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Comment by mikequinlan | Hacker News Reader

CBS said "This is the creative solution that we agreed upon with the producers". I have been wondering if the producers insisted that the segment be censored in all regions so that everyone would know about it. Otherwise Americans would never know about the censorship.

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You don't fight censorship by doubling down on censorship. It's entirely possible to show the uncensored version in America and raise awareness that the segment was censored in other regions.

But then it wouldn't be on the front page of HN or a NY Times article. I hope it's still available if you access some obscure torrent site using a VPN.

It's entirely possible to fight censorship by selectively doubling down on censorship when you know or suspect the effect of that censorship will backfire and have the opposite result.

It's not just about what you do, it's about the outcome you expect and aim for.

This is absolutely true. However, I am not sure CBS deserves the benefit of the doubt here...

Somehow this reminds me of the “Explicit Language” stickers on music packaging that Tipper Gore and the PMRC brought about in the 80s.

Those stickers sold product!

What better way to raise awareness that it was censored, than by showing the censored version in the US?

>You don't fight censorship by doubling down on censorship.

even though that's basically what the entire internet 'black bar' campaign was about during the SOPA/PIPA crisis.[0]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_SOPA_and_PIPA

"Agreed with the producers" might be just "execs told them either you agree to air it as we say, or it doesn't air at all and look behind this door - there's a line of people just like you waiting to take your spot in the lineup, so think quick". In this position, one doesn't have too much space for disagreement if one want to keep one's job.

Except Chinese use VPNs and this just keeps them from ever seeing the content now.

If the segment was about Chinese censorship, surely the best way for Americans to learn about Chinese censorship would be to air it?

Now Americans learned about American censorship. Maybe it's even better for Americans to know that exists.

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