Enes Kanter to Jeremy Lin: You’ve betrayed the Chinese people, sold out to “dirty Chinese communist party”

[Clay Davis]

That's a false equivalency. The cruelty of US immigration policy, uneven protection of press freedoms, and lack of regard for privacy in the name national security is no doubt below the standards we try to apply ourselves and other countries, but what China has done recently with the Uighur, Hong Kong, and it's high-tech surveillance state is magnitudes worse. Then you start looking at how censored Chinese media is and how heavy-handed the government is with it's control of it and it's just on another level compared to any other 1st or 2nd world countries when you factor in the scale at which it's happening. It's basically the same country that drove a tank over a protestor 30 years ago, they're just more subtle about it now.

Let's see

America genocided Native Americans as national policy and confined them to reservations

America was caught spying on its own citizens and allies thanks to Edward Snowden

America tried to evade and takeover Cuba multiple times and then embargoed it, forever impoverishing and isolating the nation.

America started the racist War on Drugs and was caught supplying drugs to rogue factions in South America that were anti-democratic and pro-America.

America lied to the world about WMDs to start the War on Terrorism, which has disrupted the Middle East

America militarily and financially supports Israel and Saudi Arabia, two of the biggest human rights violators in the world

America spied on and harassed civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr

America supported and trained death squads in South America that killed millions of people in order to prevent socialism in South America.

America has experimented on its own citizens.

America has done worse or equivalent to whatever horrors China has done, only difference is, China doesn't morally grandstand like America does and play world police.

Nobody in the world points the finger at the horrors of America because they are too scared to or already sold out a long time ago.

And anytime you bring it to another American, there's somebody worse and America is the good guy, it's so funnyyl that it's scary.

China's founding father literally perpetrated the death of 80 million people lol

[dcstanley]

I do agree Kanter is kinda cherry picking (no better than LeBron in this regard). In many of the Muslim countries including Turkey, you still get executed for being gay as you mentioned, in addition to women being sub-human.

I think we could criticize Kanter this way if he was getting money from Saudi or any of those countries. If one is going to counter criticize him, it should be in accordance with his criticisms. Kanter seems to be calling people out if they are getting paid by China or making money directly via China in some way. I don't really agree with his methods as it lacks tactfulness and nuance, but as far as I know, Kanter isn't getting money or profiting directly due to any of those countries/regimes.

That’s a fair point. In this particular case Kanter is banned from his own country for speaking against their crimes too.

Should anyone really reasonably expect Lin to say anything about this matter, while playing in China? People who badmouth the Chinese government disappear. That applies to everyone, including the rich and celebrities.

Lin is playing in China because NBA teams won't sign him and he wants to have a job. He's not doing it to bow down to the Chinese government. Kanter's twitter post just seems unnecessarily abrasive and clearly attention-seeking.

lin is not chinese he has freedom not to play in china but he sold himself to make money and get ads.
kanter would never sell himself for cheap 6 figure salary which is why he was banned from turkey.

Why do people parrot this without knowing the context behind his beef with the Turkish president? Comes off really ignorant.

He didn't leave because he's a proponent of human rights he left because the leader of his political cult, Fetullah Gulen, was ousted by Turkey. Kanter is a Gulenist, categorizing a Gulenists as a legitimate supporter of democracy is a joke. Gulenists want to destroy secular Turkey. Gulen and Erdogan worked together until a power struggle ensued, Gulen attempted a coup, lost and fled the country. Kanter's issues with Turkey began then. He just preferred his authoritarian leader in power.

[Clay Davis]

If someone approves of China's belligerent attitude towards Taiwan they do not stand for either human rights or democracy. The Chinese government has a long history of trying to influence Taiwanese politics through either the style of social media influence that we're all familiar with to strong-arming other governments/international agencies to not recognize Taiwan's status as a politically autonomous state.

It's hilarious that people think of the Taiwan-Chinese relationship as being somewhat benign and non-oppressive when we're still in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic wherein the Chinese government has actively tried to halt Taiwan's incorporation into the WHO (where they would have been and would continue to be a massive asset in the global fight against COVID-19).

Politics aside, there's no animosity between the people of Taiwan and China. On the contrary, Taiwan is one of the biggest investors in China, pumping hundreds of billions into China. Conversely, China buys a lot of goods from Taiwan, accounting for ~85% of Taiwan's total export. Like Jeremy Lin, they are all just trying to make a living. Kanter is off base on this and owes Lin an apology.

Of course. Taiwanese people and Chinese people are generally very kind to one another (and are also very kind people in general). However, the fact remains that the majority of Taiwanese people are not in favour of "reunification" with China.

