me after reading everyone's posts Damn, y'all. I'm really happy with the turnout of posts thus far. Lots of credit to Allanea and Oslea in particular (even though IC PAS is about to go ape lmao) for really biding their time in reading Factbooks.
Now to answer some inquiries...
Allanea wrote:I apologize in advance for the bevy of questions that will follow.
Please never hesitate to ask questions. Even ones outside this RP can go
here any time you feel like asking them.
Allanea wrote:a) You say your society is 'very conservative'. Does this mean there is censorship? Is the censorship pre-emptive (like in the USSR, where only approved publications could be published and possessed) or merely post=publication, where a given printing can be banned if it is found in breach of the law?
No. But also sort of yes.
- The restrictive aspects of PAS censorship is less political and more cultural. The Party actively encourages its citizens to have their own opinions, and thus, censorship when it comes to books/movies/shows is rare, especially when the mass medium used is from a local source or a local citizen. But;
- Foreign-made films, games, and occasionally, books, are restricted on an almost daily basis. Usually for culturally "conservative" reasons such as excessive bad language, nudity, gore, and the promotion of acts generally deemed immoral by the major religions of the Pan-Asiatic States (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism). Foreign-made media can also be censored for promoting values contradictory to popular opinions in the Pan-Asiatic States, such as displaying Asian races as inferior or portraying chapters in Asian history in a manner considered "distorted" or "unrealistic" by the Party censors. When it comes to cultural conservatism, I'm not talking lighthearted ESRB, I'm talking about a rampant scarcity in foreign-made media. So in essence it really depends on who made it, who's funding it, and occasionally, why is it being made. Which brings me to the fact that;
- The Pan-Asiatic States has its own "Pan-Asiatic internet", that operates much like that of China's. But not really. Because of Asia's sheer population density, there isn't really much of a political side-effect to this other than Pan-Asiatic ideologies being only slightly more popular than others, and Pan-Asiatic citizens being censored from foreign-made media. But again, the censorship is less political and more cultural. Various news-sites holding either Right-wing views, resembling the likes of Fox News or CNN, or news-sites that actively criticize the ACP, are not usually targeted by the Ministry of State and Public Security (MSPS). Essentially, the sample set of opinions on the world projected by the Pan-Asiatic internet, parallels the actual worldwide internet;
- VPNs are commonplace to bypass the Party's firewall and arrests on local VPN users are quite uncommon. Just like in real life.
- Technically, the process of censorship (when it comes to mass media) takes place only after something is published. However, any for-profit locally-produced book, game, or movie, which is in their nature of being for-profit, produced by state-companies, usually undergoes an unofficial and independent screencheck by a faction within their own company. This is usually only to ensure that they don't waste money in making something only for it to be censored later on. Foreign-produced media are a completely different paradigm: there is a government agency that greenlights foreign media pouring into the Pan-Asiatic States for each medium that exists.
Allanea wrote:b) How does the PAS prison system work?
Well, if you're asking how the judiciary system works,
it's in the 1992 Constitution, though I should warn you that there are aspects of that Factbook that are sort of no longer canon. The judiciary section is still completely canon though. You get accused of a crime, you get tried by a court, and if you lose, you go to jail for a specific amount of time as specified by the court.
Prisons work insofar as it does in most countries, though PAS prisons are less about exploiting free labor and more focused on ideological indoctrination, simply because the Party deems citizens more useful when they actually believe in the work they're doing; which is why they're more akin to re-education camps. Conditions aren't as comfy as in the Netherlands, but most prisoners are endowed the same basic necessities they would have been given even if they weren't prisoners (i.e decent food, shelter, clothing, etc.).
Prison life usually consists of working in state-produced drug farms or mines, spending an hour or so each day being indoctrinated by a Party representative with texts from Mao Zedong and other influential Communists, being fed, then hitting the sack.
Of course, that's still an idealistic view of how prisons work in the Pan-Asiatic States. It's still very likely for foreigners to be singled-out, tortured unlawfully, and become the subject of abuse by fellow inmates. While there does exist a check-and-balance government agency, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), it can only do so much.
Allanea wrote:2. PAS/Turtleshroom, I see PAS is supplying Pan-Asiatic rebels in Turtleshroom with weapons. How are those weapons getting there? Turtleshroom is famously landlocked. Are they smuggled in airplanes (perhaps disassembled), or perhaps by overland shipping (though one of the countries bordering TS)?
Wait I didn't know they were landlocked. Oof. Overland shipping it is then.