The Chinese government has banned George Orwell's dystopian satirical novella Animal Farm and the letter 'N' in a wide-ranging online censorship crackdown.
Experts believe the increased levels of suppression - which come just days after the Chinese Communist Party announced presidential term limits would be abolished - are a sign Xi Jinping hopes to become a dictator for life.
The China Digital Times, a California-based site covering China, reports a list of terms excised from Chinese websites by government censors includes the letter 'N', Orwell's novels Animal Farm and 1984, and the phrase 'Xi Zedong'.
The latter is a combination of President Xi and former chairman Mao Zedong's names.
[...] It was not immediately obvious why the ostensibly harmless letter 'N' had been banned, but some speculated it may either be being used or interpreted as a sign of dissent.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by conn8d on Monday March 05 2018, @09:16PM (17 children)
Funny how we have banned a certain "N" word for awhile now. There is so much we can teach the Chinese, it's not even funny.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snow on Monday March 05 2018, @09:23PM
There used to be a lot to teach, but then they hacked all our servers and just took it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @09:35PM
We in the west would never hide Orwell's works, right? Wrong.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/168654/kindle_e_book.html [pcworld.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @10:12PM
We did not ban the word, we just culturally decided to ban it. Go ahead and say it anywhere anytime. The worst thing that will happen from the government is nothing unless you wander into hate speech territory. The worst that can happen to you from "society" is a quick ass kicking and possibly death, however you could then apply existing laws against assault.
You may not care for the distinction between private and government retribution but it is still an important one.
(Score: 5, Informative) by vux984 on Monday March 05 2018, @10:14PM (12 children)
The "N word" is "nigger".
It isn't banned. Its not used in polite company, the mainstream media self-censors it, and white people in general avoid using it because of the connotations it carries. We invite being labelled as racists if we do because at this junction in time and place its only real use for a white person is to express racism. That's what the word means. So I don't even consider it self-censorship, that I don't use it. It says a thing I would never intentionally say; so the word has no use for me.
Nevertheless the government isn't going to make anyone take it down or block it. And I doubt even SJW types are going to get especially agitated that I simply named it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @10:23PM (9 children)
but the ban on the n word also removes niggard from the polite lexicon and niggard is the perfect word to designate a cheap ungenerous person.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @11:13PM (3 children)
Oh noes polite society will gasp as they try to figure out if you said nigger or niggard!! ZOMG the huge manatees!
(Score: 2) by insanumingenium on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:23AM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by black6host on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:43AM (1 child)
Ah, but ignorance vs. facts... I'm afraid to say which wins the most.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by insanumingenium on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:48PM
Well, that is why I keep up the good fight. Its cool, I'm taking it back.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @10:55AM (3 children)
And yet it hasn't stopped black people getting white people fired and shamed [wikipedia.org] for using that word, despite its being a perfectly legitimate one with no racial connotations.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday March 09 2018, @08:23AM (2 children)
That's like a guy complimenting a woman holding a couple cantaloupes on her nice melons, and then protesting that he was just remarking on the produce she'd selected. You can argue until your blue in the face; we're still going to assume you were using the cover of the innocuous interpretation to deliver the suggestive one at the same time. We're simply not buying that you didn't realize someone might, ahem, 'misunderstand'.
Likewise, when you call someone a niggard at work... either you were
a) deliberately playing on the homophone to deliver both a 'safe' and unacceptable message at the same time, and are now transparently trying to shield yourself from the consequences.
or
b) you're a complete idiot, because that's the only other excuse for using a pretty obscure word (even at its peak of popularity) that is a virtual homophone for the most reviled word in the english language, without anticipating the blindingly obvious: that you would presumed to be ... see a) above
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday March 09 2018, @02:28PM (1 child)
That's why you have to look at context. If the guy commenting on melons is regularly doing that kind of thing, then, yes, he's using it as cover for his sexism. But using "niggardly" in a situation where it is germaine, and having done no similar thing before or since? That's somebody purposely taking offense and manufacturing a crisis as part of a power play.
Relative frequency of a word is no guide, either. English is a language with a big vocabulary and many words carry degrees of precision that render them not generally applicable, but make them absolutely perfect in certain situations. We cannot reward illiteracy by disallowing precise usage in our speech.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday March 09 2018, @05:31PM
"Relative frequency of a word is no guide, either."
Relative frequency is suggestive of how widely it appears in the audience vocabulary. Surely you would agree that most people don't know what niggardly means, and fewer still know the two words don't even share an etymology. That's important, because it means if you say 'niggard', a lot of people are going to assume its either the word they know or at least closely related to it. As a speaker or writer, I would know this.
