4 ms·

At this point it goes far beyond just gamers. From the NBA to Google, this effect is everywhere. To be explicit, the effect is U.S. firms letting China dictate

At this point it goes far beyond just gamers. From the NBA to Google, this effect is everywhere. To be explicit, the effect is U.S. firms letting China dictate what they do or do not care about on a global political scale.

thedudeabides5 7y ago
Seems like a modern kowtow. Relevant: https://amp.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1877753/kowtow-or-not-no-longer-question-when-britain-and-china-deal https://amp.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1877753...
pimmen 7y ago
If the Western governments could maybe grow a pair and call out how this is very unfair maybe something would happen. I work for one of the largest news publishers in the Nordics, and we were criticized for letting the CCP take out a full page ad in our largest newspaper that essentially said "no need for the Western governments to get involved, this is an internal issue that is best handled by us". Our editor in chief of that paper responded with this: "Now we have the moral high ground. Until the Swedish government can take out a full page ad in The Global Times criticizing the CCP we can use this as one of many examples of how China does not value freedom of speech, but we do."
- boardwaalk 7y ago
  There is unfortunately a gaping hole where United States leadership should be and I don’t feel the companies or countries that used to be able to “follow the leader” have figured how to deal with it. Good on your paper for having the some fortitude.
  - peacelilly 7y ago
    > gaping hole where United States leadership should be I've seen this exact wording a lot recently. Is this the new propaganda line everyone parrots? I must have missed the previous administration's strong stance on ANYTHING AT ALL dealing with international relations, besides killing people from the sky. When did the previous administration lead on anything and not just bow down (literally bowing) to international leaders. Sorry, the gaping hole in leadership was filled with someone who cares about the USA.
    - shadowgovt 7y ago
      > the gaping hole in leadership was filled with someone who cares about the USA [citation needed], I wouldn't trust the guy with international business interests to actually have America's best interests at heart over his own if the two don't align. No real dispute with your criticism of the previous leadership though.
    - bm1362 7y ago
      How about the Iran Nuclear deal? Or is that a bad example?
squarefoot 7y ago
If a game publisher can (whether directly or not) nuke the job of a journalist for a review and get away with it, I'm not surprised at all when a government does something along these lines. https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/21/gaming-the-system-how-a-gaming-journalist-lost-his-job-over-a-negative-review/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/21/gaming-the-...
- mcny 7y ago
  It happened with a journalist on a gun magazine as well. Lifelong second amendment supporter blacklisted for not spewing exactly the party line. This makes me wonder whether the whole right to bear arms things is AstroTurf at this point.
  - shadowgovt 7y ago
    Do you have more information on this?
    - mcny 7y ago
      Edit: his name is Dick Metcalf https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/business/media/banished-for-questioning-the-gospel-of-guns.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/business/media/banished-f... https://archive.fo/v5b1x https://archive.fo/v5b1x (use this link)
  - gowld 7y ago
    The NRA has clearly converted to an arm Republican Party. The GOA competes with the NRA because they find the NRA more pro-Republican than pro-gun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Owners_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Owners_of_America I'm not sure if there is a gun organization that promotes more nuanced theory of partially-limited gun rights but not just shilling for a party.
  - abawany 7y ago
    Businesses too: there has been massive hatred directed at Dick's Sporting Goods when it changed its arms sales mix in response to a large shooting last year [1]. Gun makers such as Springfield took heat for trying for stepping even a smidgen out of line [2] resulting in an abrupt volte-face. [1] https://www.racked.com/2018/5/10/17339690/dicks-sporting-goods-gun-control-debate https://www.racked.com/2018/5/10/17339690/dicks-sporting-goo... [2] https://gunstoday.com/why-is-everyone-boycotting-springfield-armory/ https://gunstoday.com/why-is-everyone-boycotting-springfield...
MaupitiBlue 7y ago
Let’s not forget Marriot’s capitulation last year.
- goatinaboat 7y ago
  Or Gap https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/05/15/u-s-retailer-gap-apologizes-to-china-over-map-on-t-shirt-that-omits-taiwan-south-china-sea/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/05/15...?
  - gowld 7y ago
    That one is more likely a case of "islands are not part of a country, because disconnected components are hard", like the US "lower 48"
kllrnohj 7y ago
> From the NBA to Google You probably want to use a different example than Google here. Particularly since Google doesn't have a China presence because they refused to censor search results, and relationships there still appear to be less than solid to say the least. Your statement works with most U.S. firms, but very much doesn't at all for Google in particular.
- the_resistence 7y ago
  Goog has research labs in SH and elsewhere.
  - Gigablah 7y ago
    If merely hiring people in China is objectionable now, you have a really long list of companies to work through
  - kllrnohj 7y ago
    And yet they still have no consumer products in China, and still redirect search to Hong Kong, and still do not participate in any censorship efforts. This should be applauded and supported, since it's pretty much what people want others like Blizzard to do as well. Google is much closer to a gold standard to follow with their approach to China than they are to being lumped in with the NBA or Blizzard.
- gowld 7y ago
  Google tried censored search (including spyware search) and was fought off, and tried again and was fought off, and may try again.

