American McGee Sets the Record Straight on China's Game Policy

[RobfromtheGulag]

More like "welcome to the internet". Still, the Escapist ain't as bad as 4-chan, right?
...
Right?

We're working on it. Wait til the mods go to sleep for more.

Despite all the "bad" about China, one of the things I'm fascinated by is this interplay between a government that has to balance a desire for absolute control against a population it absolutely could NOT control if things got really out of hand. That drives a constant "negotiation" between people and power.

This isn't meant to be a defense of China's policies towards its minorities or the way it monitors and controls its internal communication. But I think it's important to keep in mind that information and freedom do find a way - and that things are constantly changing here - usually for the better (not hard to move towards better when things start our relatively bad).

I'm not sure about all the posters in this thread, but I am not under the impression that China, the country, is a bad place/thing. The government does however seem more repressive than many other countries, including the US/Euros.

Yes people will find a way. Even without the internet someone would have burned DVDs of games shipped in like cocaine from South America on 2 man sailboats. The point is that the government is actively trying to stop them. These Chinese folks on the internet are having to fight for their freedom to information. Until something big like this UN dominated Internet or SOPA go through, we here in the west don't have to worry about visiting whatever website we want, accessing nearly any content.

 

[aceman67]

This just entire interview reeks of being coached by the Chinese government (based on McGee's responses).

If the Chinese government is spending resources to coach a game developer on how to respond to a list of questions that a game journalist sent via email... I think the country has bigger problems than anything discussed here. (Read: I think you've been watching too much Conspiracy Theory with host Jesse Ventura)

No, I just have an understanding on how China likes to control how the world perceives it when it can.

Ever hear of the Great Firewall of China?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWfUOG0EA9w

China actively monitors and intercepts virtually all internet traffic that comes and goes from its shores. Emails included. This is a known fact.

So its not that hard to put two and two together and conclude that A) American was coached by a government official, or B) Self-Censored himself.

All in response to an email asking for his opinion on a article that condemned Chinese business practices when it relates to gaming.

 

[rofltehcat]

Interesting interview. Thanks to McGee and Ryan Hughes (first page of this thread) for talking about their experiences in China. It is always interesting to hear about such things... just like reading the article this interview was a response to. When informing yourself about such things, actually listening to several sides and the experiences of different people is a good thing and helps actually thinking about the topics instead of being instantly persuaded by just one source.
Most other posters here? Really, go outside and cool off. You're way overreacting.

 

[hentropy]

Sticking to the topic at hand, the issue of China attempting to alter games made in the US, I can see why Westerners might feel eager to jump to the conclusion that they are just a bunch of Orwellian villains that want to censor American media. I think it must be said that these conclusions tend to put blame entirely on China, when in fact it is the American publishers that are choosing to change their villains. I suspect this is not so much because they're afraid of China, but because they might want to do deals with China eventually and don't want that kind of venomous nonsense like Homefront or the new Red Dawn in the case of movies on their record.

As a baseball fan of the Baltimore Orioles, a small storyline this year was our star pitcher Wei-Yin Chen, a pitcher who was born in Taiwan and played in Japan before being signed on in Baltimore. Many of the announcers, baseball buffs who don't give two licks about international politics, called him Chinese and apparently the Chinese government cares so much about what regional baseball announcers say on air that they requested that Chen be called Taiwanese. Now keep in mind they weren't constantly talking about how Chinese Chen was, it was just mainly odd mentions at the beginning of the season, the same way announcers might talk about which parts of the US an American player comes from or with South American players. I believe this was the case with other Taiwanese players on other teams, as well. Eventually through the season they basically told the Chinese government where they could stick it, not that it was a big deal by that time, but they still called him Chinese whenever the issue came up.

So while on one hand it's easy to see why people might overreact to publishers making decisions that fit possible future and present business interests, it's also not hard to believe that China would try to influence our media in a direct way. If they want to change this perception, they have to work on changing their image like in the example above. Why should it be surprising that the government would tell game companies in the US what to do when it comes to their villains when they're trying to change what announcers say on regional sports television networks in the US?

 

[AldUK]

Many of the announcers, baseball buffs who don't give two licks about international politics, called him Chinese and apparently the Chinese government cares so much about what regional baseball announcers say on air that they requested that Chen be called Taiwanese.

