Activision Blizzard Suspends 'Hearthstone' Pro Player for Supporting Hong Kong Protests (vice.com) 312
Activision Blizzard suspended Hearthstone pro Chung "Blitzchung" Ng Wai on Tuesday after he spoke up in support of protests in Hong Kong during a post-match interview during Hearsthone's Asia-Pacific Grandmaster tournament on October 6. From a report: Two days later, on October 8, Activision Blizzard suspended him from competing in Hearthstone esports tournaments for a year, rescinded his $3000 winnings from the tournament, and fired the two people who interviewed him. Each year, Hearhstone's best players compete in regional tournaments that narrow the field to 48 Grandmasters. After the regionals, the Grandmasters play for a $500,000 prize pool. After winning a match in the Asia-Pacific regional, Chung streamed a post-victory interview while wearing ski goggles and a gas mask, a look often worn by protestors in Hong Kong to mitigate the effects of tear gas. "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time," Chung said on the stream, a phrase that's become a rallying cry for protestors in Hong Kong.
Boycott Activision (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously. They are a US based company, if they can't deal with China they should not be doing business there.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, it should definitely be a bunch of individual companies who answer to stockholders that should stand up against China, not the US government. That will surely work in the long run.
Activision did deal with China, by completely folding to their censorship demands, which is what every company will have to do if they hope to have any business in China, regardless of where in the the world those comments are made.
Suddenly your freedom of speech evaporates when the company you work for touches China.
Re: (Score:2)
We are at war with China
Must have missed something... When'd that happen? BTW, I think it'd be most interesting to us /. readers to learn how you've avoided treason by creating a Chinese free tech-stack. Even your day to day sourcing and consumption of Chinese free products might be amusing even if not strictly geeky. If you could post an article I know myself and many others would love read it.
Re: (Score:2)
Having done domestic-only tech sourcing for a previous job... I'd love to hear how to actually do it better than making a bunch of assumptions and relying on blind hope.
Re: (Score:3)
Trade and Cyber war are war, worse they are attacks on civilians. There are people who die as a consequence of utility disruptions by the Chinese and people who are starving and dying in the US right now. Granted it is mostly the poor and elderly so maybe they count to you. There are US citizens being threatened in the actions in Hong Kong.
"I think it'd be most interesting to us /. readers to learn how you've avoided treason by creating a Chinese free tech-stack."
Right because buying an American router that
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
What a curious world you think we live in! (Score:3)
Oh please, can it with the bullshit copypasta idiocy. The "trade war" with China has done far more damage to the US poor than trade deals with them ever did. Jacking up prices on everybody to favor a few is foolishness, and was the obvious result of this stupidity. Those few won't even benefit that greatly because the work will just move to India or Thailand or somewhere else with a reasonably-developed economic base and way lower labor costs than the USA.
Besides, if your standard for war is "there are peop
Re:Boycott Activision (Score:5, Interesting)
Are we sure they are still a US Based company? China Everbright has investments in many nations, controlling many corporations.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Boycott Activision (Score:5, Informative)
Tencent owns a share in Blizzard.
Also a good time to point out that Tencent owns 40% of Epic games. So every dollar you spend with Epic, 40 cents goes to an arm of the Chinese Communist Party.
Re:Boycott Activision (Score:5, Insightful)
I SAY (not cay) Communist like it is a bad thing, because 100 years of history have demonstrated amply that it is bad as a national policy. The only time Communism works is in a small scale like an Amish colony - because the social fabric of a small community blunts the authoritarian aspect inherent in it. And that's why the Amish wisely limit the size of their colonies - if the colony gets too large it splits.
Educate yourself.
Re: (Score:2)
You cay Communist like its a bad thing, ignorant fuck
Communism is pretty great!
On paper.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Boycott Activision (Score:5, Interesting)
Every western company is cowering to China, engaging in self-censorship to appease that authoritarian dictatorship that is an oppressive and increasingly aggressive regime. Values don't mean a thing to corporations. It's all about the business.
Makes me sick.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Unless there's a female protagonist, in which case it's time to boycott.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Boycott Activision (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's keep politics out of games please.
No. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
This guy spoke out on his beliefs during an interview that he had earned due to his play. If he had a particular issue he wanted to bring issue to then that was his choice.
