Chinese "Web Addicts" Get Boot Camp, Therapy 279
itwbennett writes "A large number of Chinese parents are finding their teenagers to be exhibiting such psychological symptoms as depression, antisocial behavior, and slipping grades. The cause: Internet addiction. World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike rank beside Chinese role-playing games as those that hook the most patients, says Tao Ran, the founder of a youth rehabilitation center on a Beijing army base. Online chat programs more often hook girls, who make up a handful of Tao's current 70 patients. The teens are subjected to a 'strict regimen of military drills, martial arts training, lectures and sessions with psychiatrists.' And, most importantly: no Internet."
I'm not addict! (Score:2)
Re:I'm not addict! (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, don't worry, they're catching up [english1.cri.cn].
That's the great thing about exporting American culture... eventually, the rest of the world will be as fat and lazy as we are.
It's obvious where this is going. Just read all the articles about the billions we're spending on the development of remote control flying killing machines. Our enemies will be too fat too run away, but our technology will allow us to fight even as we need to clean ourselves with a rag-on-a-stick.
World domination is at hand!
MWUA-HA-HA-HORK-acktph-[gasp]-[grunt]-HORK-[splat]-HA-HA-HA
Cynical thought (Score:3, Funny)
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I think the real reason is genuine concern over a social problem that may be far more pronounced in China than it is here. They also have a heavy-handed government that doesn't mind creating a new social program at the drop of a hat, so they end up with all kinds of (wacky) things being done so that every branch of every agency can say "Look what we
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Also a great way of recruiting for their already massive army...
Something tells me the People's Liberation Army doesn't exactly have to do recruitment drives.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army#Conscription_and_terms_of_service)
Boys and Girls (Score:4, Insightful)
World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike... those that hook the most patients (boys)
Online chat programs more often hook girls
Why am I not surprised that the girls like to talk and the boys like to play combat (remember cowboys and indians? cops and robbers?).
Very indicative of our society as a whole. Just sayin' . . .
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I know, right? I mean, when I'm online on chat sites, it's amazing that all the people who are on all day are girls. Take last Sunday, for example. 4 AM... a bunch of girls are online, and some guys. 10 AM... the same girls but a bunch of different guys. 4 PM... still the same girls, and new guys. 8 PM... same deal.
I mean
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Why am I not surprised that the girls like to talk and the boys like to play combat (remember cowboys and indians? cops and robbers?).
Very indicative of our society as a whole. Just sayin' . . .
OUR society? You're chinese? You might want to log off now, I bet at those boot camps, the regular web addicts pick on the slashdotters.
Military Strategy (Score:5, Funny)
American - kill all your allies in 'friendly' fire incidents. Full auto on anything that moves, may move or have previously moved. Aw Hell full auto on anything.
Chinese (according to the Geneva Convention on war ) Day 1 - One million unarmed troops invade Alaska and surrender.
Day 2 - One million unarmed troops invade Alaska and surrender.
Day 3 - One million unarmed troops invade Alaska and surrender.
.
.
Day 5 - US economy collapses US surrenders.
Re: Military Strategy (Score:4, Interesting)
That sounds like our history of immigration.
Wave after wave, all of them eventually assimilated. It turns out to be pretty good for the economy.
These drils and training (Score:5, Interesting)
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All the "grinding" is done before level 30. At 30, you move on to Carousel.
The most devestating technique in their arsenal.. (Score:5, Funny)
.. exposure to girls.
This guy is basically an asshole. (Score:2, Funny)
1, Preach on media the harm of "Internet Addiction" on children.
2, Tell irresponsible parents that it's not their fault (which actually is).
3, Open an "Internet Addition" rehab.
4, Charge rediculous fees.
5, Abuse his patients untill they promise (or pretend to promise) they will never play World of Warcraft (or whatever their parents deem as harmful) again.
6, Parents get pleased and more parents send their kids to his rehab.
7, PROFIT!
After all, I must say he's slightly
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2, Tell irresponsible parents that it's not their fault (which actually is).
Do explain how it's the parents' fault? It's not like the parents were trying to get their kids addicted to the Internet. They (like any responsible parent should), gave their children access to the Internet. That the children became addicted to it is part of the child's psychological response. There's no way a parent can be expected to anticipate this and have the training to be able to redirect their kid's attention before the signs of addiction become apparent.
It's like saying the parents are to blame if
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3, Open an "Internet Addition" rehab.
Is that like asking Google to calculate something, or more like a rehab center for people who have done too much maths?
