Growing up in the 21st century in Australia I sometimes forget how fortunate I am. This century is a great time to be alive, almost zero injustices, the government looks after us and values our freedom of speech and opinion right?

Apparently not everywhere. Even now people are being mistreated on what others call 'annoyances' and 'crimes' against the government. not sure what i mean? here I'll show you something mind blowing that I've come across.

RedTHaws (partial) review:

'So it came to pass. . . 

that in the 1950s, China began their Re-education by Labor Program, in which they sent their professors and teachers and scientists and politicos and intellectuals and religious and dissidents and revolutionaries and many others who did not fit their definition of proper citizens to prison camps where they were punished, humiliated, beaten, and mistreated until such time that they became "new men" and "new women" and were deemed worthy of re-entry into society.  

In addition to the human atrocity, the people in power also took the opportunity to purge national treasures in the form of art and literature, architecture, and religious icons.  Most Chinese people consider it to be a tragedy.

If it crossed my mind at all, here in my sheltered state of living with guarantees of freedom and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, I would have thought that Chinese work camps were a thing of the past.

imagine my amazement when I went to google the history and found that these places still exist.  It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of people may have lived in these places until they were either killed or died.  As late as 2012, people were still being sent away to re-education camps for crimes against the state.  

This is the current news story that caught my attention: One woman was sent to such a place because she dared to protest about the too-lenient sentences given to the men who had abducted her eleven-year-old daughter, and used her as a prostitute in the child-sex-slave trade for three months before she could be located and rescued.  The mother's protests were inconvenient to the police force, and when she became too strident to be ignored anymore, they sent her away.  Because they can.

Amid expressions of outrage from bloggers, humanitarian organizations and the media from all over the world, for this example and countless others, China finally agreed to shut down the camps.  Here's the result:

"'You just change the sign at the entrance of the camp and instead of being called labor camp it is called drug rehabilitation center,' the expert said." Here's the link: http://www.dw.com/en/no-end-to-chinas-notorious-re-education-camps/a-17362570 

So, yes, it's an important book.  It points out the historical abuses, and reminds us that abuse is still occurring.'

rest of review here

I urge you to read the rest of this enlightening review, it has quotes, more information, etc. I just wanted people to realise stuff like this still happens. everyone needs to know. if nobody knows, nobody will care, and if nobody cares it will never be stopped. Now wouldn't that be a horrendous crime against humanity.

Definitions of humanity : "our differences matter but our common humanity matters more"
synonyms: compassion, kindness, consideration, understanding, sympathy, tolerance,  gentleness, mercy, charity, generosity.

I thought I was totally mellow, that it wouldn't be a big deal to go without internet for a week. After all, I thought, I have my phone and I can always look things up there. Except of course I forgot the whole "you only have 2gb per month" thing, and because it's easy to let that amount slip away, I became miserly. No video, no audio, no new podcasts - the short version of all this is that it's been REALLY emphasized to me how much I do that requires being online. And now I'm very aware of how many times while I'm reading I usually google something I want to know more about. Not all of that internet use is entertainment related - several things related to info and bills is much easier to deal with online, especially when you compare it to the phone versions of the websites.

Anyway, the past week(ish) has been all over the place reading-wise. (Linked the covers so you'll have an idea of the content - yes, I am currently too lazy to list them.) Graphic novels via Humble Bundle (I now have a passel o' Transformers stories, heh) only for home (they need a full screen and color) and then only my ebooks for the daily commute. I've been bouncing around in various ebooks, especially if reading any one is making me sleepy. Way too easy to fall asleep on a train. And it's not so much that any book is dull, it's just perhaps that page or that subject, plus the train moving steadily, plus it being earlier than 7am - you get the idea.

Another problem is that the cold weather has made me want to be in bed under my electric blanket (I love that thing way too much), which has for once in my life made reading in bed terrible. Apparently me + heated blanket = instant brain torpor, and I can't read more than a paragraph (or hear a few minutes of a podcast) before I'm out.

Anyway, today was the first day of internet in the apartment. Since I had to take the day off to be here I had this goofy idea that I'd go grocery shop, etc. once I got back online. Then it decided to do that rain/snow thing in the morning. Bleh. Stayed happily inside and did laundry. And read at all sorts of websites. But now the fun decision - Netflix, or more web-reading, or...well that electric blanket is very comfy. Yes, even though I now have the 'net, the siren blanket calls to me. (I like to set it on high to preheat, then lower it to the bake setting.)

Have to add a humorous aside - before the install date the cable company called me to try and upsell me to cable tv since I'd only ordered internet. And I explained that no, I only had a computer and planned to keep it that way. And the guy still tried to sell me cable tv service. I had to tell him again "nope, I only have a computer. I don't see the need for a tv right now. By the way, could you confirm the times the tech is going to be here on Friday?" And nope, he couldn't. (He tried, but couldn't get his computer or the website to work. It was sad.) He did tell me twice that he was recording the call to ensure good service, so maybe someone will eventually give the poor salesfolk a better script. Because they have nothing to say to upsell you if you explain you can watch all sorts of tv (legally!) thanks to the internet.