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It's also strange how quick people in this very thread are to brush it off and shift the blame. "An authoritarian communist regime is engaging in human rights v

by swebs 7y ago

It's also strange how quick people in this very thread are to brush it off and shift the blame. "An authoritarian communist regime is engaging in human rights violations? This is capitalism's fault :^)"

save_ferris 7y ago
OP posted an article on why an American company chose to accommodate said authoritarian communist regime, against the principles of our domestic media culture. What motivates a company to do such a thing, if not capitalism?
- gambler 7y ago
  >What motivates a company to do such a thing, if not capitalism? You're just proving grand parent commenter's point. Saying that capitalism motivates censorship is like saying that money is what causes theft and robbery. It's a meaningless statement based on conflating motivation in one specific case with motivation for a class of actions in general. Not to mention that you're also conflating an economic system with what most people would simply call greed.
  - fzeroracer 7y ago
    Capitalism absolutely motivates censorship. Companies change their products to fit regional taste in order to appeal to the largest market possible. To say otherwise would be to ignore the entire history of the gaming industry. We can argue about whether or not certain changes are good or not, but it is undeniable that companies modify their products for maximum profit which is at the core what capitalism is about.
lostgame 7y ago
Um, no, this is about American censorship, not the actual issues in China.
- dmix 7y ago
  This is a large American media company bowing to pressure from a totalitarian regime. Even Google bowed down after initially taking a stand. So many other's have as well. Same with the silly apology tour multiple companies did over merely including Taiwan and Hong Kong as separate countries from China...in a dropdown menu on their websites: https://www.businessinsider.com/zara-marriott-qantas-apologized-to-china-listing-taiwan-as-country-2018-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/zara-marriott-qantas-apologi... It's almost becoming a new-normal, which is concerning.
  - kbenson 7y ago
    > Same with the silly apology tour multiple companies did over merely including Taiwan and Hong Kong as a separate country from China...in a dropdown menu on their websites You say it's silly, but I imagine if we had the internet during the civil war and some European company listed the United States as two separate items for North and South, that could very easily end up being a political issue and politicians might threaten repercussions over it. I don't actually think it's silly, whether I agree with it or not. It is lamentable because I'm not sure there's a "right" way for a company to handle it other than going where the money dictates until it's mostly settled politically (which may never happen).
guelo 7y ago
One of the selling points for economic normalization of Chinese relations in the 80s and 90s was the belief that free markets would inevitably lead to our values of democracy and civil liberties overpowering the communist values. No one ever considered the opposite effect, that the emmeshed markets would give communists power to push their values on western companies.
scohesc 7y ago
I'm not saying it's capitalisms fault at all here - I would arguably say that what CBS and many other companies are doing is not true capitalism in the first place.
wait_a_minute 7y ago
It's because they're closet Marxists

by swebs 7y ago

save_ferris 7y ago

OP posted an article on why an American company chose to accommodate said authoritarian communist regime, against the principles of our domestic media culture. What motivates a company to do such a thing, if not capitalism?

gambler 7y ago
>What motivates a company to do such a thing, if not capitalism? You're just proving grand parent commenter's point. Saying that capitalism motivates censorship is like saying that money is what causes theft and robbery. It's a meaningless statement based on conflating motivation in one specific case with motivation for a class of actions in general. Not to mention that you're also conflating an economic system with what most people would simply call greed.
- fzeroracer 7y ago
  Capitalism absolutely motivates censorship. Companies change their products to fit regional taste in order to appeal to the largest market possible. To say otherwise would be to ignore the entire history of the gaming industry. We can argue about whether or not certain changes are good or not, but it is undeniable that companies modify their products for maximum profit which is at the core what capitalism is about.

lostgame 7y ago

Um, no, this is about American censorship, not the actual issues in China.

dmix 7y ago
This is a large American media company bowing to pressure from a totalitarian regime. Even Google bowed down after initially taking a stand. So many other's have as well. Same with the silly apology tour multiple companies did over merely including Taiwan and Hong Kong as separate countries from China...in a dropdown menu on their websites: https://www.businessinsider.com/zara-marriott-qantas-apologized-to-china-listing-taiwan-as-country-2018-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/zara-marriott-qantas-apologi... It's almost becoming a new-normal, which is concerning.
- kbenson 7y ago
  > Same with the silly apology tour multiple companies did over merely including Taiwan and Hong Kong as a separate country from China...in a dropdown menu on their websites You say it's silly, but I imagine if we had the internet during the civil war and some European company listed the United States as two separate items for North and South, that could very easily end up being a political issue and politicians might threaten repercussions over it. I don't actually think it's silly, whether I agree with it or not. It is lamentable because I'm not sure there's a "right" way for a company to handle it other than going where the money dictates until it's mostly settled politically (which may never happen).

guelo 7y ago

One of the selling points for economic normalization of Chinese relations in the 80s and 90s was the belief that free markets would inevitably lead to our values of democracy and civil liberties overpowering the communist values. No one ever considered the opposite effect, that the emmeshed markets would give communists power to push their values on western companies.

scohesc 7y ago

I'm not saying it's capitalisms fault at all here - I would arguably say that what CBS and many other companies are doing is not true capitalism in the first place.

wait_a_minute 7y ago

It's because they're closet Marxists