As a citizen of the USA, I have my personal perspective about the ongoing debacle with China. My thoughts on the matter go like this:Gotta love how Red China has learned western ways. This week they're using a propaganda trick right out of the Neo-Con-Job book. And it's my favorite! When someone accuses you of a sleazy move, take their words and turn them right back on them, pretending with a straight face that it is actually you that are the accuser and they the guilty. If that sounds entirely pathological, you get a *DING* and a gold star. ;-)
Here is the story of deceit that got me all riled up today:
China slams US criticism of Internet controls
Let me very briefly and simplistically set the scene. The story by now is very old, 12 years old to be precise. I've told it many times across the net as have plenty of others. So if you've heard it before, you're excused from class.
1998: US President Clinton and the US Congress provide Red China, aka 'Mainland China', aka 'Communist China', aka 'People's Republic of China', with Most Favored Nation status. It is the culmination of over two decades of courting the Red Chinese government to open up China once again to the west for trade and biznizz (my spelling of 'business' whenever something childish, primitive or self-destructive is afoot).
That same year, immediately after Most Favored Nation status was acquired, the Red Chinese government reached out to their computer hacker community and encouraged them financially to form what became the Red Hacker Alliance. You can read about the RHA HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE. Their stated goal was to prevent hacking of Red Chinese computers by foreign countries. Here is a paraphrasing of their manifesto,
'The "Alliance" which identifies itself as “a network security research organization made up of Chinese patriotic hackers,” specializes in network security, “patriotic hacker training,” and software development, according to the group's Internet site.'However, their activities evolved such that their purpose served to perpetuate Red China's paranoia, as expressed through their requirement of subverting all rights of privacy, across the entire planet.
[The timeline table above is from the original online version of 'Evolution of the Red Hacker Alliance'.]
Meanwhile, the Red Chinese government have been discovered soliciting hackers at US universities. A secret Red Chinese government memo was also discovered a few years ago that explicitly declared a 'Technology War' against the USA.
Mankind can be so strange. Humans require a sense of security and safety. Here we see that requirement taken to an extreme expression of selfishness and self-destruction. Again we have the simple equasion that one's behavior toward others is an expression of one's behavior toward one's self.
The US government, in their incompetence, their fear of looking foolish, as well as their need to feel safe behind a mask of perceived security, didn't acknowledge the actions of the Red Hacker Alliance until circa 2007. This was despite the fact that the RHA had blatantly and admittedly attacked hundreds of US websites, including the White House and the US Navy, in 2001. That's six years of public denial. The mind boggles. Among the proven hacks by the RHA have been the Bot zombieing of numerous US federal computers such that all and any data posted to them, banal or top secret, was sent directly to computers of RHA members in Red China.
(Hmm, I forget. What is supposed to be the purpose of the NSA?)
Meanwhile, many Internet companies capitulated to Red China's censorship 'laws' in an effort to profit from their huge population. The first serious protest against Red China's totalitarian tactics was made by Google this past week in the aftermath of their discovery of Red China's hacking into the Gmail accounts of anti-Red China dissidents. After reading these private email messages, their contents were used to prosecute the dissidents as enemies of the state, leading to jail time and execution. The hack was performed via yet-another security flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer. (A patch for the IE security flaw was posted this past Thursday). Bravo Google for fighting both hacking and censorship, finally living up to your motto of 'Don't Be Evil'.
PERSPECTIVES:
Here we are in the USA, bizy giving the citizen rights of free speech to corporations while China refuses to extend to any citizen the simple right of privacy. There is no such thing as freedom of speech or freedom of thought or freedom of choice in Red China. Red China is the world of the book 1984 by George Orwell. THE PARTY is watching you. It's the SOS that inspired the Cold War. And yet, looking at the situation from inside the head of a Red Chinese citizen can frazzle your mind. They believe they're fighting for 'freedom'!
"For we love China, our motherland! We love Freedom!"To get perspective from within Red China, have a look at a grab of the short film "2008 !China Stand Up!". It was created by Tang Lie, a Red Chinese citizen, in response to western media condemning Red Chinese aggression against Free Tibet protestors. It extols the views of Mao, rants at western imperialist subversion of the Red China economy (despite the fact that selling products to the west is the basis of the modern Red Chinese economy), and blames the Dalai Lama for violent protests against Red China's own imperialist occupation of Tibet. Here is a quote from the video using what I call 'reverse propaganda':
"And they lie, they lie, lie...again and again!"The liars lie about their country's lies. Or do they? What if these people believe what they're saying? What if what sounds like ridiculous propaganda to me sounds entirely righteous to them?
Of course, this issue gets messed around from black and white into gray mud when considering that the west, certainly the USA, does indeed interfere with Red China's affairs. If only the USA were pristine, innocent and well meaning in their affairs with the rest of the world. But we're not. The USA, unfortunately, is home to some of the most exploitative and self-destructive power brokers in the world. Toss in the political lunacy perpetrated by the Neo-Con-Jobs in the USA since 1997 and it's not so hard to understand why thoughtful people view the intentions of the USA with skepticism.
Therefore, I end my brain twisting essay by pointing out that we have two corrupt and dishonest powers attacking each other on many fronts. History teaches that this is what humanity does in general. Both sides are enemies of sanity when they play manipulation games against each other. As individuals we can only take what means the most to us and express it to others. In my case, I have no way of knowing all the dirt pulled on China by the USA. But it is blatant what China has pulled on the USA and what they pull on their own citizens regarding human rights, particularly their rights to privacy and free speech. Don't consider me any fanatic of USA skullduggery. However, consider me at odds with the foolish and paranoid government in Red China attempting to lie about their persistent 'Technology War' against the rest of the world.
Here are a couples sites where you can keep track of Red China's computer crimes:
China Digital Times
The Dark Visitor
And of course, here is a counter-perspective site that follows western crimes against Red China. Use a translation site, such as Babel Fish or Google Language Tools, for reading.
Anti-CNN.com, Access China Communication Network
If you're into understanding the human frailty I call Deceptive Truth, try reconciling the information provided by these three websites. Bring aspirin. Better yet...
If you're really into a challenge, make your head explode by watching the disturbing video of a nice little Red Chinese kid reciting the propaganda line fed to the populace about how Tibet really is part of China, come visit and see. "China has done nothing wrong." And so forth. (o_0)
'STOP ATTACKING CHINA.2008 CHINA STAND UP!'
We never know everything about anything. This little kid lives with reality distortion and so do the rest of us. All we can do is make choices that help us gain enough perspective to think outside the boxes we are handed. We struggle to find sanity in the midst of a cacophony of confusion and delusion.
"We will stand up and hold together always as one family in harmony!"It could happen. But I believe we have better success focusing on oneness and harmony within our individual selves. That's hard enough to accomplish in one lifetime. Then let The Reverse Golden Rule naturally follow from there. One's behavior toward others is an expression of one's behavior toward one's self.
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