American institutions kowtowing to Chinese censorship

The #1 community for Gun Owners in Indiana

Member Benefits:

  • Fewer Ads!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • ArcadiaGP

    Wanderer
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 15, 2009
    31,726
    113
    Indianapolis
    Few examples lately in the news of American companies giving in to perceived pressure from China, and punishing/censoring American's for expressing opinions against communist China.


    NBA

    Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for the protestors in Hong Kong. The NBA responded by saying it was “regrettable” that Morey’s tweet had “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China.” You know, the communists that kill people. Those friends.

    NBA has since "clarified", saying they support their staff's right to freely express their opinions. The backlash has already begun, however. China is suspending preseason NBA broadcasts, community events are being cancelled, Chinese celebrities are boycotting NBA China games, the CBA will no longer cooperate with the Rockets, and Brands are halting their relationships with the NBA.

    Tencent, the massive Chinese company with their fingers in a lot of American company pies, is blacklisting the Rockets. (Keep Tencent in mind, they're a force to be reckoned with, and a major reason that you'll see Chinese censorship in the US)

    Activision Blizzard

    Blizzard has punished a player for supporting Hong Kong. They banned Ng Wai Chung (known as Blitzchung) from their Grandmasters esports competition for a year and withheld his prize money he had already won. They also fired two of the esports casters that called the event.

    A major movement to boycott Blizzard games (Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, etc) has erupted over their apparent siding with China. Oh, and Tencent has a 5% share in Blizzard. Imagine that.

    Mark Kern, a former employee of Blizzard and developer of World of Warcraft and Diablo, has joined the movement to boycott Blizzard over their apparent fear of China, siding with money instead of human rights.

    The official Blizzard subreddit was temporarily locked down, but it seems they've instead chosen to give up moderating it and let the users run rampant... with every post being a variation of "**** blizzard" with some new meme about them sucking on the Chinese teet.

    Have been some good memes out of it, though...

    ofNVbf5.png


    South Park

    Matt Stone and Trey Parker, in true South Park fashion, released a timely episode criticizing the censorious nature of China, oppressive communist regime, and how American companies are greedily feeding into it... willing to give up their own freedom in exchange for that sweet Chinese money.

    ‘South Park’ Creators Offer Fake Apology After Show Is Erased in China

    So, of course, China banned South Park. The episode made no effort to hide the criticism of China... showing executions of political prisoners, organ harvesting, and highlighting the absurd "Winnie the Pooh" concept.

    (You see, because Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh... and that's just too embarrassing... so they banned it.)

    X0cFBSA.png
     

    ArcadiaGP

    Wanderer
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 15, 2009
    31,726
    113
    Indianapolis
    With Blizzcon coming up, they've got a lot of new games on the horizon. I expect the next new Overwatch hero is going to have a lot of minority boxes checked to repair this controversy. Like quadruple gay or something.

    T.Lex said:
    Does this include the major social media companies?

    Are there any in the US that China has a hand in? I thought they generally just outright banned US social media in favor of their own competing versions. I don't know why American social media outlets would bother censoring anti-China sentiments... I'm seeing quite a bit of it.
     

    two70

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    19   0   0
    Feb 5, 2016
    3,725
    113
    Johnson
    It is interesting and illustrative to see all the SJWs in the NBA like Steve Kerr, Greg Poppavich, Lebron James, Stef Curry, etc. suddenly have nothing to say when the topic is China and the real abuses that are ongoing there. Especially when they apparently can't shut up when it comes to lecturing us about the (largely) imagined abuses here.
     

    ArcadiaGP

    Wanderer
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 15, 2009
    31,726
    113
    Indianapolis
    The NBA angle is actually minor compared to the larger story: ESPN. They are running interference for the NBA during all of this.

    ESPN is invested heavily in the NBA... with broadcasting rights and a need to protect the brand. They make a significant portion of that investment back on NBA-related advertisers like Nike, who are heavily invested in China... both in market concerns and production infrastructure.

    And... ESPN is owned by Disney, which is a corporation that depends on the Chinese market (and bows heavily to their censorship) for their entertainment.

    That's the real scandal regarding the NBA. The default American sports journalism entity that has completely bowed to a communist government to protect their market share and investments. What the NBA is doing sucks. What ESPN is doing to protect the NBA is sick.
     

    Leadeye

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    Jan 19, 2009
    36,692
    113
    .
    This has been going on in the industrial sector for some time. Multi nationals have moved R&D operations to china to be closer to manufacturing. Many new products developed there can only be sold to chinese owned companies.
     

    ArcadiaGP

    Wanderer
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 15, 2009
    31,726
    113
    Indianapolis
    Just as the NBA's original Chinese Weibo statement was pretty harsh on Daryl Morey compared to the English statement, Blizzard's official Hearthstone Weibo post made an additional comment condemning blitzchung and defending 'the pride of China'

    Blizzard's Chinese Weibo wrote:

    "We are very angered and disappointed at what happened at the event and do not condone it in any way. We also highly object the spreading of personal political beliefs in this manner...We will always respect and defend the pride of our country."
     

    ArcadiaGP

    Wanderer
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 15, 2009
    31,726
    113
    Indianapolis
    Other American companies that bent the knee to China:

    Activision Blizzard: banned player for supporting Hong Kong democracy protest. Confiscated all his winnings. Fired the 2 casters who interviewed him.

    Apple: censors Taiwan flag emoji in iOS in Hong Kong

    Apple (partial entry): censored Hong Kong protest map from App Store. Relented after it turned into a PR mess, now letting the app into App Store.

