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posted by martyb on Tuesday March 26 2019, @05:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the bad-things-happening-to-bad-characters dept.

https://www.yog-sothoth.com/index.html/news/chinese-government-burns-call-of-cthulhu-supplement/

For many years, various publishers in the Americas and Europe have had their books printed in China as a cost-saving measure (including many in the RPG field). Often the primary downside of this has simply been the time taken for the books to arrive, but it appears there can also be another problem, as the publishers of The Sassoon Files (a Cthulhu-based RPG supplement) have announced that all print copies of their book have been destroyed by the Chinese Government – for unspecified reasons.

https://boingboing.net/2019/03/25/the-sassoon-files.html

Julio writes, "Sons of the Singularity is a small RPG publisher. Last year, they kickstarted The Sassoon Files, a sourcebook for the popular Call of Cthulhu RPG and Trail of Cthulhu RPG. As a lot of publishers, theydid[sic] the printing in China. The same day that the print was finished, a Chinese Government decided that it was "problematic", so they burned the entire print run. Targeting foreign publications is a first, specially when it seems there wasn't anything problematic (the supplement was based on Shanghai but was respetful and documented carefully).

https://sonsofthesingularity.com/setback-in-the-sassoon-files-banned-by-the-ccp/

We have suffered an unfortunate and unexpected setback with the off-set print run. On March 20th, the Chinese government ordered the destruction of our books. Although the printer returned our deposit, we need to find another printer and this will result in a delay in fulfillment. We are committed to completing the print run and fulfillment.


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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 26 2019, @07:43PM (6 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @07:43PM (#820255) Journal

    Obligatory Free Speech Explanation https://xkcd.com/1357/ [xkcd.com]

    You have a leg to stand on, when the government is the one doing it. As was the case here, the Chinese Government officials didn't like it, so they burned it. Thankfully, they were reimbursed, but that just says the printer wants to keep it's business afloat.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 27 2019, @03:48AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 27 2019, @03:48AM (#820482) Journal

    You have a leg to stand on, when the government is the one doing it.

    What's ignored with the XKCD example is that these actions can be coordinated by a government entity, such as what has been happening to Wikileaks and their problems with credit card companies and such. Then the government is indeed the one doing it, but hiding behind private business proxies.

  • (Score: 2) by DeVilla on Saturday March 30 2019, @09:33PM (4 children)

    by DeVilla (5354) on Saturday March 30 2019, @09:33PM (#822478)

    I remember there being counter arguments to that line of reasoning back in the 80s when it was the religious right and "silent majority" getting things censored and banned left and right. Then in was in the press and on the news. Seems to have been forgotten over a couple of decades.

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday April 01 2019, @03:12PM (3 children)

      by Freeman (732) on Monday April 01 2019, @03:12PM (#823097) Journal

      Censorship/banning "isn't a problem" per se, if it's not being mandated by the government. Private companies and people don't have to put up with someone's free speech and can ban/censor/ask someone to leave, so long as doing so doesn't break the law. I.E. not serving a particular race, sex, or other protected status could very likely be against the law. Assuming the censorship/banning (religious or not) was being done by the government, that's a dangerous thing. As free speech protections are there to protect the people from the government. The government should always be afraid of it's people. People shouldn't need to be afraid of their own government. Well, at least the people who aren't trying to harm/injure/ruin other people.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 2) by DeVilla on Monday April 01 2019, @04:10PM (2 children)

        by DeVilla (5354) on Monday April 01 2019, @04:10PM (#823122)

        It wasn't the government banning back then. It was TV Preachers and others calling for boycotts of anyone who gave people they disagreed with a place to be heard. Mostly TV, but prints and other places too. The magic word you used, "protected status", is the secret of the people doing the banning today. They declare anything controversial that they approve of as "protected". Anything they don't approve of is banished without further discussion.

        • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday April 01 2019, @05:01PM (1 child)

          by Freeman (732) on Monday April 01 2019, @05:01PM (#823138) Journal

          As far as protected status is concerned, it should only include those that actually need protection. Thus, generally, race or sex are the biggest "protected statuses". Slapping everything you can think of into a protected status is an abuse of the system. I'm not convinced that's happening. TV Preachers, or rando dude on YouTube, doesn't matter. We want to protect their right to free speech as otherwise, we lose a major protection. Just ask the people in China, what they think of their government. I'm sure you'll get glowing responses all around, because anything else isn't acceptable.

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
          • (Score: 2) by DeVilla on Monday April 01 2019, @05:53PM

            by DeVilla (5354) on Monday April 01 2019, @05:53PM (#823167)

            Won't disagree about China and preventing the government from silencing folks. But I'm pretty sure the folks organizing the boycotts to ban their opponents in the 80s we also pretty convinced they weren't silencing anything that needed to be protected either. And their opponents disagreed. I guess it's just a brief affair, easily forgotten.