4 ms·

(For context — am an expat living in HK.) Living in HK the last few months has been frustrating for me, primarily because of growing spread of misinformation a

(For context — am an expat living in HK.) Living in HK the last few months has been frustrating for me, primarily because of growing spread of misinformation and the untrustworthy reporting on the situation. It's getting hard to know what information to believe, and that's even for myself living here, who has seen all of it from my own eyes. How could you expect anyone reading the news or social media from a foreign country to be reacting to valid information? The western media is making it sound like Hong Kong is Syria. Protester private channels makes wild unfounded claims about mass-scale executions and rapes. Chinese media makes it sound like HK is under siege by terrorists. SCMP's reporting is increasingly suspiciously lacking and pro-establishment. The government is entirely untrustworthy and straight up lying about everything and anything. There are a few people doing good work (e.g. OSINT HK), but it's not enough to rise about the noise drowning it all out. Of course the real situation is more nuanced. It's also all entirely pointless, with no hope for de-escalation or positive resolution. That said, it's also not nearly as dramatic and disrupting to daily life as you'd expect. Living in HK is still far safer than in downtown San Francisco (or anywhere in the US for that matter). For those wishing to stay out of it, avoiding protests is fairly easy (I mean — unless you live in Mong Kong or Prince Edward). The handful of times I ended up right in the middle of it, nobody really cared to bother any bystanders. The government seems to be on a mission to do anything in its power to make things worse, from repeatedly escalating the situation through violence, inflammatory policy, and generally being a party-pooper and cancelling all ordinary celebrations (e.g. Halloween). Today, walking down the street in Sai Ying Pun, I observed workers replacing the wooden paneling they've been installing in front of the mainland Chinese banks to protect them from the thrashings with welded metal paneling. It was somewhat of a sign that they're getting ready for this to continue in the long term.

idlewords 7y ago
On the question of how to get reliable reporting from Hong Kong, the answer is Twitter! I've been keeping a list of great local reporters tweeting in English from on the scene. Many of them also write for established news outlets, but the tweets are more timely and very often more nuanced: https://twitter.com/Pinboard/lists/hong-kong https://twitter.com/Pinboard/lists/hong-kong
leereeves 7y ago
I don't know anything about the situation other than what i see in western media, but to me, Amnesty International seems to be doing good work. https://www.amnesty.org/en/search/?country=38361 https://www.amnesty.org/en/search/?country=38361 And while their reports don't "make it sound like Hong Kong is Syria" they do sound pretty bad, with reports about police behavior including widespread beatings and denial of access to council and medical care, arrest of human rights monitors, and in some cases shootings, vehicular assaults, torture, and sexual assault. Man-Kei Tam, Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, said: “These are not policing measures – these are officers out of control with a mindset of retaliation.” Joshua Rosenzweig, Head of Amnesty International’s East Asia Regional Office, said: “Rather than deescalating the situation, Hong Kong’s authorities have chosen to grant themselves sweeping new powers to quash protests, demonstrating the extent of their growing intolerance for freedom of peaceful assembly,” And Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia Director at Amnesty International, said “The evidence leaves little room for doubt – in an apparent thirst for retaliation, Hong Kong’s security forces have engaged in a disturbing pattern of reckless and unlawful tactics against people during the protests.” That sounds similar to what I've heard in western media.
starfallg 7y ago
>It's also all entirely pointless, with no hope for de-escalation or positive resolution. That's making a pretty bold assumption that we can see all possible or likely outcomes. As with most of history, the flow of events carves it's own course, with developments surprising contemporary onlookers and only becoming obvious through hindsight.
cafard 7y ago
What western media? The NY Times and the Washington Post make it sound troubled, but not like a war zone.
- klenwell 7y ago
  > Western media is making it sound like Hong Kong is Syria. Protester private channels makes wild unfounded claims about mass-scale executions and rapes. Yes, I was going to say I never got this impression listening to NPR. https://www.npr.org/tags/352993831/hong-kong-protests https://www.npr.org/tags/352993831/hong-kong-protests
kerng 7y ago
>> The western media is making it sound like Hong Kong is Syria. This comment struck me as odd, especially in this particular context. Have you lived in Syria also, or is your impression based on western media reports?

idlewords 7y ago

On the question of how to get reliable reporting from Hong Kong, the answer is Twitter! I've been keeping a list of great local reporters tweeting in English from on the scene. Many of them also write for established news outlets, but the tweets are more timely and very often more nuanced: https://twitter.com/Pinboard/lists/hong-kong https://twitter.com/Pinboard/lists/hong-kong

leereeves 7y ago

I don't know anything about the situation other than what i see in western media, but to me, Amnesty International seems to be doing good work. https://www.amnesty.org/en/search/?country=38361 https://www.amnesty.org/en/search/?country=38361 And while their reports don't "make it sound like Hong Kong is Syria" they do sound pretty bad, with reports about police behavior including widespread beatings and denial of access to council and medical care, arrest of human rights monitors, and in some cases shootings, vehicular assaults, torture, and sexual assault. Man-Kei Tam, Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, said: “These are not policing measures – these are officers out of control with a mindset of retaliation.” Joshua Rosenzweig, Head of Amnesty International’s East Asia Regional Office, said: “Rather than deescalating the situation, Hong Kong’s authorities have chosen to grant themselves sweeping new powers to quash protests, demonstrating the extent of their growing intolerance for freedom of peaceful assembly,” And Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia Director at Amnesty International, said “The evidence leaves little room for doubt – in an apparent thirst for retaliation, Hong Kong’s security forces have engaged in a disturbing pattern of reckless and unlawful tactics against people during the protests.” That sounds similar to what I've heard in western media.

starfallg 7y ago

>It's also all entirely pointless, with no hope for de-escalation or positive resolution. That's making a pretty bold assumption that we can see all possible or likely outcomes. As with most of history, the flow of events carves it's own course, with developments surprising contemporary onlookers and only becoming obvious through hindsight.

cafard 7y ago

What western media? The NY Times and the Washington Post make it sound troubled, but not like a war zone.

klenwell 7y ago
> Western media is making it sound like Hong Kong is Syria. Protester private channels makes wild unfounded claims about mass-scale executions and rapes. Yes, I was going to say I never got this impression listening to NPR. https://www.npr.org/tags/352993831/hong-kong-protests https://www.npr.org/tags/352993831/hong-kong-protests

kerng 7y ago

>> The western media is making it sound like Hong Kong is Syria. This comment struck me as odd, especially in this particular context. Have you lived in Syria also, or is your impression based on western media reports?