There is a new video that has apparently gone viral in China that represents an allegory for for suppression of speech in China. It is called The War of Internet addiction and illustrates the challenge that confronts governments that seek to maintain control over expression within their borders.
Here’s a brief excerpt of from an article from the Wall Street Journal:
The movie includes jokes about many controversial topics, such as tainted food, soaring home prices, and a bitter class controversy that erupted last year after a wealthy driver ran down and killed a poor young pedestrian. A common theme is frustration over injustice and a sense of powerlessness.
This video, based on a an online game called World of Warcraft, is a thinly veiled critique of the efforts by the Chinese government and, tellingly, the government has not sought to shut down the video, which is shared online….yet.
What it shows is that no government can permanently suppressed free expression. Some can do it for a very long time (see Soviet Union). But one of the wonders of the web is the extent to which power has shifted to the people. China cannot, at the same time, present itself as a modern society and also suppress the Internet. It will have to choose which is wants to be. It can’t do both.
Hooray to “Corndog,” which is the psuedonyn for the creator of World of Internet Addition. He reminds me of this guy:
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