"Sucking Pig".
You know, I blame Sir Paul McCartney.
He's the chap that started that:
"Huns across the water {water}, Huns across the sky" shtick.
Now, The Hun, are not really our friend, are they? No. I should say: "Not".
I'm more inclined to be a follower of Ringo Starr. He tells us:
"(ah -)
(ah -)
(ooh-ooh)
(ah-ooh-ooh)
It don't come easy,
You know it don't come easy."
Now. Does it?
quod erat demonstrandum
But the kettle's on the boil
And we're so eas'ly called away
Re-arranging deck chairs on the Itanium. 
"i had another look and i had a cup of tea and a butter pie"

No matter how the minds see it, in reality, there is no freedom when there is no morality. The problem for most mental patients is that they do not know what morality is. They think [because they are mental and the mentals are our emotional, physical and intellectual realms] that morality is a, “I think so”, sort of personal choice. They do not realise [because they only understand/feel/intellectualise] that morality is permanent and is part of Reality, not Relativity.

As such, there is no reality/true-freedom when there is no duty/morality and duty is about absolutes, not relativities. The duty of the emotion is to feel through love/compassion/joy and not through sympathy, say, and many such attached relatives. Similarly, the duty of intellect is to deduce through logic and not through ego and its constant demand to be recognised and be awarded as in, say, being seen as some great sympathetic, knowledgeable, destroyer of evil and btw, “Please ensure that the cameras/etc, are switched-on and focussing on me as I venture forth onto another crusade befitting the saviour that I am”, sort of immortality-banker.

All these attachment nonsense do not mention the other side of the coin. Which is? … that there is no such thing as a one-sided saviour for he who is a saviour is-not/cannot-be so. As in Love is not about power or knowledge but both, simultaneously, an impossibility for most/partial-humans. You cannot change others in reality. They have to be human first and true humans are not made whereas partial humans, like their animal ancestors, are “two-a-penny”. A person can ONLY become a real human through evolution. Using guilt & anger as utilities mean that you are as damaged as your targets for guilt-anger are weapons. Every screw-cum-nut is merely after power or truth but never both. These amnesty nutters much like their greeny-looney counterparts would like to rule the world as much as dictators would should they get the chance. It’s just that they are using the sympathetic nice-guy platform as their foundation. 

Unless you have the soluton to making people true humans, anything you demand to be redressed is merely control masquerading as “freedom”. And the solution is? If you are unaware as to what morality is [and it is not the religious nutters for starters] you won’t know much about evolution [and evolution is not so much about “The Origin Of Species”]. It’s about whether you know who or what you really are and what or who we are is about whether you know what you are really born for. For duty and the duty of every human is to become one and not so much as to make others human. The intellect/ego is about stupidity and the emotion/conditionings is about dumbness. The minds need stupidity & dumbness to nurture them and enhanced their illusory positions whereas true intelligence uses the gateway of the brain to reflect its qualities. Physican, heal thyself first and thence, allow the intelligence within others to recognise that their healing too will only come through their own intelligence. And not because you are their saviour. That’s how stupidity and dumbness are recognised and unveiled for fashion is merely another word for corruption. When a screw or a nut only talks one-sided, it is because he’s either a screw/control or a nut/licentiousness. 

In Relativity, democracy is about the freedom to be nonsensical [and seldom sensible] and communism is about the lack of freedom to be sensible. In Absolute, democracy is about a real human becoming a communist for only a real capitalist [and not those entrepreneurial salivates] can become a communist – when he gives his Love away for free[dom]. Hands-up, those who have True Love within them that they can give away, just like that and without attachments. The world not only needs you, you ARE The World/Universe. Not those pretentious “Moi”s. The ONLY reason gold is found found everywhere, like soil/dirt, is because they never reveal themselves to others much like the foundation of a building never talks about the task it has to bear. Topsy-Turvy is how relativity operates for they have to appeal to stupidity and dumbness. As evinced by the past 10+ years of “development”, the Chinese are confirming that they are as stupid and dumb as the rest – at least those who are “Moi”-ing on behalf of their silent majority. And the Indians are next which proves that culture is the true binding force, not blood. Why so? Because humans come and they go but Morality remains and Morality is just another word for Love/Gravity/Magnetism/Our-Roots.

