Hacker News Reader

Comment by Erlich_Bachman | Hacker News Reader

Isn't it logical (or at least understandable) to care more about the people who share the same cultural values and historical bagage than about other cultures which are harder to understand and relate to? Why should people care equally much about every single culture on earth, regardless of how much it relates to their own situation and life?

View on HN

On an individual level that might be understandable, but on a larger scale, you end up excluding large groups and declaring them effectively less valuable, second class people.

Ultimately, wherever people are born, wherever they live, they are still people. They're not much different from us, they're just living in different circumstances. We could have been born there. Some sympathy is absolutely justified.

The problem that us Chinese see is the level of hypocrisy at play here. The narrative on the entire HK suppose is in the name of freedom and evil of China and thus democracy must be the solution. Iraq has been "liberated" with democracy and yet the outcry is not an issue. I make no judgment on the merits of democracy, but if the West continues to play the propaganda narrative behind a fear of threat it is hard to justify the reasoning thrown around.

It's also hard to miss for most people outside the US because a whole lot of them are still very directly affected by the consequences of this whole "crusade on terror" [0] going on to this day.

In that context, there is quite some massive cynicism at play when the US celebrates itself for denying Chinese officials visa over the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, when the US also refused visa to ICC officials wanting to investigate the treatment of Muslims in "NATO occupied" Afghanistan [1].

Particularly in the context that the US was quite on-board with the "Uighur Jihadis!" narrative not too long ago [2].

[0] https://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0919/p12s2-woeu.html

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/15/mike-pompeo-...

[2] https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/analysts-uighur-jiha...

The West does not act and think in a collective, we are used to opposing views and have zero issue with publicly decrying the actions of our very own governments and removing those from power. The Western people do not act and think in lock step with their respective governments. The issues that individuals and groups of people in the West value can be VERY different from our governments national security interests and also VERY different from even our own neighbors.

I do judge the Chinese government and their self proclaimed leader. I feel bad for the billion people of China who are unable to have free and open public discourse about their own governments actions, to hold and remove those in power peacefully and to be unable to find some sort of representation.

I think HK should continue its protests so that every individual and voice in the "West" can focus and view the shameful acts of the Chinese government.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com