Thank you. You’ve summed up my thoughts and added further insight.
3
This case of N.B.A. being indirectly forced to apologize is an epic example of how Chinese authoritarian regime is flexing its economic might to suppress freedom and democracy in the countries of free world.
While dealing with China, it’s high time for the Corporates and Western countries to draw a fine line between fundamental human values, freedom, rights and potential economic benefits that it might get in China.
If U.S. based giant Corporates start bowing to Chinese pressure, we are setting a very dangerous precedent down the line where every other companies will succumb to the demands of Communist totalitarian regime. It’s now or never for us to set straight our moral values while doing business with China. Communist authoritarian regime should know that we will never trade our values for Chinese money.
5
When the UK made the Hong Kong deal with China liberalization seemed possible. Not today. Xi is Mao mixed with state controlled capitalism. Free speech and freedom of information is illegal both for the people and the capitalists, local and foreign. Yes, Xi has a million persons in "re-education" camps. You can guess what that means since most of those people are not Manderin. Despite the trade war, Xi loves Trump because Trump loves dictators and hate allies. What a deal for the advancement of China.
"And the children of South Park shall lead them." A proper NBA response? "You don't want our games or respect our values? Fine, show the euroleague. Enjoy."
2
For those American commenters who so strongly support the Hong Kong protesters/rioters, here is a survey result that may interest you:
According to a survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, about one-third of Hong Kongers are considering leaving the city.
Where do they want to emigrate to? The most popular destinations are Canada (18%) and Australia (18%), followed by Taiwan (11%) and Singapore (5%).
How many of them consider US their top choice? 2.9%.
2
What's new here! Most people would not defend their most cherished values at the risk of losing their paycheck (except few like Kaepernick). China represents a huge revenue growth opportunity for the NBA, the owners are not going to jeopardize that for Daryl Morey's right to speak his mind. The point is, if the 1 billion people in China want democracy they can make it happen in a day. If they don't care, then why should the NBA owners care !
2
Apparently it is only ok for them to bad mouth America.
4
Of course the NBA caved. They're following the film industry which some time ago began reshooting movies to please Chinese censors, started giving them approval powers over certain screenplays, and shoehorning in Chinese actors (the least of the sins, but still blatant pandering).
2
Hong Kong was stolen from China 150 years ago, when Britain wanted it for shipping opium into China, against the Chinese government's laws. The lease is now up, and Hong Kong is legally part of China. Americans have no right to interfere.
Hong Kong has been a privileged enclave, fattening on trade between the West and China, and has not had to suffer much of the incredible disorder that rocked the rest of China throughout the 20th century.
I am very supportive of the 1400 million people in China, who have suffered so much, worked so hard, and now finally are living reasonable lives. The 7 million in Hong Kong are a footnote to that incredible achievement, and the demonstrators, much as I can understand their feelings, just seem selfish and immature.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments seem to me to be keeping to the letter of the handover agreement, contrary to what our media are telling us. The demonstrators are the ones acting dangerously and illegally. Do you really think New York police would have stood for the incredible violence of some of the protesters in Hong Kong? Molotov cocktails, wrecking stores, flooding and/or burning subway stations, attacking police with metal rods, beating up bystanders who disagree.... False heroes.
4
Nonsense. This is a seriously nasty, oppressive, freedom-hating, authoritarian regime controlling its people through intimidation, outright violence, a blanket of intrusive, high-tech surveillance, and a particularly disgusting system of social shaming. The protestors deserve any support, moral or material, that we can give them.
7
Thanks to Bari Weiss for pointing out that America is for sale at any cost. The Kurds and Doctors Without Borders are now learning this as well. We have a POTUS that embraces dictators and authoritarians. America has lost its conscience for the love of money.
2
@Tricia Everything is for sale at the right price in a capitalist society !
1
Representative democracy for Hong Kong, you said? Excuse me? Where were you when Hong Kong went without representative democracy as a British colony for 150 years?
4
Wouldn't the NBA still be plenty profitable, even if the entire Chinese market went away? It isn't as though the league's survival depends on a continuing market in China. (If it does, then they've really goofed up somewhere along the line.)
So let China go; in fact, the NBA should refuse to purvey any of its product to China, at all. If China wants anything NBA-related, let the government issue an apology for misinforming and repressing its own citizens, and dishonoring the agreement it made about Hong Kong.
China is forever insisting upon its own (generally false) version of what the truth is. (Tiananmen Square wasn't a massacre, really?) They are quite like Trump in this respect. Accommodating their skewed and authoritarian viewpoint shouldn't be an option; it only emboldens them to keep lying.
2
I would say sorry too if democracy looked like what we have in the US today with Trump.
3
It seems disquieting to me that my source of hope for the future now rests on the moral compass and (relatively small) influence of Messrs. Parker and Stone et al. … but, there it is. And, these days, it is quite something to hear in the face of daily testimony to the vacuum of values amongst the nobility.
Sports agents must be drooling over this stab at expansion. If the NBA thinks they're going to double their income from overseas you can bet the superstars will be doubling or tripling their salary demands. The NBA is all about the money. Period.
3
Politics and pro basketball were not made for each other. The Houston GM made an egregious error inserting Hong Kong into the mix. That was not a freedom of speech centric. It was stupidity.
3
Adam Silver's Statement is worth reading.
https://www.nba.com/article/2019/10/08/adam-silver-statement-china-nba?mod=article_inline
4
Freedom gives the Rocket’s GM the right to anger the team’s first or second biggest market.
2
Where money is at stake, the US corporate-military complex will always choose the almighty dollar.
3
There's no money in morality, is there?
1
Thanks, Bari. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/arts/television/south-park-china.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
BOYCOTT THE NBA ... And any other business that bows to China!
3
If the NBA bows down to China, I’m done with the NBA.
5
Only Woke for African Americans at home. Some Chinese people abroad that are oppressed? Who cares, show me the money.
3
The NBA is only bold and progressive when there are no consequences for their liberal positions, or it enhances their standing with their base. They are hypocrites.
7
“Republicans buy sneakers, too.” -Michael Jordan, 1990
“We love China!” -James Harden, 2019
6
What an ignorant, premature column. Adam Silver's statement on 10/8 refutes it.
2
Shame on the NBA. They are a disgrace. They put on the veil of civil libertarians, but are willing to sell out the brave people of Hong Kong for a few dollars.
5
Boycott China and the NBA!
5
Well, NBA personnel can criticize the US government all they want, refuse to go to the white house and meet the president whom some of them call a bigot openly, the NBA has never apologized. They also support a Turkish player who is wanted in Turkey because he criticizes that government. God forbid now they say something about China, and the NBA is suddenly "regretful". $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ = value
6
Absolutely shameful. For once, Mr. Silver, put humanity first, your country second, and your bank account third.
2
Money money money.
1
Let's be real--the NBA is 'woke' in the US because it's fashionable to be woke in the US. The audience in the US that watches basketball doesn't seem to mind LeBron James or Steph Curry opining on politics or human rights domestically. The audience that watches basketball internationally literally never hears or reads LeBron's commentary, and few outside the US care about transgender bathroom bans. As a result, the domestic 'wokeness' isn't just virtue signaling--it's good business.
Internationally, that's not true. It's not acceptable to the Chinese regime to voice any dissent. But the NBA cannot simultaneously encourage wokeness domestically while completely abandoning those principals abroad. The GM of the Rockets is entitled to his opinions in the exact same way that the owner of the Nets is entitled to his. If the Communists wish to halt business with the Rockets due to a freely expressed thought, that's their business. If the NBA fires the Rockets GM, it should also strip Joe Tsai of his ownership of the Nets. It has to work both ways.
What was said wasn't hate speech or an incitement to violence. We have fought hard for that right. The NBA should make it clear that it doesn't share Morey's views, but that it won't (and legally can't) censor its players, coaches or GMs.
If the Chinese like basketball so much--let them field their own teams. The NBA doesn't need to be involved in that--not at the price of its dignity and our freedoms. Sometimes, you have to lead.
4
Apparently the Chinese have bought our freedom of speech. The NBA should be ashamed.
4
So much for Wokeness...
2
People protect their interests, their people, and their tribe only. James Hardy 's comments were appalling but only for their banality. He sees his african american brothers in the NBA making a ton of money and has virtually no empathy for another group of individuals that look nothing like him and who is struggling for the same freedoms and moral respect that he has espoused a thousand times within the domain of US history. The only difference is that he is blind about those who are unlike himself. And, unfortunately, he is not alone.
2
NBA SHOULD CANCEL ALL CONTRACTS WITH CHINA IMMEDIATELY.
THIS WHOLE THING IS DISGUSTING.
WE HAVE ENOUGH TROUBLE WITH OUR OWN CENSORSHIP CRAZED CRIMINAL IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
20
This is how the bloodless coup happens. Money talks. Democracy falls. And trolls infiltrate the comment sections of the free press, censoring comments like mine, simply because I am pro-democracy.
2
Boycott the NBA.
1
China has one million Uighurs in concentration camps right now. Why is anyone apologizing to China about anything?
3
What a bunch of hypocrites! "We stand for freedom for all, unless *AHEM* there's a possibility that it might hurt our wallets."
Sickening.
3
I assume you're using "woke" in the context of its current meaning, i.e., a pejorative for laughably fanatical SJW types. That would certainly be apt in this instance. What a feckless, cowardly bunch.
1
It’s time to boycott these fools.
1
Act II: Dennis Rodman is sent to China to meet with President Xi, in a display of cooperation and deference by the NBA. I mean, he's already BFFs with one dictator in N. Korea.
Read this
https://theundefeated.com/features/the-cleveland-summit-muhammad-ali/
Speaks to a different time of civil disobedience
WWAD
What would Ali do?
James Harden looks so hypocritical. Obviously his loyalty is to his bank account and not any social cause or value. Black Lives Matter????????
2
Woo-hoo! Sing it with me NBA!
"We're rockers and rappers, united and strong
We're here to talk about South Africa, we don't like what's going on
It's time for some justice, it's time for the truth
We've realized there's only one thing we can do
You got to say I, I, I Ain't gonna play Sun City
Relocation to phony homelands
Separation of families I can't understand
23 million can't vote Because they're black
We're stabbing our brothers And sisters in the back!"
New verse!
"They're euthanizing followers of Falun Gong,
But the rest of the world looks past what's going on.
An oppressive state with money, now that's a sin,
But it ain't always about the Benjamins!"
[Sing it!]
I Ain't gonna play in China!"
Okay, and now let's hear it for our Uighur brothers and sisters, and for the people of Hong Kong! Anybody? Anybody . . . ?
2
Flagrant foul!
1
We are now calling out the NBA? Guess it OK for all these years when the NBA/Nike flagship Air Jordans are made in Chinese factories.
If anybody wondered at what price the Left would abandon their pretense in supporting civil rights, the NBA has determined that price.
2
Well now...looks like the NBA biz...just like soy beans. and anthracite...gotta get the best deals domestic AND foreign...so a basketball dont read no Constitutions nor Little Red Books...like they say at Harvard Biz School
.its all bottomline baby...Heart of America.
1
Let’s really see how free the NBA players are to express their views.
I call on one of them to wear a warm up shirt with the simple line “#Remember_Tiananmen_Square”
Wear it in that game in China.
It was fine for LeBron et al to wear #Black Lives Matter.
Let’s see the reaction of the “wokest” sports league
4
Doesn't the NBA support the same protest nonsense as many NFL players? Take the knee during the anthem and all of that? They routinely flip America off because they know there's little risk of losing advertising & sponsorship dollars. But they bow to China at the first whiff of being cut off financially. What hypocrites.
3
@Once From Rome The NBA doesn't allow its players to sit during the anthems. And all players comply. So they've always shown hypocrisy with this issue.
OMG. Nothing more tragicomical than someone getting off their high horse of "principles" to grovel for the almighty yuan. Betcha the enlightened NBA will get right back on that horse with a straight (not referring to sexual orientation) face and take on the next low hanging fruit issue that serves their own moneyed interests. The NBA will stand up for the oppressed all over the ... uh ... wherever ... uh ... as long as it don't mess with the moolah train. Enlightened my third eye.
4
I find the ironic use of "woke" to show one is "with it" to be most tiresome!
4
Neoliberalism in full view.
1
The NBA is spineless. Let them move to Beijing.
2
Almost every comment about this article expresses some kind of outraged surprise and indignation regarding the NBA's conduct.
Were you really expecting the NBA to sacrifice money for political principles? Really?
Call me a cynic,, but I would have been amazed if the opposite had happened.
2
Ok, I don’t like our democratic system being hacked by Chinese commentators pretending to be Americans.
1
"Wokest"? Perhaps you've heard of the WNBA? How many gay players are there in the NBA?
1
Just a bad customer service. Can't image your local shoe store throws any bad words to your family, like, your child is really ugly, you then just go buy your shoes somewhere else. It is just that simple.
Everyone should have the right to free speech and as an adult, one should be responsible for the consequence of his own speech.
You are free to speak your idea, I am free to be angry about it, so what.
1
NBA thinking: "too woke = too broke"
Appeasement - see how that works out in the end !
2
So athletes can take a knee to protest racism in America, but team officials can't Tweet to protest repression in a nation that makes America look like the Big Rock Candy Mountain. Marv Albert would not shout, "Yessss!"
Woke only goes so far and doesn't buy the owner's son a new Porsche.
Money talks and the Hong Kong people can fend for themselves.
2
Meanwhile, the world's wokest country bows to the genocidal governments of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and the apartheid state of Israel, while its deadly march toward the precipice of history continues unabated despite the protests of scientists and thermometers the world over. But hey, let's talk about the NBA cause reasons.
2
Democracy? In China? In India? In Israel? Nope,
Second class citizens, get in your place!!!
3
You will not find a bigger fan of the NBA. Their craven obsequiosness has made me nauseous. Shame on them from Silver on down.
5
Woke been bought.
4
As Michael Jordan might have put it:
Democracy crushers buy basketball shoes, too!
4
Money...we worship at the altar of money.
1
Hey Ms. Bari Weiss, what would be your reaction if someone from the NBA said "Fight for freedom, stand with Palestine"?
My guess -- you'd call them antisemitic, demand an apology, and threaten a boycott. Am I wrong?
2
Virtue signaling the virtue signal? Joseph Heller would have a field day.
5
I wish that the Chinese were half as offended by their own country's rampant intellectual property theft as they are about some NBA GM's tweet.
3
Why not the NBA? They are following in the footsteps of fellow appeasers WalMart, Nike, Intel, etc. The Bidens certainly benefited from making deals with authoritarians. The question is not with the NBA alone. Who is NOT tainted by the slave labor that has made Western oligarchs richer and Chinese communists the richest at the expense of Democratic ideals, workers rights and wages around the world? Most establishment politicians have bought into the Internationalist idea that China will be the factory and consumers of the world resources. The Clintons betrayed America by handing them MERV technology and the Clinon/Bushs pushed for China to be part of the WTO. That this is surprising to the NYT Times or others is thoroughly disingenuous at best. Now the US wants to censor and ban Epoch Times for speaking truth to China’s power especially with regard to Tibetan, Uighur and Falun Gong genocide.
3
When it's not about the money, it's always about the money.
NBA players frequently speak out against social injustice and the league encourages and supports it. Many owners do too. It was pathetic to see James Harden apologize to China. South Park had more guts.
Now all of a sudden because of one tweet, the NBA has caved to principle and voted with their wallets. Will no one stand up for free speech even if it means alienating another government?
I have been to China many times. Have met many Chinese people and it was always a great experience. But we have shifted so much critical technology and manufacturing experience to China that we have shot ourselves in the foot. Now we have to tread softly because of it. First, it's a sports league that gave in. Next it's corporation who don't want to offend. When will it end.
1
People forgot the complain or angry is from Chinese people (not only from government), which is "transferred" to Rockets...
The editor doesn't fully understand why (if it is not intentional)..
If Rockets GM said "fight for the one person one vote", it may be OK, which HK didn't have and was much worse while British.... HK has a lot of freedom today (may be more than US ?)
what a disgrace. talk about treachery. billionaire nominally "American" sports franchise magnates, who owe everything they have to our nominally capitalist democratic republic, bow to their Communist overlords and self-censor. at least we know that dollars, even dollars earned on the backs of a government-controlled population, are more important to them than free speech, free assembly, free association, freedom to dissent or otherwise seek redress for grievances, or freedom to worship, or freedom from warranted government intrusion, or a thousand other indicia of free personhood they so obviously think is a privilege -- not a right. boycott them.
1
It's time for someone to stand up in print to the NBA. The NBA acted treasonously inappropriate toward Chinese communism. And on the NBA social commentary they do not count. Period. China''s human rights violations alone put a discredited face on the NBA. Can Silver and his cohorts who throw America under the bus for money.
45 would not call the Saudi prince’s murder of WaPo journalist because he/we need their $. Now we see NBA leadership take $ over supporting democracy in Hong Kong.
We get information from media that we are familiar with. But have you looked at other way around, for example, from opposite media ? In this HK insident, I looks at information from both Western and Eastern, and I got completed different stories/opinion. My conclusion: both can not be trusted. That said, I am not entitled to place any comment unless I was in HK and went through all things that happened.
No any governemnt/media is 100% worthy trusted, since people are bias.
1
NBA players who spurn the U.S. President actively solicit Chinese dollars and fame. They are woke for cash.
1
The NBA should change the colors on its logo from red, white and blue to green.
1
So much for freedom of thought and expression. The NBA is doing what almost every American corporation has done when conducting business with and in China — sold out bedrock American principles. Anyone who still thinks that capitalism defends democracy is a fool. It capitulates to despots if it preserves an opportunity to make a dollar.
1
Funny how all these American hypocrites can't handle the idea of Chinese fans expressing their freedom of speech and expression and boycotting organizations who slander their people and nation.
1
Have you Americans ever considered that hoping to dislodge the CCP from the leadership of China,, might cause as many problems as tearing Saddam Hussein from leadership of Iraq.
Be careful what you disparage, Ms Weiss.
The business of America seems t be
Follow the Leader.
Bless South Park"s moral courage
Not a peep from a single NBA player. No thoughtcrime here! Guess they better stick with desecrating the American flag.
This is because gay rights, transgender rights, even protesting police violence- these are all issues that do not force those in power to give up their money and priviliged status.