Just want to point out, that most Chinese people do not actually call Taiwan, Taiwan. They call the country and it's people, "Chinese Taipei."

Just as they refuse to acknowledge North and South Korea and refer to the country simply as Korea. (Due in part to China's continuous support of North Korea.)

Chinese people also refer to Tibet as 'Xizang' and consider the entire country a mere off-shoot of China. And they call China itself 'Zhonggou' which pretty much means "the center of the universe." Most Chinese people believe they have a God-given right to rule the world and I am NOT making that up. (Kinda wish I were.)

 

[Keji Goto]

1.) Homefront was also released on PC and isn't just a 360/PS3 title. PC games have been released in the Chinese market place for some time now unless World of Warcraft made the jump to plug and play games.

2.) There was never any actual pressure from the Chinese government on Homefront. If American McGee had actually read the article and what Rob had said it was something the development team worried about and thus changes were made.

3.) The idea that other governments control certain markets doesn't excuse the great lengths the Chinese government goes to protect it's own image. This is like saying "Well my neighbor beats his kids so there's nothing wrong if I smack my wife around some right?" Wrong, both are wrong and neither should be accepted.

Also censorship should NEVER come from the government. Even if you can't enter the US market without an ESRB rating they don't have the right to outright ban a game, they can simply give it an AO (Adult Only) rating. Most retail outlets choose not to carry these products thus most developers avoid it to keep from limiting their market.

4.) Pixel sex isn't banned in the US, see the above talking about the AO rating and why developers choose to not go that route. This is a choice of the developer, not the government. In China there is no choice, it's simply the law.

5.) Funny how Alice: Madness Returns made it to retail despite being on the 360/PS3 yet for some reason Homefront couldn't even though it had a PC release as well. I think American McGee needs to do his homework next time before talking down to others.

Also again the difference between the ESRB and the Chinese government is that the ESRB simply ups the rating of your game if content exceeds certain standards while the Chinese government will flat out deny a game being released for content they deem too much for their population.

Again censorship should NEVER come from a government body.

6.) In the US I've never seen the ESRB threaten to pull business licenses from game developers, tell them how they have to market their games, what they can and can't charge for, and other things like that which can and do happen in China. It may not be as evil or harsh as Rob's article makes it out to be but that certainly doesn't mean that it is okay the lengths the Chinese government has gone when it comes to censorship.

7.) Again the difference between the US market and the Chinese market when it comes to development and releasing a title is that there are always other routes. No one is going to stop an Indie developer from working on a game and then using the internet as a means to distribute their game. In China on the other hand this small collection of companies have complete control over the market. With consoles banned outright in China that means even the PC falls under censorship making it impossible for small Indie developers to get their product out there by whatever means they can.

Comparing this to the entry cost of developing for the PS3 or 360 is utterly ridiculous because there are other options. In China there are no other options.

8.) The ESRB doesn't outright tell companies they can't release games at retail and also doesn't control the digital space like I mentioned earlier with Indie developers. If I felt like developing a game in my spare time I could release it from my own personal website or through other sources without having to go through the ESRB. Flash games aren't rated online but in China these types of games will be reviewed and if they are deemed "unsafe" for the masses they get the boot until they conform.

What's wrong with superstitions and cults in video games and media? They are often portrayed as the villain and you don't exactly see games releasing encouraging people to join cults. Something like Slenderman would never be released in China due to the superstition fears despite it being a very effective horror game.

Personal opinions don't make something bad for people.

9.) How are Chinese gamers going to know about a title that can't be released in their country? Who is American McGee to speak on behalf of Chinese gamers? Also stop comparing a government run body to the ESRB because the ESRB has no government affiliation so stop comparing the two.

Also what does revenue streams have to do with this? I couldn't tell you how much any game out there has made but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in those titles. You're comparing apples to drywall here Mr. McGee.

Oh yea and I love the little insults directed at the Homefront developers, Rob, and even the average American gamer when it comes to our attention span. People might not agree with the US being portrayed as the bad guys but I can assure you the US government isn't going to step in to stop it from releasing nor with the ESRB. Instead the product would be released to market and the people could then decide for themselves what they think about it instead of a small group of individuals deciding what is right and wrong for EVERYONE.