    Vans: censors pro-HK democracy design in its shoe design competition

    NBA (partial entry): rebuked Rockets manager for his pro-HK tweet, saying NBA was "extremely disappointed with Morey's inappropriate comment." Backpedalled after this turned into PR nightmare, now saying they support Morey's freedom of speech.

    Disney / ESPN: forbids any mention of Chinese politics when discussing Rockets manager's pro-HK tweet. ESPN hosts castigated Morey & speculated about his sincerity, but they will not talk about what caused the tweet: China's encroachment on HK

    Viacom / Paramount: censors Taiwan flag from the jacket worn by Tom Cruise in the new "Top Gun" movie

    Disney / Marvel: censored Tibetan monk from "Doctor Strange" and turned him into a white woman. Per the movie's screenwriter: "if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he’s Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that that’s bull****".

    ASICS, Calvin Klein, Coach, Fresh, Givenchy, Pocari Sweat, Valentino, Versace, Swarovski: details here

    Marriott: apologized to China & changed "Taiwan" to "Taiwan, China" after China threw a hissy fit

    Nike: removed all Houston Rockets products from their China webstore

    Activision Blizzard: cut livestream when American University team held up pro-HK sign.

    Apple: handed over iCloud data & encryption keys to China

    Riot Games: censors the words "Hong Kong", forcing casters to refer to team "Hong Kong Attitude" as "HKA".

    Cathay Pacific: fired employees for FB posts supporting HK protests.

    Apple: minimized the seriousness of iOS exploits that enabled China to track Uyghurs, when 1M+ of them are rounded up by China in concentration camps

    Google: censored pro-HK game "The Revolution of Our Times" from Google Play because it was about a "sensitive event".

    Gap: apologized to China for selling T-shirts IN CANADA that didn't include Taiwan as part of China

    Tiffany: removed tweet showing model covering 1 eye after China accused it of supporting HK

    Marriott: fired employee who liked tweet from Tibetan group

    Mercedes: apologized for quoting Dalai Lama on Instagram

    American, Delta, United: deleted mention of Taiwan as a country from websites

    Audi: apologized for using "incorrect map" of China that left off Taiwan

    Muji: destroyed store catalogs that contain "incorrect" map of China

    Zara: apologized for listing Taiwan as country

    Medtronic: apologized for publishing "illegal content" that listed "Republic of China (Taiwan)" as country

    Ray-Ban: changed "Taiwan" & "Hongkong" to "China Taiwan" & "China Hongkong"

    Qantas, Air France, Air Canada, British Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Japan Airlines, ANA: changed "Taiwan" to "Taiwan China" on websites

    TikTok: censor videos that mention Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, Falun Gong

    Sheraton: banned Taiwan National Day event. China called event "illegal & a crime against international law"

    Disney: shrank/removed non-white characters from Chinese poster of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

    Philadelphia Sixers: ejected fans for supporting HK

    Princeton: doesn't talk about the 3 Ts: Tibet, Tiananmen, Taiwan

    Leica: released ad on Tiananmen protest. Apologized & distanced itself from ad

    Reddit: took $150M from Tencent. Removed threads like this

    Rockhampton, Queensland: censored Taiwan flag in student art project

    Cisco: helped build the Great Firewall including module to persecute Falun Gong

    MGM: changed Red Dawn's villain from China to N Korea to placate China

    Global Blue: fired staff for calling Taiwan a country
     

    ArcadiaGP

    Wanderer
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 15, 2009
    31,726
    113
    Indianapolis
    Now this is a protest tactic I can get behind.

    Overwatch hero Mei is becoming a Hong Kong protest symbol - Polygon (Archive)

    Mei is a character in Overwatch, and she's Chinese. Fans are using her as a pro-HK symbol...

    ... With the goal that China will want to ban Overwatch and/or Blizzard games... which is what Blizzard is trying to avoid right now.

    It would be incredible if that turn of events were to take place.
     

    T.Lex

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    15   0   0
    Mar 30, 2011
    25,859
    113

    Cygnus

    Master
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Apr 24, 2009
    3,835
    48
    New England
    The NBA angle is actually minor compared to the larger story: ESPN. They are running interference for the NBA during all of this.

    ESPN is invested heavily in the NBA... with broadcasting rights and a need to protect the brand. They make a significant portion of that investment back on NBA-related advertisers like Nike, who are heavily invested in China... both in market concerns and production infrastructure.

    And... ESPN is owned by Disney, which is a corporation that depends on the Chinese market (and bows heavily to their censorship) for their entertainment.

    That's the real scandal regarding the NBA. The default American sports journalism entity that has completely bowed to a communist government to protect their market share and investments. What the NBA is doing sucks. What ESPN is doing to protect the NBA is sick.

    South Park covered this brilliantly. They even used Mickey (which they have done before) to great effect. Can't wait for tonight's episode. A shame they are the one's leading the way on this....Their reply to being banned in China was great.
    I didn;t know about the ESPN/NBA /Nike stuff. Thanks for the info!!!
     

    Phase2

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    6   0   0
    Dec 9, 2011
    7,014
    27
    An AOC position I can support??? A bi-partisan group from the House and Senate sent a letter to the NBA commissioner on this topic, commenting on multiple points including the NBA training camp near actual concentration camps.

    Letter to NBA commissioner
     

    ArcadiaGP

    Wanderer
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 15, 2009
    31,726
    113
    Indianapolis
    Protestors are outside the Washington Wizards preseason game against the Guangzhou Long-Lions right now, passing out free tshirts with "Free Hong Kong" on them.

    Gonna be a lot of people kicked out. Have fun with that, NBA.
     
    Top Bottom