I am an American living in China. 

I absolutely love it how the original poster has mentions everything bad about the west and leaves out some of the problems in China. 

First of all, free speech is free speech. There is no such thing in China. How about all the people that went to Beijing that complained about having their homes demolished for Olympic venues without reparation and were subsequently jailed for it?

How about all the bloggers or internet cafes that were fined, jailed, or shut down because they voiced anti-party sentiments?

The point about the religious sects or whatever he wants to call them. Though some may view them as radical, they do have a right to exist. 

I mean come on, the Tibetans? Now there is a dangerous group. Is it no wonder why westerners are forbidden to travel to the area so they can't report on the bullshit that is going there. 

To the Westerner it may seem there is freedom here on the surface. I find it incredible that Doctor John (he didn't post his last name, by the "Party" rhetoric he has mentioned, I can only assume it's Chen) mentioned that he hasn't found a single site to be blocked since he came here. 

I guess he hasn't heard of Wikipedia or CNN, or even Gizmodo was blocked for a long time (I guess because they report on a lot of the rip-off Chinese iPhones and other products which violate patent laws).

In my 3+ years here, I have met with and talked to hundreds if not thousands of locals and here are some of their common perceptions. 

1. The west is rich and thus must be happy. 
2. Taiwanese are poor, at least as poor if not poorer than the Chinese. 
3. Everyone hates Taiwan, though I haven't yet found a person who could give a reason as to why. They all say, I just hate them, I don't know. Some will even concede its because their government tells them to hate them and even though they know its irrational, they still hate them. 
4. Tibetans are violent separatists. (I always have a nice chuckle upon hearing that). 

Here are a few more facts that most people don't know about. 

1. No one really owns anything here in China. The apartments or homes that people buy are really just 70+ year leases from the government. 
2. People that venture into other parts of China for work are totally screwed. They have something called a Hukou (personal registration for their home town/region), and it's nearly impossible to have it changed. Thus if you come to another city to work, you don't get any rights. Yes, that means you can't start up a business there, you can't send your kids to school for free there, etc. You pretty much don't have any rights. This is why there is such a problem with factory owners abusing their employees (either through lack of pay or other abuses). If the employees don't like how they are treated, they are fired and frequently sent home. 

To summarize, there are a lot of nice things in China, but freedom isn't one that I'd put on the top of my list. 

As a westerner we come here, see the new subways, the fancy new skyscrapers, the cheap products and it's easy to be mesmerized in the short run. We live in expensive apartments that over 99% of the local Chinese couldn't dream of renting or buying, and its easy to gloss over all the shortcomings of the land. 

Having said that, I don't dislike it here, but it does really make me appreciate what I have back home. 

Bitch, whine, moan. One thing at a time, eh? There's now access to the internet, foreign news and TV stations and reporters now have the right to interview whom they choose as long as consent is given for the interview. Amnesty International are pretty demanding for people who hail from nations that looted, enslaved and oppressed China for centuries.

Public Executions are Now ticketed Item in US. If Commander dosn't like blip, F.C.C. may mo(r)e throughly inspect your compatibilities of interference, they ALL Produce interference. Say Telephone handset next to Speakerphone, Something got to give. erwie,wriweou,erwieh

So in Peoples Republic of China, it may, Like in US, be more one ISp blocking webpage, as they have thier own or even preventing Poor reporting on subjects dear. 
How many times do certain websites morph into unknown scramble on auction site? LOTS. Theres Just That Much Control, yet it is NOT Really kosher.

Sometimes its' just plain illegal to display event or image, like criminal act or encouraging it. You Can Kill Satan, yet leave Stan alone. Yet whats difference when Your On Hook?
China is Merely Growing & learning, 

Who'd Want To Risk Scarse Position just to let some German NUTCAKE wobble about tities on Balance Beam?
drashek

I guess amnesty international must be *** angry about chinese ppl nor buying porn through the net, neither being racruitable for terrorist organizations through the net.

WOW

That s really bad, isn't it?