> The IJOP system, which keeps track of practically the entire Xinjiang population, alerts authorities when a person unexpectedly crosses virtual "fences" by driving past a certain checkpoint or checking into a hotel
Is there a western country where the government gets push notifications each time a citizen travels too far from home?
Pointing out similar privacy problems of other modern governments is fine, but trying to excuse the worst of the worst (China) by claiming it happens everywhere is a false equivalency.
> I wasn't trying to excuse anything! I was pointing out that the problem is much broader than China.
> But you're right that I only read the headline...
Please don't do that. Your hot take based on the headline was identical in form if not intent to a propaganda technique called whataboutism, which is meant to distract attention away from particular abuses.
"Chinese authorities in Xinjiang are building a comprehensive database that tracks the precise locations of its citizens, their mobile app usage, their religious habits and even their electricity and gasoline consumption as part of a technology-driven crackdown that has interred an estimated 1 million Muslim citizens, according to an analysis of Chinese government software by a U.S. rights group."
We should speak out against western countries doing this, but the difference is that China has escalated this from privacy concern to dystopian nightmare. Western countries may get to the level where they track people's religions for the purpose of rounding them up, but China is already there. There are a million (and by some estimates up to 3 million) Uyghurs in concentration camps because they practice the wrong religion/belong to the wrong ethnic group.
Historically, a very possible next step is to transform concentration camps into extermination camps. We don't know if shining a light on the situation will prevent this, but we have to try.
Well the west couldn't and most likely won't stop the muslim religious extremism and China tries to do things on their own. I'm not saying it's good but it's clear that they don't want the same thing happening there.
>Well the west couldn't and most likely won't stop the muslim religious extremism and China tries to do things on their own.
These are Chinese citizens within China's borders. What does the west dealing with it's own problems with Islamic extremists have to do with it at all?
Just to be clear, you created an account to make excuses for putting people in concentration camps.
You think extremist Islamist ideology is mainly coming from the west? It predominantly comes from Saudi Arabia, and is paid for by oil money. You can't blame that on the west alone either--China is the single biggest purchaser of Saudi oil.
Also I wonder why extremist ideology appeals to a minority people living under a repressive regime that bans their religious expression.
Furthermore this goes much further than Islamic ideology. Uyghurs have been rebelling against the Chinese government off and on for at least a century. What they are doing is attempting wipe out Uyghur identity to tighten their grip on Xinjiang.
> Furthermore this goes much further than Islamic ideology. Uyghurs have been rebelling against the Chinese government off and on for at least a century. What they are doing is attempting wipe out Uyghur identity to tighten their grip on Xinjiang.
Exactly. The PRC has been doing similar things to Tibetans, who aren't Muslims, e.g. this story from 2013:
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[ 0.74 ms ] story [ 41.0 ms ] thread> The IJOP system, which keeps track of practically the entire Xinjiang population, alerts authorities when a person unexpectedly crosses virtual "fences" by driving past a certain checkpoint or checking into a hotel
Is there a western country where the government gets push notifications each time a citizen travels too far from home?
Pointing out similar privacy problems of other modern governments is fine, but trying to excuse the worst of the worst (China) by claiming it happens everywhere is a false equivalency.
But you're right that I only read the headline, and the article does make it sound worse than the headline did :).
> But you're right that I only read the headline...
Please don't do that. Your hot take based on the headline was identical in form if not intent to a propaganda technique called whataboutism, which is meant to distract attention away from particular abuses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
We should speak out against western countries doing this, but the difference is that China has escalated this from privacy concern to dystopian nightmare. Western countries may get to the level where they track people's religions for the purpose of rounding them up, but China is already there. There are a million (and by some estimates up to 3 million) Uyghurs in concentration camps because they practice the wrong religion/belong to the wrong ethnic group.
Historically, a very possible next step is to transform concentration camps into extermination camps. We don't know if shining a light on the situation will prevent this, but we have to try.
These are Chinese citizens within China's borders. What does the west dealing with it's own problems with Islamic extremists have to do with it at all?
Just to be clear, you created an account to make excuses for putting people in concentration camps.
Quoting the article:
"... educating and de-radicalizing a Muslim population that became increasingly influenced by extremist Islamic ideology"
Also I wonder why extremist ideology appeals to a minority people living under a repressive regime that bans their religious expression.
Furthermore this goes much further than Islamic ideology. Uyghurs have been rebelling against the Chinese government off and on for at least a century. What they are doing is attempting wipe out Uyghur identity to tighten their grip on Xinjiang.
Exactly. The PRC has been doing similar things to Tibetans, who aren't Muslims, e.g. this story from 2013:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/18/china-benefit-masses-cam...
These policies have little to do with Islamic terrorism per se, but more with suppressing independence-minded minority ethnicities.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/04/world/asia/xi...
“Children are interrogated. Neighbors become informants. Mosques are monitored”