Bill Maher is right- The wet markets plus the Wuhan lab

[C T]

13 minutes ago, Earl Grey said:

One reason I stopped going on popular Hong Kong forums was in the late 2000s and early 2010s, there were pictures and posts about their hatred for mainlanders, from a couple letting their child urinate on the streets or spitting on the floor and scuffing it with the sole of their shoes in a restaurant. 

 

 

Awful, isn't it? And the situation has deteriorated bigly in recent times, but a lot of it is just reactionary tit-for-tats. I honestly thought Malaysian Chinese were pretty unmindful of their speech until I went to live in Hong Kong - I was aghast! And then the influx of Chinese everywhere just exploded, and that sort of changed the way I looked at Hong Kong folks. But even among the Chinese, there are noticeable differences in behaviour depending on which part of China they come from. For a few years, my work involved interacting with Fujian locals, and they can certainly go toe to toe with the HK folks in terms of swearing, brashness etc. Those from Beijing and Shenzhen are only slightly more nuanced, but at least there's a noticeable balance of pleasant and less pleasant interactions. Even HK celebs are not that different - thats just how they are, I guess. Bumped into Jackie Chan, Karl Maka & a couple of lesser known actors in a Wanchai lobby bar once, and being new to the scene, my jaw nearly dropped having overheard some of their colourful and animated banters (was sitting at the bar next to their group). lol 

[SirPalomides]

Where my family is a lot of the racism is directed at Moros from the Philippines  who live on that part of the island (northeast Borneo). Generally they are tarred as thieves, lazy, etc as well as potential Abu Sayyaf members. On the other hand it’s obvious they do a lot of important work and many people have good relations with some of them. Xenophobia is just a shitty thing that usually crops up when two or more different groups are brought into proximity to each other and working against it is a necessary but Sisyphean labor.

[Master Logray]

I have read a book on Taoist Inner Alchemy.  The writer, I forgot the name, but is prominent, says the path is very different from all other religions.  Because all others like Christianity, Buddhism, they apply to all kinds of people, they want to convert as many people as possible.  While Taoist inner work is unique that it is confined to the Chinese race only and must not be disclosed to foreigners.  This is the last refuge of Chinese Nation ( 中華民族 ), the only way to be on par with the West which has surpassed China in all aspects.  

  

[SirPalomides]

Wait, so foreigners need to be kept in the dark about Daoism so they can’t counteract our Chinese Daoist wizards? That doesn’t sound right. Anyway horse is out of the barn there since Daoists have been teaching “barbarians” for a long time now.

[KuroShiro]

Blow for China's virus diplomacy as friendship song leaves Filipinos furious

https://www.yahoo.com/news/blow-chinas-virus-diplomacy-friendship-095655888.html

 

 

 

 

"MANILA (Reuters) - A music video produced by China to promote its support for neighbours battling the coronavirus has backfired in the Philippines, attracting a flood of public criticism and an online petition that is fast attracting signatures.

China's embassy released the song by diplomats, singers and an actor last week, but the lyrics and title "Iisang Dagat", or "One Sea" in the Philippine language, has not gone down well with some Filipinos, many of whom see China as a maritime aggressor in disputed waters."

 

"By Monday afternoon, the video posted last week on YouTube with the hashtag #CNPHHealAsOne had 149,000 dislikes compared with 2,100 likes, while a Change.org petition demanding the video be taken down had more than 8,000 respondents.

Social media critics vented their fury at what they saw as Chinese propaganda to conceal bullying in the South China Sea and branded Filipinos involved in the song as traitors.

"We have to stop the evil of China spreading", wrote one, Leonard Anthony Arcilla. "We do not unify with China", said Elna Lynda Acuerdo, while Venus Liwanag said the video was "slapping the faces of each Filipino"."

 

 

 

LOL

 

[SirPalomides]

Summary: China put out some schmaltzy video and a bunch of keyboard warriors thought it sucked. Earth-shaking news here. Bravo to the intrepid journalists at Yahoo.

[KuroShiro]

14 minutes ago, SirPalomides said:

Summary: China put out some schmaltzy video and a bunch of keyboard warriors thought it sucked. Earth-shaking news here. Bravo to the intrepid journalists at Yahoo.

 

MANILA (Reuters) 

 

Again, not very bright...

 

ccp troll = comedy gold

 

[SirPalomides]

I stand corrected! Bravo to the intrepid journalist at Reuters surfing the internet in his Manila hotel room.

 

 

 

 

[Earl Grey]

1 hour ago, KuroShiro said:

Blow for China's virus diplomacy as friendship song leaves Filipinos furious

https://www.yahoo.com/news/blow-chinas-virus-diplomacy-friendship-095655888.html

 

 

 

 

"MANILA (Reuters) - A music video produced by China to promote its support for neighbours battling the coronavirus has backfired in the Philippines, attracting a flood of public criticism and an online petition that is fast attracting signatures.

China's embassy released the song by diplomats, singers and an actor last week, but the lyrics and title "Iisang Dagat", or "One Sea" in the Philippine language, has not gone down well with some Filipinos, many of whom see China as a maritime aggressor in disputed waters."

 

"By Monday afternoon, the video posted last week on YouTube with the hashtag #CNPHHealAsOne had 149,000 dislikes compared with 2,100 likes, while a Change.org petition demanding the video be taken down had more than 8,000 respondents.

