Re:I think the Chinese leadership get it
by NationalHQ on Saturday September 04, 2010 @11:42AM
(#1662864)
China's people will make it happen. Their government seems to be contributing. China has great strength, and they compete globally. They are in the game. The fact is, the Chinese would be stupid not to build a just, fair and democratic society, for the universal benefits it endows. They aren't stupid.
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Dude, for fuck's sake. Intelligence and stupidity don't necessarily become key differentiators until after you achieve a reasonable measure of intellectual freedom and individual sovereignty. Where by 'you' I mean 'you and most people around you'.
On balance it's better to be a smart person, that only goes so far when you are malnourished and worked 18 hours per day in a gulag. Or when you simply had to quit school before puberty in order to obtain food for yourself or your loved ones.
Finally: go to China and ask the people you meet how stupid they think it would be not to build a 'democratic society'. You will be politely educated and/or ridiculed, and realize that you are projecting your own (basically correct) way of thinking onto people who don't think your way at all.
Easier said than done with a country that size with such a complex governance structure and history.
I think the will is only a small part of what's required, the competence to pull it off is the larger issue.
Re:I think the Chinese leadership get it
by afterburner on Saturday September 04, 2010 @12:04PM
(#1662898)
There won't be as much freedom as in the west as long as the millenia-old fear of rebellion continues to guide their decision-making. Note that this fear is part of what drives what little reform there is.