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A Walk in Hong Kong

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Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#91

Post by ekc »

nathanyukai wrote: post #60
avip wrote: post #27

Interesting to contrast this with popular demonstrations in US or France. No windows broken? Burnt city infrastructure? No beaten up police? All so quiet.

In the Chinese media the violent part of the protest is what they mostly talks about, although I do believe most protestors are peaceful. Funny enough most western media don't talk about that at all, despite that they broke into the legislative assembley and beaten people from mainland China, and HK police of course. Isn't media great these days

Ignoring that police shot a medical volunteer's eye out.

Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#92

Post by DanBC »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #44
germanier wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A street is not a private place and, as said, there is no expectation of privacy there: Anyone and everyone can see you and what you are doing. Only people physically there can see me and what I am doing. Modern technology enables them to record that and share it globally and across time. It's important to recognize that this ability is not inherent in it being a public place. "Expectation of privacy" and that you…

Expectation of privacy in public places has never been a concept anywhere. Privacy and public space are simply contradicting terms.

> Expectation of privacy in public places has never been a concept anywhere.

This is untrue. Naomi Campbell was in a public place, but courts found she had a reasonable expectation of privacy. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1461187/Naomi-Campbe...

In England you can't just set up CCTV to monitor public space, you need to register that with the ICO.

Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#93

Post by kaybe »

OkGoDoIt wrote: post #20
albertzeyer wrote: post #14

This is the first time I hear about the term "zeroth world". A quick Google search did bring up some results, but not much. Wikipedia does not seem to cover that. Of course it covers 1st/2nd/3rd world ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-world_model , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_World , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World ). The terms "developed", "developin…

I think he uses the term creatively, it’s not a standard term I’ve seen elsewhere. Having spent a decent amount of time in both mainland China and Hong Kong, and living in San Francisco and previously elsewhere in the USA, I can definitely relate. So many things about China feel much more modern than the USA. I get better cell phone service on top of remote mountains in China than I do at my home in downtown San Fran…

At least peak air pollution seems to have been passed, so it'll only get better from here (it's still a long way down though).

The situation at the moment is a bit difficult in that reducing some of the emissions will actually result in more pollution, since the pollutant mix undergoes chemical reactions and some components deplete others.

Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#94

Post by mytailorisrich »

CogitoCogito wrote: post #85
mytailorisrich wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expectation of privacy in public places has never been a concept anywhere. Privacy and public space are simply contradicting terms.

You're referencing old ideas of public and private life that made sense at a time. Those ideas did not form in a time with ubiquitous surveillance. The ideas may have made sense before in their historical context, but that doesn't mean they make sense today. How about instead you ask yourself why those ideas grew out of that older historical context and whether the same reasoning would apply today? Why not re-read th…

This is not an old idea. This is common sense: how can you expect privacy in a public place?

Taking pictures of someone specifically may be different because that may be harassment.

But in general ending up in pictures and films of others because you were in a public space fits in the standard concept of what a public space is.

Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#95

Post by abcdefghijklmn3 »

smcl wrote: post #22
abcdefghijklmn3 wrote: post #15

Fu Guohao was severely beaten by black shirt protesters at the airport for allegedly being a mainland spy and a police plant. Why did the protesters do that? Why did they take away his freedoms? Why do these current narratives gloss over that fact? You can accuse me of whataboutism, and I can accuse you of indulging in propaganda. I can't imagine getting away with shining a laser in a police officer's eyes, let alone…

This comment is by a green-name account, isn't responding to anyone in particular and has that online-commenter-army feel to it. Genuine question for HN: what's the right term for this sort of comment, or commenter?

Well, in this context, you could accuse me of being a 'wumao'.

You would be completely wrong though because nobody is compensating me for writing any comments here and I do not belong to any group.

I am quite disappointed because of where these protests have lead. People would have you believe that 2 million people in HK are against the police but there is no basis for believing that as far as I can see.

Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#96

Post by kaybe »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #71
unityByFreedom wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you are unaware, China has produced videos of military units gathering near the border of HK. China is making very visible threats to peace. edit next reply below.. "Let's not pretend" - are you copying my language from another comment? weird or a coincidence. Anyway we don't see eye to eye on this. In my view, Beijing's obstinance is causing all kinds of trouble in HK, for both the HK police and the general…

This is not a response to "peaceful protests", which are common in Hongkong without any problem, including on very sensitive issues (e.g. the annual gathering to commemorate the 1989 protests on Tiananmen Square). Let's not pretend that what has been happening are just peaceful protests: There has also been violence, ransacking of the LegCo, and blockade of the airport. Any of which would not have been accepted anywh…

Experience with many governments shows that they often just put these bills into a drawer and pull it back out at the next opportunity.

I feel we have to protest the same things every few years here, in a democratic state where we are free to do so.

Hongkong might not have the chance in the future, so I understand where they're coming from.

Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#97

Post by abcdefghijklmn3 »

smcl wrote: post #36
mytailorisrich wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If political submissions are accepted then we should also accept comments expressing opposite and contradicting views on the issue instead of trying to suppress them by labeling them as "bots", "online-commenter-army", etc.

Yes we should be able to have a discussion, but I'd ask you to read the article and then read the comment. Does the comment look like it is responding to the article, or attempting to open a dialogue with the other side ... or does it look like a generic attempt at point scoring for the "pro-mainland" side? If "abcdefghijklmn3" is really keen to engage with the HN community then I take back what I said. But we both k…

I didn't read the whole article because it is excessively wordy, but it romanticizes the protesters and the summary at the end is incomplete. If you have the courage, please look further; this is more nuanced than your mischaracterization of me.

Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#98

Post by steve19 »

0x8BADF00D wrote: post #13
roenxi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Chinese bureaucracy has millennia of experience controlling large groups of people in the same way that the Chatholic Church has millennia of experience preaching. They've already thought of it, never you worry. The really interesting question for me is, when they inevitably succeed, how much damage they will do to themselves. Reform for the better is basically indistinguishable from chaos and collapse to the reg…

> The Chinese bureaucracy has millennia of experience controlling large groups of people in the same way that the Chatholic Church has millennia of experience preaching. Yet they couldn’t control a band of wandering, illiterate horsemen. The human spirit can never be controlled.

Except they did. The horsemen got fat on Chinese food and used to Chinese comforts and culture.

They stopped riding and became Chinese (just not Han Chinese). China today claims the whole of Mongolia as theirs.

Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#99

Post by yostrovs »

OkGoDoIt wrote: post #20
albertzeyer wrote: post #14

This is the first time I hear about the term "zeroth world". A quick Google search did bring up some results, but not much. Wikipedia does not seem to cover that. Of course it covers 1st/2nd/3rd world ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-world_model , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_World , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World ). The terms "developed", "developin…

I think he uses the term creatively, it’s not a standard term I’ve seen elsewhere. Having spent a decent amount of time in both mainland China and Hong Kong, and living in San Francisco and previously elsewhere in the USA, I can definitely relate. So many things about China feel much more modern than the USA. I get better cell phone service on top of remote mountains in China than I do at my home in downtown San Fran…

What about going back to China? Do you have to reacclimate to keeping your opinions to yourself?

Re: A Walk in Hong Kong

#100

Post by tombh »

davedx wrote: post #45
spyckie2 wrote: post #19

This piece is quite accurate - it really makes you feel like you're in Hong Kong during the protests. References aside, as a US citizen in Hong Kong there are some things that I respect immensely and some things that really get on my nerves about HK. I greatly respect the people and the cause. It reminds me of that one poem - > Do not go gentle into that good night. > Rage, rage against the dying of the light. The pe…

What exactly is Asian culture?

Quite. Cynically it feels more like it describes the internal European and American image of the those people east of Europe. Asia is far more diverse than either America or Europe.

Sarcastically speaking, such stereotyping is typical of arrogant Westerners.

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