According to this Forbes article, China’s sovereign wealth fund wants to buy a large enough chunk of Facebook, so that it can control its image abroad, as well as censor much of what the site already allows, because the People’s Republic of China is weary of social media and the freedom it propagates. Although the article is careful to mention that the fund would only be able to buy non voting stock, and that even a billion dollars worth of stock would be only about a hundredth percent of the total amount once the stock goes public, the idea of the article is clear: China wants to take away our social media freedom , and control us.
A Sassy Control Agent or a Smart Shopper?
As was apparent in the little bit of Foucault that we read in class, control and capitalism go hand in hand. The author of the article states that China figures that if it can buy its way into our social media, then it can control us. We owe China so much money that it practically owns us already, and now it wants to own our favorite pastime?
I don’t think that the Chinese sovereign wealth fund is all that interested in telling us Crazy Americans what to do. Maybe it just wants to be a bank and fulfill its wealth-making function, a la capitalism. I don’t think it’s possible for China to own us anymore than it already does. Anytime we feel threatened, we like to demonize the perceived threat, make it worse than it really is. Especially if we’re in control.