Fuck Blizzard. They are "political" by doing meaningless gestures like covering up a little cleavage in the game artwork, but on real, actual issues like the situation in Hong Kong they're bowing to the pressure of a dictatorship. This is absolute and pure cowardice.
Re: (Score:2)
I can well understand that these companies want to keep politics out of gaming, and maybe many in the audience want that too.
Chung streamed a post-victory interview while wearing ski goggles and a gas mask, a look often worn by protestors in Hong Kong to mitigate the effects of tear gas. "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time," Chung said on the stream
Seriously, this goes a bit further than the kneeling football players; he didn't merely speak out on his beliefs during an interview, he basically hijacked the interview to make a strong political statement.
Re: (Score:3)
What if he had spoken out against immigration?
What if Activision-Blizzard had vetted the interview before broadcasting it, like responsible people would do if they had concerns like this? Well, wait. There's nothing responsible about supporting Chinese oppression, except in the sense that Activision-Blizzard has made themselves partially responsible for what's happening in HK through this show of support for China's actions.
Re: (Score:3)
Because free speech is free speech. You either allow all of it or you stop calling it free speech.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes. League of Legends splash screens are vastly different on Asian servers as well. Blood, mild sexuality, all frowned upon.
Re: (Score:2)
Life is all about politics, you can't avoid it, it comes and haunt you eventually.
Re: (Score:2)
They mean, let's keep this specifically about game politics. Which new feature is "OP", how the freemium model corrupts the game mechanics, <insert other nonsense here>.
Re: Boycott Activision (Score:5, Insightful)
Letâ(TM)s keep politics out of games please.
Are you criticizing Activision or the person who suggested boycotting Activision.
Activision brought politics into games first when they banned someone for being pro-Hong Kong.
Re: Boycott Activision (Score:5, Informative)
Technically Activision brought politics into it when a percentage of their company was acquired by Chinese national company Tencent. They just didn't know it then.
Re: (Score:2)
They were infected by tencent, and became fifty cents.
Re: Boycott Activision (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, it seems Activision has crossed that particular Rubicon by taking sides.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd agree but they didn't keep politics out of games they fired someone based on them and should now be boycotted.
Re: (Score:2)
Let's keep Unicode out of everything.
Re: (Score:3)
Second +5 call for cancel culture today. The SJWs have won!
Or maybe it's just the usual hypocrisy.
Because there's total equivalence with shutting down a speaking event with threats of violence and intimidation, and boycotting a company that bows down to Chinese tyranny.
Why do you make this so easy for me?
cancel culture (Score:3)
Hay, those goalposts look heavy, need a hand moving them?
Of course you know that every single account banned on Twitter and every shitty actor who loses a gig gets the peanut gallery screaming "cancel culture!"
Someone first points out 'hypocrisy', then makes an accusation, then immediately does exactly what they were accusing others of. Well, I've had my fill of irony for today, thank you.
I would say nice try but I'm not in the mood for sarcasm.
All these people here defending free speech. I can imagine why you're not in your usual mood.
I'll just note that when the same kind of tactics are used against the left [youtube.com], they will shed great big crocodile tears and cry out for civility in their clickbait rags, but of course the damage will have been done and there will be no int
Fan Response (Score:5, Informative)
I'll be curios to see how many folks respond negatively to the actions of Blizzard in this matter; as it seems to conflict with their core values:
every voice MATTERS
Great ideas can come from anywhere. Blizzard Entertainment is what it is today because of the voices of our players and of each member of the company. Every employee is encouraged to speak up, listen, be respectful of other opinions, and embrace criticism as just another avenue for great ideas.
https://www.blizzard.com/en-us... [blizzard.com]
Re: Fan Response (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Please keep posting that, because I am sick of explaining to people on Slashdot that free speech is more than just a right guaranteed by the US constitution that only applies on US government property.
Re: (Score:2)
Please keep posting that, because I am sick of explaining to people on Slashdot that free speech is more than just a right guaranteed by the US constitution that only applies on US government property.
They don't have free speech in the EU, either. What makes you imagine that it's a universal right? Rights are things nobody can deprive you of, and there's no such things, except do as thou wilt. And even then, you can be killed, and that'll stop you real quick.
