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The NBA is absolutely huge in China, while it would be a big hit to owners and franchisees, the NBA should announce they are pulling out of everything in China

The NBA is absolutely huge in China, while it would be a big hit to owners and franchisees, the NBA should announce they are pulling out of everything in China indefinitely. This strategy would reverse the pressure back onto China, as Chinese citizens will be very upset to not have NBA games and merchandise available. It would shift the focus back onto the Chinese government from its own citizens.

yongjik 7y ago
I really don't see how a freaking basketball franchise could make Chinese people angry at their government. Remember Dixie Chicks? The only thing they did was to say "We're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas," right before Bush invaded Iraq. There wasn't even any government action necessary - radio stations blacklisted them for years. They pretty much sunk into a black hole. Beijing just has to say that NBA insulted China. They wouldn't even need to ban anything (although I think they probably will) - the angry people will do the job. Don't underestimate the efficacy of a well-tuned propaganda.
rjf72 7y ago
Reverse the situation and imagine how you would feel. Say China was running extensive media in favor of an increasingly China-friendly group within the US equally unpopular with both average US citizens and the US government, but quite popular with Chinese citizens and the Chinese government. And now a Chinese executive in charge of a Chinese product popular in the US, spoke out in favor of this group. Following US pressure with implied economic threats, he not only refused to retract his statements but chose to completely pull his company's product from the US - perhaps iPhones, which we'll pretend could be made nowhere other than China for the sake of the hypothetical. Are you going to be mad at the US government? Most likely this would just work to further evangelize anti-China and anti-China-friendly group sentiment within the US. And I think this is true without even getting into the cultural differences in terms of things like nationalism. I think in your comment you're probably transplanting the average US citizen worldview onto the average Chinese citizen. In that case your idea would very much work, but that's not the case here.
- klingonopera 7y ago
  > Are you going to be mad at the US government? Yes, absolutely. I'd expect the US government to just shrug their shoulders and go about "Whatever", and not interfere in such petty issues. It's probably a key difference between China and the US/Western hemisphere, concerning government. We don't want to be nannied and would be appalled, if so.
  - rjf72 7y ago
    That's awesome to hear, but I expect you must see you would be a very small minority. Most people now a days seem to base their worldview not on any system of consistent ethics, but instead on who's being benefited and who's being hurt. For instance on what precipitated this particular issue (the Blizzard stuff), many are framing it as an issue of free speech. But that's incredibly disingenuous because there's no doubt that many of the same people outraged ostensibly about a violation of free speech would have been the first ones lining up to cheer and rejoice had Blizzard chose to ban a player who chose to show up in a MAGA hat and screamed "Build the wall!" in an identical venue. It's safe to assume they also would have taken it further and done all they could to try to get said player banned from any other gaming venue as well, in an effort to kill his livelihood and, by proxy, him. In other words, they couldn't care less about free speech - but only speech that they support, or oppose. This example here (in our reverso world China) would take this to an even bigger extreme since you would be expressing support not only of a group with next to no national support, but simultaneously expressing support of a deeply unpopular foreign government which could be framed as borderline treasonous. And all of this being done in a highly nationalistic nation? That's a tall order for sure.
    - jackvalentine 7y ago
      > For instance on what precipitated this particular issue (the Blizzard stuff), many are framing it as an issue of free speech. But that's incredibly disingenuous because there's no doubt that many of the same people outraged ostensibly about a violation of free speech would have been the first ones lining up to cheer and rejoice had Blizzard chose to ban a player who chose to show up in a MAGA hat and screamed "Build the wall!" in an identical venue. I've seen this argument so many times in relation to this and I don't get it - this isn't what happened and you can't presume to know what "many of the same people" would do. It's such a shit argument because you can state that "many of the same people" would do anything you want to frame as bad and it's impossible to disprove. Why not just address what actually happened?
mirimir 7y ago
By refusing to discipline Daryl Morey, aren't they more or less doing that? It may be Chinese parties who are keeping NBA games off the air. But off the air is what they are.
kerng 7y ago
Agreed, that's why what Google did by pulling out of China was so courageous back then. They'd probably be by far the most profitable and lucrative company now otherwise.

