Textbook Case

Normally, most commentators tend to overrate the singular impact of technological change. Thomas P.M. Barnett has a good point about this WSJ story on a Chinese waitress who stabbed a would-be rapist in self-defense:

"Chinese court on Tuesday dismissed murder charges against Deng Yujiao, who was accused of killing a local government official, after her cause was championed on the Web. Ms. Deng, a hotel worker in the central province of Hubei, said she acted in self-defense when the official and his colleague tried to rape her.

The case prompted an outpouring of public sympathy for Ms. Deng on the Internet by people who were angered by an apparent abuse of power by government officials, and who expressed concern that Ms. Deng would be given a heavy sentence despite the mitigating circumstances."

Barnett argues that "Globalization's radical influence through connectivity is the same the world over," and it's hard not to agree. Not too long ago Ms. Deng would have likely wasted away in jail and the dead official would be given a state burial. In some ways, the case is a perfect example of globalization's techno-sociological-organizational convergence effect. Greater political openness and a newfound public assertiveness is bolstered by growing material affluence and technological global-local fusion. A local morality play becomes a national spectacle, and the government backs down.