Censorship in China
Introduction:
Censorship is a technic often used by a state to control the information available to its citizens. Although the very first act of censorship is unknown, many acts of censorship throughout history has been documented. Acts such as burning books, imprisoning, and killing those with ideas that go against the belief of the government/ the main power holding group. Although it is thought that these acts are no longer used/ heavily frowned upon in most areas of the world, there are plenty of areas where these acts are performed systematically by the government. China has almost always been a society that heavily relies on acts of censorship of its own people to keep things in line. After the Communist Party
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Mill is clearly, and most definitely, against all types of censorship, as censorship infringes on one’s freedom. Mill was also censored by his government, however, he did not let himself be censored completely. The whole book, On Liberty, is written about giving freedom to men, to allow them to live the lives that they desire to live. Mill states in his fourth chapter
"As soon as any part of a person's conduct affects prejudicially the interests of others, society has jurisdiction over it, and the question whether the general welfare will or will not be promoted by interfering with it, becomes open to discussion.”.
Mill believes that the only time one’s liberty should be limited is when it affects the interests/ the liberties of others around him. Having said that, it is clear what Mill’s stance on the Chinese censorship would be. The Chinese government does not censor to protect its citizens, but to protect their political powers. To Mill, this would be the government infringing on the liberties of its citizens without any justification. Mill, without a doubt would question the legitimacy of the actions of the government, and urge the people of China to act against their government, as it is now violating trust that was given to them. To Mill, there is nothing more important than the liberties of individuals, and the acts committed by China would be enough for him to disavow the Communist Party of China
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Living in a world where all writings were censored, quite similar to modern day China, Mill had to hide his true intensions within his words. Mill, to voice his ideas whilst saving them from censorship, hid his ideas by acting as a member of society who is concerned about those with such ideas. For instance, Hamburger has described in his book, John Stuart Mill on Liberty and Control,
“In one of his ruminations about rhetoric, entered in his diary at about the time he was planning On Liberty, he worried about the difficulties faced by those who were “in advance of their time” as they tried “to gain the ear of the public.””. As Mill made such actions, he may urge the people of China to do the same, and to go against the restrictive censorship set on them, by hiding one’s true intensions by misguiding the reader from
He is was total opposite of Metternich. Mill’s “On liberty” essay was about the individual liberty. To Mill’s, the only important thing is the happiness of the individual, and such happiness may only be accomplished in an enlightened society, in which people are free to partake in their own interests. Thus, Mills stresses the important value of individuality, of personal development, both for the individual and society for future progress. For Mill, an educated person is the one who acts on what he or she understands and who does everything in his or her power to understand. Mill held this model out to all people, not just the specially gifted, and advocates individual initiative over social control. He emphasizes that things done by individuals are done better than those done by governments. Also, individual action advances the mental education of that individual, something that government action cannot ever do, and for government action always poses a threat to liberty and must be carefully
Mill begins “On Liberty” by asserting the principle that we should never regulate the actions of others, except if those actions harm others. He goes on to suggest that we should not restrict speech, even when we find it false. What seems odd about this is that Mill is a utilitarian, which means that the rightness or wrongness of a policy or action depends on its consequences. Clearly, some speech does an awful lot of harm and not much good, so how can Mill hold the view that we should never censor? (Your answer should include Mill’s discussion of why censorship “robs the human race” and you should cover both cases in which the minority view is false and when it’s
In relation to social obligations and advancement of society, Mill writes advocating the expression of one’s opinion as the main driving force. Mill states, “If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in sile...
...ave the freedm to make mistakes and have discussions and debates in a healthy setting where others can learn from each other, and be able to raise their voice without having to be worried by the idea of being bullied. He strongly believed in having the freedom to develop your own personality and having the strength to make choices. Mills is only able to see progress in society if we enter a world of culture, free conformity, and harm. We must be given the right to free expression, freedom and the right to liberty without the fear of threat or being silenced. It’s because of these justifications that mill believes that mankind would not be justified in silencing an individual just like that one inidivdual, if given the power to do so, would not be justified in silencing all of mankind. Through these actions, we as humans will create the ultimate gaood for mankind.
