Comments on: Youku Reactions to Kashgar Attack http://www.thenewdominion.net/256/youku-reactions-to-kashgar-attack/ a blog about xinjiang Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:48:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Porfiriy http://www.thenewdominion.net/256/youku-reactions-to-kashgar-attack/comment-page-1/#comment-1823 Porfiriy Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:56:40 +0000 http://www.thenewdominion.net/?p=256#comment-1823 Thanks for stopping by, Kaiser. I totally agree with your evaluation that the anonymity of the internet brings out the extremism of people, be it in China or in the US, and I don't claim (and I don't think I claimed in the post) that posting a spate of reactions on Youku would <i>be</i> a scientific, representative example - just an unscientific pick-and choose from a very specific sample of people. However, I believe for the English speaking world, the only way to learn about these incidents is through Xinhua and other state run organs - note that all English language media coverage of the event has no choice but to parrot what Xinhua posts. And unlike the Western media (which I'm not holding as a model for perfection either) the Chinese media tends to be a little more conservative and less sensationalistic and doesn't tend to cover people's reactions to things. What I did isn't representative, but it's no less representative than when a reporter asks, "How do you feel?" to three random people on the street. I also hold the personal belief while a non-elected government, the CCP is still beholden to the "will" of the people, but in a different manner - whereas federal elections force politicians to focus on the center and the "silent" majority, an unelected meritocracy I believe has to focus more on the "ends" of the belief scale, the edges where dissatisfaction is more likely to breed then spread into the middle. So I also think that while extreme responses are not representative, I also believe that extremist beliefs play a larger role in the current ruling system in China. One could also speculate that under the anonymity of the internet individuals are <i>more</i> likely to freely express the stuff they "believe" - I read a book or something a few days ago stating that more and more CCP politicians are going to the internet, using it as one tool among many to measure the attitudes of their constituents. But on the whole, I indeed should have made it a little more clear what my intent was (to provide at least one window, albeit flawed, into "citizen reactions" which English language speakers are not usually privy too) and also that this was not meant by any means to be representative. Oh, and lastly, when I posted the article it right after the event happened, and so there were only 4 pages of comments... there are probably far, far more comments now. May have to do a follow up. And I feel somehow vindicated to hear Youku is doing better than Tudou. For some reason I ended up believing that Tudou was bigger and was always upset about it because Youku was just a better site, period (I have the same feelings for Myspace and Facebook, respectively). Given that belief of mine I always used Youku over Tudou. Good to see their better website design is paying off! Thanks for stopping by, Kaiser. I totally agree with your evaluation that the anonymity of the internet brings out the extremism of people, be it in China or in the US, and I don’t claim (and I don’t think I claimed in the post) that posting a spate of reactions on Youku would be a scientific, representative example – just an unscientific pick-and choose from a very specific sample of people. However, I believe for the English speaking world, the only way to learn about these incidents is through Xinhua and other state run organs – note that all English language media coverage of the event has no choice but to parrot what Xinhua posts. And unlike the Western media (which I’m not holding as a model for perfection either) the Chinese media tends to be a little more conservative and less sensationalistic and doesn’t tend to cover people’s reactions to things. What I did isn’t representative, but it’s no less representative than when a reporter asks, “How do you feel?” to three random people on the street.

I also hold the personal belief while a non-elected government, the CCP is still beholden to the “will” of the people, but in a different manner – whereas federal elections force politicians to focus on the center and the “silent” majority, an unelected meritocracy I believe has to focus more on the “ends” of the belief scale, the edges where dissatisfaction is more likely to breed then spread into the middle. So I also think that while extreme responses are not representative, I also believe that extremist beliefs play a larger role in the current ruling system in China. One could also speculate that under the anonymity of the internet individuals are more likely to freely express the stuff they “believe” – I read a book or something a few days ago stating that more and more CCP politicians are going to the internet, using it as one tool among many to measure the attitudes of their constituents.

But on the whole, I indeed should have made it a little more clear what my intent was (to provide at least one window, albeit flawed, into “citizen reactions” which English language speakers are not usually privy too) and also that this was not meant by any means to be representative.

Oh, and lastly, when I posted the article it right after the event happened, and so there were only 4 pages of comments… there are probably far, far more comments now. May have to do a follow up.

And I feel somehow vindicated to hear Youku is doing better than Tudou. For some reason I ended up believing that Tudou was bigger and was always upset about it because Youku was just a better site, period (I have the same feelings for Myspace and Facebook, respectively). Given that belief of mine I always used Youku over Tudou. Good to see their better website design is paying off!

]]> By: Kaiser http://www.thenewdominion.net/256/youku-reactions-to-kashgar-attack/comment-page-1/#comment-1822 Kaiser Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:59:55 +0000 http://www.thenewdominion.net/?p=256#comment-1822 While I applaud any effort at bridging the language gap that so often keep people from understanding one another, and while I think your selection does represent a good cross section of the posts on this particular site, I would remind people that comment threads on video sites or blogs or posts on BBSs shouldn't be the basis for generalizations: people who post on these things aren't a particularly representative sample of China or, any more than Youtube viewers or people who post on comment threads in the Western countries are representative. Anonymity and lack of any accountability brings out the extremism in people, as anyone who used to read the Yahoo! News threads before Yahoo shut them down can attest. People, irrespective I would think of nationality, tend to be a whole lot more level-headed when real identities are involved. (An aside on Youtube/Tudou: a raft of recent research from the Internet Society of China/DCCI, from iResearch, from Nielsen and from other sources all points unequivocally to a strong Youku lead over Tudou, by whatever measure you care to apply: video views, time spent, unique visitors, whatever. Yes, I do consult for Youku, but I'm basing this assertion entirely on third-party research). While I applaud any effort at bridging the language gap that so often keep people from understanding one another, and while I think your selection does represent a good cross section of the posts on this particular site, I would remind people that comment threads on video sites or blogs or posts on BBSs shouldn’t be the basis for generalizations: people who post on these things aren’t a particularly representative sample of China or, any more than Youtube viewers or people who post on comment threads in the Western countries are representative. Anonymity and lack of any accountability brings out the extremism in people, as anyone who used to read the Yahoo! News threads before Yahoo shut them down can attest. People, irrespective I would think of nationality, tend to be a whole lot more level-headed when real identities are involved.

(An aside on Youtube/Tudou: a raft of recent research from the Internet Society of China/DCCI, from iResearch, from Nielsen and from other sources all points unequivocally to a strong Youku lead over Tudou, by whatever measure you care to apply: video views, time spent, unique visitors, whatever. Yes, I do consult for Youku, but I’m basing this assertion entirely on third-party research).

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