Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

straitstimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 138 posts

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#121

Post by thelean12 »

m4rtink wrote: post #92
slg wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

July is after the NBA and NHL finals. It is before the NFL preseason. MLB is at the midpoint of their long season when it is late enough that the excitement of the new year has warn off and it is too early for the playoff race to reinvigorate fans. July is generally the slowest sports month in the US. Meanwhile in October, the NBA and NHL both start their seasons. The NFL and college football are both going strong. M…

Not only are Olympics no longer the festival of human achievement but lets have commercial interest dictate when they should take place, even if it makes no sense for the host country. Perfect. (Anyone who visited Japan at that time of year will tell you the weatjer is pretty brutal, with very high temperateure and high 90%+ humidity.)

Why the negativity? Would you prefer to ignore entertainment context and only think of the weather in the host country?

Commercial interest has a direct correlation to the number of people who tune in. Even if money wasn't a factor, the number of people watching should be a core metric.

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#122

Post by greedo »

summerlight wrote: post #113
freetime2 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be interested to read if you could share the source for the above. It’s true that Japan only seems to be testing people with serious symptoms at the moment. But we would expect hospitalizations and deaths to be higher if the number were really that high.

Japan actively avoids testing if those deaths are due to COVID-19. If someone recently dies with pneumonia, it's worth to test if this is the COVID-19 case. Japan doesn't and it claims that the public fear will overload and collapse their medical infrastructure. I don't really understand why this can even be the case, but this is a broadly accepted sentiment around Japan. And its annual death toll from typical pneumo…

From that article they state that Tokyo had 154 infections, with 101 hospitalized. That hospitalization rate is roughly 5x higher than seen elsewhere; implying that their actual infection count is closer to 750. I think there's something amiss...

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#123

Post by twomoretime »

monkeywork wrote: post #69
taiwanboy wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is nothing wrong with calling the virus ‘Chinese virus’ when a.) the virus came from China. b.) the Chinese government proactively hid the details of the coronavirus to the world until it couldn’t anymore (since it started infecting other countries https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/17/china-car... c.) actively trying to pin the origin of the virus on other countries like Italy https://www.…

There is something immensely wrong with it because unfortunately people don't see a difference between the Chinese government and the Chinese people. This is going to greenlight those who are looking for reasons to lash out with their hate and puts those who are or could be confused as Chinese in danger from these idiots. There is also a need to be above petty name calling. It is fine to take a scientific and fact ba…

>because unfortunately people don't see a difference between the Chinese government and the Chinese people

Then teach people to behave like adults, don't gaslight the rest of us by forcing racism into a reasonable and inoffensive scientific term.

When you spread this inane idea that "Chinese Virus" is a racist or sinophobic designation, you're literally playing into the hands of Chinese astroturfing propaganda (Russians aren't the only ones with troll farms).

And when dang shows up and silences anything remotely critical of the CCP under the guise of "nationalistic flamebait", and primarily censors comments critical of the CCP, he is helping, along with Reddit and most other major online platforms, to bias the collective narrative in favor of CCP propaganda. This "racism" nonsense is literally one of their talking points.

dang if you read this, let me say that I appreciate what you do for the HN community, thanks to your stewardship this place has become an institution. However I would ask that you please be mindful of the fact that there is a propaganda war raging all over the internet right now and when platforms selectively censor certain viewpoints they effectively choose winners, which ultimately shapes collective policy. Though it may be a sensitive topic, the potential dishonesty of the CCP is absolutely germane to most of our COVID19 discussions because they in turn are often based on official CCP infection statistics. Criticism of the CCP is neither nationalistic or xenophobic and this is a discussion that needs to happen somewhere.

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#124

Post by yongjik »

cltsang wrote: post #18

We need to let Japan know that this is not their fault. It's ingrained in Japanese culture that they often put too much pressure on themselves. They might think if they had put extra 120% effort, the Olympics would have gone as scheduled. But this is not on them. Although it's only speculation, we wouldn't want another case of heartbreaking suicide[0] because of a Japanese blaming himself/herself too much. [0] https:…

> It's ingrained in Japanese culture that they often put too much pressure on themselves.

This just sounds like reverse Orientalism. Japanese culture might have a bigger emphasis on civic duties, but on a national level it's clearly a hit and miss: consider that WW2 apologists are still popular in some sector of Japan. (And I'm not trying to blame Japan here, I mean, most countries aren't much better.)

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#125

Post by pmachinery »

monkeywork wrote: post #72
tomp wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain how improper use of masks can make things worse?

false sense of security - gives the person the impression they are protected and allows them to lower their guard in other area's that they might now if they weren't wearing it. edit To put it in tech terms ... someone poorly implementing a security / encryption method may be more dangerous than someone who didn't because the person who didn't may take additional steps that the person who falsely thinks they are prot…

> false sense of security - gives the person the impression they are protected and allows them to lower their guard in other area's that they might now if they weren't wearing it.

