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The Big [Censored] Theory

pudding.cool

491–500 of 891 posts

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#491
post #469

This happens in the West too. For example one of my favourite shows, "Peep Show" has a scene removed because one of the main characters wears black face to break social taboos. Obviously, it's done in a mocking way, but even mocking someone for black face has been deemed inappropriate by modern Western standards. The show isn't even that old either. I'm almost certain there would be things seen as normal or inoffensi…

Yes but at least that episode of Peep Show was clearly marked and advertised as censored, right? They didn't try to pass it off as unaltered, right?

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#492
post #469

This happens in the West too. For example one of my favourite shows, "Peep Show" has a scene removed because one of the main characters wears black face to break social taboos. Obviously, it's done in a mocking way, but even mocking someone for black face has been deemed inappropriate by modern Western standards. The show isn't even that old either. I'm almost certain there would be things seen as normal or inoffensi…

> This happens in the West too.

Not like this. The censorship occurring in China is state-mandated and absolute, which is completely different from a network or content provider voluntarily choosing to remove objectionable content.

> I'm almost certain there would be things seen as normal or inoffensive in China that would be seen as offensive and censored here.

Again, you're conflating different things. What's being described in the article isn't a network simply choosing to remove content that might be objectionable. It's the state telling the distributors that they cannot show certain things period because the state does not like them.

In the United States a content distributor can distribute such content if they choose to, as long as it's not on a regulated platform (e.g. public television has specific regulations about what can't be shown). In China, the content cannot be distributed at all without first being edited and approved by state censors. It's a completely different situation.

From the article:

> According to the state-owned media outlet Xinhua, streaming platforms received a private notification from regulators to remind them of one key rule:

> “imported American and British TV shows must be ‘reviewed and approved by officials before streaming to the public.’”

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#493

> Cases in the category of disrespect usually involve a joke at the expense of China or its peers North Korea and Russia. They also care for Russia! That is friendship! https://www.google.com/search?q=%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%...

Wow, this was an interesting Google images journey, thanks. Also, is it just my own personal bias, or would I be right to say that imagery with such close bonding between males (2 particular example links below) would not have been used in the west due to concern of being interpreted as gay? http://www.daokedao.ru/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/navek... https://cs14.pikabu.ru/post_img/2022/03/11/4/164697462011834...

I don't know. Such connotations may also depend not only on west / east, but also on time. Those placards are from 60-70 years ago I think.

See also https://www.google.com/search?q=%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%...

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#494
post #457
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I dare you to show that scene at a liberal college and notice how few laughs you get. Did you see the recent video where the white guy dressed up in a poncho, big hat, and fake mustache and carried around maracas? He asked a bunch of white kids on a college campus if they thought his outfit was offensive to Mexicans, and they all said yes. Then he went to the Mexican part of town and asked actual Mexicans, and they…

Good grief, I wish people would stop pointing to a particular subset of an ethnic group to try to "prove" that people are "wrong" to get offended. 1. Videos are easily selectively edited 2. Within an immigrant ethnic group, different subgroups will have different feelings due to their experiences. For example, 1st generation immigrants tend to be less cognizant of this sort of stuff. Here's a bit of a rant for you- a…

I agree with your sentiment, but isn't it a bit ironic that you made a point of emphasizing heterogeneity among ethnic subgroups, but then sort of took that away from what was more specifically mocking Chinese and North Korean stereotypes, rather than broadly Asian? If you were Filipino and got mad about a joke that poked at Chinese materialism culture, wouldn't that be a bit of a reach? Surely within Asian cultures, different stereotypes abound in regional humor, especially is it's taboo to joke about regional cultural differences

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#495
post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did the article imply somewhere that China is unique in it's censorship? I personally tire of this pattern: 1. Article submitted to an international forum about X country doing Y bad thing 2. "Well the USA is just as bad, they also did/doing/will do Y bad thing" Well yes, that is true, but people are voting up the submission because they found that X-doing-Y-today was interesting and don't care to rehash the history…

> Did the article imply somewhere that China is unique in it's censorship? I don't think it implies that, but to be honest, the general implication here on HN is that China is the current Big Bad and everything they do is uniquely bad. It's not spelled out, exactly, but that's how I read many comments here. It may be just me, but that' s the vibe I get from HN in relation to China. > But the regularity with which thi…

> That's just silly. China hasn't infiltrated HN.

