TGM wrote:robbie84 wrote:TGM wrote:Hi all,
I haven't posted here in a while, but felt compelled to provide a on the ground view about what has happened here in HK. I am of Chinese descent father from Shanghai and Mother from HK. I have lived in Asia for the past 10 years split between HK, Tokyo and Shanghai. Prior 30 years in Toronto and NY. If anything I would consider myself more tied to my HK and North American roots. With this being said, I am disgusted by the minority group that is trashing ruining HK with their calls for freedom.
The last 18 weeks in HK have been an absolute war zone on the streets of HK, hate between HK and people from China have gotten to extremes. I think China's reaction to the Morey tweet is probably a bit overkill, but Morey should have refrained tweeting about something that he understands at a very superficial level. First thing I want to clarify is that media today is absolute trash. Media when it comes to politics is not about free press and reporting the truth, but who has paid you more money. China has always been known for censorship and some level of propaganda, but what has disgusted me most, is the so called western international press that has manipulated stories, edited videos and banned freedom of speech on the media channels and forums. I went and witnessed a protest in my neighbourhood 2 months back. The street had probably around 500-600 protestors. You could visibly count. The amount the western media reported the next day was 55,000. Clearly trying to skew the view. You may have heard there were 1 million people that showed up for a protest at a park in HK. The park scientifically can only fit 150,000 people. It was raining that day too.
For those that want to understand what is going on in HK. I am sure the media you read is that it is about a fight for democracy. That is probably 20% of the battle. The rest is about social inequality, change in social status and an inability to accept that competition has risen over the years. All of you in North America, probably over the past 10-20 years have noticed the increase of immigrants and they work hard and compete for jobs. HK is no different. This goes back into history when HK was colonized by the British. HK at the time was used by the British as a business gateway into Asia Pacific and to ensure the simplest dealings, rules were extremely lax in order to provide the most economic efficiency. As a result HK become one of the most capitalist cities in the world. Tax rates are 15% at the highest level, zero rent control, garbage public education and healthcare and next to zero retirement pension. If you are willing to work hard and live modestly, you can make and save money big time in this city. Working 10 years in HK even today would allow you to save the equivalent of 25 years in North America. Two problems arose from this phenomenon first was an elitist mindset from Hong Kong people towards the Mainland. I recall as a kid my family would look down about China in the 80-90s and felt that we were more sophisticated, cleaner and smarter. My families perspective changed as we saw China grow over the last few decades, but many still live in this elitist world. The second problem is the extreme reckless capitalism in HK has resulted in the biggest rich poor gap in the world. To give you a sense. The cost to buy a new 500 square foot apartment in an average neighbourhood will run you between 2-2.25 million CAD. The average payback period in this city is 49 years. Add in garbage education, healthcare and pension. The picture is pretty grimm. Now it is always easy to point the finger at China cause they are the communist, which historically we are taught are the antagonist and the democracy fighters are the protagonist. Problem is people destroying and rioting in HK are hiding behind the democracy shield, when the bulk of their battle is social inequality, inability to accept that their cousins have gotten much more competitive and they have gotten too complacent over the years that all of a sudden they cannot keep up with society.
This is what is truly happening in HK. This is why Morey's tweet at the end of the day is a bit ignorant, because it lacks context of what is happening and people are fighting for.
I wish the protestors in HK were this noble and righteous to fight for democracy. But this is a city that has been poisoned by money. If there is something that runs in the DNA of this city before democracy, socialism or communism. IT IS CAPITALISM!
LOL. Look at the five demands. How do they have anything to do with the dribble you are spouting?
Go away commies.
You should go understand what democracy is before supporting these rioters. When someone has a different opinion and you mob beat them I'm not sure you should get your 5 demands.
You are spot on, most of the Hong Kong residents are living in fear.
The rioters are setting up illegal road blocks these few days to check if there are cops on board. They will also check your phones, make you call out supporting slogans to the 5 demands, and forcefully ask for donation before they let you drive off.
They are far far away from being righteous, they are high on the riot drug and I can only hope this craziness will be stopped soon.
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