Martin Luther King found this out when he initially had support of many white liberals regarding Civil Rights. However, when King connected economic justice to racial justice, manifested in his thundering speech the night before he was murdered in Memphis : "it didn't cost the nation one penny to integrate lunch counters!", King matured and began questioning the capitalist system and calling for billions of dollars to be spent on the poor. As a result, the same white liberals (and even many middle class blacks) headed for the exits as soon as they felt their status threatened.
The behavior of the NBA is nothing more than, as the late great Father Berrigan said, botique activism.
And to top it off the king of woke athletes, LeBron James will land in China tomorrow.
I'm sure he'll have a lot to say about the modern day gulags where the Chinese government (who manufactures his $300+ sneakers, $200+ hoodies, and $100+ t shirts) imprisons its Uighur Muslim population. I acknowledge that it's not as serious as Trump tweeting about Colin Kaepernick, but wokeness knows no borders, amirite.
1
This is how it happens. The bloodless coup. All executed by big money, buying influence, and legions of trolls paid to comment on free press websites. Using the instruments of democracy to destroy democracy.
2
Thanks to Bari Weiss for writing this article and for writing it so well. In my mind, athletic endeavor includes grit and courage. How sad to see see spineless stooges like Fertitta and Silver bend the knee to a tyranny. Shame on them for not analyzing what’s at stake in Hong Kong.
Best comment is South Park (from the Guardian) :
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/oct/08/we-good-now-china-south-park-creators-issue-mock-apology-after-show-reportedly-censored
The corruption of American capitalism from the antebellum days of kidnapping, shipping, and selling human beings as slaves to today's betrayal of democratic principles is astonishing. Anything for a dollar...everything is for sale.
1
So for NBA, does wokeness stop at the border. In this increasingly inter-connected world, it is breath-taking to see the woke-left run itself into rage for issues like single gender bathroooms, correct pronouns, sexual identity, political correctness etc. This incident just opens up the lid off all that outrage. In fact many of us, who have global perspective (being immigrants from elsewhere), cant help but wonder at the nature of these 1st world problems and how seriously these are highlighted by the media and democratic establishment here. There are far more serious issues both here in US and globally and democrats could do well to focus on them instead of out-woking each other and publicly shaming individuals for using the so called wrong pronoun.
2
“On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.” - Thomas Jefferson
“On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of profit, stand like a rock.” - N.B.A.
3
@Ryan Well put.
Choosing ridiculously highly paid grown men to run up and down a court and get a ball in a hoop over human rights in China.
We have lost our way on every level.
Dark times, maybe just portending the end.
I mean, we seem to be such a useless and destructive species. How long can this foolishness go on?
I'm tired.
2
Shame on the NBA. What hypocrites. Their non-profit status should be taken away. They are no non-profit, as we can see they are all about filling their pockets. Profits over democracy should not be tolerated. Maybe they can find a new home in communist China. Let’s see how much profit they would actually get to keep in China. Maybe under their regime they will truly understand the need for democracy, instead of taking it for granted. Boycott the NBA!
1
Money speaks, right? This, however shameful for the N.B.A.'s standing. All to satisfy China's stupid censorship...as it is afraid of it's own shadow, and of any free thought, speech and action even by it's own folks. Therefore, China shall be confined to the least significant thought-provoking nations, and a sore loser of the huge potential of the Chinese people's imagination and creativity. Pity! But, returning to the N.B.A., any thought thay this is supposed to be a sport we all ought to enjoy, we may be disappointed to know it is mainly a corporate commercial undertaking where ethics has flown away, hard to bring back when greed is king.
“When somebody says it’s not about the money, it’s about the money.”
--- H.L. Mencken
1
Two words for you Mr. Silver....Tiananmen Square.
Joe Tsai's longwinded post neglects to explain the most pertinent detail - why do the Chinese consider the Hong Kong protests a separatist movement anyway?
Thank you, Ms. Weiss.
And by the way, your book, "How to Fight Anti-Semitism" should be a required textbook in every high school in America.
1
This is an American problem, not just an NBA problem.
We don't care if the Saudis bomb New York or murder American residents, as long as they buy our weapons, keep oil cheap, and stay in the president's hotels.
We don't care who the Russians murder, invade or oppress, as long as they spy, interfere, misinform, and buy the president's condos.
We don't care if the North Koreans starve, oppress and murder their people, as long as they come to the photos ops with our president.
We don't care if the Chinese oppress their ethnic minorities, or Hong Kong, as long as they buy our NBA gear and watch our NBA games.
We used to care about these things. We used to take the high moral ground, even if it cost us in the short or medium term. We used to take the long view for human rights, women's rights, religious freedom, etc around the world. Now we're like every other nation, with "Merica First".
We've got the president and the government we deserve.
53
@Ccrawford12
CC: We do kind of waffle when it comes to Women's rights and minority rights but we're at least trying to get better.
1
If President Trump would not impose trade sanctions on China to make it change its practices, a move about which the NYT opinion writers bitterly complain,
then with the money and intellectual property taken from us, China could buy anything in the US.
A typical first target would be the NYT.
Forcing the same columnists to apologize to China and the Chinese owners for any democracy support, like the NBA GM. If they were to be given a second chance, that is.
Moreover, if Huawei equipment were used around, they couldn't even talk about it in private. Since that equipment would transmit everything to China.
PS Like the commenter Miklos Bona, I also grew up in Eastern Europe. All the phones were bugged by the government to transmit even when they were not in use. Once a year, technicians came to check the bug and seal the phone. People knew it, they would put the phone between pillows, turn on the TV and talk in another room about any sensitive topic.
2
Imagine the White House press secretary tweets something like ‘I support Ku Klux Klan. White lives matter.’ She will be fired the next day. Even though that’s her freedom to make her voice heard, but she is in that postition which will make people thinking that the White House and the current government share the same idea. But this is not commonly accpeted by most people, except for some extremist. Then she has to be responsible for what she has said.
Morey is similar situtation right now. That’s fine for him to voice for the some HongKong people. But he is in a special position to represents the Rockets or even the NBA. The Chinese people can make their voice and criticizes as well. If the Rockets and NBA thinks the Chinese market is not important, and Morey is right, then they can support him. If they don’t agree, then his career as a basketball manager is done.
Sports is sports, politics is politics. Unless you’re a politician, it is better not to share your political opinion publically, no matter where you live.
BRAVO to the NYT for running this opinion piece. You don’t have to be a “woke liberal” (I am not) to be disgusted by the embarrassing subservience of the NBA in front of an authoritarian Chinese regime. At some point enterprises like Disney or the NBA have to ask themselves when enough is enough. Do they really need that extra profit that much that they would debase their companies and our country’s values to this extent?
1
Money not only talks, it swears.
The one nation under god worships Mammon and all profits that bowing to authoritarians implies.
Imagine the pride we'd feel if Mr. Morey stuck to his original tweet, and told the Chinese to get a grip on its attempts at suppressing the Hong Kong residents. Aren't the Chinese trump's arch enemies worthy of trade wars and insults?
But no, assuaging the feelings of the Chinese fans is critical.
The NBA is already obscenely wealthy, what's a few billion dollars to them ? It's not like they're farmers losing their livelihood due to goofy trade wars.
The Chinese government recently said “We believe that no comments challenging national sovereignty and social stability fall within the scope of freedom of expression.”
Such rich irony coming from a country trying to curtail the sovereignty of citizens of other countries. Shame on the NBA and Activision-Blizzard for kowtowing to this authoritarian nonsense.
1
Please don't act or speak as if you really have freedom. You're simply abusing this sacred word for the pursuit of your american values and interests, the same filthy weapon that has been undermining peace and love and human rights(real ones, not those you americans have been advocating for) for decades.
Please, for the sake of your own dignity, start to learn the word 'freedom' or 'democracy', although I'm not truly optimistic about where you end up with.
Folks, it's a business not a charity. Businesses only care about money because they exist to make money. Taking a stand in NC against the anti-transgender bathroom bill was nothing. It did not cause the NBA any financial pain. China, on the other hand, can hurt you financially in a big way. Any time China flexes its financial muscles, businesses quake and drop to their knees. People expecting a BUSINESS to walk away from so much money are deluded.
1
I fail to understand why the NBA's troubling response to the controversy, which you rightfully criticize, has to serve as evidence that "woke politics often seems to train our collective attention down on our navels rather than out at the world."
I consider myself very progressive - "woke," even - and I am monitoring this story to determine whether I will continue to watch NBA games on TV or in person, or consume NBA content on Twitter and The Ringer. Why do you feel the need to Trojan Horse a broadside at woke politics into a justified criticism of the NBA's apology to its Chinese fans, and its tepid defense of Daryl Morey? Beto O'Rourke, among others, has criticized the NBA, so there is no monolithic "woke" community.
But, of course, "woke politics" is also often supportive of the BDS movement and critical of Israel, so I guess this is as good an opportunity as any to shoot your shot, right?
Bari Weiss deserves our appreciation for supporting free expression no matter how offensive. While some might say they want companies such as the NBA, Twitter or Face Book to choke ideas they don't want you to hear, "Choking is Un-American." In addition to being unethical, choking leaves us wondering if we are in the dark about things the chokers don't want us to know.
Regarding Bari Weiss' statement, "... the Chinese Communist Party, which presents perhaps the greatest strategic threat to our freedoms of any regime in the world," I have a different take on it. For the American people, the biggest threat is the American government. It incarcerates many innocent people in its cages. For the Chinese people, the biggest threat is the Chinese government. Proximity plays a big role.
1
The entire NBA establishment has shown they are little more than money-grubbing cowards who will appease anyone for the almighty dollar.
Special derision goes to James Harden who makes a complete mockery of valuing freedom and freedom of speech.
Sure, if Chairman Mao were alive today he’d be turning over in his grave! Was the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution for nothing? Must we kowtow to Political Correctness in the face of a benevolent dictatorship? Is brutal authoritarianism really so bad when there’s $$$ to be made?
We are a bunch of hypocrits no doubt. Armchair philosophers and couch activists. The NBA is right to make statements regarding Daryl Morey and his tweet. This isnt about being woke or not. Calm down.
As countless angry Chinese basketball fans have pointed out, the NBA's behavior in the Donald Sterling Brouhaha of 2014 proves that the NBA does not have a policy of free speech.
Where is the player reaction, those who felt so financially free to "courageously" speak out on Black Lives Matter subjects? Oh yeah, speaking against China means they won't be able to negotiate for so much at contract time.
Astonished and utterly disgusted that a bunch of freedom-claiming Americans (whose country by the way is plagued by racism and bigotry) felt they have the right to condemn a country that they have absolutely no understanding of. What gives you this air of superiority? Could people just mind their own business?
Joe Tsai's comment was despicable but predictable. China's authoritarians are going to whip up nationalist fervor as a tool because it's to their advantage in the trade negotiations with the US. Also, they are 100% allergic to any movement that challenges their rule - and that's what Hong Kong is about. I say we ought to show backbone and reject Beijing's ham-handed attempt to force us to kowtow. In the long run - and with China, this gets measured out in decades - the principles we believe in will trump short-term financial sensitivities. Hold fast, hombres!
Again Ms. Weiss misses the forest for the trees.
Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, and the Europeans are e x p e c t e d to hate their own cultures and traditions, while the Chinese Communist Party is free to impose Han Chinese migration on Tibet and Xinjiang, and to imprison and disappear millions of Tibetans and Uighurs.
Again full marks to South Park.
1
It's simple, really:
CREAM
Look it up. Hint: Not Clapton or Ginger.
1
The wokeness of the NBA is a financial calculation, just like the NFL's resistance to player's political protest. The cultural identity of the NBA is significantly more African American than the NFL. Likewise, there's little inconsistency in the organization's response to China.
1
As the great adman Bill Bernbach used to say, "It's not a principle until it costs money."
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@Mark Reichard
I love the opening photo. They seem to be having such a great time. Perhaps they're counting the empty seats and wondering about that money.
2
@Dana
They all look kind of comatose to me as if they are jet lagged or wondering WHY AM I HERE ?
The answer To enrich the NBA and its owners who pay our ridiculous salaries and our expansive expense accounts.
1
@Sarah Johnson
"Morey had every right to speak his opinion, just as Tilman Fertitta, the NBA, and Joe Tsai had every right to rebuke his opinion."
That's correct. Except for the fact that only one point of view has literally been censored here. Expressing dissent with an opinion is not threatening anyone's freedom of speech. Economically motivated censorship is.
Only one opinion is under real threat here, and it's not the opinion of the Chinese regime, that much is clear.
A day of reckoning is coming and all of our tiresome 'woke-ness' takes, such as the bathroom bill referenced in the article, will seem quite silly when China makes its major power moves that invade the provinces of western nations in a major way. We are sitting whining about hurt feelings over microagressions while China is trying to take over the world under its aggressive dictatorship where all forms of criticism are silenced.
This could be the issue that finally unites Americans and Europeans fully.
We see you China. We see you.
3
A cardinal rule of living here in the US is that we do have the ability to exercise freedom of speech without overt political consequences. That is not true in China, and it is appalling to me that the NBA, which holds itself out to be a historically American past time reaching out to be a global market, and in taking this "walk back "action in pursuit of financial opportunities, has disavowed this fundamentally American characteristic as a corporate concern by not supporting one of its own employees who exhibited same in his speech supporting the Hong Kong protestors. China is not a frlend to the US, but a competitor. And your speech is DEFINITELY not free in any way, shape or form for your own people, nor for companies developing and practicing within your country. I am disgusted with the NBA Commissioner, and the leadership of the Houston Rockets, and support the South Park creators, who see China for what it is, and does.
1
This incident is merely a reminder that the N.B.A., at its core, is just another corporate business (arguably a cartel), no different from Disney, Facebook, or Boeing. The only difference is that it sells athletic performance, while Facebook sells you and Boeing sells aircraft.
As with any corporation, if you don't like that it is kissing Xi Jinping's rear (and I most certainly don't!), then organize a boycott of its products and let Silver & Co., as well as the Players Association, hear about it. And organize very public boycotts of its sponsors as well.
On a personal level, find a way to pass on some support to Daryl Morey for speaking the truth to mega-financial power.
We also should always keep in mind that posting comments and piling up recommends are subject to trolls, bots, and other such from organized groups and nations.
2
Poorly handled by the NBA. The bloom is off the rose.
Silver surrendered the moral high ground previously and deservedly won with the banishment of Sterling. It was a differentiating principle and competitive advantage in the sports space, a counter- narrative to the command and control and unbrideled greed of the MLB and NFL . When you show yourself to be just like everyone else, you are compromised to the core. ( It's also bad business.)
Silver could have simply said "Daryl is entitled to his opinion. That's how we roll."
Let the Chinese stage their histrionics: they are desperate for global role in the most popular sport in their country and would NEVER walk away from the NBA, the most meaningful basketball league in the world. Silver was played and exposed as just another greedy guy.
5
Well, my level of respect for David Silver has certainly plummeted, while my level of respect for Daryl Morey has risen. Since there no hope for my Cavs this year, maybe I'll become a Rockets fan!
3
Your headline is incorrect. It should read "The World's CONVENIENTLY Wokest..."
2
Sorry did I read this wrong? the NBA apologized on behalf of Daryl Morey? WTH! So now we apologize to autocratic dictatorship nations for someone's audacity to comment on their bad behavior. GREAT. And with this, democracy weakens just a little bit more and Trumpism advances just a little bit more. All we're missing is the thunderous applause.
1
The NBA is bowing to its wealthy masters, and Bari Weiss sees it as an indictment of "wokeness?" Without the tunnel vision it's clear what this is about, and it isn't about a failure of "wokeness."
It’s about greed and cowardice and the casual surrender of integrity—by the NBA, not by any other self-proclaimed “woke” person—because there is a lot of money at stake. It’s about what happens when eager capitalists oblige themselves to rich authoritarians.
This is not a “free speech” issue either. The US government is not sanctioning anyone in the NBA so their constitutional rights are unharmed, even as they display a breathtaking lapse in patriotism. The player’s criticism of China was an exercise in free speech. So was the league’s trying to distance themselves from him. And so was the player’s unfortunate apology. The thing about free speech is that there is no accounting for people’s bad choices in what to say and when and how to say it.
Of all things to hold in withering contempt, Bari Weiss picks “wokeness?” It’s a desire to make the world more just and civilized, to keep an awareness of how our own actions may affect the freedom and dignity of others.
Wokeness, as far as I can tell, means don’t do unto others what you would not want done unto you. Call me woke, I’m all for it. And if I lapse and make a false move, that doesn't erase every good thing I ever said or did. Likewise, the NBA's having done a very bad thing doesn't cancel the good things that came before.
"But freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences."
"But the First Amendment doesn't apply if doesn't involve state action, so 'free speech' hasn't nothing to do with the issue."
"But censorship means a government restriction, not losing your job/getting doxxed/being hounded on social media".
These are all progressive positions in other contexts. Which should make you think twice about what exactly does freedom of speech mean and what is it intended to protect.
(this oped is devastating by the way)
1
US businesses have been complicit in China's rise a global power since we started doing business with them in the 70's. All they could see was a 1 billion people market to sell our goods and services. They betrayed the middle class not our government. They allowed China to offer slave labor. They allowed China to steal our technology. China realized long ago the only true power is economic power. The US and the Soviets were great military powers. Let's examine the score using military power. Korea, a draw. Vietnam. a loss. Afghanistan 2 and 0 against us and the Soviets. Keep in mind the Soviets only had to load up the vehicles and drive there. We had to travel 5000 miles. While China is quietly following our lead and building infrastructure around the world in 3rd world countries. The NBA is no different to any other US company. Money rules.
@HFDRU
Marx said the capitalists would sell the rope used to hang them.
Turns out he was on the mark: American businesses sold out American workers, and America's strength, just to make a few more dollars.
Football and basketball have separate and very different fan bases. They each are careful not to offend their fans.
Right now, football has fans staying away in droves. It is hurting. That is in significant part due to its failure to crack down on a few players doing things its fans hated, Colin Kaepernick very prominent among them.
Football waffled before doing the minimum it felt necessary to appease fans, and that does not seem to have been enough. They are angry, and football is hurting from fan anger.
The very different fan base of basketball is more welcoming to guys like Colin Kaepernick. Therefore basketball appears "woke." It would be un-woke in a flash if fans were angry at woke. It is just business, as the Godfather movies explained.
