A fascinating look at how The Big Bang Theory is censored around the world.
The Big [Censored] Theory
311–320 of 891 posts
Re: The Big [Censored] Theory
#312It's worth noting that American censorship in, say, 1960, was at close to the same level. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_censorship_in_the_United_...
When I saw the comment about "perfectly aligned with China’s “main melody” perspective that justice always wins.", I was immediately reminded of the Hays code. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code (reading that again I discovered https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_Film_Corp._v._Industria... ; the idea that movies were not counted as free speech for several decades in the US may come as a surprise to other HN rea…
It's helpful to look at that case in the context of the time, which was pre-New Deal, more federalist, and the Bill of Rights applied narrowly to the Congress. It was about a state (Ohio) having a censorship board, not federal censorship.
The argument wasn't even made that it was a violation of the first amendment (which would have only applied to laws by Congress, not states). The argument was more about things like whether it was a violation of interstate commerce to have to have different versions of a movie for different states. They did argue that it violated the Ohio state constitutional right to free speech.
Re: The Big [Censored] Theory
#313Earlier quoted context omitted.
My argument is against the statement that the US is “honestly no better” You’re raising a point about RF broadcast of obscene content. That’s a tiny slice of available media. What China is censoring is being done as completely as they can muster. What the FCC censors is narrowed down to airwave broadcasts. Surely you can see that there’s a difference here, right? Tank Man is prohibited completely. Not just over a cer…
Yes, I see that. My retort was to "The United States government does not employ censors to remove portions of shows before allowing them to air (or stream, whatever)." which it effectively does. The scale isn't black and white with China being terrible and USA being great here, it's a sliding scale of shitness, with one being a 4/10 and the other 9/10, but the 4/10 pretends to be a 0/10 and proports "free speech for…
Then you’re arguing with someone else. I’ve never claimed the US is “0/10” or any such silliness. I made sure to acknowledge what censorship does exist here. I referenced FCC authority in that first comment.
“Honestly no better”
That’s what set me off, because it so obviously not true. It’s better in the US. Not perfect. But definitely better.
Re: The Big [Censored] Theory
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some of these jokes which are censored for criticism of China are so tasteless that they ought to be censored in the American version as well, or better still, never written at all. A joke about whether the "chicken" at the local Chinese takeout restaurant is actually chicken? In the 21st century? That is supposed to be amusing?
I think it's important to distinguish between government censorship and corporate self-censorship. Almost nothing should be censored by the government. Almost anything can be censored by private parties (however cowardly such censorship may often be).
Government censorship can look at lot like corporate censorship, remember Zuckerberg said Facebook limited the reach of the news story because FBI informed them something. I am sure this is probably not the first time American government “requested” a corporation to censor something without the public knowing.
Re: The Big [Censored] Theory
#315Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Communist Party is the reason China is in this mess in the first place, and further control and oppression by them isn't going to magically fix it.
That's a fair observation. I'm curious though, do you have any ideas to improve the situation? What would you do if you were responsible for 1.5B people and were facing a situation where the labor force participation drops by half over the next ten years and continues to drop every year since? Will you be able to arrange for the population to be able to be fed, clothed, housed, and given medical care? It's not possib…
I guess I'd try to find a comfortable place to live in exile, start pocketing cash, and figure out how to get there before the doomed ship sinks and angry mobs try to kill me.
Re: The Big [Censored] Theory
#316I don't really agree with this, but consider this argument : Is it really a bad thing if different countries have different understanding of what's allowed/not allowed? If the whole world had the same system of governance, that could be dangerous too.
Keep in mind that this is government censorship; as opposed to private services performing the censorship to meet the desires of their users. I really don't have a problem with services offering edited, family-friendly versions of media as long as its disclosed and there's a way to see the original.
And if a population doesn’t like it and/or wants access to the original, then the corrective action is less destructive, more equally available, and more quickly realized.
I.e. “stop subscribing to the censored service and back any company with the means and intent to stream the originals and everyone wins” as opposed to “vote and/or overthrow the dictatorship or die trying and possibly nobody wins”.
Re: The Big [Censored] Theory
#317Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because the people of China didn't choose this: their oppressive and authoritarian government did it for them.
> Because the people of China didn't choose this: their oppressive and authoritarian government did it for them. Though to be fair, the political ideas that say that is a problem are pretty Western and (relatively) recent.
At some point, one has to make a decision on the values the have, and which ones they consider universally valuable.
Re: The Big [Censored] Theory
#318Earlier quoted context omitted.
It absolutely backfires. No one is as successful at selling US culture as the US, except all those countries that censor exported/imported US culture.
This seems untrue. Do more than a fraction of a percent of Chinese people watch the uncensored versions of things?
I have no idea, but I also doubt that's the most effective metric for determining people buying/being sold, US culture. I think you'd have to sample a wide range of metrics to gauge how well US culture has been sold around the world. You'd also have to come up with a good definition of culture. I'm using a very generous one here, including pop-culture, tech-culture and lots of what many people might consider trash. But yea, notwithstanding all of that, I still support the notion that US culture has been sold effectively throughout the world by the US and those who have tried to censor it.
Re: The Big [Censored] Theory
#319Is aversion to discussion of sex a part of traditional Chinese culture? Seems odd given I'm not aware of any puritanical religions taking hold there.
Non-heterosexual images (and masturbation) are anathema to China's leadership because China is facing a population decline, due to very low fertility.[1] [2] Internally produced TV in China has been censored for portraying "effeminate men".[3] The CCP has also, er, "encouraged", women to spend less time on social media and shopping. Internally the CCP says members must have three children.[4] 1. Here is military age…
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Re: The Big [Censored] Theory
#320Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" Are you referring to the UK version of the 1987 animated "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" TV series? I never realized it was considered controversial! [0] 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_(...
Heavens above, Myrtle! That turtle is a ninja! With nunchaku! Someone think of the children!
> nunchaku
Huh, you weren't kidding. Banned and censored in the UK, banned in Canada, Germany, and several US states... because of Bruce Lee? Bizarre.