruction.

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 8-6-2010 12:00 ]

no surprises there, the US has been an oligarchy for some time.

The bail out of the banks has not been that bad for the US Government, they have got some two thirds of their money back already. Remember they have shareholdings they have been selling, and also under the rules they set for the bail out the bank's executives cannot pay themselves the big bonuses until they have paid back the money ..... I think that last point has been the major reason for repayment.

Companies like GM are a risk, the Government may never be able to get their money back there.

The real issue to me going forward is if new regulations are not adequately imposed to stop it happenning again, along with some proposals for the very same people who headed up some of the "failed" financial institutions being put on governance committees to oversee the markets .... talk about foxes guarding the hen house.

One of our most well known radio personalities here in Australia, took to calling the U.S. the USSA after they started pouring public money into U.S. companies when the GFC hit.

It's the same old story of privatise the profits, socialise the losses.

I probably brought this on the board by commenting about the Australian laws that ban pornography, and pornography seizures at the airport.  My apologies to all the brothers on this board for bringing up such things.  I should have been more thoughtful about the feelings of the Australians and how they would react, which brings this touchy subject on hand.

While it's in Hong Kong.. is still to some extent I must show some courtesy with China.  It's best to understand that this relationship with China would go well only if everyone minds their manners.  Just about ever other subject is fair to discuss except for a few subjects that may appear rude to the Chinese.

Don't be silly, there's nothing to apologise for. I'm Australian and the Australian laws as regards declaring porn and trying to filter/censor/block the internet are stupid.

[ Last edited by  atomic3d at 9-6-2010 03:12 ]

Yeah declaring porn at the borders is just stupid. Aparantly its supposed to catch those with child pornography.

They have a saying in Chinese, 'Cutting off your toes to avoid the sand worms'.

hmmmm ....

very interesting perspective there ...

the whole point is that in China, there are people who have had so much force-fed down their thoughts, from such an early age, that they don't even think it's subtle: they don't even think at all about it ...

... which is dangerously close to saying "we package everything so its ..."

If you are a fish, the one thing you cannot comprehend is water.  Until you're out of it.

Likewise, we live in our chosen favourite political environment.  Yup, even those of us who ran away from the political environment we were born in have chosen another to take its place, one that we like better, because it's more in line with the way we think, i.e. more in line with the thoughts that were (maybe) rammed down our thoughts at an early age ...  

OK I'm being deliberately provocative here ... back to the ordinary whingeing ... and I certainly agree that I for one would not willingly subject myself to a regime like the one in PRC.  No way Jose, not me, I wouldn't fall for that one!  

except ...

by choosing to live in HK I actually have done just exactly that ...

oops ...

I agree - to anyone outside Australia criticising Australia's porn/filtering laws, I say "right on!".  A lot of us Aussies don't agree with these laws.

But in line with this thread - at least we're allowed to say so!