Sure, some directions of "growing socially" are strictly prohibited in China and perhaps also for those who ever want to go (back) to China. But does some directions mean all directions in practise? I don't know.
First of all, their policy is much more extensive, but lets ignore because it’s not in the spirit of HN to verge so much off topic.
Believing free speech is context dependent (outside of yelling fire in a movie theater) seems like a future worth avoiding no matter what the benefits are when viewed in a historical context. You can stretch the analogy and say the same thing about Iran. Sorry just not interested, we’re going to have to disagree here.
How did we go from isolationism to free speech? If the only context dependency you allow is the one you mention, your argument applies to e.g. European laws against hate speech as well. Is Europe isolationist too?
Believing free speech is context dependent (outside of yelling fire in a movie theater) seems like a future worth avoiding no matter what the benefits are when viewed in a historical context. You can stretch the analogy and say the same thing about Iran. Sorry just not interested, we’re going to have to disagree here.