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December 04, 2002
Alternative History and the Great Firewall of China
History is the lie commonly agreed upon. -Voltaire
You have probably thought about alternative history. What would the world be like if Ghengis Khan had not fallen off his horse and died? What would America be like if the South had won the Civil War? What would it be like today if Karl Marx had not theorized communism?
Well, Ghangis Khan might have invaded Europe. Here's an interesting link on what America might have been like today if the South had won the Civil War. Now, for Karl Marx... this is a bit more difficult to envision. However, I think China would not have become a communist state. There would probably still have been an uprising against the Ching dynasty, based on China's history of uprisings against extremely corrupt dynasties. Instead of cummunism, a new dynasty would emerge, perhaps led by Chiang Kai-Shek? Certainly interesting to think about.
Speaking of China, the "Great Firewall of China" blocks many websites from being accessed from within China. Researchers at Harvard Law School have a real-time testing system on filtered sites. I can see the Chinese government wanting to block websites that are Taiwanese, Tibetian, or that promote Falun Gong, but Red Lobster and Granite Curling? Odd.
Posted by Kathy at December 4, 2002 08:18 PM