The Hong Kong protests have been in and out of the news for the past couple of months but have been talked about more recently due to the increased violence by the Chinese police/military. With even a student that was in Hong Kong being shot and killed by a Chinese police officer.
But recently the Hong Kong protests have impacted the technology world due to the involvement of Blizzard. They are a massive company that owns many of the largest games available on the market today. After a player spoke out about the abuse of power by the Chinese government and supporting the people of Hong Kong, Blizzard promptly banned him and many of the other Hong Kong casters who sided with him. This then sparked an international backlash from many different gaming communities and the international new media. As more and more media attention came due to the decision by Blizzard, they were forced to reinstate the player and the casters for the event. And publicly apologize to the community and people after a widespread backlash from them. That included them dropping their memberships to many of the games that Blizzard owns.
What are your thoughts on this and how a gaming company took it upon themselves to get involved in international politics?
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/12/blizzard-reduces-ban-for-blitzchung-player-who-supported-hong-kong-protests.html
After watching the news video and the article, I strongly disagree with one point, which is “The Hong Kong protests have been in and out of the news for the past couple of months but have been talked about more recently due to the increased violence by the Chinese police/military.”
I do not think the author has watch the news video completely and carefully. The protesters are obviously out numbered and carrying weapons like hammers and iron sticks which are extremely harmful when used in fighting. And the shot was happened when a police officer trying to rescue his mate who is under attack and surrounded by several protesters with weapons. And based on the following news, this student survived through that shot. I fully understand the policeman when he choose to shot the protester.
Now, let’s think about what if this situation happens in US. No matter what is the initial purpose of the protest. The protesters should never turn this in to violence and trying to harm and even kill the police. If the situation in the news video happens in US, US policeman will shot them without think twice. Based on the news about police shooting before, a US police officer have the right to protect themselves when they think their life are under threat. What’s more, this reaction is more like a natural behavior of a human being.
After all, I totally understand if Hong Kong wants to be independent from China, although I am a Chinese. But the violence and unreasonable riot are unacceptable. We are in a modern society now, violence and riot can not solve anything. If anyone wants independence, then why not get it through the right way.
I personally do not think this protest is about politics now. It is more about a bunch of terrorist attacking and destroying everything for no reason. If they wants independence, this will only make things worse.
https://nypost.com/2019/10/01/police-say-hong-kong-protester-shot-in-chest-had-been-warned/
After watching the news video and the article, I strongly disagree with one point, which is “The Hong Kong protests have been in and out of the news for the past couple of months but have been talked about more recently due to the increased violence by the Chinese police/military.”
I do not think the author has watch the news video completely and carefully. The protesters are obviously out numbered and carrying weapons like hammers and iron sticks which are extremely harmful when used in fighting. And the shot was happened when a police officer trying to rescue his mate who is under attack and surrounded by several protesters with weapons. And based on the following news, this student survived through that shot. I fully understand the policeman when he choose to shot the protester.
Now, let’s think about what if this situation happens in US. No matter what is the initial purpose of the protest. The protesters should never turn this in to violence and trying to harm and even kill the police. If the situation in the news video happens in US, US policeman will shot them without think twice. W
I am a Chinese student and I believe I might be able to share some insights from my perspective.
First of all, so far there has been no recorded deaths in Hong Kong, there has been about eight deaths and all of them are currently classified as suicides by the government, whether that is true or not remains to be verified, but as of right now, no civilian has a recorded death from the police.
Secondly and most importantly, a lot of people don’t know that in China, all foreign games must be operated by a Chinese company, and for Blizzard, that company is NetEase, NetEase is the manager for all Blizzard games in Chinese market, in many situations in China, NetEase has the final say on things, not Blizzard. Now that brings us to the Hong Kong situation, Hong Kong currently is mostly under the Chinese government’s control, and obviously, the Chinese government is against the Hong Kong protests, which lead to the swift and very heavy punishment, I personally think the punishment was way too severe as well, I believe Blizzard got in contact with NetEase about the situation and then agreed to decrease the intensity of the punishment.
Now since we are talking about Hong Kong protests, I may as well share some insights from the Chinese side as well, Western media brands Hong Kong protest as a fight for freedom and call the protestors brave and righteous, but is that really the truth? The protestors have done a lot of not so righteous deeds and they are not really reported anywhere, if you go to Hong Kong right now and speak Mandarin, the protestors will literally violently beat you and will use umbrellas to block cameras. (https://www.reddit.com/r/Sino/comments/dhdkpd/woman_beaten_by_mob_in_hong_kong_protesters_use/), protestors have also thrown Molotov into mainland Chinese shops and restaurants, is this really the “democracy” and “freedom of speech” as they state they are fighting for? Does freedom of speech mean words that support them are glorified, and words against them are silenced and violently treated upon?
I initially supported the protest because I feel the extradition bull is indeed unfair, but the protest kept escalating and turned more into a riot even after the bill has already been retracted. At this point it simply feels like people want to riot just for the sake of rioting, all the teenagers are getting that “rebel” feeling and it excites them. They call it “a fight for freedom” but I feel it’s more of an excuse to just keep this riot going because it entertains them and fills them with a sense of “righteousness”.
I personally don’t think politics have much of a place on this blog, but I feel like bringing some opinions and news from the other side would be interesting.