This kind of assumption is naive (no offense) and reminds me of the denialism regarding Russian disinformation. You do not need to "infiltrate" the site with "agents". It's fairly easy to write a script checking the front page for mentions of China and manually checking the thread to possibly respond with a comment. Before dismissing concerns like this as conspiratorial or silly, you should do some research on the topic:

[1] https://gking.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/50c.pdf?m=146479...

[2] https://www.info-res.org/post/revealed-coordinated-attempt-t...

[3] https://www.techdirt.com/2021/12/15/how-china-uses-western-i...

[4] https://www.state.gov/prc-efforts-to-manipulate-global-publi...

[5] https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/05/dozens-of-fake-news-websites...

[6] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/28/china-m...

[7] https://www.lawfareblog.com/understanding-pro-china-propagan...

[8] https://mediamanipulation.org/case-studies/astroturfing-how-...

> the general implication here on HN is that China is the current Big Bad and everything they do is uniquely bad

The CCP is hostile to many Western values (e.g. free speech) and they are a primary geopolitical antagonist to the U.S. It's not unreasonable for a mostly U.S. user base to see the worst in CCP behavior or be biased against the CCP.

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#496
post #469

This happens in the West too. For example one of my favourite shows, "Peep Show" has a scene removed because one of the main characters wears black face to break social taboos. Obviously, it's done in a mocking way, but even mocking someone for black face has been deemed inappropriate by modern Western standards. The show isn't even that old either. I'm almost certain there would be things seen as normal or inoffensi…

[deleted]

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#497
post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The law is not a programming language. Believing so is a common misconception amongst engineers, but assuming as much is likely to lead to disappointment, frustration, anger, bickering, conflict, and vexatiously long and mostly unenforceable contracts. In particular, you can't just write up your own legal fictions and expect them to be honored. It would seem the developers in the story above learned this lesson the h…

I don't think this is really relevant. This isn't about logic or about programming, it's about trying to conform to the spirit of what the law says, and the intent behind it. The idea of copyright is "when you reproduce something, the creator should get a cut". Sure, we can argue all day what counts as a "copy" when it comes to computers, but... c'mon. One Bluray disc is bought, and one person gets to watch it. When…

This seems to be equating copying with performance. They're not the same thing, and for most artists in recorded media, it's performance royalties that generate their primary income.

If you wanna change that, find some other way to compensate artists first. They are the value creator. Attacking the bloated middlemen in the delivery chain doesn't remove the need for creators to eat. That is VidAngel's moral failure, as least going by the scenario as described: they weren't returning value to where it came from, instead tried to create a legal fiction to justify rent-seeking behaviour.

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What in particular is racist about it?

If you have watched the show and failed see why it is racist, then we need to give some anti-racist education. It is affirming the stereotype Indian males lack confidence with women. Raj can’t speak with women without the use of alcohol, the show constantly mocks his accent, worshipping of cows etc.

> It is affirming the stereotype Indian males lack confidence with women

Only people overly and unnecessarily obsessed with race could say such a thing. Rest assured, the rest of us just see a person. It's almost like you can't even imagine that there could actually exist a man who has problems speaking to women and just happens to be Indian.

Edit: and in case it escaped your attention, all the main characters lack confidence with women, this just manifests differently in each character. Raj's background is relevant only in your mind.

> Raj can’t speak with women without the use of alcohol

Sounds consistent with the previous character trait, but this doesn't sound consistent with the stereotype you're so concerned about. It's almost like Raj is not just a stereotype character.

> the show constantly mocks his accent,

It's almost as if accents cause humourous misunderstandings in real-life that people can relate to. Weird. Not sure why that's "mocking" exactly, but I've surmised that you're pretty sensitive about this stuff so I'll chalk it up to that.

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#499

> Cases in the category of disrespect usually involve a joke at the expense of China or its peers North Korea and Russia. They also care for Russia! That is friendship! https://www.google.com/search?q=%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%...

[deleted]

Re: The Big [Censored] Theory

#500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the downvotes you're attracting give some indication for the HN crowd.

Quoted post unavailable.

Well taking only this thread as a datapoint... your list of censored news stories wasn't convincing. In what sense were any of those "censored"? I read all those cases being made on the internet. Are you naming editorial choice of what to publish "censorship"? I'm just confused.

Anecdotally from my own perspective, I see big waves of voting on HN that go in various political directions. Seems consistent with self-selection by topic combined with randomness.

None of it inspires confidence in your assessment of being "censored" on HN, or diagnosing the audience as less curious.

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