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Author Topic: Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship  (Read 2850 times)

Mordred Pendragon

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As some of you may know by now, Blizzard perma-banned a professional e-sports figure for supporting the protests in Hong Kong and South Park recently did an episode condemning China's disproportionate influence over American media and corporate entities (Disney in particular) and the CCP naturally banned South Park like the commie thugs they are, even though South Park wasn't even airing on Chinese television before the ban.

It's often been speculated that the neoliberal embrace of the bland and deliberately non-edgy "woke culture" that is so often espoused by Millennial SJW's is partly because most SJW woke values don't upset the CCP (aside from all the LGBT stuff, which I'll address later in this post) and the big shot companies like Google and Disney can make a lot of bank from the Chinese and Millennial college kids at the same time. That's part of why despite "Get Woke, Go Broke" being very much a real observable phenomenon in the West, the media is still going with it, because they know that the Chinese will gladly buy up their bland pablum even if it tanks in America.

While a lot of woke stuff will feature LGBT themes, the stuff produced by major companies like Disney and Warner are often deliberately written in a way that can easily be censored or rewritten for Chinese audiences. Both Steven Universe and Voltron: Legendary Defender feature openly gay characters, but the Chinese translations rewrite the dialogue to remove this element. A good example from Voltron is the character Shiro, who is revealed to be gay in the later seasons and has a deceased lover named Adam. However, Adam is rewritten to be his best friend in the overseas versions whenever he is mentioned. A lot of American shows do stuff similar to this for overseas versions in the hopes of getting past the Chinese censors.

However, the Hong Kong protests are starting to wake people up, slowly but surely. People are getting royally pissed at Blizzard and the fact that South Park was able to air their most recent episode at all without getting censored by the Comedy Central higher-ups is a sign that the tides are about to turn.

The People's Republic of China is an authoritarian hellhole that openly engages in covert cyber-warfare with the US, and they also are infamous for their human rights abuses such as the infamous Social Credit system, harvesting the organs of murdered dissidents, and their oppression of ethnic and religious minorities such as the Tibetans and the Muslim tribes in Northern China. There's also the shady activities of groups like Tencent and Huawei, as well as all that deliberate IP theft, protectionism, and the seditious collaboration of Silicon Valley tech giants such as Google in the aiding and abetting of these crimes. Despite Facebook and YouTube both being banned in the PRC, Google and Facebook both collaborate with the Chinese government and make lucrative business deals with them in the tech sector.

Funnily enough, the freedom fighters protesting in Hong Kong have adapted a new mascot, the character of Mei from Overwatch (a game published by Blizzard) and are using her as a symbol of liberation as a way to tell both the CCP and Blizzard to fuck off.

Consequently, I've had Mei as my avatar on this forum for a while. Fuck the CCP!

But on a more serious note, corporate censorship is bad enough as it is. It's even worse when the corporations are doing it on behalf of a despotic foreign government that is infamous for its human rights abuses.

Assuming Pundit is interested in this thread's topic, I'm curious to hear his thoughts on the matter.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2019, 02:29:56 PM by Doc Sammy »
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Mordred Pendragon

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2019, 11:54:58 AM »
Apologies for the double post, but I just want to thank Pundit for allowing this topic on his forum.

We do need to address the issue of Chinese influence over American media and tech corporations. It could trickle down to affect our hobby as well.
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TNMalt

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2019, 06:18:53 PM »
Corporations value profit over being 'woke' or even morally decent entities. And China is a huge market. So market wins. And anyone that is pro PRC either has dollar signs on the brain or just don't care about the situation.

jeff37923

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2019, 07:05:49 PM »
Quote from: TNMalt;1109377
Corporations value profit over being 'woke' or even morally decent entities. And China is a huge market. So market wins. And anyone that is pro PRC either has dollar signs on the brain or just don't care about the situation.

Or they believe that the money they are making will be enough to insulate them from any backlash.
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GeekyBugle

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2019, 08:12:14 PM »
Quote from: jeff37923;1109393
Or they believe that the money they are making will be enough to insulate them from any backlash.

