THINKing

Pay No Attention To The Man Behind That (Bamboo) Curtain

Editor’s Note: Ed Moed of the Measuring Up blog – along with THINKing – is one of the 32 bloggers involved in the PRWeek PR Blog competition. He has proposed that we 32 bloggers unite on topics of concern to PR practitioners. Today’s topic: China’s Failed Olympics Strategy.

Thanks to the Olympics, we are getting a peek behind the Chinese Bamboo Curtain. Typical of totalitarian governments everywhere, the Chinese want to control all information in order to create a positive worldview of the awakening giant. Oops, I guess they forgot about the Internet.

In this digital age – like Dorothy in Oz – we can see right through the (bamboo) curtain. Try as you might, China, we’ll find out what is happening: good and bad. As Ed Moed points out,

Yet, it (China) continues to make superficial attempts (even today) to communicate that it will tell state police to stop interfering with reporters and allow for formerly restricted Internet sites to be opened. The bitter irony is that, just a few hours after that news broke, we’ve learned that Chinese paramilitary police beat two Japanese journalists Tuesday night for absolutely no justified reason.

Information – like humans – wants to be free and our new digital environment will make it so for both. No totalitarian government has the wherewithal to stop it.

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