Teen Killed At Chinese Internet Addiction Camp 334
eldavojohn writes "Sixteen-year-old Deng Senshan was tragically beaten to death by three of his instructors in an internet addiction camp in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. Reportedly it was for not being able to run fast enough. An article in the Wall Street Journal says that, 'China's netizens have played a key role in drawing nationwide attention to recent cases of deaths in prisons and detention centers, so it should be no surprise that they are up in arms over the fate of one of their own. Many questioned the fairly new diagnosis of "Internet addiction" as a mental disorder.' You may recall electroshock treatment being banned from use on internet addicts in China. According to Xinhua, more than 100 juveniles remain in 'treatment' at the camp, which has stayed open. Perhaps for Senshan it would have been better to let him endure his cruel affliction instead of having his parents pay over $1,000 to have him beaten to death?"
Is he actually the first person who has died? (Score:5, Insightful)
I can only wonder if there have been other deaths in this program that did not make the news.
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:5, Insightful)
Look people, tragedies happen all the time. For every poor kid beaten to death in China at a "gaming addiction recovery camp", there's thousands more dying of starvation and illnesses in other parts of the world.
This isn't news. This is China. Do you expect differently?
So because the numbers are small, we should ignore it? If you were raped and murdered we could go to the police with your logic and say, "Look, for every person raped and murdered thousands die in automobile accidents on the streets so don't waste your time with this case."
The fact that 'internet addiction' is ill defined and that this was a CHILD not an adult and the fact that it's government run should cause alarm bells to ring even if it is only one case. How do you know the action of beating children is not commonplace and applied to thousands of so called "internet addicts"? How do you know this isn't an attempt to weed out would-be dissidents at an early age?
Your compliance amazes me. Yes, hunger and starvation is a problem but so is this we can report about this on Slashdot and read about hunger and food shortages on CNN.
I'm sorry but "this is China" does not cause me to close my eyes to unalienable human rights that every human being in the world deserves!
Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:1, Insightful)
No, everybody has a right to be pissed. They just don't have the right to call out others as being complicit in Chinese crimes when they themselves are buying products that prop up the regime.
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't news. This is China. Do you expect differently?
From you? Not really. From people like you, I expect braindead nonsense whenever the subject contains the word "China" or other related subjects.
For the rest of us - I think it is worth noting that TFA mentions that "a police officer" states that "We are investigating a case where a high school student was beaten to death by his camp supervisors. The case is still under investigation" - IOW, a representative of the local officialdom talks openly about this case to a newsagency, in much the same way as a London police officer would, and refuses to give further details because they are still investigating, just like elsewhere in the world.
The reason I feel the need to draw attention to this is, that it seems to escape the attention of some. Do I need to spell it out any further? There is no "Government Coverup" here; no reasons to hate the Chinese for being Chinese.
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:5, Insightful)
You fucking hypocrite. You are sitting on /. typing your rant on a computer that was largely made with Chinese parts/labor, probably wearing shoes/clothing that were made in China and god knows what else. I'm sorry but you don't get to throw stones when you live in a glass house.
I submitted this story in an attempt to raise awareness in our community about a death in an internet addiction camp. Who knows how many others there have been prior to this? And what, stone thrower, have you done?
... not pushing my ideals and isms on the sovereign people of China. Basic human rights are the only thing I push and I'm prepared to argue that.
And now you're criticizing me for purchasing Chinese products? What the hell does that have to do with this? You think the solution is for us to band together and boycott Chinese products? Do you really believe that causing their economic structure to collapse would be the answer? Did trade embargoes work for North Korea and pre-war Iraq?
I'm an American citizen, I have no control over the sovereign nation of China. All I can hope to do is get word out to everyone around the world and hopefully spread news to the citizens of China so they take action. A revolution from the outside is meaningless and often dangerous/deadly/destructive.
I don't want Chinese people to suffer, that's it. I don't care if their system is Communist, Capitalist, Dictatorship or Democracy. Get the word out so they fix it. Go ahead and call me a hypocrite but I'm doing what little I can by spreading facts and news
Re:for what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Windows is very popular in China and you can bet most installations are pirated.
I wonder what the trade deficit would be if they actually respected our intellectual property and paid the going rate for it instead of stealing it? Funny how we pay them for their stuff but not the other way around.....
Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course, they usually don't kill their victims. That's usually reserved for kids that are suspected of being "gay".
I love this, because some of us here actually broke the barriers, and straight guys are actually standing up for gay guys. It's awesome, because when you see some kid getting hit and beaten until he's bruised and bleeding, you can pretty much walk up, grab a nearby metal stick, and start busting people in the face for being assholes. It's always fun to rip the shit out of people for being total dickwads, you don't have to be gay to enjoy that!
Actually it's funny, people might still think you're a faggot for standing up for a faggot; but you can beat them into a bloody mass, so who gives a fuck what they think anyhow? If they want to do something about it... well, they can't, there's that whole beaten-to-a-bloody-mass thing when they jump you in the alley.