I think the time is coming where they'll have to choose one market or the other. "He who serves two masters..."
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell

Mordred Pendragon

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2019, 10:07:55 PM »
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1109407
I think the time is coming where they'll have to choose one market or the other. "He who serves two masters..."

Hopefully when the time comes, they will choose our market over China's. I doubt they will though.
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GeekyBugle

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2019, 10:09:41 PM »
Quote from: Doc Sammy;1109437
Hopefully when the time comes, they will choose our market over China's. I doubt they will though.

If they choose China they open a market for their competition, and China is still tiny compared to the total population of the planet.
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell

BronzeDragon

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2019, 11:41:10 PM »
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1109439
and China is still tiny compared to the total population of the planet.

It really isn't.

1.5 Bil out of 7.7 Bil is very significant. When you have almost 20% of the world's population, you can bet your ass companies will be falling over themselves in order to do business with you.

These companies would only be forced to choose one market or the other if either market suddenly decided to make it happen. I don't see it happening, at least in the near future. China can keep imposing its requirements on foreign companies, sometimes even fully fucking them up and swallowing their assets (google Fellowes if you aren't familiar with their story), so long as these companies continue to make shitloads of money from their chinese deals. Meanwhile, I'm not sure there's much impetus to truly tackle the industrial exodus from the US, particularly because there aren't any easy solutions, and the ones that do exist involve massive governmental intervention.

The Chinese have long memories. Their humiliation by the Western Powers of the 19th and early 20th centuries hasn't been forgotten or forgiven. Make no mistake, these guys are out to get us any way they can. China's "Hate List" reads: 1 - Taiwan, 2 - Hong Kong, 3 - Japan, 4 - The West, 5 - India.
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GeekyBugle

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2019, 12:43:52 AM »
Quote from: BronzeDragon;1109458
It really isn't.

1.5 Bil out of 7.7 Bil is very significant. When you have almost 20% of the world's population, you can bet your ass companies will be falling over themselves in order to do business with you.

These companies would only be forced to choose one market or the other if either market suddenly decided to make it happen. I don't see it happening, at least in the near future. China can keep imposing its requirements on foreign companies, sometimes even fully fucking them up and swallowing their assets (google Fellowes if you aren't familiar with their story), so long as these companies continue to make shitloads of money from their chinese deals. Meanwhile, I'm not sure there's much impetus to truly tackle the industrial exodus from the US, particularly because there aren't any easy solutions, and the ones that do exist involve massive governmental intervention.

The Chinese have long memories. Their humiliation by the Western Powers of the 19th and early 20th centuries hasn't been forgotten or forgiven. Make no mistake, these guys are out to get us any way they can. China's "Hate List" reads: 1 - Taiwan, 2 - Hong Kong, 3 - Japan, 4 - The West, 5 - India.

20% vs 80% me thinks one of those is bigger, and lets not forget not all Chinese people can have access to certain things, only the ones living on the almost free market zones, and that's just a small fraction of the total population.
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell

BronzeDragon

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2019, 01:52:56 AM »
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1109467
20% vs 80% me thinks one of those is bigger, and lets not forget not all Chinese people can have access to certain things, only the ones living on the almost free market zones, and that's just a small fraction of the total population.

Like I said, that choice between 80/20 will only happen if either China or the West take a radical stance that neither side seems to want to take.

The Status Quo seems to be of benefit to the companies, and therefore they work with governments on both sides in order to maintain said Status Quo. It would require a major political shift to create the conditions for a true tackling of the problem on the Western side, and China doesn't seem interested in backing down (for good reason, they're benefitting both economically and politically).
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Spinachcat

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2019, 04:53:24 AM »
American companies will sell us out because they know they can.

Their only loyalty is to the Almighty Dollar, not to the future of our country, and they can buy politicians if the populace starts demanding US companies stop sucking commie ass.

BTW, where's the NBA boycott? Do we really need to watch millionaires play a kid's game so badly that we can't even retain a shred of national dignity?

Why isn't there a single NBA player who has the nuts to say something? Not even the retired guys who already made their millions? No NBA players who are ex-military?


