China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media • Hacker News Board

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#11

Post by chongli » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 6:51 PM UTC

devoply wrote: post #3

Would it not be better for these idiots to simply apologize for Tienanmen Square and promise not to do it again? And also stop all their asshole human right violations?

Once you go down the road of totalitarianism, the risks of turning back get worse and worse over time. The playbook of all dictatorships is the same: squeeze tighter and tighter until you can no longer hold on, then collapse.

Sometimes the process is quite rapid, sometimes it drags on. It all depends how long you can keep the elite prosperous and happy and how long you can maintain economic growth.

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#12

Post by 0815test » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 6:57 PM UTC

chongli wrote: post #11

devoply wrote: post #3

Would it not be better for these idiots to simply apologize for Tienanmen Square and promise not to do it again? And also stop all their asshole human right violations?

Once you go down the road of totalitarianism, the risks of turning back get worse and worse over time. The playbook of all dictatorships is the same: squeeze tighter and tighter until you can no longer hold on, then collapse. Sometimes the process is quite rapid, sometimes it drags on. It all depends how long you can keep the elite prosperous and happy and how long you can maintain economic growth.

> The playbook of all dictatorships is the same: squeeze tighter and tighter until you can no longer hold on, then collapse.

While a common-enough failure mode, this is by no means universal. Many successful monarchies began as the equivalent of dictatorships, and then opened up further and further over time.

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#13

Post by ronilan » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 7:00 PM UTC

devoply wrote: post #3

Would it not be better for these idiots to simply apologize for Tienanmen Square and promise not to do it again? And also stop all their asshole human right violations?

If you suggesting China adopts a system in which every government systematically apologizes for what previous generations have done, while laying the foundations of the next apologetic generation; then they can’t do that. It’s copyrighted by the Government of Canada / Gouvernement du Canada.

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#14

Post by chongli » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 7:05 PM UTC

0815test wrote: post #12

chongli wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you go down the road of totalitarianism, the risks of turning back get worse and worse over time. The playbook of all dictatorships is the same: squeeze tighter and tighter until you can no longer hold on, then collapse. Sometimes the process is quite rapid, sometimes it drags on. It all depends how long you can keep the elite prosperous and happy and how long you can maintain economic growth.

> The playbook of all dictatorships is the same: squeeze tighter and tighter until you can no longer hold on, then collapse. While a common-enough failure mode, this is by no means universal. Many successful monarchies began as the equivalent of dictatorships, and then opened up further and further over time.

The monarchies of old changed hands and flipped over due to war (civil and otherwise) so often that they're not really comparable to a modern state dictatorship. Tons of monarchs had extremely short reigns, far less stable than the Chinese Communist party.

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#15

Post by benj111 » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 7:05 PM UTC

So what's the official Chinese line on Tiananmen?

Did it not happen? Was it a western plot? Student riots?

Banning the word Leica seems to be implicitly admitting that it did happen, and that the Chinese government did something wrong, so I'm guessing the official story isn't the generally accepted story?

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#16

Post by spectramax » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 7:08 PM UTC

0815test wrote: post #12

chongli wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you go down the road of totalitarianism, the risks of turning back get worse and worse over time. The playbook of all dictatorships is the same: squeeze tighter and tighter until you can no longer hold on, then collapse. Sometimes the process is quite rapid, sometimes it drags on. It all depends how long you can keep the elite prosperous and happy and how long you can maintain economic growth.

> The playbook of all dictatorships is the same: squeeze tighter and tighter until you can no longer hold on, then collapse. While a common-enough failure mode, this is by no means universal. Many successful monarchies began as the equivalent of dictatorships, and then opened up further and further over time.

Please provide examples.

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#17

Post by anbop » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 7:09 PM UTC

benj111 wrote: post #15

So what's the official Chinese line on Tiananmen? Did it not happen? Was it a western plot? Student riots? Banning the word Leica seems to be implicitly admitting that it did happen, and that the Chinese government did something wrong, so I'm guessing the official story isn't the generally accepted story?

The official position is “don’t talk about that.”

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#18

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 7:11 PM UTC

anbop wrote: post #17

benj111 wrote: post #15

So what's the official Chinese line on Tiananmen? Did it not happen? Was it a western plot? Student riots? Banning the word Leica seems to be implicitly admitting that it did happen, and that the Chinese government did something wrong, so I'm guessing the official story isn't the generally accepted story?

The official position is “don’t talk about that.”

Especially don't talk about it on May 35th.

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#19

Post by mpnordland » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 7:12 PM UTC

So my guess is that Huawei will now stop partnering with them for their phones? How does China deal with this type of thing?

Re: China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

#20

Post by spectramax » Sun, Apr 21, 2019, 7:13 PM UTC

Powerful ad.

My gut feeling is that there will be a day in the future where everything in China is going to boil-over just like any other totalitarian regimes in the past. It could be 20 years from now when Xi dies or some type of student uprising again, or could be from the HK/Taiwan situation.

The behavior of the Chinese government and as they call it "the hand of Beijing" has a self-propelling streisand effect, the more you clamp down, the more it leaks and at some point, it will boil over. Nationalism is tribalism in its glorified, patriotic form. On one hand, we have great men who strive to make the world a better place - journalists, scientists, mathematicians, teachers and community workers and on the other hand we have ugly human tendencies surfacing in a powerful form from politicians.

Every politician should listen to Jiddu Krishnamurthy's UN speech in 1985: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcga8ATBNh0

There rest of the world needs to fearlessly criticize Chinese censorship as it is only going to get worse. If the Chinese government is insecure from opening history books, hell even calling Xi Jingpin a Winnie-the-Pooh; that's not the kind of superpower I wish to see in this world.