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Chinese comedy group punishment sends chills through arts sphere

22 Comments
By Matthew WALSH and Rebecca BAILEY

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22 Comments
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“Why does anyone do business with this sort of government” - Chuck Fina, advisor to the White House.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Well Michael western corporations got greedy and wanted to outsource labor to China to lessen overhead costs. Because western governments allowed this without having the foresight to see the dangers of reliance on the CCP. We are now stuck forced to do business with them because the structure of our economies has completely changed. If WW3 started tomorrow and the West had to produce all materials they needed for themselves again how do you think that would go?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

You know there is something wrong when noses get out of joint so fast. Comedy is a dying art sadly, not only in dictatorships but is the new western dictatorships where political correctness runs rampant!

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Bail China if ur in the Arts.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

If you want to think and speak freely, leave China right now.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

If you want to think and speak freely, leave China right now.

And the west is any better? Can you watch Song of the South in the US?

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

China's recent punishment of a comedy studio has sent a chill through the country's cultural sphere -- a striking reminder of the increasingly limited public space for artistic expression under President Xi Jinping.

And go to America and crack a Joke about gays and see what happens.

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

Don't joke the Chinese government..

Problem solved..

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

GreenstingrayToday  09:36 am JST

And the west is any better? Can you watch Song of the South in the US?

You can watch it anywhere you want including the US. It's on youtube.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

GreenstingrayToday  09:38 am JST

And go to America and crack a Joke about gays and see what happens.

It's about place and context; TPO. Standup comedians, movies, and TV shows make jokes about gays. Something happens alright. People usually laugh. If you're a politician, sports announcer, etc., it may not go over well. But the government won't fine you. Which is the actual point; governments like the Chinese fining and censoring people.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

which officials subsequently announced had "caused a bad social impact" and broken the law.

Me thinks Xi Jinping needs to rethink the criteria for what causes "a bad social impact." Because what he did and is doing has a far greater "bad impact" on society than what anything a comedian could ever say.

S

3 ( +3 / -0 )

It's a shame because I bet nothing is funnier than the absurdity of the CCP.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

It’s china, like robbing marine graves.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

A friend I know for more than 15 years has been living in China for almost a decade working for himself.

Just yesterday he asked me out of the blue how the self-sponsored visas work here in Japan, without giving further details.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I guess all the people on other countries that worry about Chinese artists and performers surpassing their own local talent can now see why this is not such a big danger as it is sometimes presented. The own Chinese government is perfectly capable of sabotaging those talented people so everybody else can have a much better chance of being in the international spotlight.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Don't expect one iota of humor from career politicians, especially the Chinese communist kind, grim-faced authoritarians that have tormented and tortured the Chinese people from time immemorial with their unfunny fascistic Confucianism.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Just a reminder... the problem is the CCP(PPCCCPCPPCC)... not China... nor the Chinese.

Secondly people can't just leave China.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Don't joke the Chinese government..

Problem solved..

Why not? We can joke about everybody else's government. The Chinese government is nothing special

Do ya want people not to be able to joke about the Japanese government?

There is nothing fundamentally wrong regarding joking about your government

In fact, there are more problems introduced than solved when people are not allowed to joke about their governments

(Have ya seen Jackie Chan's old films? It's funnier when he can joke about authorities)

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It's a dictatorship. Poking fun at it, from within, is not going to end well. Xi sees himself as a new Mao and will seal that with a new cultural revolution. Young Chinese people need to get some tips from their grandparents on how to survive that.

quote: Why does anyone do business with this sort of government.

Everyone does and always has done. The US have worked with endless dictators. And with good reason. If you only trade with people whose politics you agree with, you will go broke. Most of the world's resources, including food, are held by undemocratic nations.

You can create a bubble of like-minded souls on Facebook and live the purist fantasy, but in the real world, it is not an option. Turning off Russian oil (and switching to the dictators in the Middle East instead) has butchered EU economies, impoverished millions and erased any chance of a green transition in Europe any time soon. The phrase for this is 'cutting off your nose to spite your face'.

And what happens when the US gets an abortion-banning, anti-LGBT Republican in charge? Do you want the EU to stop doing business with the US as a protest? Will you hand in your US citizenship? And it's not like the US is morally pure. Guantanamo Bay and its Presidentially sponsored torture. The use of chemical weapons in Vietnam that still cause deaths today. Two nuclear bombs and the firebombing of civilian populations in Japan. Should we have stopped doing business with this sort of government?

Trade needs to be depoliticised and re-globalised. If it (and everything else) is politicised, you get massive increases in poverty, hunger, political instability, culture wars and ultimately, real wars. We trade with each other even if we disagree with each other, and the money stops us starting wars that kill millions of innocent people.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

OK China never claims to be liberal western democracy with our definition of free speech, so why are the media focusing on this story. Meanwhile in Germany, a member of the liberal western democracy, citizens get arrested and imprisoned for posting dissenting opinions about the war in Ukraine of social media. Almost no coverage in the media on this issue. Citizens throughout the UK and EU face punishment for posts that are deemed to be 'hate speech'. The EU continues down the path of requiring social media companies to censor content. The US government also censors social media content and uses it spread disinformation supporting their narrative. These are issues which we as citizens of what we claim are free democratic and open societies with free speech rights enshrined in law, should be fighting against, think about it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

These are issues which we as citizens of what we claim are free democratic and open societies with free speech rights enshrined in law, should be fighting against, think about it.

You are correct to a certain extent but China with its rock bottom freedoms infects the rest of the world due to its size. NBA players and artists can't even say what they want to about China for fear of offending the giant baby and having it blow back on them even outside of China.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Awful! Terrible!

Get out of China and find safe haven in the west because it can NEVER happen there.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/wjaykq/a-canadian-comedian-was-ordered-to-pay-42000-because-he-insulted-a-child-with-a-disability

On second thought, nevermind...

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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