And those would be... the Chinese censors, who found something to censor in the 44th inaugurational speech.
Why would they do that? And what did they find to censor?
The answers are given by Business Week, in today's "Eye on Asia" column .
Here's how they put it:
"Why in the world would anyone - even a Chinese censor - be so stupid as to censor the inauguration speech of the new American president, especially one so popular overseas as Obama?"
They are basing themselves on James Fallows's The Atlantic blog post to answer this and this is what he has to say :
James Fallows : “the people in charge of China’s propaganda apparatus are among the least worldly and most rigid-minded people in the entire country, with absolutely the least feel for how people in other countries might react or think. So apparently some of these ignoramuses considered it a good and prudent idea to cut off Obama — even if the vast majority of their fellow citizens would consider such paranoia to be extreme and bizarre. Also, within a part of the government where orthodoxy is everything, an official takes no risks by being too hard-line, but could get in trouble by being too permissive.”
So, as the Business Week blog post puts it, "the censors’ knees jerked and they cut". "Rules are rules".
Why would they do that? And what did they find to censor?
The answers are given by Business Week, in today's "Eye on Asia" column .
Here's how they put it:
"Why in the world would anyone - even a Chinese censor - be so stupid as to censor the inauguration speech of the new American president, especially one so popular overseas as Obama?"
They are basing themselves on James Fallows's The Atlantic blog post to answer this and this is what he has to say :
James Fallows : “the people in charge of China’s propaganda apparatus are among the least worldly and most rigid-minded people in the entire country, with absolutely the least feel for how people in other countries might react or think. So apparently some of these ignoramuses considered it a good and prudent idea to cut off Obama — even if the vast majority of their fellow citizens would consider such paranoia to be extreme and bizarre. Also, within a part of the government where orthodoxy is everything, an official takes no risks by being too hard-line, but could get in trouble by being too permissive.”
So, as the Business Week blog post puts it, "the censors’ knees jerked and they cut". "Rules are rules".
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