[threethehardway]

China's founding father literally perpetrated the death of 80 million people lol

America's founding fathers literally owned and sexually assaulted people and genocided people and said they were pro freedom and human rights and the pursuit of happiness yadda yadda

[threethehardway]

Hmm, forced abortions, active concentration camps, ongoing slave labor, and current organ harvesting operations are nothing compared to that list. You win, nice whataboutism.

America has force abortions at women prisons and use prisoners as slave labor lmao what do you mean lmao...

[hugolizard]

So Lin is playing for a team owned by Chinese people, not the government, but he is now considered a traitor? What happened to we hate the Chinese government but not its people bs.

[CptCrunch]

That's a false equivalency. The cruelty of US immigration policy, uneven protection of press freedoms, and lack of regard for privacy in the name national security is no doubt below the standards we try to apply ourselves and other countries, but what China has done recently with the Uighur, Hong Kong, and it's high-tech surveillance state is magnitudes worse. Then you start looking at how censored Chinese media is and how heavy-handed the government is with it's control of it and it's just on another level compared to any other 1st or 2nd world countries when you factor in the scale at which it's happening. It's basically the same country that drove a tank over a protestor 30 years ago, they're just more subtle about it now.

Let's see

America genocided Native Americans as national policy and confined them to reservations

America was caught spying on its own citizens and allies thanks to Edward Snowden

America tried to evade and takeover Cuba multiple times and then embargoed it, forever impoverishing and isolating the nation.

America started the racist War on Drugs and was caught supplying drugs to rogue factions in South America that were anti-democratic and pro-America.

America lied to the world about WMDs to start the War on Terrorism, which has disrupted the Middle East

America militarily and financially supports Israel and Saudi Arabia, two of the biggest human rights violators in the world

America spied on and harassed civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr

America supported and trained death squads in South America that killed millions of people in order to prevent socialism in South America.

America has experimented on its own citizens.

America has done worse or equivalent to whatever horrors China has done, only difference is, China doesn't morally grandstand like America does and play world police.

Nobody in the world points the finger at the horrors of America because they are too scared to or already sold out a long time ago.

And anytime you bring it to another American, there's somebody worse and America is the good guy, it's so funnyyl that it's scary.

China's founding father literally perpetrated the death of 80 million people lol

When did sins of one's forefathers become the sins of the current era?

If you really want to play that game, the US and by extension all Americans have no way to wash away the sins of intentful genocide of Native Americans Indians, the wholesale theft of their homelands. Let's alone multiple century long enslavement of the black man. Families separated, children sold, women raped, human lives ended at whim of the slave masters. Shall I continue?

[donnieme]

Political discourse in 2021 is less about the actual cause and more about virtue signaling and shaming others. I'm not sure how this makes Lin a traitor but I'm not sure even Kanter knows either.

[Clay Davis]

Let's see

America genocided Native Americans as national policy and confined them to reservations

America was caught spying on its own citizens and allies thanks to Edward Snowden

America tried to evade and takeover Cuba multiple times and then embargoed it, forever impoverishing and isolating the nation.

America started the racist War on Drugs and was caught supplying drugs to rogue factions in South America that were anti-democratic and pro-America.

America lied to the world about WMDs to start the War on Terrorism, which has disrupted the Middle East

America militarily and financially supports Israel and Saudi Arabia, two of the biggest human rights violators in the world

America spied on and harassed civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr

America supported and trained death squads in South America that killed millions of people in order to prevent socialism in South America.

America has experimented on its own citizens.

America has done worse or equivalent to whatever horrors China has done, only difference is, China doesn't morally grandstand like America does and play world police.

Nobody in the world points the finger at the horrors of America because they are too scared to or already sold out a long time ago.

And anytime you bring it to another American, there's somebody worse and America is the good guy, it's so funnyyl that it's scary.

China's founding father literally perpetrated the death of 80 million people lol

When did sins of one's forefathers become the sins of the current era?

If you really want to play that game, the US and by extension all Americans have no way to wash away the sins of intentful genocide of Native Americans Indians, the wholesale theft of their homelands. Let's alone multiple century long enslavement of the black man.

? Your first point was about the genocide of the indigenous people of North America. If you think it's silly to bring up past atrocities, maybe you shouldn't have brought it up. You can compare atrocities all you want but that is (i) irrelevant, since in what world does a worse atrocity whitewash a comparatively less severe one; (ii) callous, since you're applying a calculus to the lives of innocents in the hope of winning an online argument.

[Domejandro]

I have a ton to say on this topic, but this is not the right forum. I encourage everyone who wants to talk about this to go to the "Current Affairs" board.