Now about China -- China is a huge market of fans for basketball. When what American fans want conflicts with what Chinese fans want, basketball is in an impossible position. See now. They don't know what to do, and are waffling all over as badly as football did in the face of angry fans.
Now, we may argue about "what is right." It has no bearing on what the leagues do in either sport. They SAY they want to do what is right. They don't.
They want to do whatever they have to do, and right now their only struggle is to figure out how to get through these issues to keep the money rolling as it was.
1
The NBA’s new tag line: “Dollars Over Democracy”
"Is the issue of gender-neutral bathrooms really as morally urgent as a country that is, as Pete Buttigieg sharply put it, “using technology for the perfection of dictatorship?”"
Wording here implies the latter should be taken care of before the former, when we of course can multi-task and confront both. Trans rights don't need to be deemed "navel-gazing" or frivolous in order to make the case against dictators. Both things can be serious at once. Representing morality as a zero-sum game is childish. Also, quoting Pete to make the point that LGBTQ issues aren't "as" important as other issues... gurl, don't "some-of-my-best-friends" Mayor Pete like that!
wow, South Park -> three pointer.
I, for one,
Power corrupts. Money corrupts. Absolute money or power corrupts absolutely.
NBA? Who's really astonished?
1
Just curious why neither this editorial or the the other this morning by the editorial board mentions that that the only person that is constantly criticizing china is President Trump.
3
Business....money talks, and money will "walk back" any foolish and ticket-sales-reducing comments. Fact is, @dmorey probably should have sent his tweet from a personal account--he has every right to do so, and no doubt doesn't have authorization to use his team connection for politics--but the NBA could have been much more dignified and much less obsequious in retreat. They could have clarified that one team staffer's comments did not represent league policy and let it go at that--but instead they bellycrawled in a way that doesn't reflect what a stand-up man's conference would do.
1
Let the hypocrisy commence. Meanwhile, back in America, Kapernick still isn’t allowed to play football for kneeling against police brutality. I hope the NBA pays a price. Let the NBA move to China, they probably will anyway, it’s just a timing issue (not the owners, they like America’s bill of rights, just fine). When will we wake up and treat China for what it is: a competitor and, hopefully, never an enemy. When will we stop our businesses from empowering a dictatorship? Never, is the answer
Oh my, but I’m enjoying this hypocrisy by the NBA! They were so chest-poundingly self-righteous and proud of themselves when they stood in such harsh judgment of the NFL in its handling of the Kaepernick fallout. I’m still waiting for the NBA players’ calls for support of Morey’s tweet.
1
Should I be shocked the NBA chose money & profits over values? Because I’m not
Good piece.
Every country finds it easier to express the worst truths about other countries than admit even the moderately unfavorable truths about itself.
Communist control and repression has always been repugnant. I was in Czechoslovakia and Berlin when they ruled. It made your skin crawl. Orwell saw this during the Spanish Civil War and wrote that the leaders of the Inquisition would be awed and envious by how pervasive and deadly a state dictatorship could be.
But if we started making a list of our own country's worst features, it would also be appalling and we wouldn't appreciate people bringing it to our attention and it's doubtful that newspapers would allow or pay for such contributions.
For instance, supporters of the Vietnam and Iraqi Wars -- clearly stamped fools in hindsight -- are guests of honor at national celebrations and allowed to keep their honors, medals and money -- while those who stood up and said these wars were stupid, wasteful and unnecessary, have been hounded.
Jane Fonda is on television in France selling perfume.
The US Military is playing football stadiums and Joan Baez gets an occasional small gig.
1
Ticket holders march with your wallets. Apparently for the love of money we now turn a blind eye to people ,fighting for the freedoms we take for granted.
Our technology companies have given software information to China so that they can spy on their citizens. So for the love of the almighty dollar we will wAtch people be abused in Hong Kong by president for life in China.
Anyone who cares about democracy And freedom think long and hard about your next basketball game.
When Colin brought attention to the senseless murders of black men the NFL came up with social programs and had JZ be the face of justice. An insult to everyone especially to the families of murdered victims
We must do better than that we are talking about democracy vs dictators which side are we on? Look in the mirror. Be on the right side for democracy
Shame on the NBA. Between this and Trump's proposed abandonment of the Kurds I am mortified for my country.
1
I could be wrong here, but there seems to be some pro-China astroturfing in these comments. I won't say any specific names, but skim through and you'll probably see what I mean.
1
Hopefully, people wake up to the real existential threat to our country instead of the constant navel gazing. We made the original sin - as Bari writes - of assuming bringing China into the fold would change them. Instead, we are having a murderous, totalitarian state use our weakness, divisions and hypocrisy against us. Leaders - politicians, business, universities, lobbyists - need to get their freaking priorities in order. China is an enemy. Their human spy, cyber and propaganda efforts are extremely pervasive and unrelenting. This is not party specific, this is a policy error that has been compounded to the point that the costs now of dealing with it are so much larger, potentially disruptive than ever before. But, deal with it now we must.
Why would anyone expect the NBA to stand up to China, a country led by a murderous dictator? American businesses are amoral. Everything is cool as long as they can make a buck. Would Facebook or Google stand up to China? No. Did America protest when MBS had a critic (and Washington Post columnist) murdered and dismembered? No. American exceptionalism indeed.
A little off topic, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone are national treasures. Sarcastic, facetious, sacrilegious, however you want to describe the show, they cater to no one. Through all that humor is much truth.
2
Calling the Hong Kong protests a "separatist movement" is wildly ignorant. Not supporting people who want the same rights history and fate have granted us in America is hypocritical and selfish. Apologizing for someone in your organization who did speak out in support of democratic rights is mind-boggling. And doing all this because you don't want to lose money is world-class greedy.
This is sickening to me. If I watched the NBA in the first place, I'd certainly be boycotting now, and I hope millions of long-time fans feel likewise.
The NBA is just looking out for its bottom line. Its players are multimillionaires and NBA wokeness keeps them happy while pleasing many fans and irritating some. But to operate in China, the NBA must accept Chinese values. So since it makes much money in China, it does.
Profits or human rights?
Silly question in 2019.
"Wokest"? Are we going to continue to belittle the campus far-left and their passions? Sure, they're shallow and banal - mostly focused on policing others language and "micro" issues and aggressions... but at least they're trying
1
It seems like the NBA has a new definition of "Wokeness": Surrender of one's principles in the face of the potential loss of sneaker sales and broadcast rights.
1
This is a pretty non-sensical article. What is "woke" about offending the millions of fans of your sport (product)? Also this article barely quoted Joe Tsai, who regardless of his affiliation dropped real knowledge about HK and China. This article instead deferred to South Park ... similar to Ted Cruz's tweet.
The truth is China is a united front - a large portion of the people and the government. That is their way of life. We as Americans can feel differently but we have to accept the fact that China is a different society that is powerful and key to our economic interests. Therefore attacking / offending the government is the same as attacking / offending the people. So why would the NBA do that if it wants to participate in the Global economy?
Now America's pho-liberator role in the world has to stop - what has the U.S. ever liberated? Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, millions of it's own citizens trapped in a cycle of poverty? Oh wait the U.S. has never liberated ANYONE, and even continues to economically and educationally enslave its own lower class. And somehow, America has the nerve to take the moral high ground on Hong Kong (a land stolen from China by the West).
There is no and has never been a Global right to free speech. If Daryl Morey or the NBA offend an international country they better get ready for the consequences. Free speech is not a human or global right; you may believe it should be, but guess what arrogant, imperialist America, it's not!
2
Democracy and morality walk with low heads and slumped shoulders in our formerly great nation of sport. Money is corporate America’s only god.
"...the Chinese Communist Party, which presents perhaps the greatest strategic threat to our freedoms of any regime in the world..."
The greatest threats to our society are fear and greed. Donald Trump incessantly cultivates and caters to those passions. Xi Jinping does not hold a candle to that.
1
The NBA Stands by China Because They Like What They Do.
Sometimes, the simplest explanation is the correct one.
(credit to today's Times opinion page)
1
Money is always the loudest speaker and with billions of viewers, and millions of dollars, in the PRC waiting for the NBA...
The hypocrisy is so spectacular that I am in awe.
I hope the NBA doesn't forget that their LARGEST market is right here in the US.
Money talks. The NBA listens. Shame on them.
But if you what you say freely here in the US does not align with the woke, then you are cancelled. Not much different from China.
Thank the NBA for illustrating that woke culture is about virtue signalling and making moral fashion statements, while real liberalism can be hard and require some sacrifice. The NBA is gutless.
2
Yes!
1
China should send the military into Hong Kong. It's insane that China is being criticized. A sovereign nation being chastised for exercising its authority over its territory. China is not a democracy - GET OVER IT. The criticism from the West and the US is just ridiculous colonialist/imperialist fantasies.
Remember when the US had "Freedom Fries" and railed against France for not participating in the US's savage, imperialist invasion of Iraq?
Exactly.... spare us the outrage.
2
The craven apology by the NBA in the face of myriad Chinese human rights abuses and totalitarian policies, is an absolute disgrace. The failure of NBA super stars to speak out and condemn the NBA apology displays a stunning hypocrisy, lack of integrity, or just plain ignorance. Their deafening silence makes a mockery of their previous comments about social justice. Until they rectify their muteness, any attempt by them to speak on social issues in the U.S. should be meant with scorn and derision.
How disgusting was that? The NBA apologizes because one of its own said that he supports democracy.
There are Hong Kong citizens who are being by the murderous regime of Chairman Xi. I will never watch another NBA game, until this wretched apology is lifted.
1
I still recall the time when Donald Sterling -- he of the Los Angeles Clippers -- was banned by the NBA and robbed of his team for the heinous crime of being overheard on his cellphone saying stupid things to his girlfriend.
The N.B.A.’s strong suit isn’t freedom and politics, it’s money and 30 foot jump shots.
2
... isn’t freedom of speech and the right to protest,
it’s money and 30 foot jump shots.
1
All true Americans stand with the freedom-loving people of Hong Kong. It is unfortunate that the N.B.A. leadership is composed of greedy cowards, rather than stalwart champions of democracy. The brand has been irreparably disgraced by this unseemly display of submission to tyrants. I guess it shows that sports does NOT build character, after all.
3
It has long been observed that there is nothing in the world quite as cowardly as capital.
2
Even as a hard core capitalist this comment brought a smile to my face. Very true indeed.
2
As an American, Australian, Canadian or European, if you want to get a visa into China they examine whether or not you have visited any Muslim countries. Wonder why that is ? Perhaps because the way they are treating Uighers has them concerned ?
This piece falls into the self-righteous drivel that the “woke” generation Loyalty test requires. LIke most things that happen in the broad world outside of the the US Brooklyn bubble where only the truly enlightened live is far more complex than headlines. If in fact China is the boogeyman as expressed in the article, then I assume Bari is lead daily protests against any purchase of Chinese made items. I would also assume that she doesn’t use any product derived from imported oil from the Middle East for their treatment of women. I would also assume that she will be publicly outing all major advertisers of the Nytimes with whom she disagrees with their politics or views.
Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.
1
The NBA should put a franchise in Hong Kong. Who cares what they think....
This just made the New York Times interesting to me again. Next time I hover over an NYT article link I will pause and wonder, perhaps another a voice of freedom will come through the echo chambers?
1
Always enjoy reading the opinion pieces of the Times' more rational commentators, Bari Weiss and Bret Stephens.
2
Does Silver's idea of "basketball diplomacy" include the love-fest between Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong-un?
1
Using the word woke a lot doesn't make you woke.
Considering who sits behind the desk in the Oval Office, is it any wonder?
Joe Tsai called the democracy protesters a “separatist movement”?? That’s insulting and pro-Beijing propaganda. Let’s hope Mr Silver and the league disown him too.
2
The NBA thinking about money during a trade war....never.
If democracy is so good, why do people like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson get elected? Why do our elected officials in DC keep making laws favoring only the rich? Why an affordable universal health care insurance is so hard to reach in this American democracy?
No wonder in the eyes of Hong Kong’s previous judge of the Court of Final Appeal Henry Litton, phrases used by the HK protesters like “Fight for democracy” and “Fight for freedom” are simply empty slogans and meaningless rhetoric.
https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/henry-litton-qc-ex-hk-top-judge-looks-into-the-post-one-country-two-systems-era-in-27-years-from-now/
Chinabots are well alive and active on the comments now.
1
Another excellent article by Bari Weiss. The NYTimes really stuck gold adding her voice to their opinion columns!
If the tables were turned, and the CEO of a Chinese corporation were to publicly say something along the lines of Roe v Wade was a dumb judgement, would liberals not stage boycotts? If the same hypothetical CEO were to say instead that the 2nd Amendment is evil and should be repealed, how would conservatives react?
America is entitled to think that her constitution and the bill of rights are sacred. Please allow us Chinese to hold our own principles sacred too. And nothing is more sacred to us than territorial integrity.
It may be a government led boycott, but I assure you all of the mainland stands firmly behind it.
13
@Zhang shame on the NYT for recommending this comment, which is such a logical red herring. Views on the second amendment, or abortion (which in the US at least is voluntary, talk to China about that!), or HK independence are CONCLUSIONS which say nothing about how those conclusions are arrived at. In the US and other democracies, with all their faults, our conclusions are the outcome of vibrant public debate. I'm sure the mainland does stand behind the principle of territory integrity, but if asked to tell you why, can they say anything beyond the party line they are force fed? Where is the space for dissent? Would all Chinese feel this way if exposed to good-faith arguments to the contrary? Hong Kongers and Taiwanese, which the PRC insist are indisputably "Chinese" for some reason seem to think differently. I wonder why? In the end, the process, not the conclusion, is the critical difference.
35
@Zhang Well, that's kind of the difference, isn't it? A "government let" boycott is very different than "a government permitted" one. Even if all of China's citizens agree with a certain policy, it is not the point. The point is that American corporations are CHOOSING to remain silent over fears of offending another country's dictators. Don't conflate the issues.
18
@Zhang It is true about individual Americans voicing their differences with those who differ in their own individual views. What I see as different is our belief that what we read and hear from mainland China is only the view of the party, for we believe there is no free press able to voice different views within the mainland.
6
I was 100% with you until you wrote, "Woke politics often seems to train our collective attention down on our navels rather than out at the world. Is the issue of gender-neutral bathrooms really as morally urgent as a country that is, as Pete Buttigieg sharply put it, “using technology for the perfection of dictatorship?”"
These statements are unproductive, condescending, and mean-spirited. One person's rights don't need to come at the expense of another's; and as people become more politically engaged in one area they often become more engaged in other areas.
Weiss asserts that the league itself bowed to Chinese pressure regarding Morey's Tweet. This is inaccurate. The league simply refused to adjudicate or take sides. To the extent that it did, the league said it supports Morey's right to free speech.
In fact, CCTV, explaining its decision to cancel televising the pre season games issued this statement: “We’re strongly dissatisfied and oppose (NBA commissioner) Adam Silver’s claim to support Morey’s right to freedom of expression." Silver responded by saying, " if those are the consequences (the canceling of the games) of us adhering to our values, I still feel it’s very, very important to adhere to those values."
it seems Weiss may want the NBA to take a more active stance by outright pulling out of the Chinese market- that is boycotting and divesting. I'd be curious to hear her response.
Adam Silver is in a difficult position, to be sure, and generally I think he's a good Commissioner (of all the major sports, I believe he is the only Commissioner who is generally liked and respected). The statement from CCTV in response makes me wonder what will happen to this partnership.
"We're strongly dissatisfied and oppose Adam Silver's claim to support Morey's right to freedom of expression," the statement read. "We believe that any remarks that challenge national sovereignty and social stability are not within the scope of freedom of speech."
This event illustrates the hollow facade of 'woke'. The satisfaction of demonstrating virtues by constructing villains then making public displays of opposition..casting scorn intolerance on those who disagree often ruining careers of its victims. The CCP and woke have much in common when it comes to incorrect thoughts and social punishments..both willing to destroy individuals as an example to others.
The NBA got a taste of it's own medicine.
4
@Lane
Your argument is the same as conservatives suggesting that extremism on the right and the left are the same thing.
They could not be more different, just as the CCP and the "woke" are worlds apart.
You would not feel this way if you experienced censorship CCP style.
Why do you think China monitors and filters Internet activity to the degree it does.
Your observation is a classic example of conservative cynicism.
If you’re just a business and all you care about is making money, then so be it. Don’t pretend you care about anything else.
41
It sounds to me like China over-reacted to the Morey tweet and the NBA wanted to put a quick end to it so they apologized. But I dont know that an apology, even as obsequious as these quotes sound, means they now lose all woke credibility
1
NBA players advocating for racial justice are not animated by a dogmatic adherence to wokeness. Rather, they have experienced racial injustice directly all their lives. They are speaking knowledgeably and sincerely about a deeply rooted problem (racial injustice,) that tens of millions of Americans deny, downplay, or misunderstand.
1
I am increasingly worried by the demonization of China that is becoming such a regular part of the mainstream US press. The issue in Hong Kong is extremely complicated and many ordinary Chinese, driven by their own understanding of their history, are genuinely passionate in their opposition to what the HK protestors want. The HK protestors certainly have legitimate concerns, but theirs is not the only perspective. But, at a deeper level, the criticism coming out of the "liberal" West is knee-jerk and tainted by no understanding of China at all. It is also often grossly hypocritical. The US is a state founded on genocide, slavery and land theft. Its crimes in its first 200 years of development dwarf anything done in China. The US has never come to terms with this, yet the extent to which these atrocities account for US prosperity is undeniable. Bari Weiss is a woman who justifies Israel's oppression of the Palestinians, which is far worse than anything China has done to the Uighurs, yet she has no problem writing this article. American capitalism has gone around the world raping and pillaging to its own advantage, putting profit before all other considerations. Somehow, that is acceptable when it benefits Americans. When it benefits Chinese, it is somehow particularly egregious. Newsflash: it was always morally questionable. It is highly convenient that these objections emerge only in relation to a perceived global rival and are never consistently applied.
1
I am surprised that Ms. Weiss misses the obvious. The same motivation applies to corporations that support Woke causes in America and anti-democratic ones in China, money. Supporting Woke causes may be cost free but not supporting them in America today can come at a great cost depending on your customers as does supporting Hong Kong in China.
Profits and the lose of them, have always made corporation cowards.
