NYT on China's virus cover-up

[pmv]

No ‘Negative’ News: How China Censored the Coronavirus (Published 2020)

Thousands of internal directives and reports reveal how Chinese officials stage-managed what appeared online in the early days of the outbreak.

www.nytimes.com

Thought this was interesting. The most striking part to me is their use of sock-puppet posters to divert attention away from the main issue.

Also bemused that the term "broken windows effect" seems to have made it's way to the CCP. Unless that's a creative translation? Next they'll be calling each other 'snowflakes' and declaring they are 'woke'.

 

[Muse]

That article brings into relief the essential authoritarian nature of the CCP.

“We must recognize with clear mind the butterfly effect, broken windows effect and snowball effect triggered by this event, and the unprecedented challenge that it has posed to our online opinion management and control work. All Cyberspace Administration bureaus must pay heightened attention to online opinion, and resolutely control anything that seriously damages party and government credibility and attacks the political system …”

The orders were among thousands of secret government directives and other documents that were reviewed by The New York Times and ProPublica. They lay bare in extraordinary detail the systems that helped the Chinese authorities shape online opinion during the pandemic.

 

[trenchfoot]

When looking at what the Chinese did and compared that with what the Trump admin. tried to do, I don't see much difference between the two.

 

[Svnla]

Remember how Dr. Li died while he was harrashed because he wanted to let others know about the virus early during the start of the epidemic? How the government agents tried to silence him?

Want to dig deeper for anything else other than what the government told you? Prison for you, 4 years.

Chinese journalist who documented Wuhan coronavirus outbreak jailed for 4 years - CNN Video

10x as much as the "official" figure.

In Wuhan, nearly half a million people may have had Covid-19, study shows. That's almost 10 times the official figure - CNN

What else is out there.

 

[Muse]

When looking at what the Chinese did and compared that with what the Trump admin. tried to do, I don't see much difference between the two.

Way different. I see the Chinese as an oligarchy. Trump is a one man wrecking crew with way more power than he ever deserved and a miserable personality.

 

[hal2kilo]

So if China didn't try to cover up the extent of the virus, we would be in a lot better shape than we are in now? Is there a whole group of China loving Americans that this information is trying to convey so we don't all fall under China's embrace? What is the point of this information. That China doesn't have the best interests of the rest of the world. No shit Sherlocks'.

???

 

[Commodus]

When looking at what the Chinese did and compared that with what the Trump admin. tried to do, I don't see much difference between the two.

The difference is that China actually got a grip on the virus (at least, from the evidence we've seen so far) where Trump let it run amok in the US with little federal coordination. Life in China is semi-normal even before widespread vaccine use where numerous American states are going back into lockdown.

 

[Muse]

So if China didn't try to cover up the extent of the virus, we would be in a lot better shape than we are in now? Is there a whole group of China loving Americans that this information is trying to convey so we don't all fall under China's embrace? What is the point of this information. That China doesn't have the best interests of the rest of the world. No shit Sherlocks'.

???

Fact is IMO there was no stopping the virus. It was going to be a pandemic. It could have been slowed down more, yes, and the vaccines would have done better for us all. China blew it early on, we have blown it continually. Even California, which was doing better than most has become the worst and that's with a rather astute governor and a relatively educated populace. Not educated enough, obviously.

 

[trenchfoot]

Way different. I see the Chinese as an oligarchy. Trump is a one man wrecking crew with way more power than he ever deserved and a miserable personality.

Agreed. I was in most ways referring to how the dissemination of news was being controlled in order to shape public opinion of the spread of the pandemic.

My apologies to all for not making that point in my post.

 

[pmv]

When looking at what the Chinese did and compared that with what the Trump admin. tried to do, I don't see much difference between the two.

The key word being tried. The Chinese elites had the benefit of an entire system conducive to achieving their ends. Trump and the Republicans probably wish they had such a system. Strange how anti-communists badly want to do things that are easier to achieve under communism.

 

[Jhhnn]

When looking at what the Chinese did and compared that with what the Trump admin. tried to do, I don't see much difference between the two.

That's ridiculous. The Chinese shaped opinion about the facts. Trump bullshitted us about the facts & took it into the post-truth realm. They got the whole country behind fighting the virus & we got anti-mask idiots everywhere. They've mostly gone back to normal & we're badly fucked up.

 

[mooncancook]

A Chinese friend grew up in wuhan had a wechat group with his childhood friends who are still living in wuhan. They talked about the covid situation in wuhan, and one of his friend got taken by the police for 24 hrs and released. He uninstall wechat after that. So yep, ccp has a strong grip on its citizens to control the information.

 

[brandonbull]

When looking at what the Chinese did and compared that with what the Trump admin. tried to do, I don't see much difference between the two.

This has to be the troll post of the year. No one can seriously make that claim.

 

[brandonbull]

The key word being tried. The Chinese elites had the benefit of an entire system conducive to achieving their ends. Trump and the Republicans probably wish they had such a system. Strange how anti-communists badly want to do things that are easier to achieve under communism.

Funny how one minute non-liberals are right-wing authoritarians and the next they are left-wing authoritarians. Which one is it? It's even funnier how the Democrat elites seem to want this even more than anyone else and it's covered up by the "free press".

 

[brandonbull]

The difference is that China actually got a grip on the virus (at least, from the evidence we've seen so far) where Trump let it run amok in the US with little federal coordination. Life in China is semi-normal even before widespread vaccine use where numerous American states are going back into lockdown.

If it was almost simultaneously spread to all they major cities, like the gift the Chinese gave to the world, they wouldn't got a grip on the virus so easily. They had advanced warning and knowledge months before anyone else.

 

[pmv]

Funny how one minute non-liberals are right-wing authoritarians and the next they are left-wing authoritarians. Which one is it? It's even funnier how the Democrat elites seem to want this even more than anyone else and it's covered up by the "free press".

The key term there being 'authoritarians'. People who don't like democracy or a free press. That description fits Trump and his friends as much as it does the Chinese communist party.