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

What is Happening in Istanbul?

defnesumanblogs.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 519 posts

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#311

Post by manacit »

pkinsky wrote: post #288
jasonlingx wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you seriously trying to say you can get caned for littering in Singapore? It is exactly this kind of ignorant statement spoken as if it were fact that irks me.

http://www.businessinsider.com/absurd-laws-of-singapore-2012... >Singapore also differs from the United States where penalties are determined by a judge;breaking certain laws in Singapore can come with mandatory decisions that still include cane beatings. At least attempt some research

Breaking some laws in America can result in the death penalty - does that mean we kill people who litter?

Give me a break.

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#312

Post by enraged_camel »

skore wrote: post #305
enraged_camel wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get any of my information from the government. They are censoring all the newspapers and channels... Social media is a lot more reliable to get up-to-date information. Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Then this comment of yours doesn't make much sense: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5802911 Do you still think this means "fuck-all"? (And again: Just trying to get a clear picture of what it is you're saying.)

I meant it as in the regime won't resign because of these riots.

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#313

Post by chrischen »

damoncali wrote: post #249
jasonlingx wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The entire point of the post was that Singapore is a great place to live as long as you do not try to exercise a political freedom. This is not true. His exact words were "I find Singapore to be the scariest dystopia in the world today". > Singaporeans (or at least the ones who are left) happen to be willing to accept less freedoms in exchange for economic success This is bullshit. What a sweeping generalisation to…

What are these "less freedoms" exactly? You know, free elections, the right to arm yourself, the right to buy chewing gum . Singapore is pretty creepy under the surface and reeks of covert oppression, at least to my American eye. It seems to work for them, but I wouldn't want to live in a place like that, clean streets or not.

Don't forget the right to kill people and the right to pollute the environment. Singapore doesn't allow those either.

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#314

Post by mda »

enraged_camel wrote: post #255
api wrote: post #158

"These people are my friends. They are my students, my relatives. They have no «hidden agenda» as the state likes to say. Their agenda is out there. It is very clear. The whole country is being sold to corporations by the government, for the construction of malls, luxury condominiums, freeways, dams and nuclear plants. The government is looking for (and creating when necessary) any excuse to attack Syria against its…

Wow. I am speechless. As someone who was born and raised in Turkey, and visited Singapore for long periods of time, let me say very clearly: you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Turkey and Singapore are two completely different worlds, with different histories, cultures, and geopolitical situations, and are not related in any shape or form. There may be a few surface-level parallels, but that's wher…

I partially disagree with your comment about corruption. This part:"Turkey on the other hand is rampant with corruption, especially the current government."

Corruption on upper levels probably never disappears, but at least on the lower levels, where people really got hurt and dreaded most, things got better with current government. As someone who lived in Turkey for quite long time, I can say I was pleasantly surprised that one didn't have to bribe anyone buy a small property. Before, it would be impossible to buy property without bribing everyone in the land register office including janitor and tea server.

Also, in the recent perceived corruption index charts Turkey's position is not so bad, wish it is much better (54.th in 176 countries, Singapore is 5th. Source: http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results)

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#315

Post by tome »

nairteashop wrote: post #300
jasonlingx wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you seriously trying to say you can get caned for littering in Singapore? It is exactly this kind of ignorant statement spoken as if it were fact that irks me.

Are you saying that singapore doesn't cane people, or that it doesn't cane people for littering? Maybe you are right about the latter (I can only find evidence that you will be arrested, perhaps not caned, for littering) but caning is most certainly a thing in Singapore: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caning_in_Singapore#Legal_basis http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1017.html If caning its own citizens i…

> If caning its own citizens is not evidence of a nanny state that treats people like children, I don't know what is.

Not that I want to sound like a supporter Singapore's judicial system but I didn't expect to hear this from a citizen of a country that is allowed to kill as a form of punishment.

(Making the assumption that you are from the US, apologies if I got that wrong).

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#316

Post by cboppert »

ars wrote: post #263
geuis wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well said. I'm a techie but I also have a protest past (don't actively engage in that anymore but support in other ways) and I wasn't aware of the situation in Singapore. I think we saw a lot of this in the US after 9/11 when Bush went from being a 1-term joke to suddenly having clout. What many younger people here might not know is that only 12 years ago, life in the US was different. You could board planes without…

> In the first few weeks after, there was a growing feeling that maybe this was finally the time that the US would straighten out and take a deep and serious look at our own actions and policies. I agree we did overreact, but this sentence is just nonsense. Are you really implying that our actions and policies are what caused muslims to hate us, and that therefor we should change them???????????

Do you think people decide to just blow themselves up for no reason? Or maybe installing the shah in Iran, giving military aid in abundance to Israel, giving guns to Osama, giving guns to Saddam might, just might, have had something to do with it?

God forbid the Iranian people benefit from their own oil fields! That'd fuck over BP!

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#317

Post by mda »

krzyk wrote: post #306
spcs wrote: post #285

This was a posted by a friend on Facebook: Since I see that some friends have got excited about the recent events in Turkey I decided to write something about it and provide some context. I think it is good to know a bit of history of Turkey before AKP to understand what is going on there. It has been more than 10 years that AKP is in power so people might not know or may have forgotten the situation before AKP. Turk…

Where does the 70% came from? Do you have a source for this? It would be better to check how many "scarf-wearers" are going to universities, this percentage would be meaningful. My opinion is that universities should be religion-free as science doesn't play well with religion. I think that the problem might be that the (nonsecular) east wants to rule the (secular) west and viceversa.

Does percentages matter? Lets assume it is 7%.. You can't imagine how many young girls burned by this...

I agree universities should be "Religion free" there are two ways of achieving that, you don't care about religion, you allow all people form all religions fair and square, or second option, you ban people with "certain" religious beliefs from schools. Guess which one got applied in Turkey.

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#318

Post by mc-lovin »

geuis wrote: post #308
lysol wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boston wasn't systematically shut down -- The call to stay indoors was voluntary. There were plenty of people out, plenty of pictures from people shooting photos of deserted freeways and streets. Not that I disagree with your overall sentiment.

Noted. Interesting, my perception was much more authoritarian. I'll admit to some bias on my part when everything seems over handed.

You should also look into the "door to door searches", that was a more serious issue, especially since there is a real danger of a slippery slope for this particular policing strategy.

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#319

Post by mtts »

Ok. So how's about this. Istanbul is, and always has been, the most secular city in Turkey. Not Erdogan's base of power at all. Erdogan proposes to tear down a park near a location the inhabitants of Istanbul consider to be central to their identity as secular westerners (Taksim square). Revolt ensues, police reaction is excessive. Awful, of course, but hardly an event that will change the course of Turkish history.

Isn't this what is going on? Terrible if you're a native of Istanbul, but hardly something to worry about if you're one of the 50 million Turks that doesn't live in Istanbul and doesn't share that city's liberal standards?

Re: What is Happening in Istanbul?

#320

Post by [deleted] »

cboppert wrote: post #316
ars wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the first few weeks after, there was a growing feeling that maybe this was finally the time that the US would straighten out and take a deep and serious look at our own actions and policies. I agree we did overreact, but this sentence is just nonsense. Are you really implying that our actions and policies are what caused muslims to hate us, and that therefor we should change them???????????

Do you think people decide to just blow themselves up for no reason? Or maybe installing the shah in Iran, giving military aid in abundance to Israel, giving guns to Osama, giving guns to Saddam might, just might, have had something to do with it? God forbid the Iranian people benefit from their own oil fields! That'd fuck over BP!

[deleted]
Post reply on HN