Hey. hey, hey cool NYT commenters- modern (ancient) corporate marketing strategy always posits an element of philanthropy, "giving back" to the "community" - "apprecizting" the locals charming eccentricities-- haven't you heard of the "good corporate citizen" - it's not hypocritical entirely but strategic - if your product gets deep onto the a particular public-- it's all relative -- eg tobacco. running shoes, aspirin, potash, curling, underwear, neuron x-rays dog food--- then ya gotta nod and genuflect - big or small -' to the local folks and/or the power brokers (zoning board, dept of health, etc) -- gotta smooze the little people,- - flip burgers on Saturdays,for the poor. build a hospital wing, sponsor "free" operations, join Kiwanas -join "service" clubs. . Again - do we need some Ivy Biz School profs as witness to buff up this discussion (and vastly complicate my summary?) - a great truth: capitalism is an economic system NOT a moral or ethical or political system -- yes it gets mixed and complicated (like real life, hey?) but at base its profit or loss - a transaction of gain -- Me thinks much of the righteous discovery of hypocracy among many commentors - is more proof of the advertising success of the NBA or more brutally the raw naivete of many commentors - pro sports and a dollop of purity? - how we all wish in this vale of earthly tears - for something pure, untrammeled by our selfish hearts - Alas -- our yearnings are not our endings. -- Plus ca change.
1
Bari, you are AWESOME!
1
Agree it’s an embarrassment. But most of the owners are obviously Republicans, if not Trumpians. They are free to show solidarity with the Rockets GM, but they won’t of course.
Is this a sign of globalism end times?
Liberalism’s father, John Locke, wrote in the 17th century. The economic foundation of Liberalism wasn’t espoused until 1776 with Smith’s “Wealth of Nations”. Liberal Capitalism’s success wasn’t assured until the collapse of the Soviets in 1990 and it took multiple Western Civil wars spanning the globe to get there. How people like the author can glibly claim China isn’t going to become liberal after a mere 40 years of economic growth is mentally stunted. Give China some time, some real time, and she will discover the dead ends that are both Nationalism and Authoritarianism.
As one who has predicted the failure of “engagement” in this forum and others, I am appalled but not surprised at money winning out over scruples yet again.
We need to disengage from the Chinese regime before it’s really too late!
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I trust that all the outspoken folks (like Bari Weiss) who are outraged at NBA kowtowing to China censors were also outspoken in support of the NFL players who "took a knee". I think I must have missed that.
There’s a time for politics and a time to make the donuts. The tweet was objectively misplaced.
Being "woke" doesn't mean you support free speech, it means you support politically correct speech. That's why the NBA came down like a ton of bricks on Donald Sterling for saying un-PC things a few years back.
Now the NBA is just learning to be PC according to Chinese rules. It may take a while, but they will learn.
2
interesting to see bari call standing up for LGBT rights and civil rights (like black voting rights) as cost free. Just where is that?
"Time and again companies have proved unwilling to stick to their lofty purpose statements when it costs them money. For purpose to have any meaning, corporations need to put it before profit" - Mark Ritson
"...Chinese Communist Party, which presents perhaps the greatest strategic threat to our freedoms of any regime in the world. "
What??
How exactly is the Chinese Communist Party a threat to American freedoms? This smacks of the crudest Cold War propaganda from yesteryear.
As far as the NBA is concerned, their reaction to Chinese government displeasure is indeed craven and spineless. But it has nothing to do with a threat to anyone's freedoms and everything to do with its reticence to lose out on billions of dollars. The Chinese government is certainly to be condemned for their reaction...but so is the very American urge for $$$.
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Wokest? How awake you have to be wokest? The PC is now ruining our language, and life. Is any action in life possible that doesn't hurt someone's feeling? We are (supposedly) free and we have free will that's why we act. Let's leave the hurt to physical only and not include sentiments on everyone on the planet. Live and let live.
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Smells like weakness.
People on the Chinese mainland can tolerate a comment by the manager of a foreign sports team.
Their masters are much more sensitive... and ultimately vulnerable, otherwise they wouldn’t be paying attention to this kind of trivia.
The red lines are different under different culture. In the US, the red line is racist, and in China, the red line is terrorism and national secession. There are 56 races in China, there are people look like me, there are white people (yes, they live close to Russia), and we make joke of each other every day. Thats something you can not do in the US,. See how they ban the former owner of the Clippers. Because the red lines are different. National secession is the red line in China. Daryl Morey is one of those in the NBA who know China best (because of Yao), and I doubt that he did not know this. So the US ban Sterling because of discrimination, but he can still do his business in other countries. (In China we dont care this). China ban Daryl Morey (or NBA) in China because of the national secession, but it will not affect NBA in other countries. Simple as it.
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Adam Silver probably thinks thinks his servility to the Chinese government doesn't contradict the NBA's carefully cultivated "wokeness" image because he doesn't realize that China is communist in name only. For leftists and wealthy leftist poseurs, communism carries no stigma, regardless of how repressive the regime is. Without changing its power structure or officially renouncing communism, China transitioned to fascism years ago. If there were public awareness of that truth, Silver might be singing a different tune.
It is a shame that the NBA doesn't stand up for those who suffered because they fought for their own freedom in China. Now they apologized?! Just because a GM tweeted some support to Hong Kong protesters?
Now we know what the NBA as a business is made of -- they'd rather see the Chinese commercials littering NBA courts than having some backbone to do what they should do -- let's see what the players are made of. How about "I can't breathe" or "I need a mask so I can breathe?"
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Face it, Capitalism is a patsy. And probably dying anyway. Which is sad, because the alternative for the next era isn’t going to be pretty.
This episode clearly shows how silly the entire "woke" movement is. It also shows how socially damaging Twitter is. America would be better off if both the woke movement and Twitter were to just go away. What good comes from either?
China needs the NBA much more so than the reverse. The league should walk away, and its outspoken players should get outspoken to their league on this. Is selling the league's soul really worth the $4 billion? We expect this cowardly behavior from shareholder-first obsessed corporations, but my beloved NBA? Hook the Communist Party up with the NCAA where two corrupt organizations could figure out a totalitarian basketball league together.
This incident is merely a reminder that the N.B.A., at its core, is just another corporate business (arguably a cartel), no different from Disney, Facebook, or Boeing. The only difference is that it sells athletic performance, while Facebook sells you and Boeing sells aircraft.
As with any corporation, if you don't like that it is kissing Xi Jinping's you-know-what (and I most certainly don't!), then organize a boycott of its products and let Silver & Co., as well as the Players Association, hear about it. And organize very public boycotts of its sponsors as well.
On a personal level, find a way to pass on some support to Daryl Morey for speaking the truth to mega-financial power.
1
This is the league that got all woke about a bathroom bill in NC and pulled the All-Star game. But shooting protesters and imprisoning Uighurs? My gosh, they can't even tweet about that.
The dollar speaks last and loudest.
China is coming to a Fork in the Future....one is Give the people the Human Rights and Freedoms that all people deserve or keep playing Dictator .... A Billion and a Half Billion people are not going to sit around and be complacent if China goes into a self isolation depression....if mainland China Riots it will make Hong Kong seem like Child's Play!
Money and sports commerce seems to be more important than freedom of the largest population on earth. I have already dialed back on watching the thugs on the NFL.
Because of the owner's subservient attitude to the Communist Party, I won't go to any Rocket games or watch them on tv. Nor will I go to any Landry's many restaurants or go to any Golden Nugget Casinos.
Anything NBA or Tilman related will be banned and I urge others to follow me. Read a book, go out for a walk, play with the kids. Take a stand for democracy in Hong Kong and the rest of China. Remember those brave souls 30 years ago in Tinnamenn Square.
The owner of the Rockets bowed to China, not the NBA. The owner is a businessman. He does not represent the NBA. He s concerned with profits and the Rockets ave owned the Chinese market relative to other NBA teams. Question his integrity if you want, but this argument is poorly supported and the writer seems to misunderstand the structure of the NBA and the difference between A) an owner of a franchise in the league, and B) the face and voice and most powerful opinion leader in the NBA (in essence the leader of the executive branch of the NBA)
It's always about the money. I believe there is a sickness in our country and possibly the world, nothing and no one can get in the way of making more money. When is enough, enough. It's not like the NBA is struggling. How powerful it would have been for them to say "We stand with Darryl Morey and if you don't want us to come to China fine. Give us a call when you are serious about giving your people a voice."
Good for you Trey Parker and Matt Stone!
So let it be clear to all, if it were still in doubt, that America stands for NOTHING. Well, the almighty dollar but certainly not as a beacon for hope and liberty and justice for all. Clear, ladies and gentlemen?
So close! The problem isn’t woke culture, but capitalism and the greed it encourages. NBA execs are kowtowing to China because they don’t want to lose money - their values are secondary here.
Adam Silver, you have Yom Kipur tomorrow to think hard about what you're doing here... Be a mench, don't sell out so easily.
Trey and Matt have it right.
Where's LeBron & Co?
Daryl Morey is right. NBA and Rockets are wrong and should not bow down to oppressive Chinese regime.
Money talks (and often suppresses democracy)
Dollars over freedom?
Maybe we might remember Lenin's famous saying:
"To make a profit today, the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them tomorrow."
If we (hello NBA!) will not back-up the right of an individual team manager to support the Hong Kong people's earnest fight to keep their own freedoms today, then ultimately it may well be us Americans who hang tomorrow.
The NBA was"woke" when it didn't cost them anything or even worked to their economic advantage. BLM, Kaepernick, and LGBT played to their fan base, the media, and Nike, but when China's actions in Hong Kong threatened their income, they hit the snooze control and went back to sleep. Hypocrites.
We best not offend our Chinese creditors by speaking of our most cherished national values: democracy, or is it capitalism. NBA = not basically American.
Finally, Ms. Weiss gets something right. Although her detour to punch down at gender neutral bathrooms was unnecessary and naturally prompts the criticism that one can be both pro-treating all Americans with basic dignity and anti-Chinese crackdown on Hong Kong at the same time. Maybe with her next op-ed she'll manage to put all the pieces together at the same time.
Profiles in Courage
Thank you for this excellent piece. Adam Silver is a fraud. Which is too bad; I wanted to like him. But he showed his true colors here.
I'm not proud of the NBA for this decision. But this piece has a disingenuous trick at its center: it's trying to suggest that somehow the social justice left is responsible for the NBA's decision; that capitulation to China goes hand-in-hand, somehow, with support for the transgender community. It's a pretty weak link. "Woke" people aren't necessarily friends with "woke" corporations (even ones that create great product like the NBA). If Bari Weiss applies this kind of "rigor" to all China-enabling corporations, regardless of their supposed political stance, well, good on her. But as it stands this piece seems much like just one more "this minority-dominated organization is wrong" job; the sort of thing the NYtimes editorial board seems increasingly fond of.
This is spot on about the folly of western businesses and the uneasy cooperation with the totalitarian regime in China. Instead of "bringing western values" into China by doing business with them, the CCP has been using western business and their technology to make their grip that much tighter. To continue to believe that you can "reform" China this way is a fool's errand.
Joe Tsai's declarations are at the very least doubly disconcerting, given he grew up in Taiwan and then was able to take full advantage of its democratic freedoms. Granted, he has financial (and familial) ties to China, but that he should now serve as a mouthpiece for CCP tactics is utterly despicable.
Please remember his position the next time you (don't) buy a Brooklyn Nets ticket.
The continued demise of America and the continued rise of China is what this story shows me. Money speaks louder than morals as I continue to witness an America that I no longer recognize.
The world's wokest sports league? Not even the country's. Major League Soccer takes that honor, hands down. Watch a game in pretty much any MLS venue and you will see what you never see in any other league's stadiums - large rainbow flags being waved with exuberant pride all game long and large banners denouncing racism and proclaiming LGBTQ solidarity and welcome on display throughout the stadiums. There is nothing like it the other major sports leagues. Nothing even close.
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@James McCarthy That's great but that's just because a lot more of soccer's fan base is LGBTQ. If that were the case for the NBA/NFL/MLB, they'd do the same. It's all about money. These are businesses, first and foremost.
2
@James McCarthy Okay, point taken, corrected to "sports leagues that people actually watch."
More seriously, last MLS game I watched against an LigaMX team. It was a chorus of "puto" chants,
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@Jay "a lot more of soccer's fan base is LGBTQ" and "It's all about money. These are businesses, first and foremost." Explain then why FIFA, soccer's governing body, placed the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar, respectively, "countries whose legal codes and cultures are rife with homophobia."* Include in your analysis a reconciliation of those decisions with the fact that U.S. television rights for the World Cup and game tickets for World Cup games as purchased by Americans are two of FIFA's largest revenue streams. In the meantime, I am going to continue to believe there is a little something different about MLS.
* https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/gay-soccer-fans-enjoy-this-world-cup-because-youre-not-welcome-at-the-next-two/453102/
1
The NBA was never 'woke'. It recognized that pretending to be socially aware is a good way to sell tickets and merchandise. That political cynicism was revealed as soon as it was asked to make a meaningful stand for its supposed political ideals.
I suspect the same is true of many supposedly woke industries...Hollywood, fashion, big tech, academia, etc.
1
As someone who grew up in a former communist country, what I am thinking right now is "Thank God the Soviet Union was not interested in the NBA".
And I surely will not take the NBA's next woke project seriously.
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Those in the West who are so quick to criticize China for its sensitivity to foreign interference obviously don't know or care to understand the history.
China under a corrupt and weak Qing dynasty at the end of the 19th century suffered massive humiliation at the hands of the West. Britain attacked China multiple times to force it to open up its' markets to opium, an addictive substance with terrible social effects in China.
The British wanted the massive profits from the opium trade, and used their naval power to force China open up to opium. China lost the opium wars, and not only had to let the British sell opium into China on a large scale, they ceded Hong Kong to the British as part of the peace settlement. British warships could sail up Chinese rivers with impunity, and China had to cede parts of Shanghai to Britain. France, and Germany.
Given the greed and rapacity of the West towards China, should we expect China to view the West as a friend with only good intentions?
Now that China can, it is flexing its' muscles, and it is obvious the West doesn't like it one bit.
As for the rioters in Hong Kong, its' doubtful they even know what they want. Wanton violence cheered on by the Western media doesn't solve problems.
Perhaps we should save our sanctimony about standing for freedom and focus on our very real domestic problems instead.
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@Donna Meyer
You left out the the U.S.'s own "Open Door" policy in China in your summation of turn of the 20th century Western interference there. We were right in there playing with the team in terms of carving up Chinese "influence" to suit our sense of being an up and comer on the world policy stage. Still, much as I love a historical argument, this one seems lame. There's been a whole lot of water under the bridge since the events you describe (Hello, Communism and Chairman Mao!) and even if China still had a beef over that period, the point of the piece is that the NBA can't have their woke cake and eat it too.
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@Donna Meyer The history you describe was very regrettable but your summary is flawed significantly by the fact that such is just that - history - and "the West", "Britain", "France", Germany" are not really actors, let alone eternal, unchanging ones. The fact is actual individual officials of the mentioned countries made regrettable decisions regarding China on behalf of their countries, but they are long dead. Agents of the Chinese Communist Party are very much alive and behaving appallingly with respect to their own fellow citizens in China right now. Moreover "Communism" is a product of "the West" (and a terrible one). The Chinese Communist Party fraudulently claims that the much better Western invention of democracy is not a good fit for China and Chinese people despite the esteem for it in Taiwan and Hong Kong. History records dead authoritarian regimes are legion. Communist Party led China will so too pass away.
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@Donna Meyer
You're quite right about the Western invasions of China, eg, the Opium War, etc. But China has been in the business of foreign interference itself for many centuries. Just ask the Dai (Thai), Mongolian, Uighur, Manchurian, Korean, Tibetan, etc. peoples currently inside China, though living in their native regions. Chinese imperialism has been every bit as invasive as Western imperialism for a very long time. And as for Hong Kong and Guangdong, different language, culture, etc. and many there have long felt they were colonized by the Mandarin-speakers from the north. Your disparaging remark that "it's doubtful they even know what they want" greatly weakens your argument, and sounds itself like a dismissive imperialist retort that might have been made by those Western invaders of China during the Boxer Rebellion.
12
we may not like the current system in China, and I do not. but it is a fact HK is part of China.
the protesters lost my support when they make their demand on the bases that they are not Chinese and HK is not part of China.
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@San mao
Hong Kong is culturally, linguistically, and politically distinct from China.
The people of Hong Kong want autonomy and self-determination and don't want to be ruled by the corrupt authoritarian mainland and be subject to the disasters caused by the inept Beijing government. (Such as The Great Chinese Famine, The Cultural Revolution and the One Child Policy, to name just a few...)
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@San mao
Go back and read what was promised to the people of Hong Kong prior to the handover. China has methodically backtracked on those promises and eroded the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong. China doesn't care a whit about freedom of expression, freedom of thought, or any other freedom if it "harms" the state or even the perception of the state. The NBA was wrong to bow to China and should pay a heavy price at home for it's cowardly act.
1
@San mao: neither of your points are the least bit relevant to the issue at hand. How in the world is the fact that someone might maintain that someplace is -- or is not -- part of someplace else a justification for the brutal repression of any and all dissent?
1
This debacle is being severely misrepresented. The NBA didn't "bow to China", as the CCP did nothing here. It was the Chinese fans who individually started a boycott on their own. Western journalists need to be more responsible with their wording and stop treating Chinese people as though they cannot think for themselves. If a Chinese celebrity insulted American sovereignty, Americans would boycott too.
12
Actually you are incorrect on all counts. First, it was not a grass roots uprising but a government controlled response. Second, no the Chinese people cannot think for themselves nor speak out for themselves nor do much of anything not approved by the state. Third is that your hypothetical about what if a Chinese actor spoke out against America is not the right hypothetical is the right hypothetical to prove the point. The Question is what happens if a Chinese celebrity criticizes China, it’s own government. The answer is .....it never happens as the consequences would be dire, perhaps life threatening.
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Chinese people do ‘think’ for themselves. However, their selves were trained to ‘think’ in such a way in state controlled school and state controlled and surveilled media. Those who do not ‘think’ in such way are identified and scolded if not worse. Xinjiang being the most current demonstrable and lamentable example ( far more than HK ).
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@Sarah Johnson Yeah right, as if the Chinese fans have access to all the information in the world. They only have access to what the CCP wants them to see. It's called censorship and propaganda.