Using this argument bullet poof vests and helmets "make things worse".

In my experience a mask is a conspicuous reminder of an unusual/dangerous situation - that I would definitely forget about at certain times if I was not wearing a mask - and to be constantly on my guard.

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#126

Post by [deleted] »

taiwanboy wrote: post #53
claudiawerner wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We need to let Japan know that this is not their fault. It's ingrained in Japanese culture that they often put too much pressure on themselves. I can't help but think this is such a bizarre take. "Japan" and the Japanese people aren't children. We don't need to reassure "them" of anything, as if their culture collectively precludes them of realizing that the Coronavirus isn't "their fault". As if they're too naive a…

I think there is nothing wrong with calling the virus ‘Chinese virus’ when a.) the virus came from China. b.) the Chinese government proactively hid the details of the coronavirus to the world until it couldn’t anymore (since it started infecting other countries https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/17/china-car... c.) actively trying to pin the origin of the virus on other countries like Italy https://www.…

[deleted]

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#127

Post by anonymous428 »

taiwanboy wrote: post #53
claudiawerner wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We need to let Japan know that this is not their fault. It's ingrained in Japanese culture that they often put too much pressure on themselves. I can't help but think this is such a bizarre take. "Japan" and the Japanese people aren't children. We don't need to reassure "them" of anything, as if their culture collectively precludes them of realizing that the Coronavirus isn't "their fault". As if they're too naive a…

I think there is nothing wrong with calling the virus ‘Chinese virus’ when a.) the virus came from China. b.) the Chinese government proactively hid the details of the coronavirus to the world until it couldn’t anymore (since it started infecting other countries https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/17/china-car... c.) actively trying to pin the origin of the virus on other countries like Italy https://www.…

I think "CCP Virus" would be both more accurate and less potentially stigmatizing of Asian Americans, Chinese or otherwise.

Regardless, there is substantial, contemptible censorship here and on other websites of legitimate criticism of the CCP.

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#128

Post by danbolt »

jasonv wrote: post #59
BurningCycles wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very anectdotal, but the three Japanese persons I know have told me that people in Japan are generally negative towards holding an Olympics and think it's just a waste of resources.

This is a very common "populist" view when the Olympics are held locally... true here in the US when the Olympics were in LA and Atlanta.

To give examples, Calgary recently voted not[1] to host the Winter Olympic Games when they had been previously known for doing quite well in 1988. [2] When I was in high school we had a substitute teacher from Greece to talked about how he was unhappy with the economic effects on small towns from larger infrastructure projects after the 2004 summer games.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary_bid_for_the_2026_Winte... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Winter_Olympics#Impact_on...

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#129

Post by pletsch »

danbolt wrote: post #128
jasonv wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very common "populist" view when the Olympics are held locally... true here in the US when the Olympics were in LA and Atlanta.

To give examples, Calgary recently voted not[1] to host the Winter Olympic Games when they had been previously known for doing quite well in 1988. [2] When I was in high school we had a substitute teacher from Greece to talked about how he was unhappy with the economic effects on small towns from larger infrastructure projects after the 2004 summer games. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary_bid_for_the_2026_Win…

I wish we would quit moving it around. The Olympics could be quite profitable if countries didn't spend a fortune building for it.

If we held it in Athens (not sure if Olympia could support it?) for the summer, then have it rotate between countries that can host without massive infrastructure changes for the winter (NA - Calgary/Lake Placid, Europe - St. Moritz, Oslo Asia - Beijing, Pyeongchang).

Re: Abe, IOC agree to delay Tokyo Olympics by one year

#130

Post by pedalpete »

BurningCycles wrote: post #57
cltsang wrote: post #18

We need to let Japan know that this is not their fault. It's ingrained in Japanese culture that they often put too much pressure on themselves. They might think if they had put extra 120% effort, the Olympics would have gone as scheduled. But this is not on them. Although it's only speculation, we wouldn't want another case of heartbreaking suicide[0] because of a Japanese blaming himself/herself too much. [0] https:…

Very anectdotal, but the three Japanese persons I know have told me that people in Japan are generally negative towards holding an Olympics and think it's just a waste of resources.

This is the same everywhere. I was in LA for the lead-up to '84 (though I was just a kid), Sydney 2000, and Vancouver(Whistler) 2010.

The people who were the most outspoken in Whistler against the Olympics became some of the biggest cheerleaders when the event came to town. When you're in the thick of it, it's difficult to not be amazed at how great the Olympics is.

Yes, every host country ends up losing money. Let's not forget, Japan just held the Olympics in '98, and had previously done so in '64, so they know what they are getting themselves into.

Post reply on HN