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192 points beedeebeedee | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.207s | source
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lysace ◴[] No.41907169[source]
I find it weird that China has a very tight information control and simultaneously over and over again has the weirdest "netizen" rumors that go mainstream.

What's the explanation? That they are explicitly allowed for some strategical reason? Something else?

Edit: @dang: Sorry in advance. I do feel like we got some pretty good discussion around this explosive topic, at least in its first hour.

Folks, keep up the good behavior — it makes me look good.

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erulabs ◴[] No.41907399[source]
My explanation is that their tight control is an illusion. Not to get political, but the illusion of power is power, and suggesting they control billions of peoples speech is certainly an illusion of power.

China, and all other (supposedly) top-down-economies, survive only because their control is not airtight. If they were to actually have complete control, things would fall apart rapidly. “No one knows how Paris is fed” and all that.

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1. candiddevmike ◴[] No.41907440[source]
Ian Malcolm said it best:

"the kind of control you're attempting simply is... it's not possible. If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it's that life will not be contained."

Humans are clever and typically find workarounds given enough time/hope. Sure you could argue that this is some kind of authoritarian 4D chess/matrix scenario to let off steam for an unruly populace, or it's just the natural course of things.