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

Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 252 posts

Re: Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

#171

Post by microcolonel »

systemvoltage wrote: post #158
ttul wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one part of a several act drama that is playing out for the home audience. Reign in the disobedient teenager (Hong Kong) by taking his skateboard away. Act two is a military provocation, which is why the US has moved more hardware into the area.

US should equip Taiwan with nuclear weapons for deterrance. Should there be invasion en-masse, deep in the mountains of Taiwan there would be nuclear weapons ready to strike. Nuclear weapons are great to keep peace in the region.

How do we get people from their gut reaction to this, to realizing that it is the most likely path toward lasting peace?

Re: Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

#172

Post by microcolonel »

chadcmulligan wrote: post #12

How is it that many Chinese students are schooled in the west, and have access to all these books and thoughts, but then they don't exist when they go back home. There must be some significant cognitive dissonance between the two situations. I don't see how they can keep a lid on this long term.

I once tried having a conversation with a girl from Beijing, while in Canada, about political freedom. She told me that China is "too big" for democracy or federalism, and that they wouldn't be able to "control" the people.

I think the cultural valley is deeper and wider than you could imagine; at least when it comes to the wealthier people who get to travel for school.

Then beyond that, there is Chinese exceptionalism, far more fervent and irrational than any common form of American exceptionalism, and good old cynical greed (or the equally-pernicious, but less cruel, wishful thinking).

Re: Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

#174

Post by systemvoltage »

microcolonel wrote: post #171
systemvoltage wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US should equip Taiwan with nuclear weapons for deterrance. Should there be invasion en-masse, deep in the mountains of Taiwan there would be nuclear weapons ready to strike. Nuclear weapons are great to keep peace in the region.

How do we get people from their gut reaction to this, to realizing that it is the most likely path toward lasting peace?

First step would be for all democracies in the world to recognize Taiwan as an independent country assertively and unilaterlly without CCP influence.

That alone is difficult due to manufacturing dependence on China.

Re: Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

#175

Post by pozdnyshev »

Aqua wrote: post #3

Isn't it surprising that Microsoft, Apple, Google, Netflix, Blizzard and others don't express their deep regret and support the people of Hong Kong? If they really stood by their values they would act in the same way as they did by supporting the BLM movement. It's just another proof that they only did that to get press coverage for being "benevolent" and not because they genuinely supported the people. Disgraceful.

Just shut up. What is happening in Hong Kong is not at all comparable to the violence perpetrated towards black people by American police. Like through all of these HK protests, how many of them have died at the hands of the HK police? Zero.

Most reporting on the protests in Hong Kong are simply astroturf for the ongoing trade war with China. Let's not forget that these protests are not spontaneous at all, but also being pushed and organized by Westerners.

Re: Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

#176

Post by Fnoord »

arkades wrote: post #17
Aqua wrote: post #3

Isn't it surprising that Microsoft, Apple, Google, Netflix, Blizzard and others don't express their deep regret and support the people of Hong Kong? If they really stood by their values they would act in the same way as they did by supporting the BLM movement. It's just another proof that they only did that to get press coverage for being "benevolent" and not because they genuinely supported the people. Disgraceful.

Did you at some point think that the corporate leadership of a massive for-profit organization was going to make a public statement that was anything other than the bare minimum lip service they were required to pay in order to weather the PR storm of the day, so that they could continue doing business? The answer to that question is almost always "no," and certainly until proven otherwise. Complaining that these cor…

> Complaining that these corporate PR statements are anything other than lip service is like complaining that the world isn't fair, or that everyone dies. Perhaps a sad truth, but one you should've figured out by the time you turned twelve.

Its not so much that you or I have not figured this out; it is something which apparently works because a significant group of people have not figured this out; they're falling for it.

Re: Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

#177

Post by wodenokoto »

justicezyx wrote: post #114
hkai wrote: post #41

Two things are true at the same time: - Hong Kong's rule of law has disappeared; - The books in question are written by pretty radical young revolutionaries. Personally I am more concerned that libraries in Hong Kong seem to keep less and less books in the local version of Chinese and more books written in Simplified Chinese used in Mainland China. It's like if you are in California and suddenly half of the books in…

Traditional Chinese are quite consistent with simplified one. I think you ought to say English and Spanish are replaced by British English and European Spanish?

I always thought that most books written with traditional script in Hong Kong would be written in Cantonese, while the simplified would be in mandarin. These are quite different languages.

Re: Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

#178

Post by refurb »

josteink wrote: post #165
refurb wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The BLM movement has gotten to the point that if companies don’t make some statement of support they are risking negative PR.

So any BLM “support” you see these days, you might as well expect be the result of tyranny? Interesting.

Huh? No, that’s not what I meant.

Companies prefer to not be in the news. So what they do is seek out the mainstream and align itself to it.

BLM was not mainstream 3 months ago, so companies remained quiet.

Now, not showing support for BLM runs the risk of unfavorable PR. So they put out a low risk statement.

Re: Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

#179

Post by mchusma »

sand_castles wrote: post #42
chadcmulligan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

interesting, but Russians afaik don't get schooled overseas too much, like so many Chinese students spend years at overseas uni's, you'd think some of it would seep in. If not I'm very disappointed with the universities. Edit: a world without dissent seems so ... pointless

[flagged]

I'm not sure how to best say this within the bounds of Hacker News guidelines, but you come across as Chinese intelligence, posting to reduce fear of China. Or satire? If you have more nuanced discussion of why you turned Maoist, would be interested to understand. Also, people still relate to Mao in the west? I thought that would be similar to saying "Stalanist".

Re: Hong Kong: books by pro-democracy activists disappear from library shelves

#180

Post by jpgreens »

hkt wrote: post #152
jpgreens wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While your first two statements are true, they are a textbook example of a straw man argument. I did not say they are marxist because they don't want people murdered by the police. I also didn't say they're marxist because they're against celebrating slavers. If you're willing to learn, you may want to look up what Patrisse Cullors has to say about her own BLM movement. I feel sorry that you think this is comical.

The material achievements and goals of BLM stemmed from those basic things. I feel sorry that you seem to not have noticed this.

Please enlighten me as to which material achievements you refer. The destruction of neighborhoods and statues? When the distinction between inanimate objects that do not represent their ideology and living human beings fades, the world they will have created will be worse, not better, despite their apparent good intentions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguardism

Post reply on HN