Hong Kong protests: Authorities to announce face mask ban • Hacker News Board

Re: Hong Kong protests: Authorities to announce face mask ban

#131

Post by kmonsen » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 12:00 AM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #124

kmonsen wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean all citizen, not some special citizens or a few citizens. Of course if the power is in the hands of the few it doesn't matter at all which label you put on them.

Basically every form of government that has ever existed at scale has devolved into an oligarchy. I know of none where "all citizen [sic], not some special citizens or a few citizens" are in power. A Sanders or Warren government would just have power in the hands of either Sanders or Warren and their respective cabinet and the other three branches of government. It would still be "some special citizens or a few citiz…

No it would not, both Warren and Sanders are strong supporters of transparency and voting rights and want to reign in lobbying and power of big corporations.

Re: Hong Kong protests: Authorities to announce face mask ban

#132

Post by joelx » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 4:17 AM UTC

CharlesColeman wrote: post #35

calderarrow wrote: post #25

During the American revolutionary war, France was a tremendous ally and instrumental to the colonies’ secession from Britain. The Marquis de Lafayette came over to fight for us, without pay, in his early 20s, forgoing his family’s desires and aristocratic opportunities. His family was so opposed to him going to the colonies, that local governments were involved in finding and preventing him from boarding ships. He ev…

> Recently, I’ve been thinking about the HK scenario and wondering what I can do, but I can’t shake a nagging feeling that I could simply go over there and fight alongside the protestors. I often deflect with observations like “I don’t speak the language,” or “I don’t know what I would do to help,” and yet the thought keeps coming back. I'd say do it, if you feel this way. This guy did it: https://idlewords.com/2019/…

We need to evacuate HK... Give all freedom fighters there the option for asylum and citizenship in any Western country.

Re: Hong Kong protests: Authorities to announce face mask ban

#133

Post by afpx » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 2:52 PM UTC

justinclift wrote: post #117

afpx wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting idea. I would def donate a lot of money to a non-profit fund that financed independent armies with pro-democratic aims. To me, democracy and individual rights have been essential to my livelihood and happiness. I want everyone to have what I have.

Isn't that directly "financing terrorism"?

I imagine you could call it that, if you're a moral relativist.

Re: Hong Kong protests: Authorities to announce face mask ban

#134

Post by redisman » Mon, Oct 07, 2019, 5:29 PM UTC

authoritarian wrote: post #33

redisman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The supremely naive "end of history"-era thinking has a lot of inertia. Now it's unclear who's left to fight for Democracy as the old champions are all dead and current generations have no concept of what that would even mean since they've just been reaping the rewards their whole lives.

Ah yes, all us youngings reaping the rewards of those that have come before us. Insane housing and real estate prices that few can afford, insane university tuition that few can afford, the pharmaceutical industry pushing dangerous drugs with impunity, the war on drugs costing trillions of dollars and leading to the militarization of police and a massive amount of incarcerated non-violent offenders, the destruction o…

The end of history claimed that basically all countries will turn to liberal democracy once they see how awesome it is. You can look at China to see how well that worked out. It doesn't really have much to do with US internal policies.