Author Topic: News From The Democracy  (Read 2735 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Izhitsa

  • Basically New Zealand
  • **
  • Posts: 162
    • View Profile
  • Your Nation: Izhitsa
News From The Democracy
« on: February 20, 2022, 02:13:14 AM »
This is a thread of news reports from The Democracy. This post is reserved for an index.

Offline Izhitsa

  • Basically New Zealand
  • **
  • Posts: 162
    • View Profile
  • Your Nation: Izhitsa
Re: News From The Democracy
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2022, 02:15:20 AM »

Open Country Act Formally Passes Into Law
Chu Meitai
19 February 2022

The Protect Democracy Law, which ordered the borders of The Democracy closed to all outsiders and external communication, has been formally repealed with the passage of the Open Country Act. The OCA also creates a ministry to regulate foreign investment and lays the groundwork for physically connecting the National Computer Network to the global Internet.
The OCA has had a long and dramatic journey from bill to law. It owes much of its success to its association with its writer, the Douyin influencer Jiu Chenggong, who promoted the bill through his account and helped it gain national attention. Jiu gained notoriety on Douyin after a series of viral videos in which he eats several items of food incorrectly while his mother looks on, horrified. After its initial introduction to the National Legislation system in 2019, Jiu formed a national political group to campaign for its adoption. By 2021, his movement had been joined by the editing staff of Free Daily Press, the Sun Times, and the Ardian-language newspaper Nuntius Nova.
Despite this support, opposition to the bill was fierce. Such luminaries as the formidable footballer Bai Jiajun and the celebrity twins Fang Guili and Fang Guimin, as well as the editors of The Nation and The Haizhou Evening News, denounced the bill as a reckless endangerment of the freedom and independence of The Democracy. Supporters pointed out that the many advancements reported from the outside world had the benefit to improve the lives of many and boost the economy, but opponents of the bill claimed that engaging with the world this way would come at the cost of The Democracy’s ideological purity.
By the end of 2021, the bill had overcome the 30% voter turnout threshold to become a law, but the majority of votes were against its adoption. The bill stalled until December 2021, when a series of Douyin videos produced by the freelance investigative reporter Dong Xiangyu of a walk through a Daitojin city revealed just how much the world had changed since the closure of The Democracy’s borders in 1954. At the end of the series, Dong argued that The Democracy and the greater world needed each other, that our people could help promote democratization in other countries while benefiting from connections with their economies. The debate sparked by this video led to the eventual approval of the bill by the people on February 5th. Because the bill has retained the approval of the people for two weeks, has now passed fully into law.
The Protect Democracy Law, which the Open Country Act replaces, was originally introduced by Zhang Peng, a general of the Civic Movement, in order to shield the nascent Democracy from outside threats that could threaten the revolution. However, as he himself stated when he announced its introduction, it was never meant to be a permanent measure. The law, in his eyes, was merely a temporary way to prevent the hostile monarchies that surrounded the Feng Kingdom from bringing The Democracy down from the inside.
Despite the law, some new technologies developed by the outside world have managed to trickle into the nation, usually inspired by knowledge gained from interrogations of outsiders who have attempted to enter the country. Most notable among these, is, of course, the personal computer, and later, the internet and mobile phone.
After the Open Country Act passed the two-week approval threshold, we asked Jiu Chenggong how he felt about the fact that he had just authored one of the most important pieces of legislation in our nation’s history. He replied, “I never really thought of it that way. I suppose I feel a little overwhelmed. But most of all, I feel really happy that our country has finally opened its doors to our neighbors. You know, when I was a kid I always dreamed of visiting Ardia. Now it’s finally possible, for everyone. It’s a little hard to believe.”