World is a changing... (Score:5, Interesting)
50 years ago, going out was the norm. 20 years ago, occasionally going out was the norm.
Today, spending an evening at home is the norm, where it's cheaper and you can connect with someone halfway across the world who you know will share your interests, and not spurn you(and if they do, you can find someone else). You're also not faced with personal problems such as personal performance, social anxiety, or the real fear of making an ass out of yourself, etc. There's people you never have to face, but will listen.
Move forward 10 years, as the new kiddie-tech generation moves even further online? I see individuals who will prefer to remain connected at all costs because of this. We have people now who need to know all information at all times, need make sure that they're in instant contact with the world around them. And are experiencing this now.
I don't see it changing, I see it increasing. China, US, Canada, any country in the world can do whatever they like to try and change it. But the more interconnected the world becomes, the smaller it gets. The smaller it gets, the more people want to remain connected to it.
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Fifty years ago my parents went to town once a week on a Sunday and once every second week on a thursday to do the grocery shopping. If they were lucky once every three to six months they'd do something "social" and that usually meant visiting relatives and staying with them in their house or vice a versa or going to a dance.
70 years ago my grandparents would go a month or two without seeing anyone else except their neighbors - given that town was a three hour trip by horse and the nearest city two days...
T
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I don't think you're right. I imagine that most people that stay home do so with their family and friends (the physically proximate kind), much like it's always been. I'm a young person and everybody I know is constantly on facebook, IM/chat, dating sites, etc. and we still go out and meet up constantly. The internet for our generation is a tool that facilitates physical interaction, not inhibits it.
As for the people with social problems, these things have always existed. The internet may be an outlet f
First China, then... (Score:2, Funny)
Yes, that makes sense (Score:5, Interesting)
Take a bunch of kids that like to sit around playing games and browsing for porn, isolate them from friends and family, label them as "addicts", brainwash them, put rifles in their hands and train them how to kill people, then declare them "cured". I'm glad that society has its priorities right.
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Take a bunch of kids that like to sit around playing games and browsing for porn, isolate them from friends and family, label them as "addicts", brainwash them, put rifles in their hands and train them how to kill people, then declare them "cured". I'm glad that society has its priorities right.
Plus side: chinese army staging a coup demanding porn and WOW will be pretty entertaining in a few years.
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If you were really paranoid, you might speculate as to whether this was a drone pilot recruitment program.
Good idea. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Good idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, having gone through boot camp, you'll never know for sure if that's really what you think, or if that's what they told you to think ;)
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Of course, having gone through boot camp, you'll never know for sure if that's really what you think, or if that's what they told you to think ;)
At my boot camp, they drilled into my head the idea that boot camps don't work. I now believe this notion only to the extent that it is false.
Re:Good idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Having gone through Boot Camp myself (Not in China mind you) I highly recommend it as a means of turning useless people into productive citizens.
Productive you say? I can't help noticing you're posting to /. ...
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Basically, you've been brainwashed to obey orders and view people who live their own lives as "useless." Ah, the military, gotta love 'em.
Re:Good idea. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, he's been trained. He still has free choice (he's posting to slashdot, isn't he?), and his training helped him overcome his previous undisciplined, capricious habits.
While you, dear person, are trying to brainwash others into your peculiar groupthink - that military style training aimed at developing self-discipline is "brainwashing" and inherently evil.
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What the military does is most certainly brainwashing.
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What the military does is most certainly brainwashing.
So is the TV, public schools, parents, friends, and whatever. You can even brainwash yourself.
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What exactly is a "useless person"?
People should learn their place as productive units in the larger social machine. Because after all, the group comes before the individual doesn't it.
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I think it's a good idea. I just think that the government doing it is a really unhealthy way of regulating society.
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Having gone through Boot Camp myself (Not in China mind you) I highly recommend it as a means of turning useless people into productive citizens.
Having gone through Boot Camp myself, I have to say that I don't find myself more productive running Windows than Mac OS X. Quite the opposite in fact.
As for being useless, I'm pretty much equally useless on either OS...
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Having gone through Boot Camp myself (Not in United States, I live in a country where millitary service is mandatory) I also highly recommend it as a means of turning useless people into productive citizens. On the other side, it is a good way to turn useful people into far less productive citizens.
My opinion is that, the main goal of the boot camp is to create an average person, not too smart, not to dumb, not too hardworking, not to lazy, etc. Transforming normal people into standardized soldiers.
