(Trying to keep this as unpolitical as possible, there has been bipartisan support from both sides condemning the NBA) Daryl Morey tweeted in support of Hong Kongs fight against the oppressive regime. Adam Silver today held a press conference and put out a statement that they support the freedom of expression but this was after Daryl Morey had to apologize to China and the NBA said his tweet was "regretful", along with James harden apologizing. Other coaches/players have remained relatively silent in condemning China which is out of the norm when it comes to social issues. Now fans are being kicked out for holding signs that say "Free Hong Kong", along with chants of it, and other forms of protest. Thoughts? It seems like the NBA is making one mistake after another, they are taking signs from fans, kicking fans out, another video showed the NBA trying to remove someone off the sidewalk outside of the stadium holding a sign. It looks like this is on its way to turning into a huge mess for the NBA. I only see these protests getting larger and the chants getting louder as the NBA season approaches.
Fuck China Another oppressive regime. NBA should stick with their official. Instead they are kissing Chinese ass with these stuff. If it gets political I will have to lock. Try keeping Trump etc out of this.
For some reason I find it extremely funny that the 3 people who speak the most about social issues and world issues (Pop, Kerr, & LeBron) haven't said shit about this yet because they know it involves billions of dollars.
It really isn't political in the left wing/right wing sense. Companies have increasingly prostituted themselves for Chinese money over the last 20 years, and during that time have often had to toe the political line the Chinese government was pushing. This particular instance has only become big news because it's constantly on ESPN and social media. My own industry, higher education, is extremely complicit in this. Highly visible US universities like NYU, Duke, and UC Berkeley have opened campuses in China, and many other schools have programs there, and they are under constant pressure to not offend their Chinese hosts. This simply doesn't happen in the kinds of study abroad programs in western Europe and Australia that have been common for many years. The threat to fundamental principles like academic freedom should be obvious, but they ignore that to be seduced by the siren song of money, since they are under tremendous pressure at home from increasing costs and incredibly bad publicity about charging more tuition. This is the big story now, but it won't be long before you hear similar stories about students being arrested for attending protests about Hong Kong or the like. This is what happens when you climb into bed with an authoritarian regime.
I pay taxes to the US government. The most repressive regime in the USA. The NBA should move to Norway.
Here in AZ and I'm sure across the country the State funded colleges are taking away more and more in state students for foreign students because they pay more tuition. You don't need to blame China for the prostitution of US based colleges for money. Academic freedom is under threat in the US from both sides of the political isle.
This is true, but is completely besides my point. This is not an issue of bringing in foreign students to the US; this is a matter of doing business in a foreign country. The former doesn't threaten academic freedom to anywhere near the same extent as the latter; universities can't prevent foreign students from speaking out even if they wanted to, and it would be completely illegal for them to try. The entire point is that when you do business in a foreign country you have to play by their rules, and no one wields a heavier hammer in that regard than does China. The totally disproportionate response to a tweet from an employee of an NBA team that couldn't even be seen by anyone actually in China demonstrates that as clearly as could be.
Of course not but the reality is academic freedom and freedom itself is under threat across the globe and here in the USA. The US is backsliding instead of leading. The rest of the world follows, including China. The American people are being told that there is a deep state interfering with our democracy by the majority party in the Senate, the minority party in the House and by the President. These same people extended the Patriot act and we are still operating under it 18 years later. The AG of the US is asking social media companies to hold up on encryption until the US Government has a backdoor into it for investigative purposes. Academic institutions aren't defending academic freedom, they are very often the enemy of it for political and social reasons. The reality is London has more camera's and facial recognition in the hands of police than any city in the world. The NBA has leverage in China. The game is extremely popular. Silver's response was perfect. The Chinese government is playing with fire if they ban the NBA from the public. Rome had Gladiators, the US has the NFL, Europe has soccer and China has the NBA. The US has to lead and we are backsliding. The rest of the world including China is following. The NBA made a mistake and got back in front quickly. This isn't about the US vs. China. Of course every company has to comply with the host countries laws but that doesn't mean they don't have power to push for change. You can lead or follow but ginning up anti-Chinese sentiment is part of a nationalist strategy in the US and is all about hegemony. Pretending it's about freedom is nonsense. These academic institutions have power they choose to comply.
Steph Curry answering questions yesterday was embarrassing, he just sat there and claimed he didn't know enough about China and couldnt answer the question. If any of these guys truly cared about human rights (like they act they do with American Politics), they would be supporting Hong Kong and attacking China. They have done neither.
It's the same as with pretty much anything else. You support whatever puts more $$$ in your pockets. Everything else (various political slogans, social issues, etc.) is just smoke and mirrors to make more $$$.