In practice you have no rights which won't be defended by a larger and more powerful group than whichever group wants to take them away from you. That's why it is so critical to explicitly protect rights, and not just imagine protection. Without prot
Re: Fan Response (Score:5, Insightful)
It's quite easy to take it for granted here in the United States. Many of the people who made that hard decision have been dead and buried for decades or even centuries. And there are no shortage of people who are willing to squander the wonderful inheritance that we've been given. I hope that the people of Hong Kong will be successful in their endeavor, but I have a feeling that at best they will serve as a painful reminder to those of us who have the freedoms they desire for themselves to guard them all the more strongly.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: Fan Response (Score:4, Insightful)
; as it seems to conflict with their core values>/quote>It reveals their "core values."
Re: (Score:3)
"Every employee is encouraged to speak up, listen, be respectful of other opinions, and embrace criticism as just another avenue for great ideas"
But apparently not the guy they fired here. I'm done with Blizzard and if it true that tenecent has bought a controlling share they should be on the tariff list and blocked from doing business in the United States.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
In Capitalist USA (Score:5, Insightful)
In the capitalist, democratic USA you have the right to speak freely, unless you speak about Hong Kong, Taiwan, Palestine, the Uighurs, Edward Snowden, Winnie the Pooh, election security, or the actual rule of law as it might apply to politicians.
What else am I missing? My annual review is coming up and I want to make sure I'm toeing the line.
Re: (Score:2)
In the capitalist, democratic USA you have the right to speak freely, unless you speak about Hong Kong, Taiwan, Palestine, the Uighurs, Edward Snowden, Winnie the Pooh, election security, or the actual rule of law as it might apply to politicians.
What else am I missing? My annual review is coming up and I want to make sure I'm toeing the line.
You can speak about anything you want to speak about... you can't expect there not to be consequences for your speech though. If you run a Pizza chain and make racist comments, you can't expect to not get boycotted, for example.
Re: In Capitalist USA (Score:2)
If you run a Pizza chain and make racist comments, you can't expect to not get boycotted
Depends; are you selling pizza to a bunch of mooks, guidos and goombahs? They might like that shit. :)
Re: (Score:2)
Free speech doesn't mean freedom from consequence. It only means the government cannot stifle what you are saying.
Read the room, and speak accordingly. If saying racist shit costs you the chairman's seat, that's on you. For a lot of companies now intertwined with the CCP, speaking out will also cost them. The question is do they think it's a price worth paying?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Free speech doesn't mean freedom from consequence. It only means the government cannot stifle what you are saying.
Free speech doesn't have anything to do with governments. Free speech is a concept, and free people should embrace it as a universal concept. If the only organization that respects free speech is the government, and only on government web sites and government land, we have effectively no free speech. Free speech is something we should defend no matter what the forum.
Somewhere, somehow, the concept of free speech in America got mutilated into "oh, only the government allows free speech" which is effective
Re: (Score:2)
Free speech doesn't have anything to do with governments.
wat
Without a government protecting your supposedly inalienable right to free speech, how do you imagine it will be inalienable?
Re: (Score:2)
Winnie the Pooh? What did I miss? Tigger too?
Re: (Score:3)
Winnie the Pooh? What did I miss? Tigger too?
Google "winnie the pooh china"
Re:In Capitalist USA (Score:4, Insightful)
Google "winnie the pooh china"
But not while you're in China. That would be a bad idea. And also would not get you the expected results. Unless you were expecting strange men in the night with an unmarked van. Then maybe you'll get the expected results.
Re: (Score:2)
Try "Xinnie the Pooh"
Re: (Score:2)
You are not allowed to ever mention that a fully loaded gas cylinder dropped from an aircraft at any altitude above 100m or so has the kinetic energy of a hand grenade: https://www.fagain.co.uk/node/... [fagain.co.uk]
You are not allowed to mention laws of chemistry and the fact that Chlorine mixed with Sarin will destroy the organic amines used to stabilize the Sarin and prevent it from decomposing: https://www.fagain.co.uk/node/... [fagain.co.uk]
You also forgot Ukraine
You are not allowed to mention the fact tha
Re: (Score:2)
Femboots.
Gotta make sure some stupid, insecure Human Retard (HR) drones doesn't get offended over a personal opinion that female reboots, femboots, aren't as good as the original.
What? You mean you want a list of "bad words" BEFORE HAND that you can avoid? LOL, stupid employee -- that would require actual work! You never got the memo that Anyone can feel offended at Anytime over literally Anything and accuse you of being "insensitive" because who cares about context!! Joking is now illegal because it is to
Re: (Score:2)
Homosexual abuse of heterosexual families
Literally doesn't happen, and squashing small-minded bigots who hide behind terrible anti-Christ churches doesn't count.