2
Sorry, this was democracy in action. I have not heard any allegation that the Chinese government threatened or punished the NBA. Instead, what happened is that the tweets went viral and the NBA then decided to apologize so as not to offend the "sensitivities" of 500 million Chinese fans/consumers in order to continue making billions of dollars from them. Now, one could easily argue that the Chinese are being oversensitive, but under the principles of democracy, all people are equal, so a single Chinese fan should have the same voice as a single American fan, and 500 million Chinese fans should have influence commensurate with their numbers.
The most undemocratic aspect of today's world is how the 20% of humanity living in the first world control most of the economy and nearly all the political power. China's economic growth is a great victory for democracy, because it is giving another 20% of humanity a voice.
16
@HO Do you really think the average Chinese person living in Communist China feels they have a a voice? Do you think they get to post their political opinions freely, as we do? Do they get to vote for their political leaders, as we do? No, in fact in China if you are caught saying or posting something that the government deems offensive, you can be thrown in jail for an indefinite time, with no due process. So, even though the people of Hong Kong were promised they would have autonomy, now the Chinese government wants to change the law in Hong Kong so that anyone arrested there can be sent to the mainland and dealt with there, which would not be in the same way as in Hong Kong. In other words, the Chinese are demanding that the people of Hong Kong give up their freedom. Imagine the mass of people that would be one million, that many have come out and marched in the streets of Hong Kong, because that's how big of a deal this is.
China's economic growth has been a victory for communism because they have figured out how to incorporate capitalism without having to become a democracy. They have fostered economic growth but have continued to cause repression, censorship, and massive human rights violations that do not get reported in their government-controlled press. If that sounds like a victory for democracy to you, then you need to reexamine what democracy actually is!
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@LB
One disagreement: China's economic growth has not been a victory for communism but, rather, for Leninism.
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@isabella
I don’t know what access to news Chinese people have, but they clearly must know about these Hong Kong protests if they are getting offended by them. There is a long history of grassroots consumer boycotts in China, including the recent one against Dolce & Gabana after their insensitive but non-political ad. I have not seen any evidence that the Chinese government punished or threatened to punish the NBA. If they did, it is backfiring horribly as seen in these comments. It is more reasonable to believe that the NBA feared a consumer boycott and so backed down quickly.
@LB
I’d bet Chinese people feel like they have more of a voice today than was the case when they were desperately poor 50 years ago. Third-world poverty makes democracy meaningless—Guatemala is a democracy but I doubt all those Guatemalans showing up at our border feel like they have a voice in anything meaningful. Sure, they can vote for their own leaders, but their leaders don’t have the power or resources to actually do anything. Of course, China is far from a wealthy democracy like America, but it is hard to discard the legacy of millennia of feudalism, centuries of colonialism, and decades of communism in one generation. The post-1978 Chinese government clearly did a better job of increasing the wealth and freedom of people in China than the vast majority of other third-world governments.
8
Regarding the issue of "censorship": Mr. Morey angered the Chinese fans, so they started to boycott. How is that censorship?
Nobody is pointing a gun at the guy's head to apologize or retract the statement. It was his choice to do so. If you offend your customer, you may lose your customer.
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences. You don't go attacking someone's country and then scream censorship when they don't want to do business with you anymore.
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@Sarah Johnson
The Chinese retaliated (no preseason broadcasts) further in explicit response to Mr. Silver's statement supporting Mr. Morey's right to his opinion. (They obviously wouldn't be distracted/deluded the way NBA Twitter could be). They are insisting that Mr. Silver censor, and he's about to be forced to take a side.
@Sarah Johnson ,
the censorship in this case is coming from the NBA
I commend Joe Tsai and the NBA for pushing back against the anti-China echo chamber. There needs to be more diversity of thought within the western China discourse. So far, it's just been senseless, irrational hostility towards anything Chinese. As Mr. Morey stated: "I have had a lot of opportunity since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives." Perhaps Ms. Weiss can attempt to consider other perspectives too. Anything else would just lead to more division and tension.
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@Sarah Johnson There needs to be more diversity of thought within Western China. Xinjiang specifically, wouldn’t you agree? Anything else would just lead to more division and tension.
20
@Sarah Johnson It wouldn't surprise me at all if China is doing the same. I don't know a single real American who isn't supporting the protesters in Hong Kong. It's democracy against dictatorship, Sarah. In this time of Donald Trump, it's easy to forget what the US is doing right. Democracy has always been right. China has a king, and he kills peaceful protesters. Tienamen Square. Tienamen Squre. Tienamen Square. Tienamen Squre.
We knpw that the Russians pay people to write pro-Russian tripe on-line, in the guise of being American. The Chinese must, as well. My name really is David Bullock, and I really do live in Champaign, Illinois.
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@Sarah Johnson
"it's just been senseless, irrational hostility towards anything Chinese"
You don't think that China being an authoritarian state that is unable to tolerate basic human dissent (including the time when, after much internal consideration, the Chinese government decided the right course was to run over demonstrators with tanks) has anything to do with it? Or is criticism of an extraordinarily repressive regime what you call "irrational hostility"?
The west lost the moral high ground when they chose the Chinese Communists in power over the student democracy movement they destroyed at Tiananmen Square. Shortly afterward, corporate America came calling in search of cheap labor and few regulations.
Now we cannot build a phone, computer or aircraft without parts made in a nation with Nuclear weapons pointed toward our cities and military bases. That is insane regardless of your political outlook or loyalty.
Finally, can we stop thinking or pretending that corporations, trade associations and such really give one whit about democracy, justice, artistry or anything else if it stands in the way of commerce?
The NBA top brass should go back and read the writings of the founders of this country like Jefferson, Madison, Adams, etc. The NBA seems to be so caught up in marketing its brand that it has lost sight of what is important from the US perspective based on this China episode. China represents a clear threat to freedom and democracy everywhere. There should be no doubt that the US opposes authoritarian societies that use technological surveillance to control their populations. The protesters in Hong Kong are expressing values that largely came from the founding of the United States.
A case where the market dictates over vales and principles - Capitalism in its purest form . .
1
Of all the major sports leagues, the NBA is the only one that sometimes, despite itself, gets things right.
But in this situation, it should be extremely, EXTREMELY embarrassed for not allowing one of its own the freedom of speech it gives lip service to--unless, of course, said freedom of speech might disquiet one of its international partners.
In the end, even in the NBA, it's lucre uber alles.
4
From my perspective, Commissioner Silver is taking the correct course, Darryl Morey speaks for himself as is the right of every US citizen and any citizen of any country that values free speech and expression. The NBA, as a sports organization, must be aware that its owners and players have different positions on all sorts of issues. Basketball is not monolithic, nor are the citizens of any country no matter how much wishful thinking or propaganda is involved. What is clear from this experience is how fearful the current regime in Beijing is. President Xi is so insecure that any sign of "weakness" about his people expressing something other than approved party doctrine results in even more oppressive action. Big Brother indeed!
Our mega-profitable corporations enjoy a secure existence due to the good graces of democracy, not vice-versa.
Just ask any oligarch who's fallen foul of the dictatorship they were under the thumb of.
Maybe Mr. Silver and his ilk ought to give some thought to how they can better support the democratic society that supports their freedom to do business.
1
Here is some historical background. Back in the imperial days of China, if someone commits a crime, the whole family several degrees removed are punished, this includes torture and death. In the hay days of the People’s Republic, relatives of KMT members who fled to Taiwan were marked as part of the 5 black categories and subjected to discrimination in all aspect of life. In the international politics world, this has been applied with very strict practice to all things Taiwan and Tibet and Uyghur related that runs counter to the Chinese narrative.
The point is China is very accustomed to outright banning of an entire school, an entire organization, or even an entire country over the speech of an individual. The NBA is just the latest victim.
The question to us all is do we think this type of full fledged censorship should become standard operating procedure for the entire world to follow? Or do we still have some sense of common decency and do we still value our basic freedom of speech. If corporations like the NBA continues to kowtow to China (Morgan Stanley already did, submitting to Chinese request that Taiwan is hereby labeled as Taiwan, a province of China), every aspect of your life will need to go through the lens the that Chinese censor magnifying glass. It is time to take a stand, America.
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@JT
It's called "collective guilt." We had in the West too, and then a lot of people made great sacrifices to move us past that concept and practice. Of course we still do have examples of this behavior among us--eg, it's a classic tactic of the mafia.
1
Yes. The correct NBA response might have been: "Darryl Morey does not speak for the NBA or represent the league's political views. He does, however, speak for himself and he represents the freedom of all Americans to do so."
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@Mickey
Which raises the question: what ARE NBA's political views exactly?
7
@Mickey
Most Americans have been so indoctrinated that they will not realize the irony that a nation that prides itself on "freedom of speech" now has its entire political establishment attacking the NBA for not siding with its foreign policy positions.
The reality is that Hong Kong's government actually already affords these rioters vastly more freedom of speech than they would ever find in the United States. If you doubt it, try throwing a firebomb at your local police officer and see what happens.
5
@Kinetic
They don't need any political views. What they need to do is allow their members to speak freely, as we've all grown up believing is our right.
4
They key the the NBA's hypocrisy may be money. But there's also something oddly consistent about the NBA being woke on every issue except China. Wokeness isn't a movement based on principles, but in practice on the shorthand assumption that all bad things originate from heterosexual white men, especially if they're Christian. That's why criticizing the levels of homophobia and anti-feminism in Islamic communities here in Britain (attested to by many polls) is off limits to the woke, and is left to conservatives instead--who are not exactly trusted on these issues. Given how wokeness works, it's a no-brainer for the NBA to criticize a southern state for its position on trans-gender toilets because the south is popularly associated with conservative white males and support for Trump. At the same time, it's a no-brainer to give China whatever indulgence it asks for because it is associated with neither. The fact that China is far to the right of the south on countless matters is irrelevant.
9
@Alexander Menzies: "the shorthand assumption that all bad things originate from heterosexual white men"
If heterosexual white males ever get displaced, the "woke" world will find out the hard way that any group that's in charge will include bad actors who use their position to exploit and belittle others. Bad things originate any time the wrong people get power.
1
An excellent editorial that captures how the censorship of this tweet is a perfect representation of the overall cowardice of the western corporations and countries and tech companies that take a good game about democracy and human rights and do nothing real when those things are on the line because of fear of disrupting the status quo on global trade with China.
China is a brutal totalitarian surveillance state and all of the brave Hong Kong protestors - violent and non-violent - are worthy of praise and support. Many western democracies had to have violent revolutions to get to where we are today, yet now that a global trade regime is entrenched we are quick to condemn violent revolutions anywhere else, and instead only (and now increasingly less often) make vague calls for "human rights."
Speaking of censorship, I have made this same comment several times on other NYT articles about Hong Kong and it has not been published, presumably because a) one isn't allowed to voice support for a violent revolution (American Revolution anyone?) or b) one isn't allowed to compare other events to the Holocaust and the Nazis, even if China is operating a massive network of concentration camps in Xinjiang (please click on the link to the other NYT article on this topic that is linked to in this editorial).
10
@Cody wrote: "Speaking of censorship, I have made this same comment several times on other NYT articles about Hong Kong and it has not been published..."
Many of us have had the same experience. Even watered-down comments designed specifically to avoid censorship are either not printed or are printed a day or two later. Meanwhile, comments condemning the Hong Kong protesters, highlighting Trump's lack of engagement, or the pointing out the supposed equivalence of the conquest of the American Indian get top billing.
No. Supporting rioters in Hong Kong is not at all the same as supporting democracy. In fact it means actually *opposing* the rule of law which is fundamental to democracy. Therefore if you provide unqualified support to the troubles in HK you are opposing democracy.
The initial situation in Hong Kong could have led to discussion, but instead, the rioters (and many are indeed rioters) rejected the HK Government’s overtures (which included removing the contested extradition bill) and have chosen to follow a “scorched earth policy”. Please do not encourage these lawless people.
3
@Andrew Oh so Carrie Lam talked to the protesters and came to a common solution? Noooooo. Which Hong Kong are you talking about?
Its about time that people realize that "woke" companies don't exist. Its about time that people realize that "woke" companies don't exist.
3
You could argue that the NBA has done more to begin the liberalization of China than any other American institution. Its players, fashion styles, and music industry connections are followed avidly by millions of young Chinese.
The connections are deep and I am sure if you asked the individual players who are 75% African-American they would wish more freedom for all Chinese citizens.
I don't know how much you know about this, Ms. Weiss. I would guess very little.
But to jump on the league which is in a very difficult position is a bit of cheap shot.
2
@History Guy
I agree, there is no question that our business interests in China have contributed to an awakening of Chinese interaction with Western culture and ideals particularly among young people. On the other hand, make no mistake about it, the liberalization of Chinese society has been carefully contrived using things such as music and sports as a vehicle to advancing Chinese interests, presence and acceptance on the world stage. I'm not sure the NBA is in as difficult position as you describe. To borrow from another sport, I think they could have played a little more "hardball" on this one.
2
Excellent article, sums up the NBA hypocrisy perfectly. It’s all about money.
One of America’s worst qualities.
Interesting that Trumps hard line stance with China wasn’t acknowledged and applauded at any point in the article.
Nor his recent call for US companies to stop doing business with China.
6
If not for the existence of North Korea, China would be the most oppressive regime in the world. How can the NBA apologize to such a regime? Cowardice, on the part of Adam Silver. Bravery from Daryl Morey. The NBA has lost my support. I will not pay to see a game or buy a jersey in 2020.
9
Can we just admit that Twitter is an utter waste of time? Such massive consternation for so few characters.
2
South Park's "Band in China" was banned in China and here's the creators' response: Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look just like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?
3
A refreshing and unanticipated departure from your usual fare Bari. Your perspective offers a much-needed balance to the NBA's pusillanimity.
No one suggested "wokeness" was consistent.
As you observe, China has influenced the NBA more than the NBA has democratized China.
This is about the NBA's worship of the almighty dollar. China represents a potential market that is larger than North America and the European Union combined. But most Chinese still cannot afford the cost of a ticket in North America.
The Chinese are crazy about basketball, especially after Yao Ming's success, and we may yet witness a few elite Chinese basketball players drafted into the NBA periodically.
As for James Harden, he was never a team player. Houston will never win a championship if he keeps scoring fifty points a game. Harden's kowtowing here is all about moving more Harden jerseys in China.
Adam Silver deservedly enjoys a reputation for being one of the best and most progressive NBA commissioners. The players like and respect him.
But doing business with China now poses a problem. It is a bit more serious than taking a knee. It is about taking a position vis-a-vis a government whose authority and human rights abuses know no bounds.
Great finish.
One of your better columns by far.
3
A giant, multinational corporation, that succumbs to the vicissitudes of moral relativism? My goodness.
In the words of Lauryn Hill, “It's funny how money change a situation”
3
It is ironic the spirit of America stands taller in a cartoon series than in the NBA, even with their 4 billion reasons.
57
Taking a poll:
Which corrupts more? Power or money?
As goes the N.F.L., so goes the N.B.A.
2
Let’s see how the “wokest league” responds to the following:
The NBA players in their game in China (or all the Brooklyn Nets for the rest of year) wear the simple red t-shirt with the word on the front:
Remember Tiananmen Square!
Let’s see how much “free speech rights” the players have then.
1
This happens again and again.
America claims to stand for human rights but backtracks immediately when money is involved.
It is not as if NBA does not make enough money within US and other countries where their games are televised.
But the lure of mega money is irresistible to the owners that make up NBA.
Just think, if NBA stood its ground and China refuses to show the games that were supposedly watched by 500 million mainland Chinese, the Chinese govt will have to explain to its people why this entertainment has been yanked off their TV screens.
Chinese Communist Party wants to keep its masses quiescent by providing material goods provided they don't ask any questions.
In the past China has insisted on fashion industry bigwigs to apologize for remarks considered humiliating to the Chinese but this is different.
Chinese officials will have a hard time explaining to their people that NBA has been boycotted for supporting people in Hong Kong who are protesting for defending their human rights, which don't even exist on mainland China.
One brave business has to start the push back to this blackmail and then others will follow. How many companies is China going to blacklist before it's citizens get restive?
2
It's hilarious how Hong Kong protest proponents are supportive of freedom of speech until it's speech that they don't like. Darryl Morey had every right to speak his opinion, just as Tilman Fertitta, the NBA, and Joe Tsai had every right to rebuke his opinion. Apparently, anyone who does not conform to the thinking that China is the literal Antichrist is automatically a bad person now. We are living Orwellian times; wrongthink is very real in the western world.
13
@Sarah Johnson
Using Orwell to defend a regime that represses freedom of speech and locks people up (and worse) for campaigning publicly for social justice, or just for being of the wrong ethnicity, belief system, etc.
Now that really is Orwellian. His concept of "doublethink" comes to mind.
25
@Sarah Johnson
Not all speech is free, and not all speech is equal.
What you need to understand about China is that it does not honor the concept of the individual.
Individual human lives signify on a different register in that part of the world.
The system is everything, the individual nothing.
10
@Sarah Johnson
Orwell lives in America, but in a much weaker form than the Orwell that thrives in China.
The speech acts of Morey, Fertitta, and Tsai are shaped by different socioeconomic vectors.
To suggest that anyone can say anything about anyone without understanding their motivations is rather simplistic.
What sense does it make to invoke Orwell to critique the West--in the act of defending China?
You do understand that "Animal Farm" was a satirical assault on Stalinism?
What do you think Orwell, if he were alive, would say about the evolution of China?
Orwell was a democratic socialist, a thinker who prefigures a politician like Sanders.
China currently embodies the two political economies Orwell most despised: Communism and capitalism.
11
Follow the money.
Money talks
What a difference money could make. I guest there is more money to be harvest in the People Republic of China than in Charlotte, North Carolina. After all, there is no bathroom law in the PRC only no democracy at all.
1
It is only the actions of American oligarchs of sport following the gilded highway of America’s Trumpian Enlightenment. And by the way, James Harden travels every time he takes his step back jumper. It is therefore fitting that Houston is so involved in taking two steps back from a statement of truth.
4
@Ralph
Traveling was always allowed in the NBA, as is palming (Iverson). Giannis takes an extra step on many of his dunks.
It's good for business.
Only not in high school or college.
Let's see what develops now that California has greenlighted the professionalization of college athletes.
