South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China” • Hacker News Board

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#171

Post by dang » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:01 AM UTC

thrwy_01 wrote: post #147

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we need to be really clear when we talk about these things. When we write “the Chinese” there is bound to be at least some subset of readers who see that and assume the write meant all Chinese . I don’t believe we can be certain of the writers intent until the writer makes it clear.

Even if the writers clearly make this distinction, Chinese people, driven by Chinese propaganda, will often conflate the two. Indeed, Chinese people, even in a non political context will sometimes treat a comment about a single Chinese individual as a statement about all Chinese people.

That's a separate issue. It's enough to clearly make this distinction oneself.

What you're saying about "Chinese people" seems to me true of all people.

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#172

Post by dang » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:03 AM UTC

verisimilitudes wrote: post #155

dang wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any comment can trigger the Chinese Not only the Chinese, I assure you. Nationalistic flamebait like this is a bannable offense on HN—not to mention racial/national slurs. The users who upvoted and (later) vouched for this comment have abused this site by doing so. People routinely accuse us of being somehow pro-China or secret communists for moderating HN this way, but that's not true at all. We don't like bullies…

Surely you see the irony in defending the Chinese government in a discussion about how the Chinese government routinely censors businesses and individuals. Does Ycombinator have any important Chinese business interests? That isn't bullying and surely you can see how it would be alarming to see you jump to defense in this way, threatening to ban a user over that benign and relevant comment, including criticizing every…

I haven't defended the Chinese government.

YC was doing something in China for a while but I have no idea how important it was. Knowledge about it hasn't trickled into our corner. HN commenters seem to know more about it than we do.

It's worth remembering that HN has editorial independence within YC: https://venturebeat.com/2015/09/29/y-combinator-spins-out-ha...

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#173

Post by dagw » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:03 AM UTC

mac01021 wrote: post #162

turk73 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-censorship is still censorship. If these companies crater to the least common denominator, then free speech in the West is also doomed. We can't allow that to happen. Putting profits ahead of everything else is a sure way to go broke because it sacrifices quality and every other good for the sake of short-term profit. We saw Disney do this with Star Wars, trying to pander to Asian audiences and failing miserably…

What did Disney do with star wars to pander to asian audiences?

Gave an Asian actress in a minor role "too much" screen time. Apparently.

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#174

Post by ahartmetz » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:04 AM UTC

probably_wrong wrote: post #148

kevcampb wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Due to copyright and other legal issues, this South Park episode cannot be viewed in your Country" So yes, banned in China (Hong Kong)

Same in Germany, as it always has been.

But you can watch it in German or English on their official German presence southpark.de.

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#175

Post by rasz » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:05 AM UTC

>deleting virtually every clip, episode

BS, every Chinese pirate streaming service I checked still has full South Park catalog.

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#176

Post by dreamcompiler » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:05 AM UTC

toomanyrichies wrote: post #81

Comedy Central is owned by Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures. China is a huge market for Paramount's films. Paramount has previously explored a 49% sale to China's Wanda Group, and they currently have extensive financial backing from the Shanghai Film Group Corp.[2] If they wanted to, it's well within the purview of the CCP to apply pressure to Paramount's ability to finance its films or distribute those fil…

Agreed. But it's reins in, not reigns in.

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#177

Post by pcr0 » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:06 AM UTC

rasz wrote: post #175

>deleting virtually every clip, episode BS, every Chinese pirate streaming service I checked still has full South Park catalog.

Are you in China? Perhaps it's only been removed for users in China.

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#178

Post by rasz » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:10 AM UTC

jaimex2 wrote: post #12

avinium wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm amazed at how fresh they've stayed - testament to Matt and Trey I guess. Most comedies are beating dead horses within 5 seasons.

You said it, todays top post on HN is Apple complying with the removal of Taiwan from their OS.

Arent Apple chips manufactured in Taiwan? Would Wouldnt it be funny if TSMC decided Apple doesnt exist?

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#179

Post by legopelle » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:10 AM UTC

turk73 wrote: post #93

toomanyrichies wrote: post #81

Comedy Central is owned by Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures. China is a huge market for Paramount's films. Paramount has previously explored a 49% sale to China's Wanda Group, and they currently have extensive financial backing from the Shanghai Film Group Corp.[2] If they wanted to, it's well within the purview of the CCP to apply pressure to Paramount's ability to finance its films or distribute those fil…

Self-censorship is still censorship. If these companies crater to the least common denominator, then free speech in the West is also doomed. We can't allow that to happen. Putting profits ahead of everything else is a sure way to go broke because it sacrifices quality and every other good for the sake of short-term profit. We saw Disney do this with Star Wars, trying to pander to Asian audiences and failing miserably…

The decision has nothing to do with China being communist. It has everything with both being capitalists.

You said it yourself: "Putting profits ahead of everything else.. because it sacrifices quality and every other good for the sake of short-term profit."

A blanket fear of communism is not productive.

Re: South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”

#180

Post by ahartmetz » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 8:11 AM UTC

jquery wrote: post #137

sjwright wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to love SNL but a lot of the current political skits are just cast members mimicking news events mostly verbatim while pulling funny faces. (E.g. The Kavenaugh hearings: “I like beer! I like beer!”) Or taking a serious matter and turning it into mere farce. (E.g. current impeachment matters, with Giuliani portrayed with all the wit of a Sesame Street puppet.)

The recent primary debate skit was pretty good. But... the Christmas Mueller song was particularly egregious. They were better when Obama was in office, IMO. Trump has ruined a lot of “news comedy” across the board. It’s too predictable.

Reality is so absurd, it's too hard to make up untrue but sufficiently believable stories...