Offline Izhitsa

  • Basically New Zealand
  • **
  • Posts: 162
    • View Profile
  • Your Nation: Izhitsa

Hundreds of Tourists Turned Away at Ardian Border For ‘Improper Documentation’
Zhu Dade
02 May 2022

Hundreds were surprised this weekend as they arrived at the now demilitarized Ardian border for their spring holiday, only to be turned away for lacking necessary papers. Citizens were bewildered at this sudden new requirement for travel. “I have never needed papers to travel anywhere before,” said Zhang Jianguo, a would-be holidaymaker. “It’s ridiculous that Ardia would require this for what is for many of us our ancestral land.” Over 12% of Citizens marked their ethnicity as Ardian on the last census.
Ardian border guards seemed confused at the sudden burst of people at the border. Said one, who asked to remain anonymous, “I’ve never seen anything like this before. This is supposed to be one of the easiest border crossings to work in the country because the Feng don’t let anyone in or out. But one day all their patrols just disappeared, and now we have hundreds of people thinking they can just drive through without any kind of papers at all. Who told them that?” When asked if he had any message to give to the people of The Democracy, the guard said, “Yes. Tell your people that they need to contact their local embassy, or foreign office, before trying to go to another country. This is basic logic here.”
The last time Citizens of the Democracy had been able to travel outside the country was in the 1950s, and the Civil War prevented travel for decades before that. As a result, almost everyone who has had experience visiting other countries legally is now over 100. We spoke to one of these, the 103-year-old Liu Shaolong, who remembers visiting nations as diverse as Ardia, Quintelia, and Daito in his twenties. Liu explained the old process that subjects of the Feng Kingdom were required to follow to visit other countries:

Quote
One advantage of working for an international business was that the External Affairs Office was willing to approve your travel requests. Even though I was just a low-level bureaucrat, I managed to convince them that I needed to visit other countries for my work. They gave me a small booklet called a ‘passport’ which showed the border people who I was and where I was coming from before they allowed me into their country. For going to Ardia, this was enough. Because we were under their rule, they didn’t really consider us to be another country. However, for going to other countries, I also had to go to their embassies to apply for what they called a ‘visa’, a paper that showed that I was approved to visit their country for a short period of time. I don’t know how the system works now, of course, but I think that’s probably why the Ardians are confused about our tourists.

Because our country, by its nature, lacks an office with the power to unilaterally decide our foreign policy, several political celebrities, including Jiu Chenggong, Dong Xiangyu, and Wang Mengbai, have taken it upon themselves to negotiate with the Ardians to create free passage laws. So far, no one has announced any success at contacting the Ardian government, but they believe their letters have at least made it across the Ardian border. If successful, they will attempt to have their proposed treaty with the Ardians passed as a law in the usual manner.
For now, Jiu Chenggong, the famous author of the Open Country Act, advises caution when trying to visit other countries. “Don’t break any laws,” he said on Douyin yesterday. “We want to make the best possible impression for the rest of the world.”

Offline Izhitsa

  • Basically New Zealand
  • **
  • Posts: 162
    • View Profile
  • Your Nation: Izhitsa

Editorial: Is The Democracy Really Less ‘Democratic’ Than Monarchies?
2022 July 9