Next step--high school athletes. Zion was certainly signable in high school.
Seems it didn't take long for the NBA, and even Mr. Morey, to be "re-educated" by China. This is clearly a case of money over scruples. It's not even a question of agreeing or disagreeing with Mr. Morey, but shutting him down in this way is a hyper-sensitive over-reaction and just plain bullying that goes against any workable notion of free speech by traditional American cultural standards.
To those (surprisingly many) commenters saying this is merely a case of "the customer is always right" and simply a spontaneous outpouring of national pride from Chinese basketball fans, I'm not sure why you assume that "free market" and "freedom of speech" logic applies to the reaction from China on this. Are you not aware of the pervasive and punitive political control of public speech in China? I have actually been to China and met plenty of people there who would agree with Mr. Morey's original remark, or be prepared to debate it with him, or search for some genuine new understanding mutually. The Chinese people are not generally so fragile or sensitive to debate, much to their credit--this is about CCP control of the Chinese people, period.
On our own end, shame on the NBA bigwigs for the hypocrisy pointed out here, regarding their "woke" posing and then folding like a house of cards under pressure. Whatever you think about the HK issue, it would be hard for anyone on any side to deny the hypocrisy and cowardice shown by the NBA admin here.
3
When will China realize that a perceived criticism of the Communist Party and its politics or polices is not a criticism of the country itself or its people? In fact the polar opposite is true. Liu Xiaobo, Ai Weiwei and other artists who have dared to speak out are the true Chinese patriots. In the words of the Liu:
"Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth. To strangle freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, stifle humanity, and suppress truth."
The irony is that the NBA, in censoring this pretty benign comment, has done the Communist regime's dirty work for it.
6
Very interesting that the US politicians got upset at NBA official and claimed that NBA bowed to the dollar.Where was/is there moral compass when India has interned eight million Kashmiris? I guess that silence can be attributed to the Dollar also? Why the double standards? I guess that is politics, only interests and never morals.
The NBA official showed courtesy by apologizing. A concept that does not exist in the book of the politicians.
The NBA is just joining the NFL, which coopted the Kaepernick support movement by hiring Jay Z to organize their half-time shows. Remember last year, when no African American performers would play because they all supported Kaepernick? Indeed, before being offered lots of NFL money, JayZ wore a Kaepernick jersey on SNL. After being offered lots of money, JayZ ditched the Kapernick support movement and sold out to the organization he's been excoriating. These two incidents demonstrate the true essence of capitalism -- there is no moral issue for a business that isn't outweighed by profits. That is why is was such a cataclysmic event recently when top CEO's suggested that corporations might have responsibilities to the community beyond just making money for their shareholders.
2
Isn’t it a bit ironic that this all happened whilst the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, GEN Dempsey, is a special advisor to Mr. Silver (pictured sitting next to one another in the article’s photo)? Although retired, he maintains a duty to support and defend the constitution.
1
Not to mention all those Western universities - whose collective woke quotient scores rather high - rushing to establish their presence in China. A whole lot of tuition payers there.
1
@Abbott Katz
Not to mention the same repression of freedom of speech exported from China back to those other countries, through those universities and the Confucius Institutes they host, etc. As was demonstrated recently at the University of Queensland in Australia, and elsewhere. By the way, this Faustian tuition fee sell-out has been happening in K-12 schools too, not just universities and colleges.
1
The "un-woke" continue their quest to destroy what little is left of the noble intentions of our founding fathers.
2
The NBA is morally bankrupt. The thin-skinned response by the Chinese to any criticism should say it all. I don't know why American companies must expand there at any price. When is too much growth too much? At the expense of a backbone?
4
An op-ed in which you offer up a mutually exclusive choice between advocating for trans-equality, on the one hand, and criticizing limitations on democracy, on the other, is not an article worth taking seriously.
Support for democracy?? The USA speaking from both sides of the mouth. Why in the first place the USA should interfere in China’s affairs? If any foreign power would dare to speak up about the USA internal affairs? It would be highly criticized.
@RBR
When citizens in China speak up about their own country's internal affairs they are punished with far more than being "highly criticized."
Money talks, while principles are ephemeral.
Ah, no. The Chinese Communist Party is not yet the great threat to "our freedoms", and the NBA is hardly alone among American businesses in kowtowing to China. Google, Microsoft and Apple do come to mind.
Meanwhile, the real threat to our liberties resides right here at home. The same entity has the distinction of posing an existential threat to humanity itself, though climate change denial, and active efforts to increase fossil fuel exploitation and use.
Any guesses what that organization is called? Of course, it's very good, in the short term, to Ms. Weiss' favorite cause, which is an awkward matter for this columnist.
1
Silver’s obsequiousness was troubling to see. But the readers here so quick to judge him are naive and/or hypocritical.
The NBA is a multi billion dollar business. China, despite being a tyrannical state, is a multi billion dollar business opportunity.
Any person, even the ardent anti- capitalists commenting on this page, would do nothing differently from Silver, who is a CEO trying to expand the reach of the league.
1
@Mark
Speak for yourself. Plenty of us do something different every day. I have no problem with honest disagreement, but it's ridiculous to assert every other human being would do nothing different from Mr. Silver. There are plentiful examples of people around the USA and the rest of the world who are obvious counter-examples to that assertion. China's prisons alone have plenty of people locked up and tormented precisely because they don't think "business opportunity" excuses a "tyrannical state" (to quote your own words). It's important to respect the facts, even when disagreeing on what to do about them.
OK, so what will US athletes be "allowed" to say prior to or at the 2022 winter Olympics, which will be hosted by Beijing? Will the US Olympic Committee, or NBC, which has the television rights, be subject to censorship by the Chinese government, or to "implicit censorship" by themselves, when like the NBA, they try to stay in the good graces of the Chinese?
1
This article and others of its ilk in the mainstream media reek of what Edward Said described in his 1978 book Orientalism—the tendency for westerners to judge the East as "backwards" and assume themselves as superior people who need to "fix" the East's society by unilaterally spreading "democracy" and "freedom".
A key element of the China-West value conflict stems from the fact that the west does not accept any conceptualization of "civilization" that contravenes their own. For the west, different cultures and nations can exist, but must be subordinate to the west's supremacy. The Chinese standing up for themselves simply cannot be tolerated.
@Sarah Johnson
I've met plenty of Chinese people who are well versed in Edward Said's work and connect it to aspects of China's own history of imperial conquest and Han ethno-cultural chauvinism. In the spirit of Edward Said, I think one step you could take to deconstruct Orientalism is not to view Asia (or even China) as a monolithic "other" as you do here. As for the Chinese standing up for themselves, isn't that what we saw in Tienanmen Square in 1989? And what would you call what's happening in HK right now? Edward Said wasn't proposing the replacement of Western imperial oppression with a homegrown version of the same thing.
2
@Sarah Johnson These comments are at least slightly absurd. There is a rich tradition of Western ideas and values long before PRC communism. For example, John Dewey, a well known American philosopher, lectured on democracy in China before WW I. Before the fiasco of peace treaty ending that war, Woodrow Wilson was a hero to Chinese students who created the May 4th movement. More recently the demonstrations at Tiananmen Square and its bloody repression suggests that democratic sentiments are widespread especially among China's youth. What "Orientalism" has to do with the young man who stood before a tank is a mystery. The PRC is today a surveillance state at least the equal of the Stasi in East Germany. An excellent piece in Foreign Affairs (May/June 2015) by Youwei explores the tentacles of the PRC suppression. Youwei is a pseudonym for a PRC based scholar. I wonder what he thinks of "Orientalism."
From the Amnesty International country profile on China .
"The government continued to draft and enact new laws under the guise of “national security” that presented serious threats to human rights. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo died in custody. Activists and human rights defenders were detained, prosecuted and sentenced on the basis of vague and overbroad charges such as “subverting state power” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Police detained human rights defenders outside formal detention facilities, sometimes incommunicado, for long periods, which posed additional risk of torture and other ill-treatment to the detainees. Controls on the internet were strengthened. Repression of religious activities outside state-sanctioned churches increased. Repression conducted under “anti-separatism” or “counter-terrorism” campaigns remained particularly severe in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and Tibetan-populated areas. Freedom of expression in Hong Kong came under attack as the government used vague and over broad charges to prosecute pro-democracy activists:
This is what the NBA is supporting in choosing to condemn an American citizen speaking out in support of greater freedoms for the people of Hong Kong. In many ways, they are like the NFL here in the U.S as owners try to diminish free speech and discredit and silence activists.
2
It’s funny seeing liberal media picking up this story today. Yesterday this story was blowing up in conservative media and I found myself in the weird position of agreeing with the Washington Examiner. Why was there this weird day long delay before it got picked up everywhere else?
@Corby Ziesman
Freedom makes strange bedfellows, eh? Anyway, better late than never.
@V.B. Zarr So much so that The Federalist actually had a piece today about how strangely, liberals and conservatives all agree on this issue. I actually enjoyed reading something in The Federalist. Hard as that is to believe. The comments were even less of a total nightmare than usual.
Love watching great basketball, but this frightening capitulation, along with ridiculous ticket prices, has "awakened" me to boycott the league. Wow, I hope the Chinese don't come after me next...
1
What is truly compelling is the greed. Every owner in the NBA is basically a billionaire, living in the US, enjoying all the freedoms their money - which they have earned and we respect - affords them. Yet, these guys, who can live like kings off their interest and don’t need to earn another penny the rest of their lives to do so, don’t have the courage or compassion to support the rights of people risking their lives for basic freedoms which our parents fought and died for in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc. FDR was itching to fight the Germans, yet one tweet by a GM is treated like treason in the NBA. Moreover, the owner of the Nets, who I thought was from Taipei (Taiwan to us older folks), has the absolute, unmitigated gall to act like the GM owes China an apology. Nets? Never heard of them, was nice knowing you.
1
Excellent column by Ms. Weiss. Greed and Profit without concern that a Hong Kong journalist was blinded by the thuggish police and a 14 year old boy shot with live ammunition. 100’s injured, protesting for freedom from the Chinese dictatorship.
Absiolutely right about American businesses serving as the handmaidens of the Chinese Communist Party. It is a shame that the NBA and other business organizations -- especially our tech giants like Google and Apple -- have been complicit in the Communist Party's domination.
Equally shameful: the US government, and its President, have not voiced support for Hong Kong. Our official response seems to be "We hope the violence will stop." This is equivalent to saying we hope the protesters will just stay home. I'm ashamed of what our country's government and businesses have become.
1
It's a shame that the NBA chose money over principles, and have sided with an authoritarian regime instead of the courageous citizens of Hong Kong. And speaking of money, they're not getting any of mine. I will be boycotting the NBA, not attending any games this season, nor watching any games on TV. I hope others boycott the NBA also.
The NBA can do as it wishes, given that it is a business based in the US, but I sure hope that the players and owners stop speaking out on social issues because they won't be believed much anymore. Or, perhaps, this simply shows the lack of educated people associated with the NBA, from front office personnel to players, because China is a horrific authoritarian government. You would have to live in a closet to not know that China abuses people and that the government stands for the complete opposite of the US Constitution's 1st Amendment privileges.
In a quote attributable to Vladamir Lenin,
"If we announced that we were going to hang all the Capitalists, they would sell us the rope".
With a population four times the size of the United States, China represents an enormous potential market for goods, services, and entertainment. To enter and profit from that market, the "Capitalists" are willing to allow their intellectual property to be pilfered, technology stolen, and now their political ideals quashed.
Its disgusting. For the Chinese to sell their products here, we should require them to extend freedom to the residents of Hong Kong. Instead, we keep quiet so we can sell them games on Chinese pay TV. All for the almighty Huan.
Communist China is offended that an NBA General Manager expressed support for the protests in Hong Kong. Chinese Corporations aligned with the government then threaten the NBA with severe economic consequences. In turn, the NBA prostrates itself at the foot of the Chinese government and compels the removal of the offending comment.
The word 'despicable' does not begin to describe the NBA's unprincipled cowardice.
It now falls to the League's superstars who once publicly protested President Trump's racism, or declined pro forma White House invitations, to comment on the morally corrupt behavior of the Basketball Association that claims to support
the right of its athletes to free speech.
The protestors in HK are in a struggle to preserve their foundational civil rights. Now that the NBA has spoken so shamefully, what will the players have to say about whether money trumps civil rights?
2
Money and greed always trump righteousness. Maybe the nba fans should step up and voice their indignation about this whole matter and boycott a full game. I’m sure Silver would acknowledge that fans have a right to express their opinions here in the USA. But not nba owners and execs?
Is this where America is headed?
Well stated, until Bari Weiss took the moral high ground while staring at her navel about the LBGTQ community: Is the issue of gender-neutral bathrooms really as morally urgent as a country that is, as Pete Buttigieg sharply put it, “using technology for the perfection of dictatorship?” I don't know, I'd say the issue of who uses what bathroom goes a little deeper than that.
2
The NBA’s response is typically American. Money talks and we all have our price.
I actually think all parties spoke their minds:
Daryl thought HK should be freed (suffrage or secede from China or both; probably in the Free Tibet sense), Chinese citizens thought otherwise, and Adam Silver thinks that Daryl’s comment’s bad for business.
We got to hear the truth. Nobody’s voice was suppressed.
The only possible beef would be that politically Silver should be on team America and not apologize to Chinese consumers. But he and what he represents has interests. I’d say at least 70% of Americans in his shoes would do the exact same thing.
Is NBA being hypocritical? Yes but any entity that manages multi billion dollars is hypocritical. That includes all governments.
So glad this is being scientifically measured on the “woke-O-meter”. Sorry, but folks who think that big time professional sports aren’t run to maximize profit have been kidding themselves.
1
Anything for a buck.
Business panders to the highest bidder.
We wont see Mr Trump chime in to support democracy.
He doesn't want to upset his greatest benefactors
The responses of the western press to this have unintended consequences that I'm afraid you overlooked.
It has to do with the simple question: Are wanton destruction to property and violence towards those with a different opinion acceptable in the name of "democracy"? By not strongly condemning the destruction and violence, what is the western press and politicians telling the rest of the world about your lofty notions of democracy? Keeping quiet (see the NYT editorial) is also not an option because it is an indirect way of saying that destruction and violence is ok in the name of democracy.
So, what are the unintended consequences? It demonstrates so clearly to the ordinary Chinese in China that you are biased and hypocritical. Don't blame the Chinese government by saying they are brainwashed or whatever. You wish for democracy in China but is your behavior not the worse possible way to turn off the ordinary Chinese.
Goodness! Can you really not see this at all?
I appreciate business sensibilities of an aspiring international company. But the hypocrisy is overwhelming. So many comments on these pages support BDS (vs Israel). Yet, we wouldn’t give up products made in China. Now, the NBA bends over backwards to appease China and the China-ization of the league. $4 Billion is $4 Billion. But let them buy the whole product. I do see why the NFL imposes policies that limit protest while on the job. It’s their product and platform. I certainly can’t make political statements to open up a meeting on my job. But as individuals, free speech is free speech. The NBA’s attempt to reprimand personal, value-based political statements is repugnant and anti-American.
Woke? Kind of like how Mitch McConnell is woke? That's a joke right? The NBA is a multi-billion dollar sports juggernaut. NBA fans are for the most part middle class, basketball junkies who year in & year out, pack stadiums, plop down hundreds of millions for tickets, jerseys, & assorted paraphernalia. The NBA is a business...a business that offers entertainment. Anything that threatens the bottom line won't be tolerated. If this business were any business other than sports it wouldn't even be a conversation. The China's fan base is no small point when it comes to trying to figure out why the NBA isn't handling this well. More people watched the NBA finals in China than in America. The so-called "woke" league will never do anything to jepordize those dollars. Period. End of story. Truthfully the fan loyalists don’t want politics mixed in with their highlights. They made that clear in everything from informal polls to loud protests and boos when the players kneel.
Julius Caesar used gladiators to deflect the citizens attention away from the decline of the Roman Empire. Today we have professional sports and the Kardashians.
1
China understands America: the almighty dollar Trumps (cap. intentional) the constitution. I give them that.
18
@Subhash Garg it is the entire world, the entire world submit to the almighty dollar, my friend.
Why do you think the entire democratic world is willing to ignore and reject a 23 million strong democratic country with progressive values fully implemented including universal health care, marriage equality, and a female president?
Why do you think the entire Muslim world stays completely silent while over a million of their Muslim brothers and sisters are locked up and tortured in concentration camps?
Bottom line is we human beings are very willing to turn the other way while others are bullied and suffering. We see that on the playground, and we see that in the international world. This is the reality of our humanity.
2
@Subhash Garg
Not everyone in America's like that. And not everyone in China is either.
@Subhash Garg I am not sure that I agree. China would have been outraged no matter who sits in the White House. China's repression of its own people, as you know, started decades ago.
1
As a Bucks fan, if I wanted to offend China, I would bring up one Yi Jianlian, who was drafted by the Bucks despite his desire not to play here, and then got his trade wish after one unhappy season. No more players like him, please, so that other teams aren't made out to be the enemy simply because they had the audacity to draft a player who wanted to draft his team instead.
This is who we are, now: money over principles.
Ms Weiss:
If we criticize the NBA, how about Tesla? Wal-Mart? GM and Ford? Johnson and Johnson? 3M? How about Donald Trump and his daughter’s clothing lines?
All this attention on sports. Sports is a drop in the bucket.
How about critique of the American consumer? A consumer who has forsaken AMERICAN made products for cheaper versions out of China while seeing the joblessness created from it.
1
I don't know why anyone should be surprised by this, it's long been proven that our Captains of Industry, be they from Silicon Valley, Major Sports franchises or Farmers growing food, they all bend knee, express fealty, to one thing and one thing only. Market and concomitant profit.
Those expressing such loyalty should never be thought of as being aligned to a particular political ideology. They care less if the system they're trying to sell into is a democratic Republic or an oppressive totalitarian dictatorship. All that matters is "Can I make a profit?" It's something Lenin, by his comments about Capitalists and ropes, understood well.
So I caution that one should never, ever, believe any of the "social good look at me I'm doing it for YOU!" propaganda that exudes from that set of semi-privileged, self-indulgent power types. Because the truth is they have but one loyalty, and it's driven by the ethos of a Scrooge.
