Obama Pushes Freedoms, Open Internet in China

Obama Pushes Freedoms, Open Internet in China

www.foxnews.com

President Obama nudged China to stop censoring the Internet on his first-ever trip to the communist-ruled country, after he was posed a question Monday about Twitter, apparently selected by a U.S. reporter.

The president touched on the sensitive issue at a town hall meeting with students in Shanghai. The question, one of nearly 1,200 that were submitted through the U.S. Embassy Web site, asked whether the Chinese should be able to use Twitter freely.

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Obama mentions the benefits of individual freedoms in a place known for limiting them. Internet, as what i've read in the past couple of months, could be shut down in the US in case of an emergency.
I also know that the freedom of speech in the US is loosing ground at an alarming rate. What is Obama's business telling other countries what to do in regards to internet freedom?
Freedom in America is an illusion. There is no more freedom, there are just privileges to those who stay in line with the Obama administration policies.

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by lagenese


I agree that this is interesting. I think the most disturbing part of this is that he is wasting time telling China to open up the internet.

I'm thinking that he should probably be taking care of his country first.

Hah. Hahaha. Oh man. Sorry.

I think the US administration should revise their foreign affairs agenda and policies. But then again, we know less than 10% of what's really going on...
It's an interesting article to say the least.

Ok, so let's pretend that this speech and previous ones outside of the U.S. were actually in the U.S.

What would that make it look like?
How about a presidential campaign?

Isn't looking like he is campaigning Globally?

And to further push that theory ahead, the same rights and freedoms he is pushing outside the U.S. he is repressing inside the U.S.

A bill to support Iranian dissidents while domestic one's are arrested or considered terroists.

Free internet while he is trying to control it.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Interesting theory you got there. Maybe there is more to this story then you're able to see. I'll keep it in mind for sure. Obama world president... Sounds weird but hey, you never know! lol

Hypocrisy if you ask me. All this talk and at the same time they have their goons setting up a system to censor internet. They're using the copyright excuse to do it Wiki

Originally posted by TarzanBeta

I agree that this is interesting. I think the most disturbing part of this is that he is wasting time telling China to open up the internet.

I'm thinking that he should probably be taking care of his country first.

Hah. Hahaha. Oh man. Sorry.

Indeed, it is laughable lecturing the Chinese about it- this is China, a one party communist country unless Obama has forgotten- it may have "branched out" economically, however, in a country in which only one party and ideology is allowed to govern then I don't think internet freedom is in the offing

[edit on 16-11-2009 by blueorder]

reply to post by blueorder


It may be a strategy, to get the Chinese to react... Who knows what this administration has in mind... They may see China as a threat to their own status as "the" superpower...

Awesome! With all the thousands of murders and mass genocide going on in America and around the world, It's nice to see that our president saw the importance of myspace in China.
WTH!!!

I have no problem with what the president said. IMO Twitter is pretty inane and not fertile ground for social change, but if that's what the Chinese are interested in then I see nothing wrong in him talking about it.

It's also interesting to see that Fox didn't put a negative spin on the story but presented it pretty forthrightly. Unusual for Fox, which is mostly a propaganda machine for the far right.

It seems like anything Obama does is bashed here on ATS. If he so much as sneezes somebody gets outraged about it and makes a thread.

The law of averages would say that even an inept person has to do something right some of the time.

The title seemed to imply the whole internet, of which China has a tight reign of control on. If he goes over there with only Twitter on the brain, China may consider it I think and this would be a good start. Control isn't always bad. If it prevents jacking up my computer with malware/spyware/viruses/trojans/etc. then I like control no matter who sets up the filter but on the whole individuals should have the right to reasonably speak their minds online (meaning no spam that drowns out others and such). I enjoy my freedom of speech. For example, I hope President Obama reverses his abortion policy that promotes the slaughter of human life.

[edit on 17-11-2009 by saint4God]

The irony of this so many-fold...

1.) This push for an open internet comes from a man who's Administration is bent on maintaining government secrecy, allowing Telecomm immunity from warrantless domestic surveillance, and is in secret negotiations over the byzantine and draconian ACTA that will suppress freedom and help close the internet, making it no more than gated communities where every site requires a paid subscription to visit.

2.) His speech pushing for freedom and open internet was censored in China!

Sometimes the reality of Global Politics is far more humorous than any comedy pundit could ever conceive on their own!