https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/apples-china-ties-under-congressional-scrutiny-after-jon-stewart-cancellation/
Lawmakers demand that Apple commit to not censoring content critical of China.
Oh yes the Chinese Communist Party, the cake and eat it too party, where it somehow is able to access global markets and benefit from international trade rules, freely able to meddle in international affairs while embellishing its own interests.
It's mind blowing how the desperation of late stage capitalism allows the CCP to operate within these frameworks.
In this specific case, Apple axed the show because Stewart was going to talk about China's less savory behavior.
The show had been announced to have a third season, and then suddenly when Stewart was gearing up to tackle some of the issues around China, Stewart was instantly fired.
And this isn't the first time China had demanded the firing, or public apology, of a prominent American who is even slightly critical of their government.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/hollywood-corporations-apologize-to-china
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-brief-history-of-corporate-apologies-to-china-2019-10-09
Remember when John Cena had to apologize to China for saying Taiwan was a country? It was about that time when I started refering to the mainland as West Taiwan.
John Cena makes a ton of money from China and so does the WWE. Not to mention the toys are made in China. Vince and Cena weren't about to lose that manufacturing deal over some dumb shit.
Calling the Chinese mainland West Taiwan is like calling the northern US "The North Confederate States of America." They lost a civil war and saying that is just silly. As for One China, that's a current battle of internal politics. The current ruling democratic party supports cutting ties with China and joining the West. The nationalist party agrees that the mainland and China are one country. It's not like it's just China imposing it's military might on Taiwan, it's much more complicated than that.
I don't do it because it's accurate, but because it pisses off the CCP. About the same time as John Cena showed his lack of spine, I was forced to figure out how to remove the flag of Taiwan from software because just seeing that flag makes them butthurt. Just a tiny icon of a flag of a nation they don't think is real.
That sort of vehement denial of reality is pathetic and hilarious, and I will continue to call them West Taiwan until they stop acting like whiny bitches. But in reality, they'll attempt to invade and throw a generation of their children into a meat grinder in the Taiwan Strait because of their ridiculous nationalism.
And they didn't resolve the civil war. If they had, the CCP wouldn't have zero authority there. And they wouldn't be complain so much about a flag.
I don't think they'll invade. I think they're stalling until they can get their microchip tech up to speed and then they'll turn Taiwan into the next Cuba and just embargo the fuck out of Taiwan. Invading would be incredibly stupid.
Embargoing Taiwan won't work, either, because they have solid trade relationships with many modern economies.
China accounts for a quarter of Taiwan's trade. Not to mention how many countries would bail if an embargo happened
The Chinese government doesn't know you exist. The Chinese people are theoretically banned from site like this and even if using a vpn, they are almost certainly accessing webpages made in the language they actually speak.
Maybe there are better ways to take a stand against the Chinese government. Ones which aren't empty gestures.
Imagine caring about something so minor, just a mass of angry men clutching their pearls like they're having a period bahahaha
That's an insult to those who power through their periods with as much grace and professionalism as possible. A better insult would revolve around their skin deep policies and exceptionally thin skin.
Or maybe you could make fun of their lack of media savvy. They could have coopted the image of a fluffy, caring Winnie Pooh as a positive thing for Xi, but instead they ban all mention of it. Xi has little in common with Pooh, so most of the comedy comes from the censorship itself. It's like how Obama killed the, "thanks Obama," meme by using it, and how Democrats defused the Dark Brandon meme while Biden embraced it (he uses it too much at this point).
In the Capitalist religion the magic phrase that prevents all moral criticism of an action is "it's just business."
The only thing that can move faster than light is a capitalist shifting between "We're a family here" and "It's just business, don't take it personally"
This guy gets it.
Businesses didn't start pretending to care about civil rights until it was profitable.
It only became profitable because the ones saying no had their factories burned down.
Corporations would do literally anything for their "mah quarterly profits and mah shareholders".
Seriously, people need to keep this in their mind at all times. Every single publicly traded company in the world would happily throw a bus full of children into a volcano if it got them a fraction of a point in next quarter's numbers.
Yet people still defend the system that enables these greedy fucks, as if greedy fucks don't exist and corporations will toootally work in a logical manner...
Peoples' hubris toward the evils of their neighbors will be the death of humanity. Someone who fires a bunch of people to save money isn't a "boss making hard decisions" They're an asshole throwing people away to protect profit.
Yet people still defend the system that enables these greedy fucks
Greed is an innate part of the human condition. There is NO system that can be created and managed by Humans that will not eventually fall victim too, and likely fall because of, greed.
Greed is built into people and will eventually topple all systems of economics or government, NONE of them are immune.
Just because greed exists does not mean it needs to be systemically enabled.
In fact, it means the exact opposite: It is a problem that we'll always have to deal with and cannot ignore.
Just because greed exists does not mean it needs to be systemically enabled.
In any system maintained by humans greed will eventually become systemically enabled. Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, Monarchy...it doesn't matter.
When there is power and money to be had the people who love those things will ceaselessly flock to it and no Government in the history of humanity has ever managed to stop those people from eventually taking over.
You’re both right.
Greed and psychopathy will float to the top of every system, because the greediest and most psychopathic will inevitably see the system as a game to be won.
Ideally we shun it, but the “useful psychopath” is helpful to our own greed.
If only we could prevent it, but I don’t have that answer.
Preventive maintenance is a thing. As long as we keep wanting to work towards a better system we will move towards a better system. You say it will eventually fall. How far is eventually? I bet we could push it out til at least the heat death of the universe if we tried doing something other than robbing one-another.
