China has finally done what the West dares not: it has declared war on the algorithmic pornography of micro dramas. The State Administration of Radio and Television, in a move that would make the Victorian censor blush with approval, has banned the glorification of violence, soft porn, and rampant materialism in these bite-sized digital narcotics. One might scoff at the puritanical zeal, but consider the alternative: a society drowning in the very decadence that hastened the fall of Rome.
The micro drama, that frenetic bastard child of TikTok and soap opera, has become a vehicle for the basest instincts: endless scrolling, algorithmic arousal, and the worship of luxury brands. China, ever the historian, recognises that such content is not harmless entertainment but a slow poison to the social fabric. The West, in its libertine folly, has allowed these digital toxins to flourish, mistaking licence for liberty.
But as Rome discovered, a society that mocks its own moral foundations does not stand. Whether this crackdown is a cure or merely a puritanical bandage remains to be seen. But it is at least an admission that culture matters.
And that, my dear reader, is a rare and precious thing.