Did Anyone Expect Any Better From A GAME Company ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Did Anyone Expect Any Better From A GAME Compa (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sure this will make your company REALLY POPULAR with gamers who also happen to be IDEALISTS.
Well, millions and millions of young idealists even here in the US are clamoring for an authoritarian socialist nanny state. Why wouldn't they applaud a company licking China's authoritarian, socialist boots?
OMG this is Taiwan all over again; (Score:2)
OMG this is Taiwan all over again; are US companies going to alienate markets in which China doesn't like?
Money or Freedom of speech ?
If you choose the former you might loose much than then you hope to earn.
Re: (Score:2)
> US companies
LOL.
Thanks to globalization, China has partial ownership of far more companies than you might imagine. And their hands all over many companies' supply chains as well. Speak ill of the CCP and watch your company's fortunes falter. All of this could have been prevented of course, but the rush to maximize profit at all costs has driven nearly all companies that actually make things into the Chinese supply market.
Bobby "Packaged goods" Kotick (Score:2)
South Park is right. (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's why this isn't below you, and completely irrelevant:
China is making your entertainment worse.
By having every content provider have to constantly second-guess themselves on every nuance of fragile Chinese culture shock - we're sacrificing a small but precious part of our own freedom.
It's like earlier eras where 'curse words' were more of a thing - true that some humor can come from hanging a lampshade on the censorship, but the damage to the stories we are allowed to publicly imagine and share here is far worse than not being able to say some excretory or sexual words we already have synonyms for.
That deserves some public angst - and open protest against. Even if you don't care about the freedoms of Hong Kong in particular - which if you look into it, is also perhaps something you should care about, even if just for selfish reasons.
Corporations will follow the money - it's your responsibility as a free person to make up your own mind, and perhaps push back against folks who decide only based on money.
Ryan Fenton
ok... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not saying what Blizzard did was right, but the choice was to either ban a single Chinese player or effectively ban ALL Chinese players when the game itself got banned.
This is not the trolley problem [wikipedia.org]. If the Chinese government decides to ban players/games/companies that's their decision, not the inevitable result of an either/or decision by Blizzard. If the Chinese government keeps making decisions that are against the best interests of their own citizens, maybe the communists will be replaced by a competent form of government.
Re: (Score:3)
"I'm not saying what Blizzard did was right, but the choice was to either ban a single Chinese player or effectively ban ALL Chinese players when the game itself got banned.
I don't really know how to feel about it. Sure, I'm pissed off about the situation, but Blizzard either tries to bring joy to millions of Chinese gamers or decides to offend China."
Only in the short term and responsibility wouldn't be on Blizzard if they had stood up for the right thing. China would be denying the players and not Blizzar
How is this different from the NFL (Score:3)
NFL didn't punish kneelers despite the move being more costly for them. Activision are pussies.
Re: (Score:2)
> NFL didn't punish kneelers despite the move being more costly for them.
I know, Colin Kaepernick's career is never better! Oh...
The NFL themselves didn't punish the kneelers, they just farmed it out to the team owners to handle for them
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/23582533/nfl-owners-approve-new-national-anthem-policy
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Summary (Score:5, Informative)
"During the Asia-Pacific Grandmasters broadcast over the weekend there was a competition rule violation during a post-match interview, involving Blitzchung and two casters, which resulted in the removal of the match VOD replay.
Upon further review we have found the action has violated the 2019 Hearthstone Grandmasters Official Competition Rules section 6.1 (o) and is individual behavior which does not represent Blizzard or Hearthstone Esports. 6.1 (o) is found below.
2019 HEARTHSTONE® GRANDMASTERS OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES v1.4 p.12, Section 6.1 (o)
Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the player’s prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzard’s Website Terms.
Grandmasters is the highest tier of Hearthstone Esports and we take tournament rule violations very seriously. After an investigation, we are taking the necessary actions to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
Effective immediately, Blitzchung is removed from Grandmasters and will receive no prizing for Grandmasters Season 2. Additionally, Blitzchung is ineligible to participate in Hearthstone esports for 12 months beginning from Oct. 5th, 2019 and extending to Oct. 5th, 2020. We will also immediately cease working with both casters.
