Censors Staying Busy

Janet and I were watching TV earlier tonight, which we rarely do, and were reminded that free speech is still a foreign concept here. We pick up two English language channels, both broadcasting from Hong Kong, where there are fewer restrictions on what may be said.

Watching the 7:30 news (who knows why 7:30 here?), we caught a segment of the Olympic torch being carried through the streets of San Francisco. One commenter mentioned the Olympics as a celebration of athleticism and that he was excited to see the torch. A second spectator said, "human rights" and our TV immediately cut to commercial. About ten seconds later, the commercial abruptly ended and we were back to watching the torch make its way through San Francisco.

We were both still laughing when just a moment later the news anchor introduced the next story as being about the Dalai Lama and we went to commercial again until we had been safely prevented from seeing the story. Maybe there was a reason I don't often watch TV...