Blogs Become “Dinner Table” In China
After a New York Times article outlined the blog-life of Mu Mu, a 25-year-old Chinese blogger, Communist party member, and now free-speech sex symbol, the slammed servers may deny you access to her blog more efficiently than the Chinese government. In short, she hasn't really said anything the government can object to-she's not an advocate, she's a dancer, and a symbol of the new dinner table rebellion.
Old and busted is the Chinese government's policing of the Internet, as millions of Chinese turn to blogging to express themselves, and Mu Mu (a pseudonym) represents the new hotness-literally (thank you Will Smith). Because, how can you control millions of bloggers, when you can't control one anonymous party member? Not that figuring out which figure would be all that difficult, and may be an enjoyable pursuit.
"I don't know if I can be counted as a successful Web cam dance girl. But I'm sure that looking around the world, if I am not the one with the highest diploma, I am definitely the dance babe who reads the most and thinks the deepest, and I'm most likely the only party member among them," she reveals while revealing at her blog (which the NYT neglected to link us to).
Mu Mu is representative of a new style of counter-cultural blogging-making fun of the government, albeit indirectly. The article links to Isaac Mao's website, which actually redirects to NotIsaacMao.com, a backup site after he was busted by authorities. Now that's funny.
"The new bloggers are talking back to authority, but in a humorous way," said Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at the University of California, Berkeley.
But Xiao Qiang's most interesting comment was about the changing nature of the online conversation.
"People have often said you can say anything you want in China around the dinner table, but not in public. Now the blogs have become the dinner table, and that is new."
Chinese bloggers are joining other vocally repressed populations in places like Egypt, where political speech is frowned upon. As more and more call for change, the blogosphere could transform everything.
"Blogs form an alternative attitude, and they simultaneously sap the will to power of the ruling elite. All that is then needed is some genuine - although not especially outrageous - outrage to be committed by the government, and the whole Chinese blogosphere (now many millions in number) may then erupt with more explicit rebellion, on a scale which again overwhelms the censors. If and when that happens, the blogs will then do something else unprecedented. They will report what is happening, to each other, and to the outside world," predicts a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati.
Yes, on the verge of some great change. Although some things never change, check out this blogger's "investigative" journalism about Mu Mu's secret message.
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Jason L. Miller is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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