Reuters reported this morning that Chinese President Hu Jintao has declared his intention to not only increase existing filtering and search-and destroy missions of information, but also to encourage all "internet units" to contribute to creating a culture of Socialism.
This should be an interesting experiment in attempted Governmental control of the internet. So far, the Chinese Government has fallen slightly short of total censorship, because they can only block a story once it has been posted to a blog or message board.
Apparently the Chinese Government is quite convinced of the need to propagandize their populace, because the article ends with another declaration made in the same press briefing, where sports will be further encouraged for youth, to mold an appropriately competitive persona.
Since China is a Socialist government, the prize for competition is not a higher income as in a capitalist state, but is a system of governmental awards of recognition. So the goal is surely to keep people from knowing what they could be rewarded with in another culture. I think by taking away free information, you're already telling the populace they're getting shafted. Trying to force loyalty is a great way to lose it.
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