thedudeabides5 7y ago

Seems like a modern kowtow. Relevant: https://amp.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1877753/kowtow-or-not-no-longer-question-when-britain-and-china-deal https://amp.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1877753...

pimmen 7y ago

If the Western governments could maybe grow a pair and call out how this is very unfair maybe something would happen. I work for one of the largest news publishers in the Nordics, and we were criticized for letting the CCP take out a full page ad in our largest newspaper that essentially said "no need for the Western governments to get involved, this is an internal issue that is best handled by us". Our editor in chief of that paper responded with this: "Now we have the moral high ground. Until the Swedish government can take out a full page ad in The Global Times criticizing the CCP we can use this as one of many examples of how China does not value freedom of speech, but we do."

boardwaalk 7y ago
There is unfortunately a gaping hole where United States leadership should be and I don’t feel the companies or countries that used to be able to “follow the leader” have figured how to deal with it. Good on your paper for having the some fortitude.
- peacelilly 7y ago
  > gaping hole where United States leadership should be I've seen this exact wording a lot recently. Is this the new propaganda line everyone parrots? I must have missed the previous administration's strong stance on ANYTHING AT ALL dealing with international relations, besides killing people from the sky. When did the previous administration lead on anything and not just bow down (literally bowing) to international leaders. Sorry, the gaping hole in leadership was filled with someone who cares about the USA.
  - shadowgovt 7y ago
    > the gaping hole in leadership was filled with someone who cares about the USA [citation needed], I wouldn't trust the guy with international business interests to actually have America's best interests at heart over his own if the two don't align. No real dispute with your criticism of the previous leadership though.
  - bm1362 7y ago
    How about the Iran Nuclear deal? Or is that a bad example?

squarefoot 7y ago

If a game publisher can (whether directly or not) nuke the job of a journalist for a review and get away with it, I'm not surprised at all when a government does something along these lines. https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/21/gaming-the-system-how-a-gaming-journalist-lost-his-job-over-a-negative-review/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/21/gaming-the-...

mcny 7y ago
It happened with a journalist on a gun magazine as well. Lifelong second amendment supporter blacklisted for not spewing exactly the party line. This makes me wonder whether the whole right to bear arms things is AstroTurf at this point.
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  Do you have more information on this?
  - mcny 7y ago
    Edit: his name is Dick Metcalf https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/business/media/banished-for-questioning-the-gospel-of-guns.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/business/media/banished-f... https://archive.fo/v5b1x https://archive.fo/v5b1x (use this link)
- gowld 7y ago
  The NRA has clearly converted to an arm Republican Party. The GOA competes with the NRA because they find the NRA more pro-Republican than pro-gun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Owners_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Owners_of_America I'm not sure if there is a gun organization that promotes more nuanced theory of partially-limited gun rights but not just shilling for a party.
- abawany 7y ago
  Businesses too: there has been massive hatred directed at Dick's Sporting Goods when it changed its arms sales mix in response to a large shooting last year [1]. Gun makers such as Springfield took heat for trying for stepping even a smidgen out of line [2] resulting in an abrupt volte-face. [1] https://www.racked.com/2018/5/10/17339690/dicks-sporting-goods-gun-control-debate https://www.racked.com/2018/5/10/17339690/dicks-sporting-goo... [2] https://gunstoday.com/why-is-everyone-boycotting-springfield-armory/ https://gunstoday.com/why-is-everyone-boycotting-springfield...

MaupitiBlue 7y ago

Let’s not forget Marriot’s capitulation last year.

goatinaboat 7y ago
Or Gap https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/05/15/u-s-retailer-gap-apologizes-to-china-over-map-on-t-shirt-that-omits-taiwan-south-china-sea/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/05/15...?
- gowld 7y ago
  That one is more likely a case of "islands are not part of a country, because disconnected components are hard", like the US "lower 48"

kllrnohj 7y ago

> From the NBA to Google You probably want to use a different example than Google here. Particularly since Google doesn't have a China presence because they refused to censor search results, and relationships there still appear to be less than solid to say the least. Your statement works with most U.S. firms, but very much doesn't at all for Google in particular.

the_resistence 7y ago
Goog has research labs in SH and elsewhere.
- Gigablah 7y ago
  If merely hiring people in China is objectionable now, you have a really long list of companies to work through
- kllrnohj 7y ago
  And yet they still have no consumer products in China, and still redirect search to Hong Kong, and still do not participate in any censorship efforts. This should be applauded and supported, since it's pretty much what people want others like Blizzard to do as well. Google is much closer to a gold standard to follow with their approach to China than they are to being lumped in with the NBA or Blizzard.
gowld 7y ago
Google tried censored search (including spyware search) and was fought off, and tried again and was fought off, and may try again.