In a world filled with bloodthirsty dictators, faux parliaments, and absolute monarchs, it should be easier to answer the question “which nation is most democratic?” This question, according to the newly-developed Renmin University Democracy Index, has a shocking answer: despite our system of direct democracy at all levels of government, our nation does not even rank in the top three.
Researchers at Renmin University, working with The Democracy Daily Newspaper, developed the index as a way to evaluate the political progress of the world’s nations. However, many say that the relatively low rank of The Democracy shows that the metric is clearly flawed and biased against our nation. A look at the top three nations in the list demonstrates this clearly:
None of these nations have anything near the level of direct democratic integration present in The Democracy, and two of these nations are two of the world’s strongest monarchies. Achkaerin and Tytor both have unelected heads of state, leaving their foreign policy at the mercy of the interests of one family, and their heads of government are only indirectly elected. Yet, by placing too much value on political perceptions, the so-called Democracy Index has elevated such countries to the status of ‘Full Democracies”.
A look further down the list reveals even more irregularities. The full list follows:
After The Democracy, the next most “democratic” nation is Rokkenjima, an empire ruled by a royal family constantly troubled by scandal and upheaval, whose legislature has no power and is frequently overridden with no legal recourse. Yet because anonymous political scholars have deemed it to have fair elections and a politically active populace (who we are to believe are rabidly enthusiastic about participating in a political process where they have no power), it is ranked above strongly democratic states like Heyra, Mktvartvelo, and New Derusmia.
Even East Moreland is ranked as a “flawed democracy” despite the fact that, like Rokkenjima, its elected officials can be overruled by what some consider the most powerful unelected dynastic monarchs in the world, with no opportunity to appeal directly to the people.
These flaws, while glaring, are nothing compared to the index’s view of The Democracy itself. Despite the obvious advantages of our method of government, this so-called Democracy Index has no questions that take into account the level of direct democracy in a government. This ignores a founding principle upon which our nation and our conception of democracy was built. As the framers of our country believed, the only way to ensure that the true will of the people is fulfilled is to continually consult the people on every topic upon which they have an interest. The addition of proxy voting is similar to the republican system of many other nations, yet unlike those nations our people are free to withdraw their support from those who no longer represent them at any time. Simply put, any Democracy Index should not judge our nation’s government on the archaic governments of the world; rather, the governments of the world should be judged on the model that we have created.
It’s no wonder that as soon as Renmin University published their findings, citizens across the nation criticized it on platforms of all kinds. On his Douyin account, Jiu Chenggong called for the University administration to repudiate the study and have it rescinded. Additionally, a new law has already been proposed to develop a new, ideologically sound Democracy Index that takes into account factors that measure the real level of democracy in a nation rather than the perceptions of anonymous scholars. Small protests are even reportedly being organized outside the Renmin University World Studies building calling for the department to voluntarily retract their study until its methods have been further reviewed.
We of the Evening Star Editorial Board would like to add our voices to this tide of outrage. By allowing the creation of such an index, Renmin University has shown itself to be politically irresponsible. The results of this index will embolden the autocrats of the world to follow in the footsteps of nations like Rokkenjima, endorsed by the most democratic nation in the world, and create pseudo-democracies where popular power is stifled. Additionally, they have sullied the good name of this country, by allowing the world to believe that we don’t live up to our name, that liberties aren’t protected here, and that our government is somehow ill-functioning. Simply put, this ‘Democracy Index’ is anti-democratic—and there can be no justification for its continued existence.

Offline Izhitsa

  • Basically New Zealand
  • **
  • Posts: 162
    • View Profile
  • Your Nation: Izhitsa
Editorial: The Democracy Index is not “Anti-Democratic”
« Reply #4 on: July 12, 2022, 05:50:57 AM »

Editorial: The Democracy Index is not “Anti-Democratic”—and the Reaction To It Displays Our Country’s Flaws
Yu Yuhua
11 July 2022

Dr. Yu Yuhua is the head of the World Studies department at Renmin University. As department head, she championed and led the Democracy Index study.

I suppose my students should thank the Haizhou Evening Star for giving them a day off class. That said, I hope to see them here, bright-eyed and ready to learn, first thing Wednesday morning. Nevertheless, as the protest outside my office dies down, I would just like to take a moment to ask what it’s all about. What drove dozens of people to shout outside a university building on a cold winter day?
Really, I am proud at the political drive of the protestors and the energy which they are able to project at this one small thing. But I wish they could direct their youthful energy toward positive change, rather than fixating on shouting down those who ought to be their ideological allies. Because, in reality, while critics such as Jiu Chenggong and the Haizhou Evening Star are accusing me and my department of creating a study opposing democracy, it is they who are engaged in its destruction.
Our country is based on the principle of Democratization, the hope that with conscious effort, our nation will break down the boundaries that divide us, until we all see each other as human citizens loyal to the cause of democracy. Our nation’s revolution did not end in 1954. While we no longer have to fight for our freedom with guns and steel, our revolution is ongoing, perhaps forever, as we seek to improve our society.
Yet, people like Jiu and the editorial staff of the Evening Star would have you believe that our nation is at the end of its history, that there is no further for it to go except to spread its way of government to every nation on the globe. These people regard the concept that other countries may have something to teach in some areas of democratic government as completely foreign. These people ignore the corruption of money or influence in our society. These people refuse to consider putting in safeguards to protect our most important laws and institutions from the votes of a small, coordinated sector of the population. In essence, they refuse to contemplate helping the revolution move forward from its current state.
And in their opposition, they demonstrate our nation’s greatest flaw: the outsized influence that single people can have on an entire country’s views. For example, Jiu Chenggong, by advocating for the most important piece of legislation in our generation, has singlehandedly managed to capture the proxy votes of nearly 1 out of every 50 citizens. While our country allows people to decide for themselves who they want to have represent them at any given time, it also allows inexperienced pundits to ride on the coattails of one success to undermine democratic progress.
My critics have legitimate concerns that other nations, particularly constitutional monarchies, were rated too highly in this metric, and this is a problem which will have to be dealt with in future versions of the Index. But that is no reason to regard a pilot study examining a single metric as inherently ‘anti-democratic’. On the contrary, rather than being anti-democratic, this Democracy Index propels the cause of Democratization by pointing out where our county can improve.
It goes without saying that I am not advocating we become exactly like Tytor, or Achkaerin, or Jugland. They are their own nations with their own very different governmental philosophies. However, if we can learn from Achkaerin how they stamped out corruption, if we can learn from Jugland how they made political opportunities truly open to everyone, if we can learn from Rokkenjima how they boosted turnout to over 70% (for elections which, as my critics point out, affect nearly nothing compared to ours), then we can truly achieve Democratization.

Offline Izhitsa

  • Basically New Zealand
  • **
  • Posts: 162
    • View Profile
  • Your Nation: Izhitsa
Ailing Wushang Cinema’s Next Films Plagiarize Foreign Flicks
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2022, 07:09:29 PM »

Ailing Wushang Cinema’s Next Films Plagiarize Foreign Flicks
Lin Haodang
2022 July 23

It is no secret that Wushang Cinema Group has had serious financial trouble in the last decade. Since 2014, they have produced little but flops, from the critically panned The Scholars, and culminating in an 2021 adaptation of Knights of 1946 that our own critics called “insulting to the source material” and “demeaning to democracy”. However, in a new shareholder meeting held yesterday, they have promised to turn this trend around, announcing five new films in development set to be released in the next couple years.
Wushang has recruited top talent from around the world to write these films, which they say will represent what they are calling the main line of the ‘New Wushang’. But there is only one problem: these foreign top talents were all recruited without their knowledge.
In fact, each of the new films seems to be based heavily on a foreign film, and in some cases blatantly copies their plots. For example, the first of these new films, Vector World, which is set to release in December, is about a hacker, Xinxin, who, spurred by the mysterious Zhou Gong, discovers that humanity was forced by robots to live in a simulation called the Vector. With the help of Sanqing, the movie’s love interest, he fulfills a prophesy to fight against the machines.
This plot is essentially the same as a movie released in Achkaerin called The Matrix, right down to the names: The Matrix’s Neo has the same meaning as Xinxin, The Matrix’s Morpheus is named for a god of dreams, like Zhou Gong, and The Matrix’s Trinity is named for the Christian trinity, just as Sanqing is named for the ‘Three Pure Ones’ of traditional religion.
The other announced films are similarly plagiarized. Romance of the Star War is a copy of East Moreland’s Star Wars, TV World is a copy of Tytor’s The Truman Show, Miss Huo is a copy of Achkaerin’s Trixy Holmes, and Quintelian Vacation is a copy of Mktvartvelo’s Midsommar.


Vector World, a copy of Achkaerin’s The Matrix, is set to release December this year

When pressed for comment on allegations that they have simply plagiarised their latest line of films, an Wushang spokesman simply said, “The themes explored in these films are international and part of the human condition. Why should it be a surprise when two countries produce similar movies?” He added that he was particularly excited for Romance of the Star War, which he hoped would launch a franchise exploring the plotting and archetypes of old in a fresh setting.
Because none of the countries targeted by the plagiarism have treaties with The Democracy, there is little they can do to enforce their copyright in our nation. However, the blatant theft will make it unlikely that these films can be released in the international market. According to a private source near Wushang’s upper management, Wushang is not worried. “Targeting the international market sounds like a good idea, until you realise that you have to translate everything, and even then there’s a chance that you don’t succeed. The board knows exactly what they’re doing.”
Still, this doesn’t seem to have improved the mood of Wushang’s shareholders. Its stock price dropped by 5% shortly after the announcement, and has remained low since. Perhaps copying foreign films has only proven what we thought all along: Wushang Cinema Group has run completely out of talent.