China is a one party state. You don’t get to stay that way by allowing people to have the kind of freedoms you find in a typical Western Democracy.
The human rights abuses in China are a symptom of it being a one party state. You can’t fix the symptom without dealing with the cause.
You didn’t. That’s why it was a question. 
It was a question intended to support my point that while the U.S.'s human rights record has many shortcomings and it is or has been guilty of many of the same things China has been criticized for, it’s human rights record is definitely superior to China’s. That’s the basis for the criticism.
Why should other countries assume that the US conducts foreign policy on a moral or altruistic basis?
Why do the Americans want Liu Xiao Bo released? As American death squads and torture camps continue to operate all over the world, we can safely conclude that Americans generally don’t have any particular love of decency or human rights. There is no precedence for such a thing anyway. We can also safely conclude that Americans in general simply enjoy throwing brown people to death squads and torture camps - its not as if the US government goes to great length to hide this, or is otherwise misrepresenting their constituents, since America is a functioning democracy with a government accountable to the electorate. If the average American didn’t want to torture brown people for sport, he would have voted for someone who didn’t torture brown people for sport.
Why do they do these things? For their own inscrutable American purposes perhaps, but the most obvious reason is that they simply want to destabilize China, and Liu Xiao Bo is simply an American agent. Unlike the case for altruism, there is ample precedence of this, since the Americans routinely sponsor terrorists and insurgencies in order to destabilize unfriendly governments all over the world, not just China.
We have no stance .
We have more of our citizens in jails than any other country (percentagewise)
We have oppressed blacks, women and gays in our recent history.
We have Abu Grebe, Gitmo and endless wars while meddling in the leadership of soverign governments.
We have beaten, jailed and killed America citizens who protested our policies.
Plus, the Chinese didn’t actually run that guy over with that tank, right? Am I right? I mean, an American probably would have used that dudes guts to grease his treads, but the Chinese were like ‘Woah, big fella! Don’t want to run this dude over or anything!’. They have done the humanitarian thing and taken the burden of rule off of the Tibetans and brought them into the light of civilization and good government, have been nothing but honorable in their dealings with Taiwan, have helped make the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (it’s got ‘Democratic’ right there in the name!) the model of light and civilization it is today, and are a model of enlightenment and good government (and fair trade practices…don’t forget that! Plus they have explosive growth that has helped bring millions of their citizens to economic success to rival even the poor of Europe!) for the entire world to see and appreciate. Unlike evil America!
Gonzo, you are right…I see the light at last! There is really no comparison…
-XT
How reliable are the numbers out of countries like China and Iran, really?
For shame, Marley23! They are as transparent as a clear mountain lake when viewed at a 5 degree angle from half a mile away…
-XT
That’s not a very harmonious thing to say, xtisme.
I am harmony incarnate. The soul of harmony. If you looked up harmony in the dictionary, it would say ‘compatibility in opinion and action’, and have absolutely nothing to do with me at all…
-XT
Forget Kent State?
Why should I forget it? Oh…are you asking me if I have forgotten Kent State? I haven’t. Is your point that because some National Guardsman kids fucked up this makes us as bad as the Chinese, human rights wise? Or do you have some more opaque point you are trying to make?
ETA: Here is the thing. Because we have fucked up or done bad things in the past (or hell, even today) does not mean we can’t criticize others when they do bad things. After all, our European brethren and sistren certainly don’t refrain from yammering about us whenever the mood strikes them. Neither have our Japanese buddies…or our South Korean friends…or our Australian 'manos. Heck, the only ones who regularly criticize our actions and who probably have some sort of moral high ground would be our Canadian pals…but who cares about them? Bunch of freaking canucks, with the odd reindeer and bear wandering about…
-XT
What are human rights abuses in the US a symptom of?
http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/uswars.htm
Christ you are delusional. We are an extremely aggressive and pushy country. Interventions and war are our legacy. No other country comes close.
