4 ms·

Or maybe China is just really horrible about human rights and there are a lot of articles about it because that is good journalism? This is a NY Times article

Or maybe China is just really horrible about human rights and there are a lot of articles about it because that is good journalism? This is a NY Times article about an important subject published today, why should this not be on HN?

est 8y ago
The thing is 110% users on HN already knew china was the bad guy The rest are shitpost clickbaiting and comment circlejerking
tepidandroid 8y ago
I'm not the authority on what should or should not be posted on HN. What I can say is that I preferred the version of HN where the eclectic and mind-opening topics would get voted to the top and thought provoking debate from domain experts would be left in the comments. Increasingly it's posts directly from main-stream media pushing the main-stream media narrative, and the comments serve little to no value other than providing a place to declare one's political ideologies. If I wanted to read main-stream media I would be reading it.
colordrops 8y ago
The US is arguably a worse abuser of human rights, internationally if not domestically, and yet every story about the US doesn't devolve into a big discussion about US's human rights abuses. Imagine if every article about the US talked about our hundreds of military bases, the millions dead in the middle east due to US war, the current war in Yemen, and all the dictatorships the US has installed over the years.
- JohnJamesRambo 8y ago
  I knew whataboutism would be the first thing I see here. :). You’ve been trained well.
  - colordrops 8y ago
    The label "whataboutism" is the creation of a think tank - you've been trained well.
  - dang 8y ago
    Please don't post unsubstantive comments here, and especially not uncivil ones. This was both. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- refurb 8y ago
  Did you just argue the US is a worse abuser of human rights than China?
  - flukus 8y ago
    I'm not sure who's worse but the case can definitely be made. There's the direct killings from questionable wars like Iraq and Guantanamo Bay but usually the US will prop up some dictator (again like Iraq) to do their dirty work for them.
  - colordrops 8y ago
    Yes. Read my comment again. I include both domestic and foreign abuse. People seem to irrationally only pay attention to domestic abuse when discussing human rights violations.
    - refurb 8y ago
      I'm not sure the US can compete with this.[1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#Death_toll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#Death_toll
      - colordrops 8y ago
        If you count death tolls in the Korean war, Vietnam war, and the middle eastern excursions in the last 25 years, you are in the same order of magnitude.
        refurb 8y ago
        Korean War? You mean the one that North Korea started with China’s backing? How is defending South Korea a human rights violation? All those deaths are on NK and China.

est 8y ago

The thing is 110% users on HN already knew china was the bad guy The rest are shitpost clickbaiting and comment circlejerking

tepidandroid 8y ago

I'm not the authority on what should or should not be posted on HN. What I can say is that I preferred the version of HN where the eclectic and mind-opening topics would get voted to the top and thought provoking debate from domain experts would be left in the comments. Increasingly it's posts directly from main-stream media pushing the main-stream media narrative, and the comments serve little to no value other than providing a place to declare one's political ideologies. If I wanted to read main-stream media I would be reading it.

colordrops 8y ago

The US is arguably a worse abuser of human rights, internationally if not domestically, and yet every story about the US doesn't devolve into a big discussion about US's human rights abuses. Imagine if every article about the US talked about our hundreds of military bases, the millions dead in the middle east due to US war, the current war in Yemen, and all the dictatorships the US has installed over the years.

JohnJamesRambo 8y ago
I knew whataboutism would be the first thing I see here. :). You’ve been trained well.
- colordrops 8y ago
  The label "whataboutism" is the creation of a think tank - you've been trained well.
- dang 8y ago
  Please don't post unsubstantive comments here, and especially not uncivil ones. This was both. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
refurb 8y ago
Did you just argue the US is a worse abuser of human rights than China?
- flukus 8y ago
  I'm not sure who's worse but the case can definitely be made. There's the direct killings from questionable wars like Iraq and Guantanamo Bay but usually the US will prop up some dictator (again like Iraq) to do their dirty work for them.
- colordrops 8y ago
  Yes. Read my comment again. I include both domestic and foreign abuse. People seem to irrationally only pay attention to domestic abuse when discussing human rights violations.
  - refurb 8y ago
    I'm not sure the US can compete with this.[1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#Death_toll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#Death_toll
    - colordrops 8y ago
      If you count death tolls in the Korean war, Vietnam war, and the middle eastern excursions in the last 25 years, you are in the same order of magnitude.
      - refurb 8y ago
        Korean War? You mean the one that North Korea started with China’s backing? How is defending South Korea a human rights violation? All those deaths are on NK and China.