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We still have Meng, she's chilling in a million dollar mansion in Vancouver while China keeps a few of our citizens in actual jail for it.

by pluc 6y ago

draw_down 6y ago
> million dollar mansion in Vancouver So, a condo then.
bilbo0s 6y ago
That's the danger of being the patsy. I think more and more people should try to transact business at an arm's distance with China in this kind of environment. The opposite is true as well. Your average Chinese businessperson should think long and hard about transacting any business with the US that requires their physical presence in the US. All nations have way too many laws. You will be in violation of one of them. So the only thing the Chinese or US government needs to do is pick a US or Chinese citizen, and then hold up the probably 10 laws that he/she is violating. It's impossible to live somewhere and be law abiding while simultaneously not knowing what all the laws are. Let's be frank, we're not at the level of the elites in these nations who are arguing over which nation has the largest most attractive tits. On our level, and I'm talking to western and Chinese workers alike, but we're so far down the chain that we won't have people out there pulling strings for us. You don't want to be the hapless patsy sitting in US and Chinese prisons for 10 years while the elites compare dick size or whatever. To paraphrase that old adage, "They can remain irrational much longer than you can comfortably sit in prison."
- ethbro 6y ago
  At least in a democracy with a free press, you (the average person) can try to start a news frenzy and bug your elected government representatives to apply pressure on your behalf.
  - Zooper 6y ago
    I would argue that the US is not a representative democracy, and that it does not have a free press.
    - greenhatman 6y ago
      But would you argue that citizens in the U.S. and China have basically equal rights?
  - bilbo0s 6y ago
    You have no elected officials. That's the point. You are an American being held for geopolitical reasons in China, or you are a Chinese citizen being held for geopolitical reasons in the US. There is no elected official representing you to which you can appeal. You're just screwed. Again, unless you are an elite and people will pull strings for you. But most of us here are not elites, we're too far down the chain. No one is going to pull strings for us. We just have to sit in prison until China and the US finish comparing bra sizes. I'm saying both americans and chinese should be mindful of this risk when working in the other country.
    - ethbro 6y ago
      Last I checked, every American has an elected official. (Non-voting in the case of territories) Has something changed?
      - bilbo0s 6y ago
        Yeah, they would have been arrested in China, where their elected official means exactly dick. The whole reason China arrested a patsy is to provoke the US. So how exactly is senator useless gonna get him out of jail? The entire reason the Chinese arrested him, was to anger senator useless and american media. Were it not for senator useless, the american wouldn't be sitting in a Chinese prison in the first place. Were it not for Chinese party member dickmouth, the Chinese guy would not be sitting in an american prison. The government officials are the problem, they're definitely not going rush right out to get a regular worker out of prison. At least not until they finish their argument over who has the best hair or whatever. Putting faith in the government officials is just a bit naive I think.
        ethbro 6y ago
        I'm not sure this is the forum you're looking for, if that's how you structure your argument.
        dang 6y ago
        Please stop using HN for ideological, political, or national flamewar. You've been doing it repeatedly, and that's not ok. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful.

We still have Meng, she's chilling in a million dollar mansion in Vancouver while China keeps a few of our citizens in actual jail for it.

by pluc 6y ago

We still have Meng, she's chilling in a million dollar mansion in Vancouver while China keeps a few of our citizens in actual jail for it.

draw_down 6y ago

> million dollar mansion in Vancouver So, a condo then.

bilbo0s 6y ago

That's the danger of being the patsy. I think more and more people should try to transact business at an arm's distance with China in this kind of environment. The opposite is true as well. Your average Chinese businessperson should think long and hard about transacting any business with the US that requires their physical presence in the US. All nations have way too many laws. You will be in violation of one of them. So the only thing the Chinese or US government needs to do is pick a US or Chinese citizen, and then hold up the probably 10 laws that he/she is violating. It's impossible to live somewhere and be law abiding while simultaneously not knowing what all the laws are. Let's be frank, we're not at the level of the elites in these nations who are arguing over which nation has the largest most attractive tits. On our level, and I'm talking to western and Chinese workers alike, but we're so far down the chain that we won't have people out there pulling strings for us. You don't want to be the hapless patsy sitting in US and Chinese prisons for 10 years while the elites compare dick size or whatever. To paraphrase that old adage, "They can remain irrational much longer than you can comfortably sit in prison."

ethbro 6y ago
At least in a democracy with a free press, you (the average person) can try to start a news frenzy and bug your elected government representatives to apply pressure on your behalf.
- Zooper 6y ago
  I would argue that the US is not a representative democracy, and that it does not have a free press.
  - greenhatman 6y ago
    But would you argue that citizens in the U.S. and China have basically equal rights?
- bilbo0s 6y ago
  You have no elected officials. That's the point. You are an American being held for geopolitical reasons in China, or you are a Chinese citizen being held for geopolitical reasons in the US. There is no elected official representing you to which you can appeal. You're just screwed. Again, unless you are an elite and people will pull strings for you. But most of us here are not elites, we're too far down the chain. No one is going to pull strings for us. We just have to sit in prison until China and the US finish comparing bra sizes. I'm saying both americans and chinese should be mindful of this risk when working in the other country.
  - ethbro 6y ago
    Last I checked, every American has an elected official. (Non-voting in the case of territories) Has something changed?
    - bilbo0s 6y ago
      Yeah, they would have been arrested in China, where their elected official means exactly dick. The whole reason China arrested a patsy is to provoke the US. So how exactly is senator useless gonna get him out of jail? The entire reason the Chinese arrested him, was to anger senator useless and american media. Were it not for senator useless, the american wouldn't be sitting in a Chinese prison in the first place. Were it not for Chinese party member dickmouth, the Chinese guy would not be sitting in an american prison. The government officials are the problem, they're definitely not going rush right out to get a regular worker out of prison. At least not until they finish their argument over who has the best hair or whatever. Putting faith in the government officials is just a bit naive I think.
      - ethbro 6y ago
        I'm not sure this is the forum you're looking for, if that's how you structure your argument.
      - dang 6y ago
        Please stop using HN for ideological, political, or national flamewar. You've been doing it repeatedly, and that's not ok. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful.