internet - Uproar pushes administration to ban Nike commercial

The web talked back in the past week, to paraphrase an unfortunate headline in the New York Times earlier in the week. Beijing loves the web, until the web talks back, it said. The article misses an important development, that perhaps does not fit the way how the New York Times wants to frame their China story.
The point is that the government not only listens to what is being said, but sometimes also acts - and not always in a smart way. The ban of the Nike commercial for example was the latest illustration of a trend where goverment departments in a panic do what chatroom warriors at the bbs's demand them to do.
People who have seen the Nike commercial didn't think there was anything wrong with it and they certainly did not feel that China's dignity was at stake. The interesting part is that goverment departments do listen to the internet, and take it damned serious, too serious in some cases.
There is much more to say about this subject, but that has to wait for another time.