Why The Internet Boycott Is Less Than Ideal

Ideal — note that word. Note what happens when two very strong fronts come head to head. We had this about a week ago, when Beijing’s skies turned pitch black right around noon. Bad things happen when two — let’s call “extreme things” — go head to head.

In a China that’s just 100 days shy of its Big Sixty (as in the People’s Republic — the whole nation itself claims about five millennia of uninterrupted history), things are already getting pretty sensitive and there’s a fair amount of über-idealism. The latest ideologically charged move — a proposal to abandon the Web on July 1 by Ai Weiwei — is a kneejerk reaction against a new Internet bill requiring PCs to come with “cleansing”, ie censorship software, pre-installed — but apparently not pre-enabled, according to official outlets.

Meanwhile, the ideological camp on the other side has never been any tougher. The official press has spawned as of late a 48-page People’s Daily — probably a record for the party newspaper. Twitter has been blocked for six days in early June, apparently on “very sensitive days”, and Ai Weiwei himself seems to have quite a bit of his communications not only monitored, but also shut down, including an account on a local microblog service. Beijing is fully aware that Olympics-level — maybe even tougher security — is needed on October 1, which local media has repeated said will feature a military parade. “Harmonization” so-called of sensitive topics has never been more felt — and has never gotten this buck-naked.

There’s an ideological storm brewing. Only one thing here: not a great deal of folks actually seem to care. You can “blame” it on the “lack of education” of certain “sensitive events”, or you can actually go the Mashable way and realize that people have work to do:

Furthermore, it’s hard to imagine the entire China boycotting all online activities for even one small part of the work day, especially those who have to be online to be able to work.

Also something of note: “All of China” as in the online population does not equal 1.3 billion. There are 316 million of us in China online — that number, though, is sure to keep on growing more and more. Already by headcount, the People’s Republic has surpassed the United States and looks set to grow more and more. Frankly speaking, it’s just a mix of “God knows” and “a matter of time” regarding when we’ll see the one billionth Chinese Netizens surf online.

As an actual expat in China, yours truly sees China increasingly opening up. Verboten topics are less and less these days, and the media has become significantly more open — although open attacks on, say, the central leadership still end up being harmonized. China’s going through growing pains but we’re seeing the light of day. Probably what’s least needed right now is a mass campaign to nix all those changes the past 30 years has given us. Yes, it’s not smooth sailing all along, but at least in the history of the People’s Republic, it’s not a downhill ride as of late.