Kent State was a National Guard wounding of 9 students and the killing of 4 more. It was a horrible incident not to be excused by anything as stupid as saying they were kids with guns. Are you dumb enough to claim it was justifiable because the guardsmen were young? I suppose you are active in keeping guns out of the hands of people until they get old enough. What age would that be? Should we just accept that they will shoot people some times? Thats OK they were young. You ought to be ashamed for offering that as a defense.
I am not critical of the US. I just see what we do ,not what we say. I don’t hold governments to a high standard. If i did that, I would be very depressed.
We have been at war over and over. We have supported dictators around the world. World leaders who pissed us off have died or been overthrown with our help.
That is who we are.
Well, he’s dead, so I don’t see what he current state of delusion really matters in this discussion.
Uhuh. We are a superpower. They are all aggressive and pushy countries.
Maybe you should rank yourself with Christ on this one. We aren’t even in the same universe, intervention and wars wise, and most superpowers of the past (hell, even non-superpowers).
Well, leaving aside the fact that this isn’t what I said, nor the point I was making, is it your contention that being young, scared and poorly trained, badly lead and that the officers were criminally stupid for arming said troop has no bearing on the situation? Offers no mitigation? It makes us on par with a country that deliberately lines up civilians against a wall and shoots them like dogs? And you say I’m delusional? 
So, assuming I’m translating this into standard English properly, you feel that the US is worse than China on human rights issue, correct? Assuming I got that right, do you therefore feel that the US shouldn’t criticize China for it’s human rights violations? THAT is the question of this thread, after all.
Good grief…it’s like talking to Der Trihs on a bad hair day (when he’s been drinking heavily to the point he can’t write anymore). So…we have been in wars ‘over and over’. Have ‘supported dictators around the world’. Tens of thousands or millions of world leaders who have pissed us off have died horribly or been overblown with our whelp? And, to you, THIS is all we are? All we have stood for?
And, getting back to the POINT of the thread and off the rant box, the fact that we have done all those things you say means we do or do not have the right to call the Chinese on their own violations? If not, then which country has the right to call any other country on their actions? I know this will be hard for you to grasp, but the US isn’t or hasn’t been the only country to ever do stuff on your list, and contrary to your faith based believe we haven’t even been the most egregious in most of those except in recent history. That’s because in recent history the US has dominated the world, being either one of two major superpowers or, most recently the ONLY hyperpower.
-XT
I would separate this into two categories. The first category would be those abuses that happen in even the best of countries-- bad apples in positions of power who abuse that power by acting contrary to the law.
The second category would be human rights abuses that are institutionalized by being codified into law. In those instances, I would say human rights abuses in the US are symptomatic of our inability to live up to our ideals, and the slowness of making reforms that are built into our system of government.
The response was both correct and responsive to the thread. The point being on what basis do we criticize them when we have matched for everything they have done. As a matter of fact we have done much worse.
Can you really not follow a discussion any more?
[Modding]
I’ve reminded you both about this before, but your personal issues are not subject matter for this forum. Have a civil conservation or hash it out in the Pit, or just don’t respond.
[/Modding]
gonzomax, would you like to answer that question I asked you about China and Iran?
Why? It is only relevant if you think we are in a competition and the country with the most people in jail is seen as the great oppressor. We have jailed a huge part of our population . That is the point. We have jailed a greater portion of our people that many ,many countries that are seen as oppressive. We pretend to be an enlightened society. Most of those countries do not.
China and Iran do not pretend to be countries with democratic philosophies that care about the lot of the masses of population. We do.
Our jailing of people includes hypocrisy. They are being consistent with their governmental model. We are at odds with ours.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_pri_per_cap-crime-prisoners-per-capita Iran is way down the list.
Cowardism wrapped in the flag riding an Eagle.
If the US cannot criticize China because the US is not perfect, then I would assume it works the other way around - no one who has ever done anything wrong has any business criticizing the US record on Iraq or Gitmo or anything else.
Regards,
Shodan