China has a competing system, culture, and government to that of the West. If it has to deal with the reality and consequences of its actions, it certainly doesn't need a Westerner on a pedestal to look down on its self-determination.

How can it be good? There's a million ways it can be good, but you and I wouldn't know them for sure. Just like how arbitrary Western policies can swing either the positive or negative side of consequences. Just like how a large portion of Britain thinks Brexit is good, and a large portion thinks it's bad. You can't just assume your viewpoint is automatically assumed to correct. You have just as much responsibility to defend your position as the opposition does to have to defend it against your inquisitions.

Before you judge, you're viewing China from a lens of systematic Western propaganda. You automatically assume their crazy laws are crazier than those proposed in the US, like New York's anti-large-soda law, which is also an example of mass behavior control.

From China's perspective, they probably think America is barbaric in terms of gun control (guns are generally not allowed in China), just as we from our perspective think it's barbaric they censor their internet.

What if I think that China's censorship is bad and New York's soda law is silly and our lack of gun control is bad? Then can I judge, or is this one of those things where I have to fix my own country first somehow?

People often bring up similarly misguided policies in Western countries when defending China's policies but this kind of censorship is bad no matter who practices it.

If you want to know how censorship can be good, look at all the crank theories and beliefs that people expressed that the majority of the population would regard it as 'wrong', and said population would be right.

But the government couldn't censor their views, because it would be against our constitutional rights. For better or for worse, we think the freedom of expression outweigh the benefit of having a government ban expressions.

I am glad that doesn't happen here in the Western world, but it's a good idea to try to think from their point of views of how censorship might be good.

Chinese civilization has been enormously successful, but it was designed for a largely agrarian society. In the modern industrial era, it has been found repeatedly that, over the long term, free and open discussion leads, on average to better governmental decisions than when all public discussion is suppressed and decisions are made by small elite.

Thanks. This'll come in handy the next time I'm arguing against the anti-large-soda law with someone who supports it on the grounds that it serves a greater good.