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

Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

thehill.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 283 posts

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#251

Post by zelphirkalt »

ardy42 wrote: post #225
incompatible wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems strange that anybody would feel the need, given how the US is one of the richest countries, trumpets it's own abilities endlessly, and has an official policy of "America first". I.e., it's surely capable of making its own virus test kits and face masks, if it could be bothered.

> Seems strange that anybody would feel the need, given how the US is one of the richest countries, trumpets it's own abilities endlessly Unfortunately, it's also a country where the rich like to keep their riches to themselves, and are averse to government action in general . > I.e., it's surely capable of making its own virus test kits and face masks, if it could be bothered. They're just outsourcing, like they do…

This does not teach them how to fish though. Perhaps not the best idea in the long run, although generous of course.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#252

Post by FpUser »

alisonatwork wrote: post #232
FpUser wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah right, they had willfully concocted the virus and diligently sprayed it all around on their streets. It is very convenient blaming your adversaries/competitors for your own f..ups. We could've easily shut the borders at first sign and be protected and safe. Have somebody to blame for that hole?

Plenty of other governments have made mistakes in dealing with this outbreak, but that does not absolve the CPC from responsibility. The CPC knew about this virus for over a month before they took any action to contain it. In fact, they arrested people who were sounding the alarm. Xi is claimed to have been steering the ship for weeks before any lockdowns were put into place in Hubei province. The CPC own this global…

"The CPC knew about this virus for over a month before they took any action to contain it"

You are trying to blame politicos for being who they are. Other governments behaved exactly the same. They knew very well what is coming and still kept flow of goods and people. They are just as guilty in ignoring pandemic.

Sure they did not arrest their people for "spreading panic". But that is human rights issue and is totally separate from the subject. Nobody's saying that China is the beacon of freedoms.

But sure it feels much better when one can ignore their own screw ups and pin the blame on somebody else.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#253

Post by FpUser »

_gccu wrote: post #193
FpUser wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"1. Every one of those 1M masks are not tainted with coronavirus." Let's see - 1 of the masks is infected and other 999,999 are perfect and meet 0.3 micron standard or whatever it is to be effective. Following your logic you'd refuse all. Yes my logic is BS but only because yours is exactly the same, just the opposite end.

Ok, so then you agree they need to be tested, we just disagree on how quantitatively extensive it needs to be. So you tell me then, what percentage of these 1M masks do we test? Do we test 1% of it and say they're safe to use, or do we test 99% of it? Either way, it sounds like to me, you agree you can't just overlook basic sanity checks. Maybe we test 51% of it. I'm not sure where you draw that line. God forbid you…

The BS was for you to claim the each mask has to be inspected. I am pretty sure that if the US will have agreed to accept the gift (fat chance I think) they would have some of those checked. And the percentge would hopefully be determined by the experts in the field rather then incompetent Jane/Joes of HN of which we are.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#254

Post by alisonatwork »

FpUser wrote: post #252
alisonatwork wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of other governments have made mistakes in dealing with this outbreak, but that does not absolve the CPC from responsibility. The CPC knew about this virus for over a month before they took any action to contain it. In fact, they arrested people who were sounding the alarm. Xi is claimed to have been steering the ship for weeks before any lockdowns were put into place in Hubei province. The CPC own this global…

"The CPC knew about this virus for over a month before they took any action to contain it" You are trying to blame politicos for being who they are. Other governments behaved exactly the same. They knew very well what is coming and still kept flow of goods and people. They are just as guilty in ignoring pandemic. Sure they did not arrest their people for "spreading panic". But that is human rights issue and is totall…

Perhaps it's not clear, but i live in China and experience the result of these "politicos being who they are" first hand. This virus could and should have been stopped before it got out of Hubei. The CPC have no excuse for their ineptitude when they already went through a comparable outbreak in 2003 with SARS.

We have evidence that acting earlier was an option, because the party chief of Qianjiang (a city in Hubei) unilaterally decided to do just that. He went against the prevailing wisdom from Beijing and quarantined all coronavirus patients in that city back on January 17 - ten days after Xi Jinping claims he was on top of things and over a week before the party ordered other cities in Hubei (including the epicenter of Wuhan) to lockdown. Qianjiang is now the only city in Hubei that has lifted their lockdown, and infections have been an order of magnitude less than other cities in the province.

And that's only one case that Caixin was allowed to report on. If we had a free press here maybe we'd hear more about the abject failure of party leadership to follow the advice of specialists, but unfortunately we do not.

However, that is beside the point. The point is, this outbreak was grossly mismanaged by the CPC, and now the entire world is suffering. No matter how many lavish gifts wealthy party members bestow upon the rest of the world, it's important that we do not forget how this crisis started and who was responsible for it. Otherwise, how will we learn to avoid the next one?

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#255

Post by inimino »

robomartin wrote: post #236
scotty79 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are ignorant because you assume US tests and masks are vastly superior to Chinese tests and masks for this application. Masks, even perfect ones barely do anything for something that infectious and tests are more for statistics to inform high level decision making than anything else. Staying away from people is the only thing that measurably does anything.

> You are ignorant because you assume US tests and masks are vastly superior to Chinese tests and masks for this application. Nope. That is not what I said at all. Not even close. Stop making up stuff that someone never said. What I said, very clearly, is that the difference is in TRACEABILITY and, not directly but implied, adherence to REAL SPECIFICATIONS, PERFORMANCE AND QUALITY. The Chinese are FAMOUS for taking s…

> The people who are reacting negatively to my comments are doing so while completely devoid of experience and an understanding of the realities in China.

