China is not the only Censored Country

President Barrack Obama has recently asked the Chinese government to relax their grip on internet access. It seems that many high ranking Chinese officials are concerned that their own citizens might find something less than favorable about happenings in Beijing on the web – either that or President Obama wants the Chinese people to see how we connect words such as melons, pillows, and telescopes to body parts.

It is nice to know that a government which embeds journalists in fighting units during war, is concerned with broadcasting pictures of the true casualties of the conflicts in which we are involved, maintains surveillance of certain citizens simply because of their name or ethnicity, and detains individuals without charging them of any wrongdoings is telling another government to relax. We live in a country where we need the highest court of law to tell us whether or not Cher and Bono can let an expletive slip on the air, and the Federal Communications Commission fines radio stations for discussing what happens in the bedroom. In fact, these are areas for which we need very little government interference as we have most of it figured out. Just walk around any large college campus between classes and you will find out about the latest f#@*ing thing happening around town, and we need no help with our personal relationships. A quick glance at the divorce rate in this country is evidence that we’re doing just fine with each other. By the way, let’s keep gay marriages out of this. That’s not censorship because if we try hard enough we can link it back to religious doctrine.

When Pacifica Radio can play a recording of Allen Ginsberg reading Howl during the day and there are no more state secrets, then we can tell other countries to relax their censorship laws. Until then, we have will just have to keep our mouths shut.