The pr
Send them all to Eastern Turkestan (Score:2)
More of a health issue.... (Score:5, Insightful)
we don't need no.... (Score:3, Funny)
So how do you tell the difference? (Score:2, Funny)
Let's see ... the symptoms are depression, antisocial behavior, and slipping grades. Except perhaps for the last one, that sounds like any teenager I've ever met.
better than ECT (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't think this is going to work... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I don't think this is going to work... (Score:4, Insightful)
You mean you turn someone who is antisocial, depressed and angry into someone who is antisocial, depressed and angry with military training and self esteem.
I think the Chinese will soon live in very interesting times.
I'm a Web addict, but I'm not Chinese so... (Score:2)
... where's my boot camp and interventionist therapy?
Addiction is never the disease, it's the symptom (Score:4, Insightful)
This is, btw, also why DARE is pretty much a waste of time and taxpayer money. But that's not the topic now.
What is "addiction"? Basically that the body (or mind) wants some stimulus that you handed him for a long time. Why does it want it? Because the stimulus was/is positive and not getting it is subjectively negative.
Which leads to the crucial question: Why did you start taking/using it in the first place? It's not like someone goes "Hey, it's Tuesday, it's colder than outside, let's start pumping heroin up our veins!" That's not how it works. Hell, by now pretty much everyone knows that addictive substances and behaviour are, in the long run, bad for you. Do you think anyone who started pushing thought H is "not really so bad"?
Drugs are a last resort means for people who have no other way to get a positive stimulus to their system. The worse they're off, the worse the drug they'll be willing to use. Let's be honest here, anyone here pushing H? Anyone? Somehow, I doubt it. Maybe we have a few ex addicts here, in that case the question to you: Were you as "well off" back then as you're now?
China, with its one-child policy, imposed an insane pressure on its youth. Parents only have one child to carry on their legacy, and that child has to PERFORM! Add a confucianist ideal and a booming market where anyone "smart working hard" can become rich and important, and you'll notice that not even a "western" only child can possible imagine what the pressure is like.
So, to make a long story short, those "boot camps" (and similar programs all over the planet, albeit maybe not as brutal) will not accomplish anything. Worst case they'll make it worse. They try to cure the symptom, but that won't solve the underlying problem. Addiction is never the problem itself. Take away an addict's "substance" but fail to solve the problem behind it and he'll just search for something new.
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Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Informative)
Americans send their fat kids to boot camp. I really wouldn't be suspicious.
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The idea that "fat camp" is any more acceptable than this crap is deplorable.
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Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, I am all for fighting obesity in all ways possible, but it just doesn't seem right to beat children or otherwise abuse them simply because they are overweight.
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, I am all for fighting obesity in all ways possible, but it just doesn't seem right to beat children or otherwise abuse them simply because they are overweight.
Not to mention it isn't very fair. It's not like they can run from you. Or if they can, it's not like they can run far.
Re:Mod up (Score:4, Insightful)
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I know plenty of people who don't get very much activity, eat things loaded in sugar and fat, yet are incredibly skinny and healthy looking. I know other people who exercise a ton, eat extremely healthy food choices, yet are very, very large. There are some reasons for obesity that go way beyond just what you eat....
Fair enough - but you seem to be making a classic mistake. It's not so much what you eat, but how much of it, that determines your weight. Now, as someone who has to work to control his weight - yes, I envy my fiance, who can eat whatever he wants. But the difference isn't that he can magically eat way more than I can - it's that his appetite is more easily sated. Sure there are also metabolism differences, but in reality a very obese person is almost certain to be burning more calories than a thin pers
Re:Mod up (Score:4, Insightful)
Fact is, you CAN'T gain weight if you put less energy into your system than you expend! Finding an online basal metabolic rate [wikipedia.org] calculator [about.com] isn't very hard either. Now, if you can't be arsed to learn anything about how your body works, spend 5 minutes with Google to find a BMR calculator and pay attention to how much you actually eat... Live a life unable to go to the beach, make people uncomfortable when you undress at the beach, get diabetes type 2 and die of heart complications at age 40.
Just don't force that on your children. If you do, you should be reported for child abuse.
On a somewhat related note.. I live in Norway and I can safely say that even though we are nowhere near USA level of crazy obesity, things are starting to change here as well. 7-8 years ago when I was in highschool, there were <5 overweight people in my entire school of ~300 students. These days, nearly everyone I see between age 15-19 is at least 5-10kg overweight. Hell, even the ones who happen to eat as much as they burn still look out of shape with girls sporting untrained thin thighs and flabby asses and the guys possessing the same level of upper body strength as my little sister! The exceptions are the morbidly obese and the sickly skinny, who seem to make up about the same percentage of the population now as the "10kg too much"-portion did a few years ago. Not "super size me" by any means, but still that is a lot different than a few years back!
