Chinese Government Takes Down Anti-Pollution Documentary "Under The Dome" 87
An anonymous reader writes with a link to BBC's report that [A]uthorities in China have removed from websites a popular documentary which highlights the country's severe pollution problem. Under the Dome explains the social and health costs of pollution, and was watched by more than 100 million people online, sparking debates. It was removed just two days after Premier Li Keqiang called pollution a blight on people's lives.
Searching YouTube gives you a pretty good idea of what the Chinese government doesn't want people to see.
No link? (Score:5, Funny)
I guess there's so much smog that even links can't be seen.
Re:It's not censorship (Score:5, Insightful)
...these gloomy documentaries aren't helping the cause...
Yes they do... They motivate people to demand action to clean up, and to remind them we can have nice things and a clean planet. The 'dark shadow' over the government is well deserved when it doesn't respond. I find your response highly suspect.
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It is well-known that the government is still very unwilling to touch the heavy industries that pollute the most, especially in cities where there is just one employer. They're also very hesitant to bring polluters to justice, even if they pour poison freely into the river that supplies the city next door with drinking water.
It's high time Chinese folks understood that pollution is not a natural occurrence that cannot be prevented, but occurs because the cost of doing business is paid out of their health.
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China is America at the height of the industrial revolution.
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The documentaries should instead let people know what the government is doing...
You are free to write one yourself. You have no right to tell other people they can't just because you don't like the content. Your posts appear to be very suspiciously like ones of a government 'employee', very likely in in their public relations department. There is no other logic behind them.
Re:It's not censorship (Score:5, Informative)
Are you high? Of course it's censorship. A textbook example of it, in fact. Whatever the rationale might be for it does not alter that fact.
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Tricky thing though. How can you censor information about pollution from people who wear masks daily because of pollution. So likely it is more about repackaging and delivery at a more controllable pace to prevent mob reaction as they have quite a large mob to deal with. What is interesting in the documentary is the denial, they know the problem, they can not really pretend that it is not happening. However they live in denial preferring a comfortable lie, rather than an uncomfortable truth. How will they
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Yep, you are definitely working in a government's 'public relations' department. Censorship is always bad, regardless of the culture. Nobody has the right to decide what others can see and say. I am for anything that forces a government to respond to its citizens. And this kind of reporting makes them respond faster, which is a good thing. It helps people see through the facade, and it exposes who the government serves. This helps to motivate them to fix their government. We are on one planet. The pollution
Is wasn't before it was (Score:3)
In a previous story on this documentary, I read that a number of national news sources were promoting the film. So what changed that they would take it down now?
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That's the same game policians play in every country. They want to keep their jobs so they want everyone to "think" things are better than they are. That's why there is such an interest in censoring and controling the news and when they can't censor there's always distraction tactics, such as releasing bad news when other high profile news stories are taking all the headlines. (One PR droid
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It's not just politicians who play this game. It's everybody. Ever been in a status meeting (whups, standup) where a dev glossed over something? Or emphasized something to avoid bringing up something that would look bad?
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Most likely foreign (western) involvement, which is one of the two things you shouldn't do in Chinese politics.
After being dominated by foreign powers for a mere 110 years there is a certain lack of trust within the Chinese government, as soon as there is foreign involvement in its politics. The movie was picked up by foreign media and foreign activist groups - and that's when it fell from grace.
The other thing you shouldn't do in Chinese politics is criticize the government - in the strict sense. That is:
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This is a distinction commonly lost to people here and leads to the impression, that the censorship is arbitrary. Well, it is not.
Arbitrary or not, censorship is evil. And when Chinese smog comes to California we all have damn good right to say something about it.
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I was just in China. I saw a feature story about this doco on Xinwen Lianbo (evening news) on CCTV-1 a few nights ago. So did about 200 Chinese people who were sitting in the same restaurant as me at the time.
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Was that before the People's Congres, or after?
Re:Is wasn't before it was (Score:5, Informative)
The order to take the videos offline was sent to all media companies. These orders are always secret, but a worker at the office of a Shanghai media company decided to leak the document. In this document, the Public Relations Department (literally Propaganda Dept, but "propaganda" doesn't have negative connotations in Chinese) orders the video taken down and that all media organizations must cease covering the topic. It cites the upcoming Lianghui ("Meeting of Two") [wikipedia.org] government conference, and a pressing need for "online harmony" to precede those governmental deliberations as the reason, saying the public debate has gotten too popular/heated. So it looks like they had a change of mind after seeing the massive response. Report also says the worker has been suspended.
http://www.ftchinese.com/story... [ftchinese.com]
http://www.boxun.com/news/gb/c... [boxun.com]
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Observe the little documentary casting a shadow over big China.