yongjik 7y ago

I really don't see how a freaking basketball franchise could make Chinese people angry at their government. Remember Dixie Chicks? The only thing they did was to say "We're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas," right before Bush invaded Iraq. There wasn't even any government action necessary - radio stations blacklisted them for years. They pretty much sunk into a black hole. Beijing just has to say that NBA insulted China. They wouldn't even need to ban anything (although I think they probably will) - the angry people will do the job. Don't underestimate the efficacy of a well-tuned propaganda.

rjf72 7y ago

Reverse the situation and imagine how you would feel. Say China was running extensive media in favor of an increasingly China-friendly group within the US equally unpopular with both average US citizens and the US government, but quite popular with Chinese citizens and the Chinese government. And now a Chinese executive in charge of a Chinese product popular in the US, spoke out in favor of this group. Following US pressure with implied economic threats, he not only refused to retract his statements but chose to completely pull his company's product from the US - perhaps iPhones, which we'll pretend could be made nowhere other than China for the sake of the hypothetical. Are you going to be mad at the US government? Most likely this would just work to further evangelize anti-China and anti-China-friendly group sentiment within the US. And I think this is true without even getting into the cultural differences in terms of things like nationalism. I think in your comment you're probably transplanting the average US citizen worldview onto the average Chinese citizen. In that case your idea would very much work, but that's not the case here.

klingonopera 7y ago
> Are you going to be mad at the US government? Yes, absolutely. I'd expect the US government to just shrug their shoulders and go about "Whatever", and not interfere in such petty issues. It's probably a key difference between China and the US/Western hemisphere, concerning government. We don't want to be nannied and would be appalled, if so.
- rjf72 7y ago
  That's awesome to hear, but I expect you must see you would be a very small minority. Most people now a days seem to base their worldview not on any system of consistent ethics, but instead on who's being benefited and who's being hurt. For instance on what precipitated this particular issue (the Blizzard stuff), many are framing it as an issue of free speech. But that's incredibly disingenuous because there's no doubt that many of the same people outraged ostensibly about a violation of free speech would have been the first ones lining up to cheer and rejoice had Blizzard chose to ban a player who chose to show up in a MAGA hat and screamed "Build the wall!" in an identical venue. It's safe to assume they also would have taken it further and done all they could to try to get said player banned from any other gaming venue as well, in an effort to kill his livelihood and, by proxy, him. In other words, they couldn't care less about free speech - but only speech that they support, or oppose. This example here (in our reverso world China) would take this to an even bigger extreme since you would be expressing support not only of a group with next to no national support, but simultaneously expressing support of a deeply unpopular foreign government which could be framed as borderline treasonous. And all of this being done in a highly nationalistic nation? That's a tall order for sure.
  - jackvalentine 7y ago
    > For instance on what precipitated this particular issue (the Blizzard stuff), many are framing it as an issue of free speech. But that's incredibly disingenuous because there's no doubt that many of the same people outraged ostensibly about a violation of free speech would have been the first ones lining up to cheer and rejoice had Blizzard chose to ban a player who chose to show up in a MAGA hat and screamed "Build the wall!" in an identical venue. I've seen this argument so many times in relation to this and I don't get it - this isn't what happened and you can't presume to know what "many of the same people" would do. It's such a shit argument because you can state that "many of the same people" would do anything you want to frame as bad and it's impossible to disprove. Why not just address what actually happened?

mirimir 7y ago

By refusing to discipline Daryl Morey, aren't they more or less doing that? It may be Chinese parties who are keeping NBA games off the air. But off the air is what they are.

kerng 7y ago

Agreed, that's why what Google did by pulling out of China was so courageous back then. They'd probably be by far the most profitable and lucrative company now otherwise.