Do You Value Your Rights?
I believe most people take for granted their right to freedom of speech, the press and religion. That is a good thing for the most part because they don’t feel those rights are threatened.
Most of the major businesses in the US want to establish a presence in China. China is a country that gives any of these freedoms to its citizens. It is an extremely repressive society. It may be presented as modern with thriving night life, but underneath is a very strict centralized control system.
All internet traffic in China is filtered through a main point so the Chinese government can track what its people are watching and to block any incoming traffic that does say great things about the leaders.
You would think US companies would stand up against this type of repression, however, in the chase for the all mighty dollar they roll over and comply. Even Google whose stated business foundation is “Do no evil” accepts the Chinese way in order to make more money.
China has no respect for intellectual property. US companies sign “joint ventures” and build factories over there until the Chinese learn all the technology and processes and then they open competing businesses. Do our business leaders understand this, maybe. But the lure of capturing even a small part of the Chinese market it too tempting to ignore.
No criticisms of party leaders is tolerated. Demonstrations and free speech attempts are quickly shut down. The government has an elaborate system to lull the populace into believing that it is protecting them.
It is critical that people in the US understand just how important the basic freedoms they have and how many in the world do not have them. They also need the will to defend these rights because once lost, they are hard to get back.
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