Preventive maintenance is a thing.
That would work if the majority of people stayed interested...forever. This has literally never happened in recorded history.
How far is eventually?
It varies, longest in History was 1,500 years (Roman Empire) but as information accelerates so to does greed. The US is looking like it may be done around the 250 year mark but a lot of that was when information and society moved much slower. Younger Techno-Nations are declining at nearly the same rate and are unlikely to make even make that much.
I bet we could push it out til at least the heat death of the universe if we tried doing something other than robbing one-another.
That's the rub. There has always been and will always be enough people robbing each other to break a system, any system. Its only a matter of time and I seriously think the amount of time it takes has a lot do with the pace of society and speed of information.
People have been interested in civilization since the dawn of civilization, dude. Even when it collapses it regrows. We're naturally social creatures and ideas don't die. Even in times of decline people aspire to do better.
Medieval European peasants knew what Roman aqueducts were for. They knew that civilization had fallen, but they made a new one and eventually it regrew to the point of the previous Roman empire, and then beyond, through ups and downs, until now.
Not everyone remains interested the whole time, but it does carry forward.
I mean, the problem is that people who suck at satisfying their greed fight tooth and nail to protect the greed of others.
It doesn't make sense for most people to support a system where most people are losers, but here we are.
It makes sense if the false idea that "you can be like the greedy ones in power if you work to prop them up"
This is an amateur take a best, but a strong unified China has historically always been the economic power house of the world. They're so big they can trade with everyone, and since everyone wants to trade with them, everyone has an interest in not starting conflicts. When china prospers it's usually a pretty good time for the wold. I, for one, welcome our Chinese overlords.
I'm confused, you use the term late stage capitalism, but you don't see that China is clearly not the worst offender of meddling in intl. affairs to suit their own interests. Like, America has even more access to global markets than China does, and also meddles way harder. Literally overthrowing governments, rewriting laws, or just straight up bombing to dust levels of meddling.
Explain why it's bad argument in this situation. To me it seems nonsensical to criticize a country that isn't remotely as bad as the worst people doing what you accuse them of.
It's not whataboutism if the what about subject is literally worse on this specific topic. In order to be deflection, you need to be changing the subject.
It is exactly whataboutism. You are shifting the focus of the discussion by saying "what about america? They are worse." The subject was not america being shit (it is) it was about China.
You are aware that more than one country is capable of being shit at the same time?
Say some country was denying Jews the right to vote, and we were living in 1940-1945. If you were criticizing that country, would it be whataboutism for me to tell you to shut up about them, because Germany is a far bigger problem for Jews? No, because in comparison to Nazi Germany, denying the right to vote is irrelevant. In terms of level of meddling in intl affairs, I do not think China is a relevant player in the arena when considering the top offender.
I’d be more impressed if Congress was under scrutiny for their ties to China. And Russia. And Saudi Arabia.
There's an aspect to Jon they like.. Or at least use to their own advantage.
Jon tends to be pretty hard on China. Remember the controversy over his off-the-cuff comments as Colbert's guest about covid and China?
China makes the hardware, I thought this was common knowledge. Of course they have Apple by the balls
It's not the manufacturing that Apple is scared of losing, it's the Chinese market itself. There's over a billion people in China and Apple makes a lot of money selling them Phones and iPads.
Apple manufacturing moved a lot out of China. China still has a lot of the raw materials they need, and in quantities they need them, but recently Apple knows it needs to be faborable to them especially right now, if for nothing else to preserve the Chinese market share they currently have and try and keep relationships amicable post manufacturing move.
The key question to ask when some exclaims in favor of free markets is always "free for who?".
Free for who?
When I say a sandwich is free, who is it free for? There's no such thing as a free sandwich. Someone bears the cost.
The bigger story to me is that there is a House Select Committee on competition with the Chinese communist party.
I would hope China has an equivalent. Competition like this in science and arts only elevates humanity. It's military competition we have to be careful of.
Builds bigger phallus shaped projectile, it's a building bro, it's even got beds and election hatches lol
They can request anyone to show up and speak about an issue, doesn’t mean anyone is required to answer them
They use the 'demand' rhetoric to gauge support for an idea, analyse the result, and if profitable draft and pass a bill to change the thing that isn't a law into a law.
Cook must have a CCP handler sitting next to him at all times, handing out approval or disapproval from Emperor Xi
If you really want to get serious about Chinese interference, this is a discouraging sign. An example of doing the bare minimum for the lowest of stakes.
Maybe start with Tik Tok and go from there?
Honestly, it’s not even about the show - it’s the fact that Apple, more or less, is basically censoring stuff that badmouths China.
If Apple can do it to somebody like Jon Stewart, then what other companies are willing to do this - or even already have done?
Youtube has a well established history of doing it. Pre-Elon Twitter did it quite a bit and X (Elon Twitter) does even more of it.
Western Media has been bent and twisted for years by Pro-China propaganda and Pro-China censorship.
Media manipulation bad. But how about hot cross buns as a food to celebrate how Jewish people murdered some guy who was just an innocent stoner (Jesus)?
I get that China interference is a big deal, but actually dealing with it means getting serious and banning Tik Tok to start.
This is the smallest of potatoes. An excuse to make noise without doing anything.
As an aside, your name is weirdly relevant. I read it and thought for a second that you made the account specifically for this comment, but nope, it seems to be a coincidence.