"We cannot reward illiteracy ..."
Rule 1 of communication is "know your audience". The ultimate purpose of speech is to communicate. As a communicator, the the use of word niggardly is almost invariably a big distraction; and the only good reason to use it right now would be if you specifically wanted that overlay misunderstanding to be part of your intended message.
If provoking that inevitable misunderstanding was not part of your intended communication, then you've failed to communicate effectively.
"... by disallowing precise usage in our speech."
The speech isn't 'disallowed' but it's not efficient to use a word that isn't well known, and which will be interpreted as being another (offensive) word. If your intention is to clearly and precisely communicate you should be actively avoiding obvious double meanings, ambiguous sentence structures, and anything else that is going to muddle your message. Choosing to use the word niggard if you actually want to be understood as referencing stingy and ungenerous with no racial overtone is pretty much self-sabotage.
"That's somebody purposely taking offense and manufacturing a crisis as part of a power play."
They'd have to know what the word means to pick up on it and manufacture a crisis out of it. Most people don't. In most cases the crisis is legitimate misunderstanding.
But even for the people that DO KNOW, they wouldn't be able to manufacture a crisis out of it most other people knew what it means. Most people don't. That's why the crisis play works.
No matter how you look at it, you can see the trap coming a mile away so its pretty much on you if you still walk into it.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:33PM
So is "Scrooge."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by krishnoid on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:16AM
Or if you're in the trenches and slip up [youtube.com] sometimes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:28AM
Language evolves, and no word in existence is immune from this. It depends entirely on the context and the person's intent.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:11PM
Funny how we have banned a certain "N" word for awhile now.
Oh thank god! That means they finally shipped Ethanol Fueled off to the gulag, right?
Oh wait....no they didn't... because you're engaging in the fallacy of false equivalency.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JNCF on Monday March 05 2018, @09:29PM (2 children)
Sauce. [cnn.com]
Also note that TFS makes two separate claims about Animal Farm: that the novella itself was banned, and that the use of the term "Animal Farm" was temporarily banned from websites. I feel like the firsr claim might be sloppy journalism, but I also wouldn't be surprised if Animal Farm was banned in China.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @11:13PM (1 child)
N > 2 is the only way the scientists in China were able to evade censors with their thoughts about the matter, but as we see it became a popular enough way to evade censors that it caught their attention due to too many people doing that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:19AM
Maybe they could discuss M > 2 now?
(Score: 3, Funny) by frojack on Monday March 05 2018, @09:31PM (2 children)
Just be tha_kfull they o_ly ba__ed the letter _ i_ter_ally, i_stead of se_di_g a Court Order everywhere.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Funny) by BsAtHome on Monday March 05 2018, @09:45PM
The u.derscore is ba..ed too. A.d .ot too soo. the period will vaish followed byspacestoeverbeiggoe
Thatwillmakeaicekeyboard!
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday March 05 2018, @10:09PM
Wait for the result of the Microsoft case at the Supreme Court.
If it goes the wrong way, the Chinese will start demanding that any company doing business in china follow the Chinese rules for all their servers worldwide.
Interestingly, besides Vidia and Itel, most US tech giants will not have to change the signs on their buildings. Coincidence, or amazing planning ?
(Score: 1) by petecox on Monday March 05 2018, @10:22PM
With the trade war, America will be safe but I fear the rest of the world will be a morass of defective keyboards exported with a gap where the letter should be.
(posted without said character)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @10:30PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @10:41PM
iggers
(Score: 4, Funny) by pTamok on Monday March 05 2018, @10:43PM (3 children)
It would be perilous to emphasize a particular letter, so it is probably best to write text completely without the use of that letter. A thesaurus might be useful. A person whose task is to edit text to remove poor ideas might fail to see the lack of the aforesaid letter. This method would allow a message to pass. It helps if the writer has bad British, as stilted text would be expected.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:50AM
I'll just leave this [youtu.be] here.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:35PM (1 child)
Whose task is it, exactly?
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Tuesday March 06 2018, @09:12PM
Well spotted. I was trying to avoid the word ceNsor. Obviously iNdividual doesn't work, and my brain failed to see the final N in persoN. I should have recast it as something like "The overseer, whose task it is to edit text..."
I am even further cowed by Ernest Vincent Wright's [wikipedia.org] achievement.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @10:55PM
Ban all the things that talk badly about you or that you do not like. That seems kind familiar. Hey youtube take notes!