They will bow, scrap and kiss the ring of anyone, any thing, that allows them to maximize their desire for golden profit. If the pretzel logic and antics of Silicon Valley elites didn't establish clarity in this matter for you then this NBA kerfluffle should make it abundantly clear. Do you get it now? Capitalists, if not Capitalism (before it becomes corrupt), have the morals of the prostitute.
John~
American Net'Zen
@John American capitalists may be bowing to a dictatorship that puts millions in detention camps, but they're not themselves putting millions in detention camps. This suggests that there are some worse forces on earth than Walmart and the NBA, for all their manifold sins.
@Alexander Menzies: I get what you're saying but would counter with the observation that when placed in the position of being a hand-maiden to a dictatorship, supporting it either directly or indirectly by all that you provide to it and/or do this makes you, in the end, equally culpable. Especially when you do so knowingly.
Given this I will have to say I find it knee-slappingly funny to watch some of those Capitalists now try to talk out of both sides of their mouths, all while sweating profusely. Ummm...so to speak.
Oligarchs always put money first. Why is this particular instance surprising? Morley will not be around for long.
This is exactly why we are where we are in history. Rich self interested oligarchs and corporate interests really don't care about American values or Chinese values, just money and self enrichment. That's why they put Trump in office. What a joke. I wonder what their kids are studying at UCLA and Harvard,
"China has become more repressive the more it has engaged with the West."
Maybe because it sees how the West is self-destructing
A brilliant piece, very disillusioning. I guess South Park is our last bulwark against hypocrisy.
4
Great article. The greed of American businesses is revolting. I was in Hong Kong during demonstrations there, even took part in one. These are good and brave people. They are on the frontlines fighting also for everybody's rights and freedoms. Support them. Down with Chinese communism! Long live freedom!
2
From the article: "Absolutely, that is, unless the subject of that political speech is the Chinese Communist Party, which presents perhaps the greatest strategic threat to our freedoms of any regime in the world."
Really, Ms. Weiss?!? China represents the world's greatest threat to American freedom?? China DOES restrict the freedom of people who live within its borders. That's certainly true, but China does not threaten American freedom. An economic competitor, yes, but not a threat to our freedom.
On the other hand, countries around the world, including China, fear arbitrary attacks from the US, the greatest military power in the world. The 'shock and awe' visited on Iraq for having imaginary WMDs serves as a lesson to ALL.
And, may I remind Ms. Weiss, as a fellow Jew, that when the US was turning away Jews fleeing from the approaching holocaust, there was one country that welcomed them, China. The 30,000 Jews of the Shanghai ghetto were spared from the death camps.
China has a repressive authoritarian government, but it is NOT the greatest threat to American democracy.
17
@ShenBowen
By virtue of being the world’s second largest economy, and eventually the world’s largest, it will be a threat to democracy everywhere, not just America.
Remember what is has already been able to do. It managed a successful worldwide blockade of a 23 million strong progressive democracy purely by economic threat or outright bribery.
It now takes that same playbook to the corporate world, which will have direct impact to lives within America.
15
@ShenBowen
Which country accepted the greatest number of German (and Austrian) Jewish refugees?
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-jewish-refugees-1933-1939
3
@ShenBowen I think the kowtowing of American business interests to the Chinese government is a sure sign that they indeed do pose a threat
8
The entire episode exposes two things....one, the Chinese are intolerant of free speech and speech that challenges their authority over their entire society. If you want to do business there, you will knuckle under to their demands and rules. Basically, they are outlaws by our standards.
And second, the NBA's billionaire owners only care about money. If there was money to be made by broadcasting games to ISIS occupied territory, they would probably do that as well.
There is no way we are going to get China to change via a trade deal. I think they need economic sanctions more than Iran needs them.
2
That's because it's chic to insult Trump or conservatives on your Twitter account and younger, more urban crowd goes wild.
But when the NBA meets actual communism, actual repression of free speech, not whatever some 25 year old with a $5 latte holding a Hammer and Sickle thinks while he or she or politically correct pronoun go to the local grocery and enjoy fresh fruits in the winter (not available in old soviet era), even the league owners are admonished to keep quiet.
It's a good lesson in what actual repression looks like to those who really think they're deeply repressed in the US.
2
@Scott
I have a feeling we might disagree on many issues, but here I share some agreement with you. However, it wasn't some 25 year old with a latte and a hammer and sickle t-shirt who got repressed here. It was a bunch of millionaire, and billionaire, star athletes and business owners/executives--that's who folded their cards to pressure from China when it came to the American principle of free political speech. Let's not take our eyes off the ball, so to speak.
1
NBA and Rockets response quickly to minimize potential damage because the GM of Rockets represents management and his comments could be construed as the Party line from his organization.
No one would confuse the action and statements of individual players such as Colin Kaepernick as representative of the Rockets management or the NBA.
Lesson from all this: Think and pause for at least five minutes before you post comments on Twitter or Facebook unless you are aspiring to be a member of the MSM or a celebrity of sorts.
@Elizabeth
The Party line from the CCP on HK, or anything else, is also at issue here though. If you track this globally over the past few years, there's been a major, concerted and aggressive effort from China's CCP to shut down any discussion of anything they're up to--not only shutting down that discussion within China itself, but in any other country. That bigger global issue is what's most important here, if you think through where that's taking the rest of the world, including the USA.
3
@V.B. Zarr I agree, businesses will do what they will but the American Government needs to STAND ITS GROUND for freedom and the American citizens. I feel Trump has by far strongly addressed the Chinese governments corruption and that's a good thing. Whether you agree or not, he can only take one step at a time while fighting this ridiculous barrage from the left that's seriously threatening any future American Presidency whose democratic election they don't agree with.
For full disclosure, I'm a huge NBA and basketball fan -- I've dutifully followed the Knicks for decades. I understand the notion of using sport to reach out to China in order to help liberalize the country. But what's happening here is the opposite -- a repressive regime in China is using the promise of commercial gain to restrict and condition our speech. We aren't liberalizing them, they are making us accept their illiberal ways and making us more illiberal in the process. And the NBA has elected to shelve its progressive values in exchange for the promise of growth and dollars. Which leads me to ask, is the NBA really "woke" or is it just about the money and the NBA picking the sides where it will yield the most gain, regardless of values?
11
@Marc
Exactly. There's an anti-democratic backdraft from our dealings in various dictatorships around the world, facilitated by anti-democratic forces in our own country who seem to view profits before people as how they'd like things to be. The rest of us had better start speaking up, and taking action, in opposition to this trend before it gets to where it's going to be very messy and painful to roll this back.
3
Your question answers itself.
Clearly, the NBA has deeply-held principles. It just doesn’t let them get in the way of making money.
Corporate America will never take a principled stand on anything that might hurt the bottom line.
13
Sports is business. The bottom line is the almighty dollar.
When the NBA protested the "bathroom bill", it wasn't morals. It was money. When Nike makes a video about women's progress in sports or about Kapernick kneeling, it is all marketing. It is not morals.
And this is no different.
Mr. Morey should not have walked back. He should have quit. That would be a demonstration of morals.
17
@Kelly
Yeah, these people are fans of democracy the same way "fair weather fans" jump on the bandwagon of whatever team just won the latest championship.
2
@Kelly Ironically, this is the only thing anyone on that team has done in several years to earn my respect.
Took Harden less than 24 hours to change that back.
2
Parker and Stone have a point. Giving American businesses the benefit of the doubt, there was optimism that the CCP would loosen up as trade had an influence on them. It is not happening. Businesses should start making their plans to leave before Xi inflicts further humiliations on them.
That said, unlikely that any direct US intervention in China will have a good effect. We need to (get rid of Trump and) re-emphasize our commitment to democracy and individual rights and lead by example. I think that's the best we can do.
5
@NewEnglander56
I guess that corporate world optimism about the CCP was based on how things like the Tienanmen Square massacre, and the subsequent mass round up of citizens calling for social justice, made it so obvious that this was a government ready to grant its population liberty and equality before the law. For all the talk from the corporate world about such democratization in China, the CCP government themselves never made any such promises, so that was either just wishful thinking or a PR cover story from those corporate flacks.
1
@V.B. Zarr it was always a convenient argument for globalist oligarchs: make China rich through capitalism and democracy will follow. Instead, China becomes a modern mercantilist state by destroying other global economies while it conducts business as usual. It only benefits the average world citizen in the short run with inexpensive goods and exporting inflation. In the long run it had empowered a regime that is as bad as the NAZIs or worse.
Amen. The most vocal coaches in the league, Kerr and Popovich regularly lecture Trump. Which is more than fine.
But now both are loudly silent in their hypocritical positions.
At least have the decency to refrain from future opinions since we know the real motivation.
If Koehler had been a major sponsor of the NBA, there would have been no “bathroom” protest in Charlotte.
13
The NBA's - and other business' - wokeness was always about making their brand appealing to a broader, younger slice of the market.
6
The NBA should have said: "Our individual members are entitled to voice their opinions freely and without fear or favor. Free Speech is a cornerstone of our constitution, country and culture."
26
@John C
'Our individual members are entitled to voice their opinions freely and without fear or favor'.
Next time one of them commits a crime, says something racists, or against women, I'll remember how you said that was his constitutional right.
Spot on. It is really time America's business leaders remember that being American actually means something.
18
No one has courage anymore. Everything is about the all mighty dollar.
24
@Thor Well, what about the creators of South Park?
Very well stated!
It is high time we in the US recognized the threat to our way of life that China represents. Hope to see more coverage in the NYT about China's policies that undermine American values.
20
Ethos of America’s businesses: we love freedom and democracy. If you give us some money, however, we gladly stop caring about democracy and freedom in your country.
How terribly, terribly sad.
54
I was with this column until Bari Weiss decided to make it a zero-sum game, asserting that we should abandon protecting the full humanity of transgender people ("gender-neutral bathrooms"), in a year when increasing numbers of them have been murdered, because issues like Hong Kong are "more important."
We can do both, even if the NBA can't.
8
@M I believe Weiss was trying to contextualize the moral urgency of the human rights violations in HK with the gender neutral bathrooms, without making it a zero-sum game by saying you can only have one or the other.
22
I don't care what the NBA says. Or anyone else. I'm pro-democracy. I lived in Hong Kong for 5 years. I was living there for the 1997 changeover, actually. I knew this "system" was going to be trouble down the road. These are free, modern, smart, did I say "free?" people living in HK. They have my support.
40
For freedom and democracy, are the owners and players willing to experience pay cuts and exclusion like Colin Kaepernick?
9
@Walter Holemans
Good thing the founders of the USA didn't fold their cards because of such questions.
That a progressive industry, NBA basketball, is now looking ridiculous in its dealing with the China market shows the need for much more sophisticated guidance in B-schools on how to think about ethical issues. The latter are not only not going away, they are expanding. More and more companies are being hit with them; e.g. Soul Cycle, Hobby Lobby, always Walmart, etc. It is not always clear how to deal with them. The old ways such as saying you're staying out of politics doesn't work in our polarized times. Besides, you might simultaneously be part of a trade association very much practicing traditional politics on older issues. So you may have to take a stand, and then you risk losing one side or the other. It's not always clear what the "right" position is, or maybe it is clear for some but not other issues. Some issues are black-&-white, and some more nuanced. Some are more damaging than others, or have degrees of harm, and others may not see the differences. I think part of the murky way forward is: seriously raise the profile of ethics, and look to hire "impractical" philosophy majors to guide you. Aim the internal business culture to, the best you can, "do the right thing." If you're not sure what that is consult the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals. Aim to creatively turn a problem into an opportunity, both for the business and beyond. What's being missed, if we can figure this out, is there's a big opportunity here for some badly needed societal problem-solving.
2
from the article: "This is a worldview that encourages companies to take cost-free stands on the progressive cause of the moment and do absolutely nothing to uphold fundamental progressive values when doing so requires more sacrifice than the time it takes to write up a news release."
From a Lou Reed song: "I'd try to be as progressive as I could possibly be, as long as I don't have to try too much."
14
So US sports goes the way of US tech and US entertainment in placating China. This is what you get when a country claims it stands for democracy and civil rights, but actually stands for business at all costs. including one's soul.
54
@S North
A new world power is emerging. US was no different, you’ll do what they say and you’ll bow down when asked. Besides, US a never been a democracy. The chickens have come home to roost.
"Absolutely, that is, unless the subject of that political speech is the Chinese Communist Party, which presents perhaps the greatest strategic threat to our freedoms of any regime in the world."
As an American living in China has as for a while, I really had to roll my eyes on that one. There are probably more constructive ways to engage China.
5
@David
Yes, but what's at question here is whether there are more constructive ways for China to engage the USA.
17
Is there nowhere and nothing that money won't corrupt?
And why can't we speak the truth the way NBA coaches do after a game. Pop does not pretend a player who shot 0-10 had a great game. But we have to pretend China is, what? Trying to make Hong Kong freer?
The NBA is a business, yes, but now it supports lies rather than truth, as does the NFL.
59
@bersani free from what? “As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!),” free from "western values"?
You know, this might seem unrelated, but this whole controversy is helping me to appreciate the "Leave" position of Brexit a little more. Hear me out... most of the establishment thinks the UK is crazy because it's inviting financial ruin upon itself by leaving the EU. But for better or for worse, this is a country that is prioritizing values over finances. In a way, that's admirable, and it's what many of the people in this comment thread are advocating.
But the UK experience of Brexit is also a warning to all the commenters here who believe that standing for values over $billions is an easy decision. Like Brexit, the process of untangling ourselves with China would be very economically painful.
The past few decades have shown that there is no crime worse than flat or negative growth. But the UK is inspiring me. Maybe some values are worth a hit to revenue.
20
@David but, that's only if you look at the EU simply as a function of commerce. The EU is far more than that. The Single Market may allow for the free movement of goods, services and capital, but it also allows for the free movement of people... the EU is arguably one of the greatest agreements of the modern age in providing freedom for so many.
9
@David If leaving the EU is about prioritizing values, I'd like to hear what they are. I live in England and don't see or hear anything except a very vaguely defined "take back control". The EU is not a repressive dictatorship; it's a community of like minded countries promoting free trade, movement, etc. It's certainly in need of reform, but so is the UK (and the US etc.). The EU doesn't put people in "re-education camps", repress freedom of speech, etc. which is what China does. So....please, the two issues are not equivalent. It's probably more equivalent to the US severing all ties with Canada.
11
@David Except the Brexiteers also claimed the UK would be better off economically: less regulations, special trade deals with the U.S. and Commonwealth, and other fantasies.
6
Any customer is free to walk away if they don't like the seller. It's a free market. Especially if they find the seller delusional.
4
Not really. The NBA has a monopoly on the world's best players. Customers don't have a choice of an alternate league.
13
This is actually not true. All of the major sports leagues get a piece of your cable/satellite/fiber bill even if you don't watch. And they collect online ad revenue, and licensing fees for clothing, and so much else that it isn't that important how many people show up for games. You can't really walk away from them so easily.
5
@Father of One
One can live without basketball. Just say no.
Wishing the author didn't feel it ok to compare the fight for gender-neutral bathrooms in NC to the oppressive policies of China. These massively-different issues require equal yet varying degrees of attention, and are not really things to compare. Placing value on progressive issues tempers and ultimately devalues them. I see the author's point here, sure. I just find it a bit misguided.
16
@SW progressive issues? isn't it less a comparison of issues and more a demonstration of the dedication the nba has shown before to its players' interests? players wearing shirts that read "i can't breathe" somehow "tempers and ultimately devalues" the issue of systemic racist police policies exactly how?
When it comes down to results, US opinions may be less important than the US being an exemplar Democracy, with a stable economy whose exported goods and services make the US an invaluable trading partner.
4
The time to raise all these issues with China was 1979. Every country that decided to recognize the People's Republic of China while throwing the Republic of China under the bus does not have a leg to stand on when protesting the anti-democratic practices of PRC. This is realpolitik at work. In 1979 when the United States needed to peel China off of the Soviet Union and to take advantage of billion low-wage workers and potential customers, the American government was willing to normalize relations with the CCP-led China and support their entry into the World Trade Organization. The same realpolitik is at play for China when it comes to Hong Kong in 2019. If Weiss has any idea what China had to go through to regain control of Hong Kong from Great Britain, she'd understand why the Chinese are a bit sensitive about what's going on in Hong Kong right now. In Los Angeles, the governor sent in the National Guard with tanks three days into the Los Angeles Riots. I'd say that Beijing has shown amazing patience in light of Western pundits predicting People's Liberation Army marching after a week. NBA is an American entity, and it is woke where it needs to be woke. If foreign companies stopped their activities in corrupt countries led by petty tyrants, America led by president Trump and his minions would be in Great Depression 2.0.
6
If the moment comes, and Xi hopes it will. Trump will push ROC (Taiwan) under the bus in order to salvage a trade deal with PRC (China). Look what he did with the Kurds this week. Look at what he has done with the Iran nuclear pact. Look at the mess he made in Ukraine.
5
@UC Graduate So your argument basically is: since you didn't voice opposition in 1979, you shouldn't voice opposition in 2019?
1
It’s shameful. The NBA may be headquartered in the US but it’s clearly no longer an American institution. American values fit squarely with the brave protesters of Hong Kong. Trading those values for renminbi is a defining act.
77
@Ed Fontleroy Most US companies are no longer US institutions, let's be honest.
If you want to know what motivated the NBA and billionaire Joe Tsai to apologize to China for a basic exercise of freedom of speech in support of a pro-democracy movement, and for Tsai to insist the speech was "damaging," that the democracy protesters are nothing but a "separatist movement", and that the subject of Hong Kong’s independence is a "third-rail issue", consider how much Tsai just paid for the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center, who he bought it from, and why he bought it.
In August Tsai bought out the remaining 51 percent stake in the Nets owned by Russian Oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov. Prokhorov also sold Tsai the Barclays Center arena, where the Nets play.
The total cost was $3.38 billion dollars.
Tsai, who is worth over $9.4 billion, according to Forbes, already owned a 49 percent stake in the team. Tsai paid a record amount of the Nets, (over twice the value of the team, which barely makes a profit), all because he was obsessed with owning a New York sports franchise and a massive piece of prime New York real estate, and expanding on both.
How much does anyone think that oligarchs like Joe Tsai and Mikhail Prokhorov actually care about pro-democracy movements?