10.) No not all of our skeletons will have to put on flesh because there is still the ability to release games in the US and in other regions without having to go through a rating process thanks to the internet and it being uncensored. Regardless of how big the Chinese market gets their censorship laws only apply there which doesn't allow consoles so I doubt those will see much censoring no matter how much China wishes those skeletons had flesh.

 

[Salad Is Murder]

Hey American McGee: I've got a brilliant idea. Let's take a bunch of fairy tale characters.... but make them CORRUPT AND EVIL! Wow, nobody ever thought of that before. We'll make billions.

Shh, dude, shut up, Tim Burton will hear you aaaaand it's too late.

 

[dyre]

This just entire interview reeks of being coached by the Chinese government (based on McGee's responses).

If the Chinese government is spending resources to coach a game developer on how to respond to a list of questions that a game journalist sent via email... I think the country has bigger problems than anything discussed here. (Read: I think you've been watching too much Conspiracy Theory with host Jesse Ventura)

No, I just have an understanding on how China likes to control how the world perceives it when it can.

Ever hear of the Great Firewall of China?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWfUOG0EA9w

China actively monitors and intercepts virtually all internet traffic that comes and goes from its shores. Emails included. This is a known fact.

So its not that hard to put two and two together and conclude that A) American was coached by a government official, or B) Self-Censored himself.

All in response to an email asking for his opinion on a article that condemned Chinese business practices when it relates to gaming.

If you actually think the Great Firewall does anything, you clearly don't have an understanding on how China likes to control how the world perceives it. I'm guessing you learned about it through Wikipedia?

Anyone with half an education / brain in China bypasses it through a VPN. I interned at a major English-language Chinese paper two summers ago (one might say, the major English-language Chinese paper), and at the time I exchanged plenty of emails making fun of Chinese policies with friends back at home (in the US). No one in China cared.

Honestly, China's ability to actually control information is pretty poor. They mostly just use state-controlled papers to publish subtly pro-government - or more commonly, anti-US - articles, but to think they're actually organized enough to pick up an email asking for someone for comment (which journalists send all the time, to everyone. I doubt American McGee was even the only developer who was asked for comment, unless Mike happens to know him as a contact), and then coach a response, is just absurd. Like, FOX news conspiracy theory absurd.

 

[hentropy]

Many of the announcers, baseball buffs who don't give two licks about international politics, called him Chinese and apparently the Chinese government cares so much about what regional baseball announcers say on air that they requested that Chen be called Taiwanese.

Just want to point out, that most Chinese people do not actually call Taiwan, Taiwan. They call the country and it's people, "Chinese Taipei."

Just as they refuse to acknowledge North and South Korea and refer to the country simply as Korea. (Due in part to China's continuous support of North Korea.)

Chinese people also refer to Tibet as 'Xizang' and consider the entire country a mere off-shoot of China. And they call China itself 'Zhonggou' which pretty much means "the center of the universe." Most Chinese people believe they have a God-given right to rule the world and I am NOT making that up. (Kinda wish I were.)

Actually, no. The term "Chinese Taipei" is mainly only used during international sporting events when they want to differentiate themselves from the PRC, as there was pressure to ditch the name "Republic of China" because it was considered to uppity and presumptive. China was a little peeved over the baseball issue because they didn't consider Chen Chinese because he wasn't part of what they saw as the legitimate Chinese government because he was from Taiwan.

And 中国, "Zhongguo", does not mean "the center of the universe", it simply means central (&#20013 kingdom, or country (&#22269. This is because at one time they really were the central kingdom in the known world, with Korea and Japan off to the east, various water and islands off to the south, India and Persia to the southwest and west, and Mongolia to the north. Just as Japan is sometimes dubbed the "land of the rising sun" because they are to the east of China and the sun rises in the east. Most Chinese people don't believe they are the rightful rulers of the world, they are just people trying to live from day to day like most people in the world.

 

[dyre]

Many of the announcers, baseball buffs who don't give two licks about international politics, called him Chinese and apparently the Chinese government cares so much about what regional baseball announcers say on air that they requested that Chen be called Taiwanese.

Just want to point out, that most Chinese people do not actually call Taiwan, Taiwan. They call the country and it's people, "Chinese Taipei."

Just as they refuse to acknowledge North and South Korea and refer to the country simply as Korea. (Due in part to China's continuous support of North Korea.)

