'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology • Hacker News Board

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#71

Post by dekhn » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 1:40 PM UTC

StaticRedux wrote: post #66

dekhn wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i certainly don't forget. I've been watching Russia and China from a very safe position of privilege in the US for many years. The last time I really worried was when I used to post dumb stuff on usenet in college, but in retrospect, I was never really at risk.

It's not privilege. It's a right the country has fought and died for for over 200 years. It's a principle the country was founded on. "Privilege" has lost all meaning in today's world. It's just a word to throw around to slow how "woke" you are. Calling our rights "privilege" is throwing out the struggle and sacrifice of everyone that fought for those rights. You may have been Lucky to have been born in the US, but n…

I understand where you're coming from and I thought twice about using that word. I certainly appreciate the work done to give me freedoms, and I agree luck had a big part of it.

But the reality is that as a white middle class male in the US, I do have the privilege to say things and do things in public that people who aren't white or middle class can't. The freedoms we have aren't equally distributed due to systemic racism and sexism.

I'm pretty anti-woke, actually, I hate the term.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#72

Post by rpmisms » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 1:41 PM UTC

bluntfang wrote: post #50

dekhn wrote: post #39

I have to say, this is really the only way to respond to China when it comes to their no-humor censors: just come out and mock them. They don't really have any way to reply. One wonders if there is an entire revolutionary class within China sharing South Park videos for freedom.

>One wonders if there is an entire revolutionary class within China sharing South Park videos for freedom. I've noticed a trend on this site in particular where we collectively wonder if our western media is a part of Chinese counter-culture. Is this hubris uniquely American?

There's also the fact that western media is extremely popular in oppressed countries. For example: Osama Bin Laden loved Disney cartoons, and Kim Jong Un has a macOS lookalike linux distro on his computer.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#73

Post by jaynetics » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 1:46 PM UTC

dTal wrote: post #63

olalonde wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That and the idea that Chinese citizens see themselves as oppressed. As crazy as it may seem to us, they're overwhelmingly supportive of their government.

If they weren't, how on Earth would you know? Being anything other than publicly "overwhelmingly supportive of the government" gets you killed. I believe many Chinese citizens are aware that their situation is not ideal ("oppressed" is probably not quite the right word), because I believe at least some subset of Chinese citizens are not brainwashed morons and any idiot can see what's going on. If they really had over…

> any idiot can see what's going on

Yes? Would you want to try circumventing the great firewall without getting caught?

I fear the Chinese are mostly supportive. Most Germans also supported Hitler before things went awry, and his election results were superb even before massive manipulation began.

There was still a substantial minority that didn't support him and resisted at great personal cost, much like some educated Chinese citizens are resisting at great personal cost now, knowing that many share their sentiments, but assuming that most people will find a way to look beyond the propaganda seems overly optimistic to me.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#74

Post by zadler » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 1:49 PM UTC

magashna wrote: post #44

smitty1e wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comedy is threatened by corporations and people assuming the position for tyranny.

Maybe corporate comedy. There will always be a joke in dark places. You can find books written from the jokes told by those in the Nazi concentration camps.

Do you have any examples of such books?

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#75

Post by Konnstann » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 1:53 PM UTC

dekhn wrote: post #71

StaticRedux wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not privilege. It's a right the country has fought and died for for over 200 years. It's a principle the country was founded on. "Privilege" has lost all meaning in today's world. It's just a word to throw around to slow how "woke" you are. Calling our rights "privilege" is throwing out the struggle and sacrifice of everyone that fought for those rights. You may have been Lucky to have been born in the US, but n…

I understand where you're coming from and I thought twice about using that word. I certainly appreciate the work done to give me freedoms, and I agree luck had a big part of it. But the reality is that as a white middle class male in the US, I do have the privilege to say things and do things in public that people who aren't white or middle class can't. The freedoms we have aren't equally distributed due to systemic…

Can you give me an example of something a non-white, non-middle class person can't say or do in public? Maybe it's my limited world-view, but I can't think of anything specific.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#76

Post by ozzyman700 » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 1:56 PM UTC

dekhn wrote: post #39

I have to say, this is really the only way to respond to China when it comes to their no-humor censors: just come out and mock them. They don't really have any way to reply. One wonders if there is an entire revolutionary class within China sharing South Park videos for freedom.

The revolutionary class in china is the Party itself, working to liberate the world.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#77

Post by jaeh » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 1:57 PM UTC

magashna wrote: post #44

smitty1e wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comedy is threatened by corporations and people assuming the position for tyranny.

Maybe corporate comedy. There will always be a joke in dark places. You can find books written from the jokes told by those in the Nazi concentration camps.

"the pessimists are in new york, the optimists are in auschwitz."

source: woman i cared for when working in a home for the elderly. she had a number tattoo.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#78

Post by grievances » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 1:58 PM UTC

StaticRedux wrote: post #66

dekhn wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i certainly don't forget. I've been watching Russia and China from a very safe position of privilege in the US for many years. The last time I really worried was when I used to post dumb stuff on usenet in college, but in retrospect, I was never really at risk.

It's not privilege. It's a right the country has fought and died for for over 200 years. It's a principle the country was founded on. "Privilege" has lost all meaning in today's world. It's just a word to throw around to slow how "woke" you are. Calling our rights "privilege" is throwing out the struggle and sacrifice of everyone that fought for those rights. You may have been Lucky to have been born in the US, but n…

Many brave people have fought and died for their countries and rights. Its easy to forget that minorities and “unlucky” people fight too; knowing that you’re safe expressing your points of view is something that many have earned, not all have received. That very much sounds like privilege to me.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#79

Post by corodra » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 1:58 PM UTC

elliekelly wrote: post #61

corodra wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, lets not forget their detention camps for ethnic minorities they don't like: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/23/china-footage-... I mean at this rate, I seriously think in a decade or two, we're going to find a Holocaust level event has been going on in China that's going to make the Nazis look like amateurs. But instead, we're focused on stupid left/right political differences and figuring out wheth…

[flagged]

My speculation, the problem is the huge dependency the USA has on Chinese manufacturing and now on investments (Hollywood, Silicon Valley, etc). Like, as much as these tariffs are going to hurt us in the short term, I'm not fully against them. It's just like an business, you cannot have a large portion of your income come from one client or rely on just one supplier. You become far too dependent on them and are not willing to cross them, even if their demands don't align with you or really isn't advantageous for you in the long term. But you'll always move that goal post a little for short term happiness until you did it so much, you realize your goal post is in a whole different country.

I'd personally like to see far more diversification in USA imports and exports. A 21.5% dependency on Chinese imports... when I did freelance years ago I panicked over the fact I had a customer that made up 12% of my yearly income. I quickly did a reach out to obtain new customers so I could drop that to roughly 6%. While I understand geopolitics is a different ball game... it's really, really dangerous to have a 20%+ reliance on a supplier. Being shut off that easy on that much of goods and materials, that easily, is pretty scary.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#80

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 2:01 PM UTC

corodra wrote: post #41

diveanon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I truly doubt they would cave to any pressure at all. Those two thrive on this kind of controversy, I can basically picture them sitting back and rubbing their nipples while watching this unfold. We need more people like Trey Parker and Matt Stone who aren't afraid of starting some controversy to get a conversation started. They choose to do it through cartoons and satire, but I honestly believe they understand our s…

You know... since the precedence has been made a few times now, an American president having an entertainment background... I'm just saying, if they decide to go in as a pres/vice pres duo, I'm not going to instantly ignore them at least.

[deleted]