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Recognise the problem - that people w
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Often the simple solutions don't work, either, which is why people need to be better educated about how the whole system works.
Most people that are obese (or even just overweight) will try, before anything else, to reduce their intake. For many (if not most) people, while this might have an initial effect of dropping a couple of pounds, it usually has the reverse effect in the long term of causing the body to store more fat, thinking that the food has gone away.
People need to spread the same food out a bit
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Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Insightful)
It's *China*. When it comes down to it, nobody has any rights, in the sense that Europeans or Americans think of rights.
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Insightful)
...sometimes I think that we Slashdotters would do well to relax and give them some time to sort things out...
The Chinese are going to "sort things out" whether Slashdotters relax, don't relax or even throw a massively coordinated e-tantrum. Slashdot isn't actually really all that influential as it turns out.
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e-tantrum
This word is the most descriptive I've seen this year. It applies to so much "outrage" strewn across message boards, not just on Slashdot...
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http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ [un.org] By the way, what exactly are you talking about? Chinese have had a turbulent history, so what? We shouldn't be critical of the current Chinese government because 40 million have died at the hands of its predecessor with whom (on paper at least) it shares the same ideology? I don't understand what your point is.
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That's because "rights" are an idea from western civilization, and most other cultures had different notions about justice and social harmony. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ [un.org] By the way, what exactly are you talking about? Chinese have had a turbulent history, so what? We shouldn't be critical of the current Chinese government because 40 million have died at the hands of its predecessor with whom (on paper at least) it shares the same ideology? I don't understand what your point is.
Yes, and the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights reflects the western "rights" tradition. You think that just because a document exists in an international peacekeeping organization, that it's really a part of other cultures and accurately reflects their values? If so, that's pretty naive.
My point is that using "rights" as the benchmark of civilization is necessarily a skewed perspective that does not account for cultural needs and differences.
I also mentioned the extreme amount of violence in China's recent
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If China does not stand behind UNHR, it should state clearly what parts of it it disagrees with because they don't "reflect their values". China is a grown up country, it doesn't need you to defend it. But just out of curi
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:4, Interesting)
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Untrue? Thousands of people were evicted without compensation to make space for Olympic venues. And how about Tiananmen Square?
Do you think there might be some form of sample bias there?
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A universal declaration of human rights with no corresponding universal declaration of human responsibilities is SO a *western* thing.
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Who the hell said we shouldn't be critical of the US government? I think it's pretty well established that at least a good portion of slashdot certainly is.
Being critical of the Chinese government does not preclude being critical of our own as well.
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And we shouldn't be critical about our own current US government that has assassinated leaders, orchestrated coups, and has been directly responsible for numerous deaths?
Yes. If you're implying there's hypocrisy in criticizing other countries because our own government has done bad things, I'd say I told them not to do it and they did it anyway. What can I do aside from voting and making my voice heard as much as possible? There are too many people who act as if the US has divine right to use force however it wants to bend over my knee and spank the bejeezus out of.
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We're not talking about different notions of justice and social harmony here. They don't have to have the same government and society as us, but everyone should be guaranteed basic human dignities such as freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, protest, fair trial, petition, etc. I am pretty impressed with the progress China has made in the last 30 years, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve criticism. But plenty of countries have gone through hard times and the ravages of war without turning i
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Well, most of the time you have the right to remain silent...
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The addiction is hurting their intellectual and social progress. Is that their choice? Not while they are dependents.
How? I'd imagine that a ton more people are more severely addicted to TV, sports, books and activities considered "normal" than are "addicted" to MMOs. I'd imagine the guy who spends 6 hours a day playing WoW is better off then the guy who goes to the gym for 6 hours a day. As for social progress, its a lot more social to fire up a game of WoW and c
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Insightful)
How? I'd imagine that a ton more people are more severely addicted to TV, sports, books and activities considered "normal" than are "addicted" to MMOs. I'd imagine the guy who spends 6 hours a day playing WoW is better off then the guy who goes to the gym for 6 hours a day. As for social progress, its a lot more social to fire up a game of WoW and chat than it is to go to the gym. And intellectual? With WoW you are constantly reading and writing and doing math.
Spending 6 hours a day doing something does not make it an addiction. Suffering from depression because you aren't spending 6 hours a day doing something makes it an addiction (outside of sleeping and autonomous functions). Addiction will cause everything directly not linked to that addiction to suffer as a result of it to one degree or another. Spending time talking to people in Azeroth is not as socially healthy as talking to people face to face. It's healthier than spending time in front of a tv or book. As a freetime activity, it's healthier than many things unless you let it become detrimental to your real non-make-believe life. It's not a problem when an activity is a healthy relief of pressure and stress... It's a problem when it's an addiction, then you may need help to return it to normal, healthy levels.
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Spending 6 hours a day doing something does not make it an addiction. Suffering from depression because you aren't spending 6 hours a day doing something makes it an addiction (outside of sleeping and autonomous functions)
Spending time talking to people in Azeroth is not as socially healthy as talking to people face to face.
How many people can actually though on a daily basis talk to a good amount of friends face to face? Very few. The
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:4, Insightful)
With your second paragraph, you're skirting the issue. Is it a better social experience to speak with a friend face to face or online? It's healthier to talk to a person than to talk to words on a screen. Allow me to make an analogy of this conversation if we were discussing food:
Me: It's healthier to eat vegetables than junk food. It's ok to eat junk food as long as it's not interfering with the rest of your diet.
You: What if junk food is all you have? Not everyone has vegetables available.
It is simplified, but contains the neccessary arguments. I believe you are capable of answering your own questions at this point, even if they were meant to be rhetorical (I won't assume whether they were or were not).
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Addiction will cause everything directly not linked to that addiction to suffer as a result of it to one degree or another.
What you say?
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Spending time talking to people in Azeroth is [...] healthier than spending time in front of a [...] book
seriously?
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You need pretty big qualifiers if you are going to make those statements and expect anyone to take you seriously.
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I also hear that drinking Coca-Cola is a lot better than drinking water.
You might end up talking to someone at the gym, and at the very least you're among people. When you're playing WoW you're all by yourself. Contrary to what some nerds tell themselves, chatting online does nothi
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Insightful)
Addicted to gym is worse than addicted to WoW?
Now I've heard it all.
Every time I read about someone proclaiming the virtues of WoW and how it teaches reading, writing, math etc. I just have to laugh and wonder whether the OP is just trying to justify their own pathetic (yes, I think WoW addicts are pathetic) addictions
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Umm, because their grades are dropping and they are showing anti-social tendencies. Playing WoW and CS 6 hours a day as a kid is going to screw up a lot of opportunities. And I say this as someone who has enjoyed playing WoW and CS a whole bunch. These games do not have a large impact on your intellect no matter how hard you want to believe it. You are much better served spending that time at the gym because 1) it is a social activity since you are going to chat with the others who are hardcore w
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You, I'm sure. When you talk about China, I trust that you draw upon your vast amount of personal experience while shunning preconceived notions, stereotypes and heresay.
I see. So, in other words, you're claiming that China is not a totalitarian state?
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We're talking about China here, not the US.
The same China that's just arrested an Australian citizen - the head of Rio Tintos (a massive Aussie mining company) Shanghai operations on "economic espionage" charges conveniently two weeks after Rio Tinto severely embarrassed China by abruptly walking away from their negotiations where the Chinese government via Chinalco was hoping to buy a large stake in the company.
You "wouldn't be suspicious" because you have no measure to understand the level of totalitarian
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right, and US/French./UK intelligence operations in 3rd world countries are purely charitable and beneficial, they in no way try to directly manipulate the political situation up to and including arranging COUPS to further the ends of business interests.
The RIO act is wrong but people in glass houses.....
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:5, Informative)
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...Except for the fact that I consider it a right to use what you payed for so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. This "boot camp" takes away those rights (anyone else find it just a bit suspicious that its located on an army base?).
By that analogy we shouldn't be treating heroin addicts either.
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Try telling that to the judge when he busts you for smoking a joint. This isn't so bad in comparison to the War on Drug Users.
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Maybe it isn't an addiction at that point. The withdrawal symptoms are over, the physical dependence is demonstrably absent. Maybe it's just something they fucking LIKE DOING. Whatever it is, whether drugs or eating or gambling or indeed the Internet. Just because a bunch of bluenoses have managed to demonize the activity by claiming i
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Don't forget child porn and cyberterrorism. They have those there too.
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On one hand, the Chinese government is trying to shape today's youth into something which will contribute to society
Something tells me that the