Not being an asshole has many advantages.....
Re:Is he actually the first person who has died? (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe. The problem is that many westerners are comfortable with harsh treatment for people they have mentally classified as 'bad'.
For example, see the blase attitude of many Americans towards prison rape and so forth.
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:5, Insightful)
There is a larger problem. Chinese parents _paid_ money to send their kids into these needless camps to be "cured" of this so called "internet addiction". It's exactly the same as how American parents _paid_ money to send their kids into these needless camps to be "cured" of homosexuality. In the end, it's those panicky, ill informed, and lazy parents who entrust others with their children without actually bother doing proper research on the subject matter, the people who operate the camp, and their own children that cause pointless deaths like this. I am rather disappointed in the Chinese population today. In all honesty, learning from the western culture doesn't mean they should replicate mistakes in the western cultures too.
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:4, Insightful)
While I agree with most of what you had to say, I find it interesting that *this* makes news on slashdot while hundreds of people in the US are beaten (and sometimes killed) for being gay, but we don't seem to be as outraged. Thousands are routinely abused in mental institutions and elder care facilities (and again, many die) and again, it's not as apparent that slashdotters feel the need to draw attention to it.
Unfortunately, something that happens frequently isn't considered "news", no matter how much of a tragedy it is.
Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China (Score:3, Insightful)
you can pretty much walk up, grab a nearby metal stick, and start busting people in the face for being assholes. It's always fun to rip the shit out of people for being total dickwads, you don't have to be gay to enjoy that!
You know... lawful evil is not all that much better than chaotic evil =)
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:1, Insightful)
Replace "China" with "US" and "beaten to death" with "shot", still feeling the same ?
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe there are some camps that are gulags. But I think the majority of the cases are 'legit'.
It's not like the same thing doesn't happen in the US. A kid in Florida died after being beaten by his boot camp instructors. The beating was even caught on tape. The murderers got off scot free [go.com].
At least that incident prompted Florida to close its boot camps. Hopefully this incident will get China to close its camps.
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:3, Insightful)
Just because China has a "communist" government doesn't mean they murder children at random. The Cold War is over, you can come outside now.
They are murderers and it has nothing to do with the label they stick on it on their government; they're a totalitarian regime.
Sad (Score:5, Insightful)
I liked these "Internet Addiction Camps" better when they were called "Summer Camp".
Seriously, when I got too into games as a kid (Dragon Warrior 3, Wizardry 2, and Final Fantasy 2 being the early ones) my mother just walked in, hit the power button, and told me to go outside and not come back in until the sun was down.
Why is this such a hard concept? Is it an asian culture thing? I mean, think of Japan. You have hikikomoris, sitting in the dark in their rooms, with parents enabling them by just feeding them sliced cheese through the crack under the door. China and Kroea have people literally playing video games until their bladders burst and they die.
Granted, A+ for effort but big fat F for common sense, eh?
Is "He'll leave the room when he gets hungry enough" or "Just turn off the freaking router" such a hard concept?
Re:internet addiction camp (Score:3, Insightful)
i'm sure there are holidays camps or scouts or whatever goes hiking away from wifi
In China? Maybe. I don't really know what is available for kids in China. However, if we're talking about clinical addiction, such a simplistic view of a cure is just as bad as this approach. I'll agree that parents are likely to blame because they are the most likely enabler for the addicted child. But once you have reached clinical addiction levels, it is extremely difficult to break, and most people will struggle with it for most of their lives.
Re:er...uh...okay (Score:2, Insightful)
And now you're criticizing me for purchasing Chinese products? What the hell does that have to do with this? You think the solution is for us to band together and boycott Chinese products? Do you really believe that causing their economic structure to collapse would be the answer?
I don't have the answer and no I wasn't criticizing you for purchasing Chinese products. I was criticizing you for telling the GP he was "compliant". My underlying point is that we are all "complaint" in one way or another with the crimes of the Chinese regime.
Did trade embargoes work for North Korea and pre-war Iraq?
Different situation. The Chinese actually have a pro-democracy movement. It can't get it's message out effectively right now because the Government counters it with "Do you really want Democracy? Look at all of the economic growth we are providing!" In that respect every person who buys goods made in China bears some measure of responsibility for helping that Government to retain power.
not pushing my ideals and isms on the sovereign people of China. Basic human rights are the only thing I push and I'm prepared to argue that.
I like how you say in the first sentence that you don't want to push your ideals on them and in the second sentence say you are prepared to push human rights. I'm sure it's occurred to you that different cultures might have a different conception of what "human rights" are.
Re:Doncha think? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, but until they get enough power to bend the laws their way, which one would you rather have living next door?
Re:Meet the new China...same as the old China (Score:1, Insightful)
His attitude is Chaotic Good:stop the wrong in it's tracks regardless of legal consequences.
You are Lawful Neutral:call the cops and watch.