You must know much more than the rest us. How many years do you have in China, 老外？

If you think the richest man in China doesn't know more than you do about "specifications, performance, and quality," you're not just misinformed, and you're not merely ignorant.

If you think "Chinese-made masks given as gifts by some dude" is in any way appropriate in a discussion about a donation by Jack Ma, you know less than nothing about Chinese culture and should remain silent.

If "taking the time to learn something and understand" is a value you hold, now is the time for you to do that. Your xenophobic fear-mongering is a shame to your country.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#256

Post by FpUser »

alisonatwork wrote: post #254
FpUser wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The CPC knew about this virus for over a month before they took any action to contain it" You are trying to blame politicos for being who they are. Other governments behaved exactly the same. They knew very well what is coming and still kept flow of goods and people. They are just as guilty in ignoring pandemic. Sure they did not arrest their people for "spreading panic". But that is human rights issue and is totall…

Perhaps it's not clear, but i live in China and experience the result of these "politicos being who they are" first hand. This virus could and should have been stopped before it got out of Hubei. The CPC have no excuse for their ineptitude when they already went through a comparable outbreak in 2003 with SARS. We have evidence that acting earlier was an option, because the party chief of Qianjiang (a city in Hubei) u…

"it's important that we do not forget how this crisis started and who was responsible for it. Otherwise, how will we learn to avoid the next one?"

Here is the divine revelation - it had started in China. How will it help you when it starts in China or elsewhere next time?

And again you've completely ignored the fact that the rest of the world was happily ignoring all dangers and kept borders opened for goods and people without any testing.

As for starting first: I guess we could blame first human for all our problems. Guilty party is found, the case closed shut

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#257

Post by _gccu »

knzhou wrote: post #221
_gccu wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that you're the racist here for pulling the race card, right? I'm not on your side just because you're Asian. I'm interested in the general well being of ALL people, Asian or not, in the US. I'm sorry you were mistreated, but you made a wrong assumption that I am, or that I will, and you're trying to get me to be on your "side"? I don't like presumptuous people.

I don't have a "side". On one hand, I was born in mainland China. On the other hand, my parents were almost gunned down at Tiananmen square. We came to America to try to leave that behind, and yet still the senators presume I'm a CCP agent! All it took was the wrong kind of name and face. I could go on with more of my sob stories, but I can tell you won't take bullshit. The point is: I don't know or care about the ge…

Thanks for sharing your story. It's rough for immigrants and I can certainly sympathize. I've seen the news of extremely racist things done to Asians in America due to this virus.

Let's unpack what you said here:

"you're going to be treated just as badly as me, because they can't tell the difference between us"

1. That's an assumption of yours that I simply don't agree with. IDK where in the US you are, and it sounds like that's going on where you are, but I haven't seen it where I am and don't expect it. The US is HUGE and you can't just extrapolate like that.

2. I'd be careful about your usage of the word "they" and "us" in this sentence. Are you generalizing that most non-Asian Americans are racist ("they"), and defining "us" as the Asian Americans? Because if you start assuming that, that's just very negative and if Asian Americans ALL start acting that way, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. That's why I said I'm not on your "side", because I don't want to see sides.

I prefer thinking of us all (all Americans, regardless of race) as "we". Sure there are some racists, and I react accordingly, but I don't just assume that. Ultimately, if you are dealing with a bunch of legit racists and can't change them, then maybe you should ask yourself why you want to continue living and working where you are, and dealing with those. Lots of options in America.

Where I am, I rarely feel that I am mistreated and have no reason to expect it. That's my data point for you.

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#258

Post by _gccu »

FpUser wrote: post #253
_gccu wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, so then you agree they need to be tested, we just disagree on how quantitatively extensive it needs to be. So you tell me then, what percentage of these 1M masks do we test? Do we test 1% of it and say they're safe to use, or do we test 99% of it? Either way, it sounds like to me, you agree you can't just overlook basic sanity checks. Maybe we test 51% of it. I'm not sure where you draw that line. God forbid you…

The BS was for you to claim the each mask has to be inspected. I am pretty sure that if the US will have agreed to accept the gift (fat chance I think) they would have some of those checked. And the percentge would hopefully be determined by the experts in the field rather then incompetent Jane/Joes of HN of which we are.

And it's BS for you to blindly claim it that doesn't. Thanks for your "opinion"

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#259

Post by _gccu »

scotty79 wrote: post #245
_gccu wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look up my other comment. Research right now says 3 days.

Do you expect to wear any of the .5 million masks in less then 3 days after they were touched by the last person who touched them before packaging?

Flight here is 12 hours. So you don't think it's possible? Why?

Re: Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

#260

Post by _gccu »

scotty79 wrote: post #202
_gccu wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, if you do the thing you suggested yourself, and NOT infer an assumption of a geopolitically motivated act coming from me, you will see that my logic as stated in point 1 and 2 is actually pragmatic and logical. Assume no malicious intention. How about we even assume that we paid for this stuff and Jack Ma didn't just hand it out for free. This is to remove your bias that a charitable gesture from someone, so that…

Sound logic leads to garbage conclusion when it starts with false premises. Who knew it's really worth to learn about things you'd like to talk.

If you pay close attention, you actually didn't refute my logic at all but called it "garbage" and "false".

Ok man, you need to learn how to think through stuff and come back when you're ready.

Post reply on HN