Quote from: BronzeDragon;1109458
The Chinese have long memories. Their humiliation by the Western Powers of the 19th and early 20th centuries hasn't been forgotten or forgiven. Make no mistake, these guys are out to get us any way they can. China's "Hate List" reads: 1 - Taiwan, 2 - Hong Kong, 3 - Japan, 4 - The West, 5 - India.


Westerners really need to understand the humiliation of China by the Western Powers. Americans unfortunately can barely remember what happened 10 years ago, let alone understand that century isn't impressive amount of time to China. And personally, an apology to China is owed for their unappreciated sacrifice in World War I.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/surprisingly-important-role-china-played-world-war-i-180964532/

Also, Westerners need to pay attention to China's maps. Hint: on their maps, China is bigger!

Brad

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #11 on: October 16, 2019, 01:07:58 PM »
Quote from: Spinachcat;1109500
Why isn't there a single NBA player who has the nuts to say something? Not even the retired guys who already made their millions? No NBA players who are ex-military?

So far, just one, and it's a Turk...

https://twitter.com/EnesKanter

So basically, a guy who has actually been oppressed speaks out against China, but the dudes who live in a free society won't condemn China. Makes a lot of sense to me!
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Brendan

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2019, 02:14:04 PM »
We are witnessing the emergence, or attempted emergence, of a new elite: the technocrats.  The existing elite, the "managerial class", are morally bankrupt and collapsing, either turning on each other and infighting over the scraps of a failing state or casting their lot in with the technocrats.

While the American people are broadly hostile to both groups, and maintain a strong independent spirit, they have yet to put forward their own counter-elite.  Some figures of note have been percolating within the "underclass" of deplorables.  Trump is the first real stand out victor to emerge from this "soup" of frustrated and aggravated every-men and every-women, although he is a hybrid figure without a strong ideological foundation.  At best he seems to be a monkey wrench thrown into the gears of progress.  There is no coherent ideology behind him, although the pro-American sentiment of the Trump phenomenon may prove useful to his successors.

The tea party was an instinctive lurching reaction against the status quo, but produced no intellectual leadership and was eaten by "Conservative Inc" which was just the right wing branch of the managerial elite.  

The libertarians are the best ideological opponents to the state-managers but are split on the technocrats who operate differently.  Since the technocrats often operate under the cover of the "free market" and the Chinese under the guise of "free trade", the libertarians are being hit in their blind spots and aren't sure how to react.  Being founded on a commitment to intellectual consistency they are struggling to mount any effective resistance.   They don't have any real power anyway, outside some talking heads on the internet, but IF they can develop a coherent ideological counter to the technocrats and IF they can ally themselves to the successors of the Trump "make America great again" mythology then they MIGHT form a promising coalition.  

The "New Right" was a promising counter movement at first, but degenerated into the "Alt-Right" as an explicitly racist and neo-Fascist ideology.  Part of this was due to their own internal failings and part of it was a hit job by the mainstream media.  They have largely since split into three factions - the "alt light" which bought a ticket on the "Trump train".  The "alt-white", which retreated to their enclaves of racial idiocy - I mean "purity" and what I call the "alt-Christ", which seem to think that if we all just found "jeebus" our problems would be solved.  They seem to forget that all these problems arose during the rule of the "sign of the cross".  If the later group is willing to jettison its lingering attachment to the "alt-white" (there's a fair amount of cross over) and accept an alliance of convenience with the libertarians and the Trumpians, they could lend some important cultural and spiritual gravitas to a new Western elite.  On the other hand, they are equally likely to shit the bed by screeching about heretics and sin and fucking it up for everyone else.


