5 ms·

Hull teacher held in Chinese jail for 'not being a friend of the country'

64 points by neverminder 10y ago

tomohawk 10y ago
Not a great way to make friends
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
no1youknowz 10y ago
> "We got three meals a day, usually boiled cabbage" > "In the afternoons, they screened really terrible films, usually with Nicholas Cage in them." Damn, they actually found the quickest way to psychologically break people!
- bertlequant 10y ago
  Although this may seem to be a torture strategy to those not from China, I can assure you after living there for a few years, Nick Cage is extremely popular in China.
- devdoomari 10y ago
  woah! chinese gov. trying to be 'onion than the onion'
Kenji 10y ago
Note that China has a seat in the United Nations Human Rights Council, along with Saudi Arabia and others like that. It is the ultimate irony. They just don't give a fuck and we western nations place our greed and capitalism over our morals. Nobody stands up to China because we need the cheap goods. What is described in this article is one of the purest forms of fascism. It makes me sick.
- phozy1 10y ago
  I agree, the Irony is insane, but what can we do? Sometimes makes me wonder.
- freshhawk 10y ago
  I hope you aren't American, because then the talk of "our morals" is a bit rich when discussing imprisoning people for bad reasons. Or complaining about a seat for the Saudis that the US got for them while they fund their war crimes in Yemen.
  - colanderman 10y ago
    That's very nationalistic and disingenuous of you, to hold an individual citizen accountable for their country's political failings.
    - freshhawk 10y ago
      Do you mean because I asked if they were American? That was to clarify who they meant by "our". If they meant "Norwegian morals" then the statement is much different than if they meant "American morals".
      - colanderman 10y ago
        It is nationalistic to conflate an individual's morality with actions of the state. Especially in the context of a post by said individual condemning actions of their state. That makes your response also disingenuous. Not to mention that your response is a classic example of the tu quoque fallacy [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque
        freshhawk 10y ago
        I'm not conflating anyone's morality with actions of their state. I'm challenging the assumption of moral high ground that underlies the premise of the argument. As in: "Country X has these strong morals but isn't following them" and I reply "Country X doesn't have those strong morals". Please, please believe me that when I tell you what I'm trying to say, that I'm being truthful.
baybal2 10y ago
Well, at least it was made public that he was detainend. 9 out of 10 times, a foreigner just disappears tracelessly like that: https://www.reddit.com/r/shenzhen/comments/5vvvdv/father_missing_shenzhen/ https://www.reddit.com/r/shenzhen/comments/5vvvdv/father_mis...
jessaustin 10y ago
When Chinese police review this matter they might decide it wasn't the best way to minimize unflattering media coverage.
nickpeterson 10y ago
Surely if the goal is friendship they should force them to watch the Golden girls?
EpicEng 10y ago
Man, you're just waiting to be triggered at all times aren't you? Read the post you replied to again, perhaps more slowly this time.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >Man, you're just waiting to be triggered at all times aren't you? No, but thanks for the ad hominem. I mean, the discussion is obviously about me.
  - EpicEng 10y ago
    You made it about you when you went on an irrelevant rant. You obviously couldn't wait to find someone to disagree with. And you're welcome.
- dang 10y ago
  Heading in generic political directions is one of the worst things an HN thread can do, but personal attacks are worse still. Regardless of how bad you think a comment is, please don't respond like this. Community members have a responsibility to protect this place if they're going to comment here. We've had to warn you before, and you've continued to post uncivilly. That will get your account banned, so if you don't want to be banned please fix this. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14011908 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14011908 and marked it off-topic.
cryptarch 10y ago
It doesn't sound a lot different from "our moral compass", the U.S. of A. Pretty normal to treat unwanted civilians that way there, he should be happy he got off without being framed/jailed extensively/tortured/killed. I'm not saying it's civil or good. Just not abnormal.

64 points by neverminder 10y ago

tomohawk 10y ago

Not a great way to make friends

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

no1youknowz 10y ago

> "We got three meals a day, usually boiled cabbage" > "In the afternoons, they screened really terrible films, usually with Nicholas Cage in them." Damn, they actually found the quickest way to psychologically break people!

bertlequant 10y ago
Although this may seem to be a torture strategy to those not from China, I can assure you after living there for a few years, Nick Cage is extremely popular in China.
devdoomari 10y ago
woah! chinese gov. trying to be 'onion than the onion'

Kenji 10y ago

Note that China has a seat in the United Nations Human Rights Council, along with Saudi Arabia and others like that. It is the ultimate irony. They just don't give a fuck and we western nations place our greed and capitalism over our morals. Nobody stands up to China because we need the cheap goods. What is described in this article is one of the purest forms of fascism. It makes me sick.

phozy1 10y ago
I agree, the Irony is insane, but what can we do? Sometimes makes me wonder.
freshhawk 10y ago
I hope you aren't American, because then the talk of "our morals" is a bit rich when discussing imprisoning people for bad reasons. Or complaining about a seat for the Saudis that the US got for them while they fund their war crimes in Yemen.
- colanderman 10y ago
  That's very nationalistic and disingenuous of you, to hold an individual citizen accountable for their country's political failings.
  - freshhawk 10y ago
    Do you mean because I asked if they were American? That was to clarify who they meant by "our". If they meant "Norwegian morals" then the statement is much different than if they meant "American morals".
    - colanderman 10y ago
      It is nationalistic to conflate an individual's morality with actions of the state. Especially in the context of a post by said individual condemning actions of their state. That makes your response also disingenuous. Not to mention that your response is a classic example of the tu quoque fallacy [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque
      - freshhawk 10y ago
        I'm not conflating anyone's morality with actions of their state. I'm challenging the assumption of moral high ground that underlies the premise of the argument. As in: "Country X has these strong morals but isn't following them" and I reply "Country X doesn't have those strong morals". Please, please believe me that when I tell you what I'm trying to say, that I'm being truthful.

baybal2 10y ago

Well, at least it was made public that he was detainend. 9 out of 10 times, a foreigner just disappears tracelessly like that: https://www.reddit.com/r/shenzhen/comments/5vvvdv/father_missing_shenzhen/ https://www.reddit.com/r/shenzhen/comments/5vvvdv/father_mis...

jessaustin 10y ago

When Chinese police review this matter they might decide it wasn't the best way to minimize unflattering media coverage.

nickpeterson 10y ago

Surely if the goal is friendship they should force them to watch the Golden girls?

EpicEng 10y ago

Man, you're just waiting to be triggered at all times aren't you? Read the post you replied to again, perhaps more slowly this time.

coldtea 10y ago
>Man, you're just waiting to be triggered at all times aren't you? No, but thanks for the ad hominem. I mean, the discussion is obviously about me.
- EpicEng 10y ago
  You made it about you when you went on an irrelevant rant. You obviously couldn't wait to find someone to disagree with. And you're welcome.
dang 10y ago
Heading in generic political directions is one of the worst things an HN thread can do, but personal attacks are worse still. Regardless of how bad you think a comment is, please don't respond like this. Community members have a responsibility to protect this place if they're going to comment here. We've had to warn you before, and you've continued to post uncivilly. That will get your account banned, so if you don't want to be banned please fix this. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14011908 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14011908 and marked it off-topic.

cryptarch 10y ago

It doesn't sound a lot different from "our moral compass", the U.S. of A. Pretty normal to treat unwanted civilians that way there, he should be happy he got off without being framed/jailed extensively/tortured/killed. I'm not saying it's civil or good. Just not abnormal.