(Score: 5, Funny) by SomeGuy on Monday March 05 2018, @10:55PM (2 children)
Do you want to install Windows 10 now?
[Y] [Banned]
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:14AM
Wrong. Dialogues are all passive aggressive these days.
When do you want to install Window 10?
[_ow]
[I_ a mi_ute]
[Remi_d me i_ a_ hour]
[Surprise me]
[JUST FUCK ME UP]
(Score: 4, Touché) by arslan on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:38AM
I think you meant "Widows 10"...
(Score: 4, Funny) by mrkaos on Monday March 05 2018, @11:33PM (5 children)
Banning the letter 'n' means that his name is now: Xi JiPig that's why you really need to think these moves through. I prefer saying Ze Pig, like it's french :)
Needless to say many of my Chinese friends get very uncomfortable when I say that.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:23AM
I think apoleo and Xi JiPig would get along famously, considering how much more equal they are than the other farm animals.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:18AM (1 child)
So the place will hereafter be called Chia? Would he get it if he was mailed a Chia Pet?
Chia Pet! Updated with fewer bad letters!
Hey JiPig: Go ahead, take a letter away from me. I'LL STILL MOCK YOU! *blows raspberry* E-grish motherfucker, do you speak it? Yes, E-grish! Like E-mail, but without that bad letter.
This post disrespectfully brought to JiPig without the use of that bad letter.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday March 06 2018, @11:22PM
I immediately wondered that. What do we call the Chinese as a whole now? Chias? Chiese?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @11:01AM
That does make me think that the best response the world can have to Xi's moves is to mock him mercilessly like this. The (mainland) Chinese are extraordinarily thin-skinned about about saving face. If we all let them know their leader has made them a laughingstock, they might rein him in. (Bet it will work better than it has done in America's case.)
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:51PM
a viral video series and start getting them into china on thumbdrives or point to point network connections:
Xi JiPig, oink oink oink. *regular picture of Xi with snapchat pig nose and tail*
Lives in the house, oink oink oink. *flash picture of animal farm house, or similiar imagery*
Xi JiPig *flash a picture of him in a cop's uniform, holding a donut*
Xi JiPig, time to go to slaughter. *flash a picture of animals waving to an old 40s livestock truck with Zi's head on a standing pig being driven away*
Xi JiPig, Communist are you not-a! *show the hammer and sickle being used on his likeness before forming into the communist flag*
I do not have the skills for this, but if a group of people can roll it out fast before chinese censors become aware of it, I would enjoy reading about the lulz that resulted. Get an article up on SN if you do.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:33AM (2 children)
There are elements in the world who would like to see the Chinese system changed. China is on the dreaded PNAC list, after all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century [wikipedia.org]
If China bans an item, you can bet they are defending themselves from outside interference. And Jews being Jews, started both world wars and committed crimes against humanity on a large scale. Israel is a terrorist state, sponsoring terrorism. There is nothing beyond them. Increase in censorship all over the world is no coincidence. The Israelis are behind it.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:52AM (1 child)
When declaring The Party can do no wrong - do it as The Party mandated. N is Not For You.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:30AM
But without N, you cannot declare that the party can do no wrong. Only that the party ca do o wrog. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:03AM (1 child)
It's not like 习泽东 is not a valid name, as might be 奚泽东 or 西泽东, all of which are romanised Xi Zedong. What if that's really some dude's name? I don't think it would be strange that parents in some Xi family, in the fervour of the revolution, might name their son Zedong after the Chairman. There was a Chinese astronomer named Xi Zezong [wikipedia.org] (席泽宗) who passed away in 2008, which sounds rather close.
(Score: 1) by petecox on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:28PM
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @06:31AM (2 children)
Z has already been banned in Greece. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065234/trivia?item=tr0747710 [imdb.com]
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065234/quotes?item=qt0119320 [imdb.com] and http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Z [tvtropes.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:39AM
Yes some countries may ban foreign letters from time to time to avoid cultural encroachment (or subversion). However in this case I would think they would just ban whole Latin alphabet... but that would make it almost impossible for them to type since Chinese enter words phonetically, using a special alphabet made of modified Latin characters.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:55PM
Someone held the memo sideways?
(Score: 2) by snufu on Tuesday March 06 2018, @10:11AM
Does this cause a singularity or something?
(Score: 1) by infodragon on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:24PM
By the letter _
"Daddy, what's the letter _?"
Laughing in the background but I don't think it's The Count!
Don't settle for shampoo, demand real poo!
(Score: 3, Funny) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:22PM
They just wanted to make sure everybody got a Pet.
This sig for rent.