Recommended reading:
https://www.amazon.com/Machiavellians-Defenders-Freedom-James-Burnham-ebook/dp/B07N3Z5PC5/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+machiavellians+defenders+of+freedom&link_code=qs&qid=1571248163&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/Concept-Political-Expanded-Carl-Schmitt/dp/0226738922/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3RGP6S995QFDM&keywords=carl+schmitt+the+concept+of+the+political&qid=1571249597&sprefix=carl+schmitt+%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/New-Right-Journey-American-Politics/dp/B07RCL5H7K/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+new+right&qid=1571249612&sr=8-1
« Last Edit: October 16, 2019, 02:18:53 PM by Brendan »

tenbones

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #13 on: October 16, 2019, 02:39:00 PM »
Quote from: jeff37923;1109393
Or they believe that the money they are making will be enough to insulate them from any backlash.


Time to put it to the test.

The estimated playerbase of mobile and PC games in China is *over* 300-million. It vastly larger than United State's gaming population. But the issue is platform vs. monetization capacity.

Clearly many corporations are being led by *individuals* looking to make their mark, not for the long-term benefit of the corporation itself or it's clients. But they're trading short-term gains for their own personal benefit and the immediate benefit of shareholders.

That's a fools game. And it's going to damage a lot of IP's before the dust settles.

Brad

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Beijing Delenda Est: A Criticism of the CCP, Silicon Valley, and Censorship
« Reply #14 on: October 16, 2019, 02:58:50 PM »
Quote from: Brendan;1109914
We are witnessing the emergence, or attempted emergence, of a new elite: the technocrats.  The existing elite, the "managerial class", are morally bankrupt and collapsing, either turning on each other and infighting over the scraps of a failing state or casting their lot in with the technocrats.

While the American people are broadly hostile to both groups, and maintain a strong independent spirit, they have yet to put forward their own counter-elite.  Some figures of note have been percolating within the "underclass" of deplorables.  Trump is the first real stand out victor to emerge from this "soup" of frustrated and aggravated every-men and every-women, although he is a hybrid figure without a strong ideological foundation.  At best he seems to be a monkey wrench thrown into the gears of progress.  There is no coherent ideology behind him, although the pro-American sentiment of the Trump phenomenon may prove useful to his successors.

The tea party was an instinctive lurching reaction against the status quo, but produced no intellectual leadership and was eaten by "Conservative Inc" which was just the right wing branch of the managerial elite.  

The libertarians are the best ideological opponents to the state-managers but are split on the technocrats who operate differently.  Since the technocrats often operate under the cover of the "free market" and the Chinese under the guise of "free trade", the libertarians are being hit in their blind spots and aren't sure how to react.  Being founded on a commitment to intellectual consistency they are struggling to mount any effective resistance.   They don't have any real power anyway, outside some talking heads on the internet, but IF they can develop a coherent ideological counter to the technocrats and IF they can ally themselves to the successors of the Trump "make America great again" mythology then they MIGHT form a promising coalition.  

The "New Right" was a promising counter movement at first, but degenerated into the "Alt-Right" as an explicitly racist and neo-Fascist ideology.  Part of this was due to their own internal failings and part of it was a hit job by the mainstream media.  They have largely since split into three factions - the "alt light" which bought a ticket on the "Trump train".  The "alt-white", which retreated to their enclaves of racial idiocy - I mean "purity" and what I call the "alt-Christ", which seem to think that if we all just found "jeebus" our problems would be solved.  They seem to forget that all these problems arose during the rule of the "sign of the cross".  If the later group is willing to jettison its lingering attachment to the "alt-white" (there's a fair amount of cross over) and accept an alliance of convenience with the libertarians and the Trumpians, they could lend some important cultural and spiritual gravitas to a new Western elite.  On the other hand, they are equally likely to shit the bed by screeching about heretics and sin and fucking it up for everyone else.


Recommended reading:
https://www.amazon.com/Machiavellians-Defenders-Freedom-James-Burnham-ebook/dp/B07N3Z5PC5/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+machiavellians+defenders+of+freedom&link_code=qs&qid=1571248163&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/Concept-Political-Expanded-Carl-Schmitt/dp/0226738922/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3RGP6S995QFDM&keywords=carl+schmitt+the+concept+of+the+political&qid=1571249597&sprefix=carl+schmitt+%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/New-Right-Journey-American-Politics/dp/B07RCL5H7K/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+new+right&qid=1571249612&sr=8-1

This is just word salad...
It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.