It was the events between 1946 and 1964 that strengthened communism in China. At the end of World War II, the Nationalist Party (GMD) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) raced for power in China. The chairman of the Communist Party was Mao Zedong and their army was known as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The Nationalist’s were led by Chiang Kai-shek and their army was the Kuomintang.
Mill surmises that one may be tempted to state that public authority, or the general will, would be legitimated in engaging in censorship because the general will should be propagated as the truth, however the duty of judgement falls upon individuals, not the state, to determine the
Fitzpatrick, J. R. (2006). John Stuart Mill's political philosophy: Balancing freedom and the collective good. London [u.a.: Continuum.
The Chinese government pressured Taiwan’s social media to self-censor because Taiwan revealed news that was biased against China. The censorship takes away the free will of knowledge from everyone other than the people imposing the censorship and also could be a potential threat in cases where conflict would take place. The China Factor in Taiwan’s Media by Huang Jaw-Nian states that “ In China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enforces administrative censorship on the media with political and legal penalties” (27). The Chinese government attempts to silence Taiwan’s social media which will ultimately keep the public oblivious and under the government’s control. Additionally, Taiwan depends on China for income, meaning that the Chinese government holds the power to indirectly censor Taiwan.
...Mill does not implicitly trust or distrust man and therefore does not explicitly limit freedom, in fact he does define freedom in very liberal terms, however he does leave the potential for unlimited intervention into the personal freedoms of the individual by the state. This nullifies any freedoms or rights individuals are said to have because they subject to the whims and fancy of the state. All three beliefs regarding the nature of man and the purpose of the state are bound to their respective views regarding freedom, because one position perpetuates and demands a conclusion regarding another.
The government in china is very concerned with limiting the freedom of expression for it's citizens in all possible ways. Let's examine first the reason why censorship is such an important aspect for the Chinese government. According to the book “A Short History of China” by Gordon Kerr when the renaissance took place in Europe from the 14th through the 17th century it changed people's view in many different ways because it was “a period of exploration, discovery and advancement in almost every field”(Gordon Kerr 87); it was a rebirth of the ancient traditions. Mean...
Mills believes that the people who “silence” people the most would be the Catholic Church. He thinks they are the most prejudice against people who voice against there believes. He explains, “…that a large portion of the noblest and most valuable moral teaching has been the work, not only of men who did not know, but men who knew and rejected, the Christian faith” (49). Essentially, some of our most important teachings have come from people speaking against the Christian Church. In summary, Mills believes that in order for people and society to progress, we must give them the ability to think for themselves. Mills is persuasive in his first argument because a society that is silenced will never...
My thoughts and feelings on Mill vary, but I’d like to share my negative opinion towards the principle and hope to put it in a different perspective. The harm principle was published in Mill’s work, Of Liberty, in 1859. He states, “That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant (978).” This means that government is not able to control peoples’ actions unless they are causing harm to other individuals.
Censorship allows governments more control of society than they already have, slowly progressing governments utilizing censorship to a dictatorship. Often times, this censorship can lead to immense rebellions. A good example of this is in China, where Google has been censored by a provider called The Great Firewall of China, which censors information that could be viewed as defamatory or insulting to Chinese government and culture. According to the article “Google turns off China censorship warning” as published by BBC News Technology, “Google has had a rocky relationship with the Chinese authorities since January 2010, when the company said it may shut down Chinese operations due to a ‘sophisticated and targeted’ cyber attack. Google said at the time that it was no longer willing to censor the Google search engine”. Many journalists have also taken a look at Egypt, which also utilizes censorship. According to “Egyptian authorities step up censorship” as published by the Committee to Protect Journalists website, the new military-run Egyptian government is censoring news outlets and keep journalists, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates. “Egyptia...
In this instance, Mill would agree with the court ruling because, like his views concerning free exercise of will, government restriction and majority rule, both the court ruling and Mill’s ideals are concerned for the best interests of the individual rather than for the greater good of society. Complete free exercise will inhibit individual and societal freedom. According to Mill, one may act as one chooses unless one is inflicting harm on others. He argues that one is free to behave “according to his own inclination and judgment in things which concern himself” as long as “he refrains from molesting” (64). The problem arises in the freedom allowed to the individual performing the potentially dangerous act.
Interests: China’s leaders desire to improve their nation’s economy while preserving political stability. They want to censor political discussions to prevent “westernization” of China,