Chinese people also refer to Tibet as 'Xizang' and consider the entire country a mere off-shoot of China. And they call China itself 'Zhonggou' which pretty much means "the center of the universe." Most Chinese people believe they have a God-given right to rule the world and I am NOT making that up. (Kinda wish I were.)

Jeez, what part of China do you live in? Zhonggou literally means middle-country, but China hasn't had any territorial ambitions outside regional hegemony since...ever. The Chinese don't give a shit about taking over the world; that's just an absurd notion likely propagated by hawkish elements of American media. You know, kind of like everyone thought the USSR wanted to take over the world back in the Cold War. In reality, both nations actually had/have no ambitions for world domination; rather, they accuse Western nations of having that ambition, and construct an "our nation is under siege from foreign powers" narrative to keep their citizens from challenging the domestic government.

Chinese people don't refuse to call Taiwan "Taiwan" or refuse to acknowledge South Korea, what a ridiculous notion. This might come as a surprise to you, but most people (outside the military and some members of government) don't care enough about politics to even bother doing anything like that. Most people I've talked to in Shanghai and Nanjing are pretty apathetic about politics; they really just want to get rich.

 

[dyre]

You, however, don't appear to have any primary sources to back yourself up. From your words I haven't been able to identify any role in the industry or in China in any way. What I see is a person whose knowledge of China comes from reading other second and third sources. You've been told that China doesn't censor videogames any worse than the ESRB does, and your reply was "China censors all media to control its people." You were told that China's cultural office was ridiculously demonised in terms of the videogame industry. You replied "They run little girls over." Before you accuse my arguments of being provocation and mockery, re-read your own posts. At least mine were ironic.

Girlfriend of 3 years is Chinese, I've been over there with her 4 times. Her family are great people, most people I met over there were, but we were far away from the cities and everyone I talked to told me stories about how the 'city people' have no morals and don't care about anything but the next paycheck.

Don't make baseless assumptions about me. I'll do you the same courtesy.

Hmm, now that I've read this comment, that could be why there's a tremendous difference in our apparent perception of China. I too have been to China four times (over the past eight years. Fascinating how different it is each time, in terms of urban development), but only to major cities. Your negative stereotype of China may stem from the fact that you only associated with, ahem, ignorant peasants, while I was able to speak with the more educated, enlightened denizens of Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing. Maybe in the countryside, such backwards notions like being in the "center of the universe" or "South Korea doesn't exist" are more common. Comes with being uneducated, you know.

Obviously I'm half joking, but it really could be due to differences in education standards and exposure to Western culture, both of which counter the effect of government propaganda.

And yeah, people in cities care about becoming financially successful, and they have an inordinate desire to acquire fashion goods (like Apple products), but I fail to see how that makes them immoral.

 

[AldUK]

Actually, no. The term "Chinese Taipei" is mainly only used during international sporting events when they want to differentiate themselves from the PRC, as there was pressure to ditch the name "Republic of China" because it was considered to uppity and presumptive. China was a little peeved over the baseball issue because they didn't consider Chen Chinese because he wasn't part of what they saw as the legitimate Chinese government because he was from Taiwan.

And 中国, "Zhongguo", does not mean "the center of the universe", it simply means central (&#20013 kingdom, or country (&#22269. This is because at one time they really were the central kingdom in the known world, with Korea and Japan off to the east, various water and islands off to the south, India and Persia to the southwest and west, and Mongolia to the north. Just as Japan is sometimes dubbed the "land of the rising sun" because they are to the east of China and the sun rises in the east. Most Chinese people don't believe they are the rightful rulers of the world, they are just people trying to live from day to day like most people in the world.

Jeez, what part of China do you live in? Zhonggou literally means middle-country, but China hasn't had any territorial ambitions outside regional hegemony since...ever. The Chinese don't give a shit about taking over the world; that's just an absurd notion likely propagated by hawkish elements of American media. You know, kind of like everyone thought the USSR wanted to take over the world back in the Cold War. In reality, both nations actually had/have no ambitions for world domination; rather, they accuse Western nations of having that ambition, and construct an "our nation is under siege from foreign powers" narrative to keep their citizens from challenging the domestic government.

Chinese people don't refuse to call Taiwan "Taiwan" or refuse to acknowledge South Korea, what a ridiculous notion. This might come as a surprise to you, but most people (outside the military and some members of government) don't care enough about politics to even bother doing anything like that. Most people I've talked to in Shanghai and Nanjing are pretty apathetic about politics; they really just want to get rich.

