BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Everyone is jumping on the story of China’s great firewall.  Amnesty International has been blocked from China.  It was minutes after I received the email from Amnesty that I heard the story on television.  There were interviews of computer geeks and reporters saying how they had found ways to encrypt and code and whatever to get over, under or through the firewall. 

I have supported Amnesty International for years.  And, like most of the world I am disturbed that the press and  reporters had been led to believe that they would have total access to all the Internet, not just the sites approved by the Chinese government. 

Additionally, I have been amused that the Chinese government has put out flyers instructing the people not to wear more than three different colors at one time.  (Perhaps, we need a copy of that flyer.)  I have been amused that the Chinese population has been instructed not to ask where the tourists and reporters live, not to ask what they do, and not to ask how much money they make… and not to spit on the sidewalks.  Again, those instructions could come in handy in some parts of America.

All joking aside, this is a serious issue.  Hopefully, some of the media will manage to get pictures and stories that they will report through encryption and coding, or at least will publish once they return home.

Yet, as I have watched the media jump on the Chinese censorship as if it is the worst censorship in the world, I thought about our own country.  I’m totally against censorship in any way, shape or fashion, not matter who is doing the censoring.  I was engrossed in the Amnesty International email when I was reminded that censorship is alive and well in our country, too.

How long has it been since Americans have seen the caskets of our dead sons and daughters being returned to Dover from Iraq or Afghanistan?  Didn’t the Bush administration say there would be no pictures?  I was reminded of Americans being escorted from and “detained” for wearing an anti-Bush t-shirt to a gathering where George 43 was to speak.  I was reminded that NSA had been authorized to listen to phone calls and intercept emails.  I was reminded that our country has engaged in “rendition.”  I thought of Guantanamo and the “enemy combatants” who had been labeled as such so they would have no access to attorneys or enjoy the right of habeas corpus.  I was reminded of waterboarding as a means of getting information from our enemies. 

I thought of all the uninsured citizens in America while the President has been praised for our pledge of funding for the HIV/Aids fight in Africa.  I’m all for the funding of AIDS prevention, treatment and cures worldwide, but it is a bit pompous and disingenuous to stand on the world’s stage and offer AIDS funding to the world and turn our backs on the fact that we have millions of children in our own country who cannot afford to see a doctor when they are sick. 

I’m not making light of Chinese censorship.  It is a terrible thing as is censorship anywhere.  And, I am so proud to be an American where I can write this blog without fear of censorship, although there are times when I parse my words.  By no means am I excusing or condoning Chinese censorship.  We should never take the pressure off the Chinese government until the people of China, Tibet and Taiwan can live as freely as we do.  Yet, I do suggest that while we sit in judgment of the rest of the world and extol our own liberties, we must not become so arrogant or pompous in our attitudes that we close our eyes to the silent censorship that goes on in America.