We’d like to re-emphasize tournament and player conduct within the Hearthstone esports community from both players and talent. While we stand by one’s right to express individual thoughts and opinions, players and other participants that elect to participate in our esports competitions must abide by the official competition rules."
Blitzchung's reaction (a comment provided to Inven Global):
"As you know there are serious protests in my country now. My call on stream was just another form of participation of the protest that I wish to grab more attention. I put so much effort in that social movement in the past few months, that I sometimes couldn't focus on preparing my Grandmaster match. I know what my action on stream means. It could cause me lot of trouble, even my personal safety in real life. But I think it's my duty to say something about the issue."
And finally, the Public Relations contact for Blizzard, if you'd like to voice your opinion: pr(at)blizzard(dot)com
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Summary (Score:4, Insightful)
And finally, the Public Relations contact for Blizzard, if you'd like to voice your opinion: pr(at)blizzard(dot)com
Private messages? Fuck that. I tweeted at @AVTI_AB instead. Both are fairly worthless actions but at least one of them has a chance to raise awareness, however slightly.
Similar to what is happening in the NBA (Score:2)
The NBA is going through an eerily similar controversy right now. The general manager of the league's most popular team in China posted on social media in support of the Hong Kong protesters. Things escalated quickly. You can read more about the entire situation here [bloomberg.com].
The NBA risks their place in a market with more viewers last year than the entire population of the US. A Chinese billionaire recently bought one of the league's teams and two of the Rockets players have endorsements that are closely tied to th
Re: (Score:2)
The NBA risks their place in a market with more viewers last year than the entire population of the US.
So what? They make their money on merchandising, and Chinese people don't have any need to buy authentic merchandise, since they live in the unauthorized reproduction capital of the world.
Re: (Score:2)
The NBA risks their place in a market with more viewers last year than the entire population of the US.
So what? They make their money on merchandising, and Chinese people don't have any need to buy authentic merchandise, since they live in the unauthorized reproduction capital of the world.
Negative. The league makes most of their money selling rights to broadcast their games. These rights are a big revenue driver:
China’s love of the NBA has only grown since: 800 million people now watch its programming on various platforms every year. Tencent Holdings Ltd. reportedly paid $1.5 billion earlier this year for NBA’s digital rights for the next five years.
source [bnnbloomberg.ca]
Fraud (Score:4, Informative)
Bullshit.
He already won the tournament. Unless they have evidence that he cheated or the like, that money was earned fair and square and they have no business revoking it retroactively.
This is no different from when Facebook accused a security researcher of violating TOS just so they could weasel out of paying him his bug bounty.
Just hit them where it hurts... (Score:3, Interesting)
Just cancel your subscription in WoW, even if for a month, or abstain from using their in-game stores for micro-transactions for equal amount of time or more.
Enough people do it and it will hurt them dearly. What they did is completely unacceptable and if not offset is setting a shameful precedent.
Re: (Score:2)
Just cancel your subscription in WoW, even if for a month, or abstain from using their in-game stores for micro-transactions for equal amount of time or more.
Enough people do it and it will hurt them dearly. What they did is completely unacceptable and if not offset is setting a shameful precedent.
I wish me joining the boycott would help, but honestly I have no Activision games, nor do I intend to buy any anyway. I am going to start avoiding Chinese made products now though, China's nonsense is impacting too much of life and they shouldn't be allowed to censor us in the West.
Re: (Score:2)
Vox made a good point (Score:5, Interesting)
This feels like one of those "Who could have seen this coming, except everybody" situations.
When will people learn about social media?? (Score:2)
People just don't understand the concept that they'd better be prepared for consequences if they speak out on a fully public platform. It's been a decade since Twitter, Facebook and the like have been out. Why don't people get this? If you speak out, what happens next is your own fault. I wouldn't dare publish personal opinion and have it connected in any way to the place I work...I'd be fired in 2 seconds.
It's quite obvious to anyone observing this that Hong Kong's semi-autonomy will be over very soon. No
Re:When will people learn about social media?? (Score:5, Insightful)
People just don't understand the concept that they'd better be prepared for consequences if they speak out on a fully public platform
Yeah! Do as you're told and you won't get hurt!
Companies aren't going to protect people who go against their potential revenue streams.
That's why we have to unite against their revenue streams when they use them to do evil. Anything else would be cowardly.