I've already said that I don't live in China, nor do I get my information from Wikipedia or 'American' news. My statements are based on my own research and experiences, not to mention international news and accepted education.

I know full well that your average Chinese person does not care about boundaries or has delusions of grandeur in terms of vaulted national opinion. I know this because I've met a lot of normal Chinese people and got on very well with them. However, the official governmental stance in China both on China itself and surrounding countries is, I can assure you, accurate. Chinese officials do not accept Taiwan, Tibet or a divided Korea. These are facts, not fiction, not overblown propaganda.

And as for the word Zhonggou, yes it means 'central kingdom' but not in the way you describe. Zhonggou is not just a word, it's a philosophy, one that preaches a national identity as the sole most important nation on this world. Take your own advice and don't just read Wikipedia for this, I know I am not wrong, because I've witnessed this attitude first hand.

 

[dyre]

I've already said that I don't live in China, nor do I get my information from Wikipedia or 'American' news. My statements are based on my own research and experiences, not to mention international news and accepted education.

I know full well that your average Chinese person does not care about boundaries or has delusions of grandeur in terms of vaulted national opinion. I know this because I've met a lot of normal Chinese people and got on very well with them. However, the official governmental stance in China both on China itself and surrounding countries is, I can assure you, accurate. Chinese officials do not accept Taiwan, Tibet or a divided Korea. These are facts, not fiction, not overblown propaganda.

And as for the word Zhonggou, yes it means 'central kingdom' but not in the way you describe. Zhonggou is not just a word, it's a philosophy, one that preaches a national identity as the sole most important nation on this world. Take your own advice and don't just read Wikipedia for this, I know I am not wrong, because I've witnessed this attitude first hand.

Yeah, but you probably witnessed it in some backwards uneducated area of China, or from some official spouting what he thought was the party line (which incidentally is more about economic growth and stability than world domination). I can tell you for a fact that attitude simply does not exist in Shanghai. As someone who worked with a Chinese "propaganda" paper, I can tell you that the government wants to convey a few main points...

- China is developing quickly in terms of economic growth, technology, and standard of living
- The US / its puppets want to interfere with China's growth in those regards, as well as China's territorial sovereignty
- Basically, you (the regular citizen) must continue to support the Chinese government in order to keep promoting growth, and because we must stay united in the face of American imperialist ambitions.

I like how you changed your argument subtly from "most Chinese people" to "official government stance" though. We're making progress, at least.

 

[aceman67]

*snip*

No, I didn't learn about it from Wikipedia, or anywhere on the internet. I learned it in my Network Admin class in College (I have my Cisco certification) when were covering the history of network infrastructure, and China is a prime example.

Has for how China operates, I learned that from my father whose retired Canadian Military (who's trade was Digital Communications and Encryption).

So, kindly as possible, don't jump to conclusions, I do know what I'm talking about.

 

[dyre]

*snip*

No, I didn't learn about it from Wikipedia, or anywhere on the internet. I learned it in my Network Admin class in College (I have my Cisco certification) when were covering the history of network infrastructure, and China is a prime example.

Has for how China operates, I learned that from my father whose retired Canadian Military (who's trade was Digital Communications and Encryption).

So, kindly as possible, don't jump to conclusions, I do know what I'm talking about.

Very well, I apologize. But while you may have a good knowledge of the technical aspect of the Great Firewall, I don't think you're completely aware that its practical implementation is only half-successful.

I've worked in China, with plenty of Chinese journalists, and the government there is just not organized or dedicated enough to censor things to a personal level (like, intercept an email to some game developer from The Escapist and then dictate his response). I know China has an aura of a Cold War, Stalin-era government where the party is in complete control, but in reality, pretty much none of the officials really give a shit about the government; they're just part of the bureaucracy and likely profiting greatly from it thanks to corruption. As a result, while something like the Firewall could potentially be used to truly control all inflow and outflow of information, in practice, it's pretty damn ineffective because no one cares enough to put in the effort to make it effective.

Plus, I'm not sure the Chinese really have a proper grasp of American media anyway.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20518929
Either that, or it's a result of the journalists at People's Daily just being too lazy because they don't really value their work at a state-sponsored propaganda paper.

