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

nytimes.com

91–100 of 192 posts

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

#91

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…

It isn't a legal right, it is a de facto right.

Generally speaking, only left leaning speakers are allowed on campuses.

Generally speaking, only pro-immigration speech is allowed in polite company.

This story, at least to me, also illustrates Chinese immigrants aren't interested in immigrating to other countries because they like the culture, way of life, etc and are choosing them as a new home to raise their families (well, this is part of it of course), but perhaps even unbeknownst to themselves, they have a strong intention to modify their host cultures into a form more like what they are used to.

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

#92
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.

as a rule, alj's reporting for things outside of the middle east are reliably pretty good. inside the middle east they have more obvious biases, particularly w/r/t qatar. if you have specific quibbles with anything said in this documentary, by all means raise them, but if you're just going to throw shade without any specific substantiation then you probably shouldn't bother.

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

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

It isn't a legal right, it is a de facto right. Generally speaking, only left leaning speakers are allowed on campuses. Generally speaking, only pro-immigration speech is allowed in polite company. This story, at least to me, also illustrates Chinese immigrants aren't interested in immigrating to other countries because they like the culture, way of life, etc and are choosing them as a new home to raise their familie…

> Generally speaking, only left leaning speakers are allowed on campuses.

No. Just no. While American college campuses tend to skew left, they are not fortresses of liberalism where everyone duckspeaks about Bernie Sanders. They all have conservative professors, Young Republicans clubs, and so on.

Hell, part of my large, public university tuition money went to pay a 50k speaking fee to Alberto Gonzales, ffs.

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

#96
For better or for worse, China's interpretation of freedom seems to match their culture.

Culturally, in much of Asia, criticizing someone else is more offensive than in the West. "Saving face" seems more prevalent to me in Eastern offices and families than Western institutions.

So, punishing someone for offensive speech in China probably feels normal to a lot of people. More people there avoid pointing out each other's mistakes, and talk miles around problems to avoid that.

I think that results in a situation where people spend effort trying to win certain battles that people in the West would let go.

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

#97
post #54

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…

Your entry sounds like a fairy tale... And I don't think it's worth discussion.

Please comment civilly and substantively on Hacker News or not at all.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#99
Good for them. What a waste of time. China can't even tell that there really wasn't any anti-China anything at college campuses to begin with.

It's like me going to a bakery and making sure they aren't putting hand grenades in the ovens, and posting conspicuous warning signs about the dangers hand grenade shrapnel poses to croissants and the people who eat them.

What is it with totalitarian states, and this thing where they don't get that it's not about them?

I hope they keep it up. If this is their idea of effective sentiment manipulation, fucking awesome. I'd love to see what happens if we turn up the volume on this kind of ridiculously inept play at influence.

I'd imagine it starts to look not unlike sudden emails from Nigerian princes, thoughtfully explaining their ardent desires to share their clutch of investments with me, if only I'd helpfully provide the bank account to wire all that fabulous money into.

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

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

It isn't a legal right, it is a de facto right. Generally speaking, only left leaning speakers are allowed on campuses. Generally speaking, only pro-immigration speech is allowed in polite company. This story, at least to me, also illustrates Chinese immigrants aren't interested in immigrating to other countries because they like the culture, way of life, etc and are choosing them as a new home to raise their familie…

> It isn't a legal right, it is a de facto right.

Our legal system allows you to challenge that. If a campus prevented your conservative group's speaker from speaking, you can sue and win.

If you don't do that, you are failing to uphold free speech as we have upheld it for centuries in America. Your civil rights do not enforce themselves.

> This story, at least to me, also illustrates Chinese immigrants aren't interested in immigrating to other countries because they like the culture, way of life, etc and are choosing them as a new home to raise their families (well, this is part of it of course), but perhaps even unbeknownst to themselves, they have a strong intention to modify their host cultures into a form more like what they are used to.

Of course. That's many people's reaction to a new culture. They want the things they like from both. It's still your job as an American to uphold American values.

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