{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"The Great Firewall of China","description":"\u201cFor many years, the internet in China was seen as a channel for new thinking, or at least greater openness,\u201d writes Human Rights Watch researcher Yaqiu Wang. \u201cOnline discussions were relatively free and open, and users, especially younger ones, had an eager appetite for learning and debating big ideas about political systems and how China should be governed.\u201d    That changed when Xi Jinping took power. Explaining what\u2019s known as China\u2019s \u201cGreat Firewall,\u201d Wang notes, \u201cthe government got savvier, and more aggressive about using its own technology.\u201d For example, dissidents, journalists, and public figures disappear frequently, sometimes often for minor infractions like logging onto Twitter.  The state\u2019s actions have created \u201ca generational split,\u201d says Wang. \u201c[T]hose who experienced a relatively free internet as young people\u2014many strongly resent the Great Firewall. Among people who started college after Xi took power, however, there is a strong impulse to defend it.\u201d  It\u2019s an extreme example of how tools intended and used for good can also be harnessed for evil. The same resource that can promote flourishing can also promote tyranny. That\u2019s true everywhere, not just China.  ","author_name":"Breakpoint","author_url":"https:\/\/breakpoint.org","html":"