The hong kong situation is heart breaking. They probably have enough propaganda now to fully escalate into massacring the protesters. Seems like it’s a doomed resistance.
Jim Thorpe and Jim Brown were pretty amazing multi-sport athletes.
Was there ever a chance that this ended differently if the protesters don’t back down?
I dunno, China gave it to the biggest demand so I had hope that maybe with enough western pressure and resistance from HK that maybe it could be resolved without outright slaughter. Probably false hope though.
I think China’s strategy was to give in a little bit for now, let the protesters tire themselves out and then try again a year from now. The people in HK are smart enough to see that coming and decided to take a stand now.
I posted a livestream of the HK protests last night, and it’s even crazier now. Worth at least a few minutes to get a feel for what the streets scene there is really like.
It’s difficult to believe these are the streets of present day Hong Kong and not some 3rd world failed state.
I suppose they’d be using a more real bullets if it were the latter case.
Same. It was especially beautiful after Boz had talked all that shit lol
The Chinese are going to use serious violence to suppress these protests… but that’s going to end really badly for them.
Ultimately every person they kill is going to instantly spawn a dozen+ new people willing to kill/die to free HK from the CCP. This is going to turn into a counter insurgency and those are basically unwinnable. This isn’t going to be over until HK has true self rule now. There is no other outcome and the big variables are how long it takes and how many people get killed making it so. No way to avoid it now though.
I admittedly haven’t been following as closely as I should but my general reaction is one of disgust at America. These kids are literally putting their life on the line for what they believe in, knowing full well some of them are going to die. Meanwhile here in USA#1 half the people can’t even get off their ass to vote, let alone do something proactive.
It’s not remotely the same situation. The Chinese Communist Party is several standard deviations more malignant towards dissidents AND more competent than the GOP. If the GOP was half as dangerous as the CCP to people who disagree we would all already be in a reeducation camp and the evidence used to put us there would be our posts on this board.
The people of HK were facing a truly large existential threat. We simply aren’t there yet, and expecting us to act as if is a bit silly. There have been fairly large protests in the Trump era… I’ve attended some. I’m currently trying to figure out what kind of protest I can join when Trump comes to Austin on Wednesday.
I know it sucks, but things just aren’t anywhere near that bad here yet. Like not even remotely close. In HK the government has lost so much legitimacy that it will eventually fall. It’s like a plane stalling after losing engine power… what happens next is basically physics.
Buddy Holly, Peggy Sue > Meatloaf, I won’t do that
Didn’t seem to work that way after Tiananmen Square.
Or China will just start killing people and nobody will do a damn thing about it? Walk me through the consequences.
That was the 80’s… there was no internet then. Also as a % of the population the protest was much smaller.
Things will start blowing up. People will start getting shot. It’ll become extremely hazardous to cooperate with the government. You know the drill, don’t play dumb.
These are the moments where I wished our economy wasnt so dependable on exports and you could give the Chinese the middle finger.
I wish I had your optimism but I very much doubt this will be the case. America certainly isn’t going to condemn them for massacring protestors–hell, most Republicans are actually in favor of that. The numbers just don’t work in HK’s favor.