Reading this article triggered some feelings I've been having for a while. Honestly the internet, and everything political feels like a shitshow that's exceptionally depressing.<p>Recently there were racial riots in Sri Lanka. The government raced to block social media, messaging, and VPN's. Hell, even mobile connections were disrupted when people were desperately trying to contact their relatives while their houses burned. The government's reasoning was that they wanted to quash rumours. No talk of what they did in the lead up to the riots when communities kept pointing out fascist groups steadily gaining more steam and operating with a middle finger held up to the law. The government also ordered a media blackout during the time.<p>China praised these actions. China is also heavily invested in Sri Lanka as part of its belt project.<p>I have no doubts that eventually we'll see similar censorship arrive in SL. Criticism of the predatory nature of China will be blocked ruthlessly with the power that the Chinese gov seems to exert over social networks. China will probably happily extend its technology to countries under its belt project too. I can't see how this wouldn't benefit them.<p>In the midst of this, the US is also busy fighting China's ownership of Sri Lankan resources. The result is a split of political factions that have chosen China or US. The US media is now pushing stories that Sri Lanka's previous regime took campaign contributions as under the table payments from China.<p>The thing is, while I appreciate investigative journalism, everything around feels like propaganda. This article feels like propaganda.<p>At some point it feels miserable that whatever I read is trying to manipulate me rather than inform me. And if I can't be manipulated, then I'll be controlled instead. So when I think of the Internet, I don't really think of some powerful tool in my hand anymore. At a deeper level, it's just another propaganda machine that people will use against me, or take away from me if I don't play by their rules.
Did the US ever respond to China's use of the "Great Cannon" on github?<p>Having a nation state actor so publicly attack/censor a small company shouldn't be tolerated.
Based on comments to previous HN links on this topic, I expect we will be seeing some whataboutism that tries to divert criticism of China.<p>So let ask anyone who makes such a comment, what is your political philosophy, are you for liberal democracy or Xi's brand of authoritarianism, or are you just a cynic who thinks all reform efforts are hopeless, or what?