I pick morals over money frequently. That’s why I don’t have a boat.
Not even a canoe.
But seriously, I am all for trying to help Hong Kong. I just am not sure that boycotting Blizzard is a way to do that. And I do wonder how Blizzard is supposed to manage political speech at their events. Yes the Hong Kong issue is about human rights . . .but the U.S. abandoning allies in Syria isn’t? Turkey is going to ethnically cleanse the area! So shouldn’t we wear anti-Trump shirts? My point is that Blizzard is in a tough position because there is a LOT of hinky stuff going on in the world and lots of legit things to protest. How does a company decide what is permissible? If someone breaks the rules what do they do?
I don’t agree with what Blizzard did. I’m just saying that they need to deal with the bigger issue post-haste: Because human rights violations aren’t just happening in Hong Kong.
Stop buying things from China. Vote. Support Democracy EVERYWHERE. Depose strong men who act like kings.
Because, American companies should not be influenced or forced/bullied into censoring things we value. We value rights, freedom so on and so on. If the people of China get sick of their government they should try to change it. If they lose their jobs because we didn’t appease them enough then thats tragic but you shouldnt compromise your values to spare someone totally fine with living under the oppression of China.
Yeah look, no offence America, but one could argue there is a lot of oppression in your country too.
Apologizing to China? They did that by banning the player and FIRING the casters. Jeebs what are you, pro-CCP or something? Words mean nothing, actions mean EVERYTHING. Blizz acted allright.
“The action Blizzard took against the player was pretty appalling but not surprising,” a longtime Blizzard employee told The Daily Beast. “Blizzard makes a lot of money in China, but now the company is in this awkward position where we can’t abide by our values.”
“I’m disappointed,” another current Blizzard employee said. “We want people all over the world to play our games, but no action like this can be made with political neutrality.”
They put papers over their values such as “Every Voice Matters” and such. This very obviously effects many employees having a moral crises at Activision-Blizz over their companies actions.
If they don’t have the power to influence what’s happening in Hong Kong, I don’t understand why you would want them to ruin Chinese relations over 1 guy who went rogue on a company broadcast.
This all seems like slacktivisism to me. What are you hoping to accomplish? What are you hoping Blizzard to accomplish?
If you are genuinely interested in the United States influencing policy change in China you should be writing your congressman / congresswoman, not posting outrage on the WoW forums.
YOU made the claim Blizzard apologized. All I did was point out they did not and offered the facts to prove it. Give it a rest, Bipzi. You lied, then doubled down on it, then said the lie didn’t matter because ‘reasons’.
I assume you mean Chinese relations with ActiBlizzard.
If not screwing this guy over would somehow jeopardize their operations in China, if something that small can ruin you… why would anyone want to do business in China, no matter how large the market?
Do you really think that this is where it stops?
I hope Blizzard thinks twice about screwing people over; I hope that a company that was built on certain principles doesn’t throw them away for access to a market.
Even if your protest doesn’t accomplish much, that doesn’t mean you don’t do it.
Again, this protest isn’t about that. We’ve covered this.
There is a video floating around of a Pro-Beijing lackey trying to throw a youth protester over a bridge to their obvious death. This stuff is really horrifying and the fact Blizz took the Pro-Beijing side is really disgusting.
All fine and good! I do the same thing! The problem, is that Blizzard isn’t doing the same. They inject their politics into games they make, they enforce Chinese censorship on their American customers, and have now taken a political stance in something they could have downplayed or minimized if they had been smart. Instead, because they were so Draconian with their punishment of Blitzchung, they shot themselves in the foot and made a pathetic grovelling attempt at sucking up some Chinese protein. They made this mess with their stupidity, and poured gasoline on the raging hellfire by doubling down on it.
That is cowardly, that is un-American, that is pathetic, and it is why many are now boycotting Blizzard (I’ve already cancelled my sub).
FWIW, my sympathy is definitely with the people of Hong Kong because they got screwed over by Maggie (may she rot in hell) and we are seeing the inevitable consequence.
This is about what happens in America and other free countries, first and foremost. The reach of the CCP has become commonplace and we wouldn’t accept this kind of censorship from own governments so why do we accept a foreign power using financial leverage to rewrite our maps and history?
This is a small version of a list I got off Tweeter. This is why its a problem and not some isolated incident.
Disney / Marvel censored Tibetan monk from Dr Strange movie and turned him into a white woman. Per the movie’s screenwriter: ‘if you acknowledge Tibet is a place and that he is Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that is bull$@!!.’
Apple handed over iCloud data and encryption keys to China.
Mercedes apologized for ‘hurting the feelings’ of the people of China for quoting the Dalai Lama on Instagram.
Apple minimized the seriousness of iOS exploits that enabled Chinese authorities to track Uyghurs when 1M+ are rounded up and put in concentration camps.
Google censored pro-HK game ‘the revolution of our times’ from Google Play because it was about a sensitive event.
Riot censors the words Hong Kong, forcing caster to refer to the team Hong Kong Attitude as HKA.
China has forced Marriot, Delta, Audi, American Airlines Air France, British Airways and others to change Taiwan to Taiwan China.
Apple censors Taiwan flag emoji in IOS in Hong Kong
ActivisionBlizzard banned player for supporting democracy protest. Confiscated all winnings and fired the 2 caster who interviewed him.
Apple censors HK protest map from App Store in Hong Kong, relented after it became a PR mess
Vans censor a pro-HK democracy design in its shoe design competition
NBA rebuked Rockets manager for his pro-HK democracy tweet, saying NBA was ‘extremely disappointed in Morey’s inappropriate comment.’ Backpedaled after the bad PR, now say they support Morey’s free speech.
Disney / ESPN forbids any mention of Chinese politics when discussing Rocket’s manager Morey’s pro-HK democracy tweet. ESPN hosts castigated Morey and questioned his sincerity, but they will not talk about what caused the tweet: China’s encroachment on HK.
Viacom / Paramount censors Taiwan flag from the jacket worn by Tom Cruise in the new Top Gun movie.
Calvin Klein, Versace, Coach, Givenchy, and numerous other fashion companies had to apologize for recognizing Taiwan as a country.
TikTok censored videos that mention Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, or the banned religious group Falun Gong
Gap apologized for selling T-shirts in Canada that didn’t include Taiwan as a part of China.
Marriot fired employee for liking Tibetan independence tweet.