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On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

nytimes.com

71–80 of 192 posts

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#71
post #19
post #10

Israel's been doing this for a long time. Try inviting pro-Palestinian activists to campus and see what happens. At the end of the day, everyone has the right to protest, whether that's Black Lives Matter or the Westboro Baptist Church or any other group. Always distressing to see it used to further what I see as oppression but there's not really a whole lot to be done about it. You get your opinions and I get mine.…

There's a very interesting investigative documentary by Al Jazeera that shows how Israel funds and manages the Israeli lobby in the UK. I'll look for the link and edit this comment. Edit : Here is a link to part 1 of the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceCOhdgRBoc . You can follow the "Up next" link to watch the other parts; there are 4 parts in total.

Not sure that the mouthpiece of the ruling family of Qatar is a reputable source for anything, much less any topic involving Israel.

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#72

I see this as an outgrowth of left-liberal student bodies clamping down on conservative speech on college campuses. If leftist students can block Ann Coulter from speaking then why can't Chinese students block the Dalai Lama? Every speech is guaranteed to offend someone and that's verboten in today's campuses. As a libertarian, I was always worried about this and it was a main reason why I opposed social justice warr…

> If leftist students can block Ann Coulter from speaking then why can't Chinese students block the Dalai Lama?

Students actually don't have a right to forcibly block speakers. That's a common misconception of free speech.

If you want to see examples of how real free speech is upheld, check out cases on thefire.org [1]. It's a law firm that specializes in tackling free speech issues on college campuses. However, they can't take a case without a plaintiff.

So, if one group protests and succeeds in blocking some speaker, the burden is still on the victimized group to file a lawsuit.

As they say, freedom isn't free, and you need to fight to keep it.

[1] https://www.thefire.org/category/cases/free-speech/

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#73
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-25/uts-professor-preve...

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/world/asia/china-xinji...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anderscorr/2017/05/03/china-bul...

We are dealing with an increasingly totalitarian state, which bullies other countries through money. Present Chinese leadership is increasingly dictator like and has conflicts with every neighbour. China is not good news for our future. Western countries beauty is the free speech culture. You have to experience the suffocation of living in China, the fear of retribution and no basic han rights accorded to you. Trade with China should be shunned, hope was that trade would make the society open but instead it has made them even more brutalistic on the citizens.

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#74

I see this as an outgrowth of left-liberal student bodies clamping down on conservative speech on college campuses. If leftist students can block Ann Coulter from speaking then why can't Chinese students block the Dalai Lama? Every speech is guaranteed to offend someone and that's verboten in today's campuses. As a libertarian, I was always worried about this and it was a main reason why I opposed social justice warr…

It has nothing really do to with that. Chinese government doesn't care about left wing American students and what they think. It is just doing what it can to promote its message, like it has been doing for decades.

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#75
Blocking other speakers isn't speech, and it is not protected. Speaking out against an invited speaker is free speech, but if they were successful in blocking an invitation, that would be grounds for a lawsuit against the university.

So, condemning China for their attempts to block a speaker isn't so wrong. They have the right to say what they like. However, when they say "this is trampling my free speech rights" they're just as wrong as democrats who felt that way about Milo at Berkeley.

It often takes a lawsuit to demonstrate what is and isn't free speech. There are some good examples on thefire.org [1] which I learned about during the Yale Halloween costume debacle.

[1] https://www.thefire.org/category/cases/free-speech/

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#76
post #64

I see this as an outgrowth of left-liberal student bodies clamping down on conservative speech on college campuses. If leftist students can block Ann Coulter from speaking then why can't Chinese students block the Dalai Lama? Every speech is guaranteed to offend someone and that's verboten in today's campuses. As a libertarian, I was always worried about this and it was a main reason why I opposed social justice warr…

Between the laughable analogy comparing Ann Coulter to the Dalai Lama and an argument evoking a strawman SJW, it's not clear if you're here to discuss things in good faith. Your hyperbole doesn't help your argument either. What topic of discussion do you fear having a discourse about?

You can't accuse people of commenting in bad faith when you simply disagree with their comment. Please don't call names ("laughable" "hyperbolic argument" "you're here in bad faith".)

If you cut everything except your last sentence, the result is a good comment.

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#77
post #63
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

give me a break. left, right, _anytime_ there is a controversial figure on either side there will be opposition from the polar opposite side. but sure, don't mention the times people on the "left" wanted to speak and were threaten and harmed by the "other side"

If the left tries to block the right, and the right blocks the left, the Chinese the anti-Chinese..... soon nobody will be allowed to speak.

Lmfao, and then we become a perfect society where nobody talks, seems quite pleasant to me /s

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#78

I see this as an outgrowth of left-liberal student bodies clamping down on conservative speech on college campuses. If leftist students can block Ann Coulter from speaking then why can't Chinese students block the Dalai Lama? Every speech is guaranteed to offend someone and that's verboten in today's campuses. As a libertarian, I was always worried about this and it was a main reason why I opposed social justice warr…

I'm sure someone will eventually object to the negative portrayals of witches in fairy tales. There's no safe topics once you give in to this direction.

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#79
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a very interesting investigative documentary by Al Jazeera that shows how Israel funds and manages the Israeli lobby in the UK. I'll look for the link and edit this comment. Edit : Here is a link to part 1 of the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceCOhdgRBoc . You can follow the "Up next" link to watch the other parts; there are 4 parts in total.

Not sure that the mouthpiece of the ruling family of Qatar is a reputable source for anything, much less any topic involving Israel.

To complete the circle, however, Al Jazeera's China related journalism is excellent. And generally they seem to push the envelope in what they cover.

And for their home turf, would you like to suggest a better source for middle-east related news?

Re: On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing’s Watchful Eye

#80
post #10

Israel's been doing this for a long time. Try inviting pro-Palestinian activists to campus and see what happens. At the end of the day, everyone has the right to protest, whether that's Black Lives Matter or the Westboro Baptist Church or any other group. Always distressing to see it used to further what I see as oppression but there's not really a whole lot to be done about it. You get your opinions and I get mine.…

If all we can do is feel distressed and lie down, then we are simply enabling the opposition. Apathy is quite cancerous.
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