 

[BlackStar42]

This just entire interview reeks of being coached by the Chinese government (based on McGee's responses).

If the Chinese government is spending resources to coach a game developer on how to respond to a list of questions that a game journalist sent via email... I think the country has bigger problems than anything discussed here. (Read: I think you've been watching too much Conspiracy Theory with host Jesse Ventura)

No, I just have an understanding on how China likes to control how the world perceives it when it can.

Ever hear of the Great Firewall of China?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWfUOG0EA9w

China actively monitors and intercepts virtually all internet traffic that comes and goes from its shores. Emails included. This is a known fact.

So its not that hard to put two and two together and conclude that A) American was coached by a government official, or B) Self-Censored himself. And
All in response to an email asking for his opinion on a article that condemned Chinese business practices when it relates to gaming.

The Chinese government certainly restricts its citizens access to the web, but do you honestly believe the government has the manpower to monitor every email sent in a country with about 400 million Internet users?

And keeping a population of 1.3+ billion happy is no mean feat, they are not going to give a shit about one Western game developer talking about life there.

 

[AldUK]

I like how you changed your argument subtly from "most Chinese people" to "official government stance" though. We're making progress, at least.

I did no such thing. When I said 'most Chinese people' I was refering to the cultural attitudes and national identity, tied in with the philosophy of 'Zhonggou.'

As for the official Chinese government, that was in regards to the way China views it's neighbours.

Stop attempting to discredit my argument in such a petty way. The 'backwards uneducated peasants' I have met included a retired university professor, a manager at a local power plant and a political commentator. (Chinese, but living in England, for obvious reasons, which funnily enough, actually pertain to this thread.)

 

[dyre]

I like how you changed your argument subtly from "most Chinese people" to "official government stance" though. We're making progress, at least.

I did no such thing. When I said 'most Chinese people' I was refering to the cultural attitudes and national identity, tied in with the philosophy of 'Zhonggou.'

As for the official Chinese government, that was in regards to the way China views it's neighbours.

Stop attempting to discredit my argument in such a petty way. The 'backwards uneducated peasants' I have met included a retired university professor, a manager at a local power plant and a political commentator. (Chinese, but living in England, for obvious reasons, which funnily enough, actually pertain to this thread.)

Um, I don't think you can really blame me for reading this quote

Just want to point out, that most Chinese people do not actually call Taiwan, Taiwan. They call the country and it's people, "Chinese Taipei."

Just as they refuse to acknowledge North and South Korea and refer to the country simply as Korea. (Due in part to China's continuous support of North Korea.)

the way I read it. I'll give you the benefit of doubt and assume from now on you meant a cultural phenomena, but rest assured, even if China's "national identity" involves claiming to own Taiwan, it's not a national identity that anyone cares about. The Chinese public will never demand that the government act on that national identity; for the most part they're just not particularly patriotic.

I have never come across that Zhonggou attitude you claim to exist. Maybe it's a movement of a minority of outspoken idiots, like the Tea Party? The people I've spoken to include journalists at Xinhua and China Daily, a retired general, several mid to high ranking business executives, and a Ministry of Culture official in Nanjing, all living in China. I'm pretty sure if that philosophy was at all popular among the educated class, I would have picked up on it.

On the government stance regarding its neighbors, the Chinese government is interested in regional hegemony, but no further. They're pretty similar to the USSR in that regard, except they've dropped the pretense of supporting "revolutions around the world." I guess the other thing that makes China's desire for regional hegemony a little different from the Soviet Union's is that the Chinese claim to have some historical right to some lands.

 

[Trishbot]

Is it so hard to separate China's game policy stances from China's government and China's good and bad decisions? Name me a perfect country that has never made hasty and ill-planned decisions or had knee-jerk overreactions to sections of their own populace.

We're living in an age where information and knowledge and views are so widely available, yet we get so narrow-minded when confronted with something strange, foreign, and different than our own ways of thinking. We wish for all things to conform to our illustrious standards and damn those who disagree with our views, as if we're saints and they're pure evil.

Ultimately, government is merely people, and people are inherently flawed. It does bother me that people in America put their foot down and refuse to see anything but the bad in other countries that aren't themselves. We have all the means to engage each peoples and cultures and develop insight and understanding towards each other, yet we choose to be ignorant and unilaterally condemn any government that fails to align with our belief system.