Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#41

Post by frozenport » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:07 PM UTC

oconnor663 wrote: post #36

degenerate wrote: post #6

The degree that China goes to censor things reminds me of kindergarten. Pull the shades down, and kids won't want to go outside? Is it simply a reminder to their people of who's in charge, at this level of pettiness?

Imagine that the war of 1812 had resulted a complete British/Canadian conquest of the US, which lasted for the most of the 19th century. Then imagine that Florida had successfully seceded from the US after WWII and joined the Soviet Union, along with all of Canada. Then finally imagine that the Soviet Union won the Cold War and has been the sole world superpower for the last thirty years. How would we feel, in that w…

Not complicated, we've never sensored the names of our enemies, at all.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#42

Post by your-nanny » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:07 PM UTC

lonelappde wrote: post #13

georgeecollins wrote: post #8

I don't know if things are different now, but when I went to school in HK a long time ago, most Chinese people in Hong Kong I talked to felt Taiwan should be part of China.

It's interesting that someone thinks that people of one region have a relevant opinion about what government people of another region should be controlled by.

why is that interesting?.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#43

Post by luckydata » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC

For how long will the duck need to walk like a duck and quack like a duck to be finally called a duck?

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#44

Post by beisner » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC

alkonaut wrote: post #23

Stop sucking up to dictatorships. If they don't want to do business with you because your map or flags or search engine shows something they don't like - leave. Don't censor your search engine or modify your maps to fit their worldview.

This is a simplistic view. When push comes to shove, companies don't behave with political principles. Apple is not going to throw away access to 1/6 of world's population over a political dispute. It's unrealistic to expect any company to, if they're sufficiently large. The only way to achieve political goals is to apply political pressure directly at the state level, or to work with domestic movements that seek to undermine the policies in question.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#45

Post by jefftk » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:10 PM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #28

seph-reed wrote: post #7

Maybe I'm being naive, but it seems like a better response would be to add a bunch of other "not real country" flags. Flags from ancient civilizations, or countries that no longer exist. Then they wouldn't be taking a stand as the people responsible for defining what is and is not a country.

> add a bunch of other "not real country" flags. I’d prefer that they altered the flags of despotic countries in some way that indicated their inferior ruling system.

I can't tell if you're serious, but if you are: which entity should be responsible for categorizing countries into "despotic" and "not despotic"?

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#46

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:10 PM UTC

georgeecollins wrote: post #8

I don't know if things are different now, but when I went to school in HK a long time ago, most Chinese people in Hong Kong I talked to felt Taiwan should be part of China.

[deleted]

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#47

Post by adrianmonk » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:10 PM UTC

degenerate wrote: post #6

The degree that China goes to censor things reminds me of kindergarten. Pull the shades down, and kids won't want to go outside? Is it simply a reminder to their people of who's in charge, at this level of pettiness?

Personally, I wouldn't use the word petty because I think it suggests that the motivation is basically about childish insecurity and that there isn't a deliberate rationale behind it.

Instead, I think China does this sort of thing to control discourse and/or to send constant reminders that certain lines should not be crossed or there will be consequences.

Both are bad things, but they are different types of bad thing.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#48

Post by ApolloFortyNine » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:11 PM UTC

beisner wrote: post #44

alkonaut wrote: post #23

Stop sucking up to dictatorships. If they don't want to do business with you because your map or flags or search engine shows something they don't like - leave. Don't censor your search engine or modify your maps to fit their worldview.

This is a simplistic view. When push comes to shove, companies don't behave with political principles. Apple is not going to throw away access to 1/6 of world's population over a political dispute. It's unrealistic to expect any company to, if they're sufficiently large. The only way to achieve political goals is to apply political pressure directly at the state level, or to work with domestic movements that seek to…

Google did.

Yea they want to head back (now that they realize nobody cared), but they pulled out of China entirely back in 2011 over censorship.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#49

Post by Analemma_ » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:12 PM UTC

rolltiide wrote: post #24

georgeecollins wrote: post #8

I don't know if things are different now, but when I went to school in HK a long time ago, most Chinese people in Hong Kong I talked to felt Taiwan should be part of China.

Using the US as an example: Americans defer their understanding of a region based on people with tangential relationships to the region. So in America, people's understanding of Taiwan is represented only by people from Taiwan that left. Generations ago. Same goes for "China", in whatever state it was at the time the Asian-American's family left. This is from people that actively try to avoid being insensitive. But i…

I visit Taiwan every couple years, and when I go, I make a note to ask people I meet what they think about reuniting with China. Every single time, the answer has been not just no, but an angry hell no.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#50

Post by factsaresacred » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:13 PM UTC

In a way it's a good thing that China is revealing its petulant nature to the world. Not that they hid it all that well, but until recently everybody was too busy enjoying cheap electronics to notice the monster they were feeding.

China—the people and country—are spectacular. China—the Party—is an malevolent force obsessed with self-preservation. Such is the nature of autocratic regimes.

A quote from Czech dissident Václav Havel bears repeating:

> The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies. Depriving people of information is called making it available...the lack of free expression becomes the highest form of freedom. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to persecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing.