from Hacker News

The NBA Feels a Backlash in China After a Tweet Supporting Hong Kong

by bubmiw on 10/7/19, 3:03 AM with 136 comments

• by reaperducer on 10/7/19, 3:53 AM

  China is offended by him offering an opinion on something. So, that makes them right?

  I'm offended by his backpedaling. That makes me right, right?

  China really needs to get a grip and understand that with seven billion people in the world, not everyone is going to agree with everything it wants.

• by o10449366 on 10/7/19, 4:01 AM

  US companies are increasingly "owned" by the Chinese government through Chinese investment. None of them are willing to risk the financial backlash that would occur if they spoke out against the Chinese government - so they are willing to censor their own platforms and sacrifice their own stakeholders and users to please them.

• by abhigupta on 10/7/19, 3:55 AM

  "If you want to know who rules over you look at who you are not allowed to criticize"

• by tjpnz on 10/7/19, 4:08 AM

  It's frightening to what degree China is able to censor people living well outside of their jurisdiction.

• by saboot on 10/7/19, 3:58 AM

  I am surprisingly conflicted. My strongest urge is to plainly say, screw them. China is a dictatorship, they are actively stomping out freedoms which I very much believe everyone living person had a right to. If they can't stand hearing the truth, fine, no NBA in China.

  In the back of my mind, I also recognize that isolation and division breeds more isolation and division. No NBA in China means less Western and Eastern cultural exchange. China doesn't have that kind of influence in our country, yet our American sport is hugely popular there.

• by temp31213 on 10/7/19, 4:09 AM

  And this is how China slowly takes away American's freedom of speech. This is their 'soft' power.

• by blondie9x on 10/7/19, 4:02 AM

  Why can't Hong Kong just vote then we can end these protests? The people could vote for a leader who wants closer ties and one who wants more autonomy but let them vote and have a say in the matter. I do not think voting will lead to secession but maybe to a sense of freedom and the ability to influence direction of country.

• by fooey on 10/7/19, 4:00 AM

  The entire content of the tweet:

  "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong"

• by 99chrisbard on 10/7/19, 4:05 AM

  Did NBA compare Xi to Winnie the Pooh? Haha. Seriously, China should stop being so authoritative.

• by latch on 10/7/19, 4:01 AM

  A bit interesting to contrast this to the NFL anthem protests. In both cases, there's been a lot of political pressure and some social media backlash. However in the US, to the best of my knowledge, sponsors have stuck on the "right" side and, according to wiki, have been rewarded for it.

• by jsgo on 10/8/19, 3:49 PM

  While I'm not a fan of how the NBA is handling this, I kind of lay the whole thing on their doorstep.

  Political commentary is not new in the NBA. LeBron was told (indirectly) on Fox News to "Shut up and dribble" as an example. So if China/Hong Kong was an untouchable topic as it now appears to be, why not send out communications to teams that people aren't to comment on it? Does that stop someone from doing so? Not really, but in this particular case he walked it back and the NBA now has to be incredibly defensive. This seems like it could've been avoided so it is an unforced error on their part.

• by emersonrsantos on 10/7/19, 4:36 AM

  As South Park brilliantly told us: “You’re gonna have to lower your ideals of freedom if you want to suck on the warm teat of China.”

• by boomboomsubban on 10/7/19, 4:23 AM

  I don't understand many people's view of the Chinese. This is not the state of China ordering the NBA around, this is an action by their people.

  And though it is likely that China helped make the people aware of this event, nationist individuals using blatant propaganda to attack people on Twitter is not a problem unique to China.

• by AFascistWorld on 10/7/19, 4:02 AM

  He didn't even tweet it, just a like. And the media and west should stop pretending that the people don't like and support the party.

• by TheMagicHorsey on 10/7/19, 4:01 AM

  Are we all going to become chickenshits to earn Chinese money?

  The companies and people of the Western world need to stand up to authoritarian China ... or else, in 25 years our kids are all going to be tasting the boot heel of whatever god emperor China has on its throne at that time (probably still Xi).

  We are all underestimating how authoritarian China is and how much crime the Politburo members get away with.

• by mytailorisrich on 10/7/19, 7:33 AM

  It would be interesting to understand why an American basketball team thought it would be a good idea to make a public political statement, on a foreign issue that does not concern them, when their (main?) sponsors are apparently from the country they decided to effectively criticise... It is puzzling.

  I suspect this might just be their Twitter guy who screwed up, and might now be out of a job.

• by TheSpiceIsLife on 10/7/19, 4:03 AM

  What does fighting for freedom and standing with Hong Kong have to do with promoting sport?

  Why not just shut the fuck to and promote sport?

  This is how we know some (many?) successful people just got lucky with the birth lottery and generally being in the right places and knowing the right people.

• by diego on 10/7/19, 4:00 AM

  So many misunderstandings around this. For one, in the US we have free speech. That means that you can say anything you want, but you have to accept that you may lose customers for saying it. It doesn't matter if you believe that your customers shouldn't be pissed off. It's the Chinese in this case, but it could be any other relevant group.

  Second, perhaps because most Americans haven't been to China and cannot read Chinese, they can't really appreciate this situation. Hong Kong is a part of China, and they are in the middle of a transition period from British rule. It's inevitable that they will be incorporated into the country, and it's really too late to try to turn that around. They could have tried to stay under British rule, but they gambled on the fact that they expected a very different future for China. The gamble did not pay off, and it is what it is. The rest of China (not just the government) wants them to assimilate, and it will happen. If you live in Hong Kong and you don't like that, really your only reasonable option is to move. It's not a given that the protestors are in the "right" and it's not a given that there is a right side on this. Just misaligned interests.

• by XPKBandMaidCzun on 10/7/19, 4:31 AM

  Hong Kong is definitely heading in the direction of complete independence. Thankfully.

  I agree completely that the angst in HK is caused by outsiders. It has to feel terrible for HK people having their representation grabbed by agents of Beijing. They should apologize and grant universal suffrage to all people born in HK.

  Most important in this is HK establishing its own military service, intel service, constitution (not just the Basic law oath of fealty to PRC), and UN representation. These are the remaining things HK needs to be treated like any other nation.

  Since the rule of law is what matters, it will be important that judges and lawyers have adequate time to adapt to the any changes in the legal process after transition is complete.

  The thing that has yet to be decided is how the legislature in HK will be structured though. Maybe in /r/hongkong they can bring it up.

  But most important will be China staying out of meddling in Hong Kong's internal affairs. This is about Hong Kong people planning new system separate from PRC. After that is complete PRC has the same right to establish treaties the same way as Japan, USA, etc.