Social media critics vented their fury at what they saw as Chinese propaganda to conceal bullying in the South China Sea and branded Filipinos involved in the song as traitors.

"We have to stop the evil of China spreading", wrote one, Leonard Anthony Arcilla. "We do not unify with China", said Elna Lynda Acuerdo, while Venus Liwanag said the video was "slapping the faces of each Filipino"."

 

 

 

LOL

 

 

52 minutes ago, SirPalomides said:

Summary: China put out some schmaltzy video and a bunch of keyboard warriors thought it sucked. Earth-shaking news here. Bravo to the intrepid journalists at Yahoo.

 

The issue is that the territory China has been seizing since their puppet Duterte ignored the Hague victory in 2016 is recognized there. It's not keyboard warriors--it's been years of the most common and number one complaint Filipinos have for Duterte selling out to China. I can post more articles here if necessary to show it's not trivial. 

 

This includes ramming fishing vessels and last week a military ship, building on disputed islands....

Edited April 27, 2020 by Earl Grey

[SirPalomides]

I'm aware of the territory disputes, but the article in question is only peripherally about them. "Blow for China's virus diplomacy" as people on the internet do what they do everywhere. Does the reception of this song (which sucks hard, by the way, but then so does C-Pop generally) have any bearings on diplomacy? Of course not, but you have to have a dramatic headline to justify getting paid for watching YouTube videos and reading comments.

[SirPalomides]

What would be news is if Duterte's approval rating actually took a dive and unfortunately that doesn't seem to be happening no matter what he does.

[Earl Grey]

1 minute ago, SirPalomides said:

I'm aware of the territory disputes, but the article in question is only peripherally about them. "Blow for China's virus diplomacy" as people on the internet do what they do everywhere. Does the reception of this song (which sucks hard, by the way, but then so does C-Pop generally) have any bearings on diplomacy? Of course not, but you have to have a dramatic headline to justify getting paid for watching YouTube videos and reading comments.

What I am finding is it’s more for Chinese citizens propaganda than Filipinos, much like the anti-Islam and violent Hindi pop in India:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/10/world/asia/india-hindutva-pop-narendra-modi.html

 

This is state-funded in China as opposed to encouraged by India under Modi.

[SirPalomides]

One day, when the great firewall comes down, videos like this will have a gajillion likes and the stupid comments would multiply a 1000 fold. People outside China say they want the firewall to come down but once they see the insanity of the Chinese internet pouring onto their news sites and forums they will beg the PRC to put the firewall back up. And it will be too late.

[Master Logray]

23 hours ago, SirPalomides said:

Wait, so foreigners need to be kept in the dark about Daoism so they can’t counteract our Chinese Daoist wizards? That doesn’t sound right. Anyway horse is out of the barn there since Daoists have been teaching “barbarians” for a long time now.

 

The barbarians and foreign devils certainly gain a lot of knowledge these days.  But by how much?   Many masters don't even teach the core secret to their disciples and students, who are all Chinese.   And some important knowledge are just not passed on to the followers and gone when the masters passed away.

[Earl Grey]

4 minutes ago, SirPalomides said:

One day, when the great firewall comes down, videos like this will have a gajillion likes and the stupid comments would multiply a 1000 fold. People outside China say they want the firewall to come down but once they see the insanity of the Chinese internet pouring onto their news sites and forums they will beg the PRC to put the firewall back up. And it will be too late.

pretty much.

[Earl Grey]

21 minutes ago, SirPalomides said:

What would be news is if Duterte's approval rating actually took a dive and unfortunately that doesn't seem to be happening no matter what he does.

It took a dive last year because he banned vaping, and his most ardent supporters actually went against all his policies, including ones they supported because it personally affected them.

 

As of now, the propaganda machine actually is losing steam because the lockdown now is so aggravating that complaining trended more than propaganda on social media, and the propaganda machine couldn’t make up for the resentment, even with Chinese and Russians backing their PR firms for trolling.

[SirPalomides]

Yeah but how much is he going to lose? Last I heard he had some ridiculous number like 85%. You can afford to alienate a lot of people with those numbers.

[Earl Grey]

10 minutes ago, SirPalomides said:

Yeah but how much is he going to lose? Last I heard he had some ridiculous number like 85%. You can afford to alienate a lot of people with those numbers.

Higher, actually.

 

The country is both easily influenced and they actually have many unfortunately uneducated people who like strongman politics. They want authoritarian rule because they equate democracy with oligarchy and that oligarchy is what leads to inequality. They believe a noble tyrant will crush the oligarchy.

[ralis]

I believe I stated AGW being the root cause of this pandemic. It is becoming clear that if humans don't stop the destruction of the biosphere, then conditions on earth will grow worse.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/27/halt-destruction-nature-worse-pandemics-top-scientists

 

Quote

There is a single species responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic – us,” they said. “Recent pandemics are a direct consequence of human activity, particularly our global financial and economic systems that prize economic growth at any cost. We have a small window of opportunity, in overcoming the challenges of the current crisis, to avoid sowing the seeds of future ones.”

Professors Josef Settele, Sandra Díaz and Eduardo Brondizio led the most comprehensive planetary health check ever undertaken, which was published in 2019 by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It concluded that human society was in jeopardy from the accelerating decline of the Earth’s natural life-support systems.

 

[Immortal4life]

Last week Bill came out with a sequel, and he's right again