Your censorship apologia would sweep away all things gloomy: fellow citizens, think positive! (or else)
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It's one thing to see smog out the window day after day, it's another to find out how widespread the pollution is, or to see green beaches, exploded trees, and river water so polluted that it doesn't look like water. The U.S. would be where China is right now were it not for the people who raised enough hell fifty years ago that we have the EPA today.
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I watched the document earlier today. It's not gloomy. It has a very clear call to action with many realistic ideas of how to combat pollution. Actually watching it made me think that maybe China can get this pollution situation fixed some day.
Maybe you should watch it too?
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they just cast a dark shadow over China and its government.
How can they tell?
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I vehemently disagree. I highly recommend taking the 16 minutes and 39 seconds to actually watch the most compelling part of the documentary [youtube.com] before trying to wave it away as "gloomy documentaries." For you to say such a thing shows that, contrary to your statement, you are denying the presence of pollution--or at least the social responsibility we all have to improve our health, life spans, and quality of life by regulating pollution.
I live in Washington DC and spend a great deal of time worrying about my h
Search youtube (Score:2, Informative)
I guess a link [youtube.com] is too much to ask?
RTFA (Score:2)
BBC article (Score:3, Interesting)
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Please don't link to poxy mobile versions of sites. Let those who enjoy suffering just because they're using a phone or tablet get redirected to them. Thank you.
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That's actually kinda funny, since his post appeared to rustle your jimmies so badly that you're throwing a hissy fit over it. Maybe it's time to take a step back from this lovely digital world, and wonder why your post comes across as a self-absorbed iAsshole.
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iGadgets are prevalent, and soon shall be the most common means to access web sites. Get used to it or get used to be ridiculed for being an clueless old fart too stupid to figure out how to use a "view standard version" link or to realize that most sites automatically redirect to the standard version when a desktop browser is detected, as the parent's link did.
Many mobile sites don't offer the option to switch to "desktop view". Of those that do, it's fairly common to get thrown right back to the "mobile" view, after clicking on another link. The transition can also fail in any number of frustrating ways. I've seen sites that automatically re-direct back to the "mobile" view, or take you to the main homepage of the site, rather than shown the "desktop version" of the article you desired. Lately, user agent spoofing doesn't seem to be as effective; it seems si
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I've heard that phones manufactured in the current decade have screen resolutions much greater than 320x240.
Perhaps it's time that you considered an upgrade?
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I read the BBC story already. Just up late and bored, so I thought I'd see if I could troll some iFanboi, and l0ungeb0i eagerly took the bait.
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Yes. We can be assured that there's always another self-absorbed drama queen coming round the bend, ready and willing to provide us a bit of free entertainment to spice up an otherwise dull moment. Isn't life grand?
Link to videos, with English subtitles (Score:5, Informative)
thank you (Score:1)
when i searched i kept getting links to some stupid escape media tv serial out of the blighted states.
says a lot, really, the things our resepective cultures prefer.
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Thank you for doing what Slashdot apparently couldn't (be arsed to).
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Obligatory Firesign (Score:4, Funny)
"Where there's smoke there's work."
--
BMO
Dur, how does the World Wide Web work again? (Score:3)
An anonymous reader writes with a link
...that he's apparently unwilling to share with the rest of us. Thanks!
Searching YouTube
Searching YouTube? How about acting like a professional news site instead, and providing a simple, clickable, link?
Did Tim Berners-Lee die in vain?!
I expect a news story, not homework and a test. Yes, I'm lazy. That's why I visit news sites in the first place instead of roaming the world to see things first hand.
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Did Tim Berners-Lee die in vain?!
No, he died in Washington DC.
BABE: I see ...well, who am us, anyway?
EDDIE: We're one of you, and you're one of us, I think.
JOE: Maybe ...
DC: Possibly ...
BABE: How do you tell? How do you know for sure? How do you ever really know?
JOE: They didn't ask questions like that back in 1776! No, they didn't have time back in 1776! Back in 1776, boy, they were too busy singing songs like...
EDDIE [Singing]:
"Yankee Doodle came to terms,
Writing Martin Buber.
Stuck a Fuhrer in our back,
An
I knew China was polluted but... (Score:1)
"I cut up a lemon and put it beside my pillow. When I returned to Beijing, I discovered I was pregnant."
Now that is serious pollution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Hey China! (Score:1)
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The issue isn't about burying heads in sand. People here discuss pollution daily. It's on the news, it's in the media. The premier, last Thursday, made a speech about pollution and how the gov't vows to continue fighting pollution, calling it a "blight on people's quality of life and a trouble that weighs on their hearts". There is a huge effort in China to try to curb the pollution issue, and as someone who lives here and has serious concerns about the air, I can attest to watching the AQI (US consulate so
Under The Dome (Score:2)
I thought this was about Stephen King's novel and television/TV s(eries/how). :P
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that's what I thought as well... but considering that was such a fucking abortion (I mean seriously? King wrote THAT crap??)...
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More like CBS wrote that? Haha! I stopped watching it in the beginning of season 2.