Environment, Free Speech, International, Politics, Society

Clearing the Air: China Moves To Block Airing Of Documentary On Dangers Of Smog

Screen Shot 2015-03-05 at 7.56.54 AMChina has a different approach to clearing the air. We have discussed the record pollution measured in Beijing and the past efforts of the Chinese government to prevent people from talking about the shroud of pollution choking its population. Now the government censor have blocked the airing of a documentary on China’s smog — the 104-minute film Under the Dome by well-known former news anchor Chai Jing. While it has been viewed by more than 200 million times online, the censors are cracking down to prevent others from learning about the dangers of the smog levels in China.

The documentary takes a comprehensive look at pollution in China and the risk to particular populations and areas, including the account of a six-year-old girl who admits that she has never seen blue sky.

The government is now moving aggressively to take people from seeing the film, forcing major news outlets to remove the film and ordering print media not to use articles referencing the film. In other words, it must fade into the smog of China.

This could prove too late for China’s censors given the availability on the Internet. Under the Dome may prove China’s Silent Spring, the 1962 exposé on chemical pollution in the USA that helped spur the environmental movement. In the meantime, China has shown again that it has as little concern over the basic health of its citizens as it does their basic human rights.

Here is the film:

Source: USA Today

21 thoughts on “Clearing the Air: China Moves To Block Airing Of Documentary On Dangers Of Smog”

  2. China considers the smog a blessing and it is part and parcel of population control policies. It is like one child per family. There are too many Chinese people. Cough and gag also keeps the flood rate of folks fleeing into the urban areas down.

  5. It’s fundamental… portrayed as harmful. It’s just 3%… negligible.
    We’ve been told!

  8. What’s with all the coral bleaching?
    They really should go brunette next time.

  9. The trees should be so happy in China with all the excess CO2 and all…
    … #amiright?

  10. Of course it doesn’t contribute to human caused global warming…
    … Cause we all know that GCC isn’t really caused by human carbon pollution.

    Besides, CO2 is life!

    #amiright?

  12. The Chinese media referred to it as “fog” for years. But once the US Embassy started releasing smog levels on the internet, the Chinese people started demanding change, which its government claimed to take seriously.

    But it seems unable to decide which path it’s going to follow: LOOKING like it’s doing something, or actually doing something. And it’s not just their air. China now has an infamous reputation for producing products contaminated with some pretty serious toxins, to which their workers are exposed. It’s a shame, because China used to be renowned for its arts. It still has a vibrant movie industry, if severely constrained by government.

    As long as it keeps trying to prevent its citizens from learning the truth, as a too powerful government will always do, then it is not serious about cleaning up its act.

    David – you are absolutely right. In our system, government is supposed to act as a regulative agency, within reason, and build infrastructure, not own industry. When government actually owns industry, it does not regulate ourself. When individual rights evaporate under a Communist government accountable to none, then you get toxic waste being flushed into our water and atmosphere. Do you think Americans would stand for this kind of smog? Raising their children in the smog red zone day after day?

    The absolute worst polluters are the Communist and Socialist countries of the world where government owns industry and individual rights are ignored. We should take care when our own individual freedoms get eroded, because it is plain for all the world to see where that path will lead.

    In this older article below, massive amounts of forest in China have died from air pollution and crops suffer from acid rain.

    http://fee.org/freeman/detail/why-socialism-causes-pollution

  15. When my son lived in Beijing, it was hard not to worry obsessively about the heavy smog he was breathing and a tremendous relief when he returned to the comparatively fresh air of home.
    It’s impossible to fully grasp the unrelenting anguish of parents who see their children exposed to visibly high levels of deadly carcinogens from birth on.
    America must look as tempting to them as it once looked to Europeans.

  16. Justice Holmes,
    I agree. It’s awesome that there is an effort to make this information public so the people can make an informed decision rather than just sitting with their mouths open waiting to be fed more lies.

  17. Corporations in the US do an excellent job of silencing critics in the US.

    1. issac, when businesses and corporations are not owned by government, then government is better able to function as a watchdog. There is less conflict of interest. The government provides checks and balances, telling corporations you can’t pollute the air, so here are the regulations we are putting in place that you have to follow. In contrast, when government actually owns the means of production, they make a profit from the product or service provided. They have less incentive to care about the pollution because it means more money earned by the government.

      The Republican party warns against socialism and communism for reasons such as we see here in this article. Although liberals often falsely claim that we are against all regulations, the truth is that we favor limited government which implement necessary regulations. The type of regulations that we are against are unnecessary and overly burdensome regulations that ultimately ends up hurting the profit that can be earned by the working class.

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