Depends on why (Score:2)
If they suspended him because they don't want political commentary in post match interviews I could see a point, but if and only if the policy is implemented uniformly. If this is Blizzard sucking up to the Chinese then yeah, it's a load of garbage.
In /. tradition, I didn't read the fine article, so I don't yet know the answer. I really appreciate the summary giving me no useful information - also a more recent /. tradition.
FUCK FREEDOM! (Score:2)
Streisand much? (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't care anything about Hearthstone or professional gaming. I had no idea they had things called grandmasters.
However, because of this action by Activision, I now know all about a guy who supported the Hong Kong protesters that I never would have heard of otherwise.
Hong Kong (Score:4, Informative)
To ban someone over supporting truly unjust decisions perpetrated on the people of Hong Kong is absurd.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
What's this related to getting a real job ? He could be much richer than you, you never know
Re:What is up with all these tech companies?!? (Score:5, Insightful)
$$$$$$$$$
This is the last 40 years of globalization now coming home to roost. Corporations are so in love with the Chinese market that they will willingly get in bed with an authoritarian regime and help project its message globally rather than risk a bit of profit.
Re: (Score:2)
"bit of short-term profit"
ftfy
Re: (Score:2)
Short term is relative. Long enough for many involved to make a ton of money and retire. And to them that's all that mattered.
Re: What is up with all these tech companies?!? (Score:5, Insightful)
By giving them every free pass and blank cheque in the book on human rights while waging a dumbass trade war that also doesn't give a shit about human rights?
Honestly I think if it weren't for the trade war, China would be cracking down harder on the Hong Kong protesters. Before the trade war, it would have been very hard to for the US to sanction China for human rights abuses, but now that trade with them has cooled down quite a bit already, the prospect of that isn't so far out. Supply chains have already adjusted a good deal to compensate for the additional costs of dealing with China, and continue to do so.
This means that other countries can now reasonably build up their infrastructure to be able to better serve as an alternative to China going forward, also meaning that the damage to China's economic "moat" is going endure for quite some time, possibly even indefinitely. In other words, even if the trade war were to end tomorrow, China now has a lot more competition going forward, and the longer this persists, the worse it gets.
This also means that it is easier for other countries to participate in a sanction of China. This is a problem because the state of China's economy has put their government in a situation where it needs all of the trade partners that it can get, which means it's no longer in the position to just do whatever the hell it wants without having to deal with any consequences. That includes doing whatever it wants with Hong Kong.
So long as the trade war persists, time is on Hong Kong's side, which puts pressure on China to deal with the situation amicably. Resisting the demands of the protesters has only caused the situation to worsen for China, and continuing to do so will just drag it out longer.
Re: (Score:2)
The same could be said for all professional sports players.
professional sports players have an UNION! video p (Score:2)
professional sports players have an UNION! video players need one
Re: (Score:2)
I believe the contract says players can do nothing which brings them "into disrepute".
Re: (Score:2)
Speaking in favor of a dictatorship committing human rights violations would certainly qualify, speaking against? That improves their repute.
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder how furious the US would become if Puerto Rico somehow got 14 UN members to recognize it as a separate nation, and TenCent actively pushed to insist it was somehow independent as well?
Honestly, I believe in the rights of any region and people to determine who governs them. The people should decide, not the country.
If Puerto Rico said they were an independent nation, I would be against any US action that moved to suppress their independence. Same with if California, or Texas, or Manhattan Island declared independence.
/ US Civil War succession not legitimate though because if the enslaved people had their say then the majority of people in the South would have been against succession- al
Re: (Score:2)
In general I agree although obviously there are mitigating criteria like the ability to actually assess what the people want, like your example with southern slavery. Another example might be Iraq right after invasion or if we liberated China it would likely take time to deprogram the populace. After some reasonable timespan in an actual free society that holds that same view, individual freedom, freedom of speech, expression, and ideas that enables people to actually have their own ideas instead of state m
Re: (Score:2)
> I wonder how furious the US would become if Puerto Rico somehow got 14 UN members to recognize it as a separate nation, and TenCent actively pushed to insist it was somehow independent as well?
Or the Colonies breaking away from England... and France deciding to recognize them as a nation.
But that's crazy talk. Oh wait...
Re: (Score:2)
but this is different somehow
Who said it was different? It's wrong when it happens because of the US, and it's wrong when it happens because of China. You, however, are engaging in whataboutism, which is fallacious. Do you have any legitimate points to make with those citations?