Money and power are the sole motivations of Tsai and all oligarchs. They've no use for democracy in China, and they’ll drop any pretense of caring about civil rights in America the moment their wealthy American fans no longer find it satisfyingly fashionable to be seen as socially progressive.
60
@Sarah Johnson
An "anti-China echo chamber" means any who criticize China for its well documented violations of basic human rights on a massive scale reside in an environment in which they only encounter beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that those existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered. Therefore, what are the alternate ideas that are supposedly not considered? That brutal China’s authoritarianism is worthy or respect and Joe Tsai should be commended for supporting it?
It is hard to see what else is being argued for as there need to be facts which people refuse to consider for there to be a supposed echo chamber. We consider China’s brutal authoritarianism, yet still reject it.
Further, how is someone like Joe Tsai possibly commendable for apologizing to a vicious, brutal, and repressive surveillance state because an American dared to employ free speech, (of all things), to support a movement for basic civil rights in Hong Kong?
It is not using Tsai's wealth against him to point out that he placed his personal financial interests in the NBA and his profit margins in an enormous state run Chinese market above basic human rights.
By your reasoning one could ever criticize someone who isn't wealthy who didn't care if a local bully beat people up all the time, and figured they could make a few extra bucks if they apologized to that bully after someone else (who was actually brave) dared to complain about the bullying.
35
@Robert B I commend Joe Tsai for speaking out against the anti-China echo chamber. There is no diversity of thought in the western discourse when it pertains to China. If Tsai had taken a stance that you agreed with, I'm certain you would not have used his wealth against him to attack his character.
8
Sports leagues know their priority: Money, not democracy.
38
It's puzzling that many self-claimed democracy-loving people such as the author, are so oblivious to the sentiment of millions people on mainland China. Those people in China seems to be devalued in the eyes of some Americans, perhaps because of their closer association with China's communist party. At least Daryl Morey, in his apologizing statement, learned to see things from different perspectives. Will more Americans do the same, or are we destined to march to a polarizing world? The domestic political situation in the US doesn't give us any confidence that people's views will be less ideological when it comes to international affairs.
14
@Tom Huh? I'm 100% in favour of the 1+ billion people in China having voting rights and then deciding on the issues of HK and Taiwan and Tibet TOGETHER as a democracy. I'm sure a proper balance can be worked out that works for 67% of the people (not a simple majority anyhow).
I'm not in favour of the CPC pretending to be representing the will of the billions of Chinese people.
37
What you favor or not really does not matter to the 1 billion Chinese. A lot of Americans do not have sufficient knowledge regarding what’s going on in Hong Kong and the historical background in China. What matters to us in the past 70 years was the hope, dignity and stability since our country was broken into pieces by colonists and WWII. There are many more components to human rights than just universal voting rights. If you haven’t lived in China, it is very likely that your information is only from the western media, who totally controlled the storyline with an obsession of criticizing China. Please remember the US interference in other countries sovereignty under the pretext of human rights do not have a great track record either.
1
@Chinese In World War II, the United States was an ally of China in trying to rid it of Japanese aggression. The Chinese revolution 70 years ago ushered in an era of famine and mass political murder on a possibly unprecedented scale under Mao Zedong. His Cultural Revolution did not offer "hope, dignity and stability." This is all part of the historical record, not "information only from Western media."
5
the only reason i'm still subscribing is Bari Weiss. worth every australian cent.
26
Interesting speculation:
I see this as the beginning of a path to re-election for Trump. How? It's really quite simple.
Outside of the fringes of the right, nationalism has been fairly dead in the US for quite a while. In some political version of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we've gotten used to being at the top, focusing a lot of our energy on purely internal issues.
But I think Americans at large are about to discover they don't like being pushed around by a foreign dictatorship. Americans who thought they hated nationalism are going to feel its stirrings as they start focusing less on Democrats vs. Republicans and more on America vs. China.
Could the optics of Trump's trade war start shifting into a powerful act of defiance against a dictatorship that increasingly resembles 1939 Germany? In China we now see a rising military and economic power surrounded by historic enemies now weaker than them, complete with a governmental system that concentrates absolute power in one man at the very top, a philosophy of racial superiority, governmental discrimination based on race and religion, and a growing concentration camp system. Moreover, the Chinese line for Hong Kong and Taiwan is the same one that Germany used when it annexed the Rhineland, Sudetenland, and Austria.
32
@nilkn - In a phone call with Xi on June 18 of this year, Trump promised Xi he would not mention Hong Kong, and then asked Xi to investigate Biden. [https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/trump-biden-call-xi-secure-server/index.html]
Trump also ordered the record of the phone call to be hidden on a secret server. Hardly the acts of a Patriotic Leader.
Furthermore deficit powered the choice of tactics in trade war and our economic stimulus have resulted in a sky high dollr (+14% againt the yuan) which has left our mfg and farm exports exposed and unsupported. That's a disaster for our future.
9
@nilkn I worry a lot more about the US bullying the world, launching unnecessary wars, and practicing its philosophy of racial and ethnic superiority to lock people up - no wait, that's already happened and has been happening for the past 20 years (depending on the particular abuse of power you want to notice).
@Shaun Narine The US has plenty of problems, and has done plenty of wrong things. But you are worrying about a leaky roof today while a hurricane is coming next week.
As far as I can see here: Weiss wants to list the sins of China.
But here is the thing: As soon as the world decided to freeze out Cuba, and embrace the likes of China, there was never any going back.
We were accepting China as it was.
7
This incident is merely a reminder that the N.B.A., at its core, is just another corporate business (arguably a cartel), no different from Disney, Facebook, or Boeing. The only difference is that it sells athletic performance, while Facebook sells you and Boeing sells aircraft.
As with any corporation, if you don't like that it is kissing Xi Jinping's rear (and I most certainly don't!), then organize a boycott of its products and let Silver & Co., as well as the Players Association, hear about it. And organize very public boycotts of its sponsors as well.
On a personal level, find a way to pass on some support to Daryl Morey for speaking the truth to mega-financial power.
101
@Steve Fankuchen
What you correctly suggest is too much work for most people. It means they need to feel some level of personal pain and they just won't do it.
I live in a smallish town with 2 GM plants. I see our town wilting under the 4 week old strike. Yet I spend 3-4 hours a week on the picket line with my friends and neighbors because I believe temporary and contract workers who have been doing the same jobs for years at lower pay and no benefits ARE employees and are entitled to the same pay and benefits. I could lose my temp/contract job of 3 years with a non-auto industry employer because I am making a stand. I turned and ran 30+ years ago because I thought the UAW's fight wasn't mine and with a toddler, I couldn't afford to take the auto industry employment roller coaster. I was so wrong.
The US touts freedom but that freedom includes the right of countries to form the type of government they wish to be governed by. If we are going to make bold statements of right and wrong it has to be backed with some level of personal commitment and sacrifice.
4
Iris Dement wrote this for towns hopefully not like yours.
And you know the sun's settin' fast
And just like they say nothing good ever lasts
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye but hold on to your lover
'Cause your heart's bound to die
CHORUS
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town
Goodnight
Up the street beside that red neon light
That's where I met my baby on one hot summer night
He was the tender and I ordered a beer
It's been forty years and I'm still sitting here
CHORUS
It's here I had my baby's and I had my first kiss
I've walked down Main Street in the cold morning mist
Over there is where I bought my first car
It turned over once but then it never went far
CHORUS
I buried my Mama and I buried my Pa
They sleep up the street beside that pretty brick wall
I bring them flowers about every day
But I just gotta cry when I think what they'd say
If they could see how the sun's settin' fast
CHORUS
Now I sit on the porch and watch the lightning-bugs fly
But I can't see too good, I got tears in my eyes
I'm leaving tomorrow but I don't want to go
I love you my town, you'll always live in my soul
But I can see the sun's settin' fast
And just like they say nothing good ever lasts
Well, go on I gotta kiss you goodbye but I'll hold to my lover
'Cause my heart's 'bout to die
Go on now and say goodbye to my town, to my town
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on my town, on my town
Goodnight, goodnight
1
Could not have said it better!! Speak the truth loudly!!
I find these comments unfair to the NBA. Yes, they were craven, but so are all of American companies when it comes to China.
Any tech companies say anything in support of HK? Banks? Airlines? NO American business will support the people of HK. There is money at stake. I do not agree, but I do not agree with American capitalism. The NBA is no different.
24
@gratis Then perhaps they spare us the preaching about their values. "wokest league in professional sports" - until it's no longer good business
1
@gratis 'two wrongs don't make a right' my grandma used to tell me...
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@gratis I suppose one has to start somewhere
The comments by the owner of the Nets are far more disturbing that the ones by Mr. Morey, who apparently has some principles. Joe Tsai is from Taiwan, a democratic country, but he clearly takes the side of the mainland, which believes that Taiwan is a "province" of China. He should truly be ashamed of himself, but money is more important to him than his home country. And the United States is no better; it was the USA that recognized the communist government in Beijing as the "legitimate" China back under Jimmy Carter. Why? Money. NBA players that speak out against the mistreatment of black Americans are correct when they do so, and even proud to do it. But they are also exemplars of most of humanity: when the issue affects their livelihood, they back down. No principles.
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@Daniel Castelaz - Taiwan is a province of China, just like Puerto Rico is a "province" of the US. Except with China it's been theirs for a few thousand years.
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@CK While I'm not gonna wade into the complex topic of whether Taiwan is a part of China or not (the very fact that it is even highly contested shows that it is still undetermined), I'm just gonna say that Taiwan holds fair and free elections and is not ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. It is still offically called The Repubilc of China (as opposed to the People's Republic of China which is under communist rule).
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@Daniel Castelaz - "The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979 increased Beijing's threat perceptionand overnight created a new front in Xinjiang. It was this threat (and the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia) that brought the US and China closer together than ever. By 1980 Washington had begun to supply a variety of weapons, and an agreement was reached on the establishment of two joint tracking and listening installations in Xinjiang. PLA personnel provided training, arms, organization, financial support, and military advisors to the Mujahidin resistance throughout nearly the entire Soviet Military presence in Afghanistan - with the active assistance and cooperation of the CIA."
[ Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland, Edited by S. Fredick Starr, 2004 ]
S. Fredick Starr is an expert on Central and East Asia, and is a former president of Oberlin College.
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I don't believe these guys would have landed on the beaches of Normandy. You can tell a lot from someone's eyes.
I find it sickening. Hopefully, players will show themselves to be Patriots even when the profiteers are not.
I'm done watching sports accept when and if any of these leagues start acting like Americans rather than those who would sell their soul for money. Far too many humans in so called "high places" fall into the latter camp in my view.
Thanks for writing this article. It get's to the root of corruption and the influence of money on the minds of people who in another time might actually be patriots and real Americans, defenders of democracy, liberty, and justice.
The kids in Hong Kong are showing what courage is made of and they are doing what those who live for freedom do. They stand and deliver no matter the cost.
The people in the picture here don't seem to be cut from that cloth. As much as I love Basketball, I'll reserve my viewing to the local high school teams from here on out.
Someday there will be people with real heart, soul and courage in places of leadership. Today, we see robots and slaves to greed who don't have the least courage of conviction other than to that all consuming lust for profit.
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@Tom Paine
What American businessman vocally supports HK? Many many American businesses, including big banks like Citigroup and JP Morgan have offices in HK. They do billions in business with the PRC. All the airlines. All the shippers. It is silly to pick on the NBA when it is all of American businesses.
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@Tom Paine
Cathay Airline owned by Swire Group is a British controlled business entity, they have a choice to make, close shop and stand by the people of HK or comply with the requirement to do business in China.
The same applies to companies that operate in USA, they have to comply with requirements set by USA, if not they just operate outside of USA.
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Good point. How do you think we got to this point with China in the first place... it was greedy American businessman getting suckered by the same carrot the NBA is chasing. I not sure you can even call them American ... they are just global capitalists , playing us all for fools , but Americans are born that way. Just give us entertainment and our brains rot and we forget about everything except our family and job. Our parents were right about TV... it will rot your brain. That’s why we have crooked Presidents , crooked candidates, crooked greedy businessmen, and they all want us to be patriotic. It is a sales pitch to them.
I say who needs expensive NBA tickets anyway . I find just as much enjoyment watching high school or college games, there are other pro leagues also.
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I would have encouraged Morey to apologize even if no profits were at stake. With China, it is the eternal dilemma: is a small concession to its undemocratic politics worth a large foothold in its public culture? I have always found that the answer is: yes.
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@Crocus Hill Is conceding on Hong Kong "small?"
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@Crocus Hill
Easy to say when you’re not the one being gassed.
Give em an inch....you know the saying
We now know the woke NBA oligarchs are willing to trade democracy in Hong Kong for a relatively measly $4 billion. Just makes you wonder how much it would take to buy the NBA's silence if we in the U.S. ever face a constitutional crisis.
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@Sam
So, I guess the NBA should have sold out for Apple kind of money?
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Clean your own messy house first!
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@Sam
Democracy died a natural death during the birth of a nation founded by white European American Judeo-Christian majority men who owned property including their enslaved black Africans and the lands and natural resources stolen from brown aboriginal First Nations human pioneers.
America's President was selected by hacking and meddling Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin in order for him to preserve, protect and defend whatever profitable Trump Organization advantage that he is hiding from the American people in his personal income tax returns and business accounting financial records arising from his occupation of the White House.
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The NBA did not "bow" to China. Abject and utter prostration would be a better description. The suggestion that this is "democracy" and that the CBA is not influenced by the government is not credible. The government closely controls social media, including the site that decided to stop streaming Rockets games.
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@JS couldn’t we call it ‘Kow Tow’?
Proof that whatever the NBA does is just posturing. Their entire m.o. is to make the most money possible, like any other major corporation. If it saw more profit in aligning itself with the protesters, it would do just that.
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My thoughts exactly. But until this episode, I had thought this stance was sincere, and not ‘situational’ posturing.
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@LJADZ say it with me everyone: ZERO PRINCIPLES. SPINELESS JELLIES
NBA fans have a unique opportunity to exert some pressure on the NBA. The NBA will not change its stance on its own, if all there is to reprimand them is a few days of embarrassment on social media. No, the NBA can be continued to be made uncomfortable if fans of all teams wore shirts and displayed signs in support of HK on televised games. Let's see how low the NBA can go before realizing it's siding with an authoritarian regime.
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What an interesting, powerful piece. Bravo, Bari Weiss.
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But businesses and corporations are just people, right? And people are entitled to their political opinions.
If only corporations saw past their bottom lines to the people at the bottom.
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I agree that the NBA is craven, but Weiss' wave away of gender neutral bathrooms attempts to create a binary that doesn't exist. It's possible to advocate for important freedom issues abroad, and greater sensitivity to marginalized people at home.
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@David : she was making the case aptly that the NBA taking a stand on gender neutral bathrooms was easy because no profits were at stake, while criticism of Chinese policy put $4B at risk.
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There is definitely a false equivalence there.
What is the NBA afraid of? What is the alternative for basketball fans? There is none. For twenty minutes the ordinary fan might be upset. After tipoff not so much.
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Painful to watch James Harden’s apology.
Athletes like Muhammad Ali and Kareem took stands that were principled and that were truly unpopular. In Ali’s case, it cost him his freedom.
The “stands” athletes take today, by contrast, seem safe and are likely prepared by a marketing agency. Rather than risking anything, the athletes know that their words may even lead to more endorsements.
All seems phony and soulless.
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@G in Cali
Ali was a great boxer, and a great entertainer and promoter--but what made him my childhood hero were those principled stands he took on issues of social justice. He didn't just talk the talk, but he paid the price to walk the walk. That's why he was, and is, revered by so many people around the world. If the NBA folks really want to know how to win hearts and minds globally, they might do well to study the example Mr. Ali. Now there was a "role model."
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@G in Cali Really? How about Colin Kaepernick? Last time I checked he was still blacklisted from the NFL.
Kaepernick sacrificed his career, which was just getting started, for his principles. If Ali or Kareem had done the same at the same stage of their careers you likely would not even know their names.
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@Victor
Ali getting stripped of his world title and banned from professional boxing for an extended period at the height of his ability was a very significant sacrifice. One difference, just by chance, was that boxing isn't a team sport, so a solo comeback was something Ali could achieve, but which Kaepernick can't. But both guys walked the walk and paid a big price, no denying that.
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“Woke culture” is social media driven outrage over selective issues. It’s as fake as social media itself. But, hey, it always says what our P.C. thought police thinks everyone should believe whether it’s rooted in fantasy or not.
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The almight dollar wins again -- wins over decency, over support for democratic aims elsewhere, and certainly wins over our own, now-shredded democracy.
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@mk Not the dollar. This time it's the yuan (renminbi).
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@mk You are correct. It’s the money. That’s the god to which the NBA etc. bow to. Free speech...not as important.
Will the same players who voiced their support for Black lives also express support for Hong Kong lives? I hope they do, because if they don’t, it really is all about the Benjamins.
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@Walt Bruckner
Not necessarily. There is also propinquity. Many basketball players come from communities affected by police violence. Those same players don't come from China or HK.
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@EL So they don’t ‘get it’? Aren’t most of those players supposedly graduates of large, expensive US colleges and universities? Perhaps they weren’t ‘educated’ outside the gym and business courses?
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@EL
In several decades of living on four different continents around the world, and holding jobs up and down the socio-economic ladder, I can tell you that propinquity is much less a factor in creating empathy among the oppressed than among the oppressors. In most cases, lack of empathy is what leads to distancing, not the other way around.
Putting it another way, I suggest you look up what Muhammad Ali famously said about why he refused to go fight in the Vietnam War. It's about awareness and empathy, not propinquity.
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While the author reads the brief tweet as a paean to representative democracy and human rights, “Fight for freedom” can also be read as encouragement of Hong Kong independence through violence and not a reference to any of those virtues. Enough common Chinese would be incensed by an American suggesting such a thing that of course a business would apologize.
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@Yeah The United States of America was founded through violence, against the British. Peaceful protest is important but violence is sometimes unavoidable. The protesters are right and the government, which holds all the cards of violence (guns, clubs, tear gas, handcuffs) has forced the protesters to respond in kind.
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@Yeah 'fight for freedom' is encouraging violence now? That's patently absurd and anyone with a synapse can see it
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@Yeah Why not just let HK be independent? PRC seems like a guy who can't handle a divorce. Just let it go man, she doesn't want to be with you, move on and quit stalking her.
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