Basic Order - A Conservative Principle

SOCIOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY, AND CHINA
Chris, you raise an excellent point. We know that technology can subvert, change sociology. Karl Marx pointed this out. Ironically, his insight now alerts us to how IT and MIS can pose a challenge to the Communist police state in China. However, I have a different view of things. First, nobody in China really wants the strong central government to collapse. Look at the history of China, especially over the past 200 years. Nobody there, and outside of China, too, for that matter, if they are in their right minds, wants the regime to go "wobbily" and invite chaos again. Therefore, I believe the Chinese are astute enough to realize that economic dynamism does not have to undermine fundamental social stability. This is why nobody really wants the Communist government in Cuba to collapse. Investors want political stability. If the Communists give it and allow us to prosper under it, nobody is going to lose sleep over it, despite the years of propaganda about evil Communism. For the record, I was in East Germany when it was under Communist control, and I do not ever want to live under a system like it. It is evil. However, I cannot dictate to China how its people want to live. What works there because of history may not work here, and vice versa. Second, the technology also allows the state apparatus to keep close track of its citizens! It is George Orwell's 1984 come alive in which Big Brother, the state, has the technology to track the movements, thoughts of its citizens, or prisoners if you like. We in our country must remain alert to this danger. What stops our regime from using these powerful IT tools to create a police state or dictatorship? Our history, of course, argues against it. However, to sum up, the Chinese because of horrific history there may be willing - indeed are willing - to accept stability; the regime will let the economy go full blast as long as people do not threaten its hold on basic order. This is the end of the sermon for today, which is Sunday, Mother's Day, 2009.