[benliong78]

You're right that correlation does not equal causation, but it doesn't have to be for those folks to not care.

Having lived in Singapore, Hong Kong (current) and China, I can tell you that in Singapore's case, folks are aware that they live under a semi-dictatorship, that their government controls all media (radio, tv, everything is state-owned). But they always say "but I guess the government is doing a good job".

One has nothing to do with the other. The government can do a good job without the dictatorship, but it's the way folks rationalize their helplessness, their sense of lack of control over their fate.

This is also why we in Hong Kong ARE fighting against these kind of controls, probably in vein, but I for one do NOT want to resign in rationalizing for the government's over-control without a fight.

[rorykoehler]

I've lived in Singapore too. Its mighty oppressive in that I found myself self-censoring on occasion but you can't compare it to the dystopia China has become.

[hutzlibu]

"compare it to the dystopia China has become."

Just out of curiosity, what times are you referring to, when china became dystopian?

[rorykoehler]

If you have to ask you haven't been paying attention

[hutzlibu]

So ... apparently you mean the recent events?

Well, have you ever heard of the tiananmen place?

Or ... the "cultural revolution" from Mao himself?

Or the cleansing events after the revolution?

Or, ... before the red revolution, years of bloody civil war, with ruthless warlords taxing even dying of their underlings, or general things in old china like child towers outside of town, where the unwanted babys were thrown to die, so their souls did not haunt the houses of the living?

In other words, you have been sleeping before(or did not bother with china at all), if you only consider the current events the strong ones, that qualify for dystopia.

[rorykoehler]

I know enough about China's history but am by no means an expert. All I can say regarding your examples is that, yes they are very disturbing, however technology has changed the game considerably. Perhaps techno-dystopia would have been a more accurate characterisation.