I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. I knew the government is pretty big on censorship, but I thought I've made my peace with not getting to have full access to certain books I want to read.
This makes the easy ability for people in the United States to stay informed and make educated decisions on how the government here should govern all the more incredible. Incredible in how little most people care. How quickly our attention is diverted to frothy entertainment.
I consider it a right to have public access to information, freedom to communicate via social network forums, and choice to decide how I want to navigate all these resources. This is the first time censorship made such a visceral impact on me. An actual wave of nausea swept over me, in facing this very real restriction, this choking off of information and means of contact, within the next three months.
My husband asked me if I'm sorry we decided to move to China now. For a few minutes, I was. I've already accepted the troubles it might bring to how we live out our faith, how we raise our son, how we forfeit the much greater earning power he would have if we remain in the States. Now to add to everything else, I wonder how I would be able to keep on top of my academic interests -- when I want to do my PhD in the very area over which the government clearly wants control. It's going to be a lot more complicated than I had imagined, and I bet JSTOR and other databases will be equally banned. (Maybe? I hope not...we'll see.)
After the few minutes, ok, hours, I decided: Bring it. I am not sorry we're going to have deal with yet another thing I hold so dear. Because, as our moving day crawls gradually closer, I am seeing how more and more, a lot of the things I have taken for granted as rights here in the States can be laughably (because it's absurd! Of *course* everyone should be able to practice their religion or read anything freely!) considered a privilege elsewhere. It's valuable to gain that perspective, and to start becoming familiar with the viewpoints and realities of people from countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, China. People from countries known for idea-restricting governments.
If all the things I've been used to and have considered to be valuable rights -- if I am called to give up these things or for these things to be harder to attain, so that I can better learn and care for what is true and good in the world, then okay. Bring it.
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