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i said it was fine to have protests on a campus, fine for people to express their political beliefs. fine even for things to get heated. let's remember you were framing that in a quaint, 1960s-style, 'there are asians complaining on australian campuses. if you don't like it here, you can fuck off home' etc etc. rhetoric.

i literally said the exact same thing, then as now, that when anyone gets assaulted or physically harmed, the law is there to deal with it for the crime that it is.

i don't think diplomats should get mobbed and pushed over, even if they are envoys of a terrible regime. it's not a good look for the host country: you can hardly criticise someone else from a position of moral authority if you have lawless streets where physical assaults are a-OK.

Last edited by uziq (2019-11-16 00:56:51)

i think students getting in one another's faces and arguing is fine.

pushing an old lady over from behind, not fine.

things are not 'either OK or not' in a categorical sense. that's why we have courts to arbitrate the law, you know? this might seem complicated to you, i admit. if the laws of battery or assault were as categorical as you want them, you'd have a criminal record for raising your voice at someone ('causing another to feel intimidation or threat of physical force') or putting your hands on someone to nudge by ('applying of unwanted physical force'). errrr, no, dilbert.

is it really so complicated? the animus behind your remarks was clearly some xenophobic thing about chinese students not being 'grateful' enough to be at liberal australian institutions, the pernicious influence of china on australia, etc etc.

Last edited by uziq (2019-11-16 05:16:08)

i mean, when was the last time mainland chinese and HKers ever treated each other with respect, anyway? in the mainland they think HKers are 'bugs' that should be squashed, and in HK they view mainlanders with disdain as crass and simpletons. i dunno who is meant to be persuaded at all by a 'confrontation' between two groups who are basically different castes. there was little respectful dialogue between the two groups way before the latest round of protests.

pretty sure anyone that milkshake'd farage was arrested and either cautioned or given a record. pretty sure the one guy who was in the paper for it lost his job for it. i don't recall ever encouraging anyone to assault nigel farage. i think the man is a fucking idiot, and a dangerous one at that who incites real violence and revels in right-wing rhetoric whilst MPs are being murdered over his mess, but i wouldn't throw shit at someone in any circumstance to make a point.

with that said, there is a long history, a tradition if you will, of politicians and public figures being egged, pie'd, milkshake'd, etc. at the end of the day it isn't causing physical harm or pain, it's a mild embarrassment. pushing over an old lady so that she falls and hurts herself - her arm/hand was injured, requiring medical attention - is just a different degree of harm. if you can't see it then i'd say you're 'very selective' in who you lend your sympathy to. funny that you're incensed about your far-right poster-child needing to take his savile row suit to the dry cleaner, but don't really mind an asian communist being pushed over. i wonder ...

"either assault is OK or not", yes, well done with your elegant argument. as is fairly obvious, what constitutes 'assault' is the rub in that statement. student protestors getting hot-headed and pushing each other back and forth is pretty common. a fight breaking out between two individuals, with real harm intended and blows traded, is another matter. good job the police can normally tell the difference, and you aren't in any position of authority.

Last edited by uziq (2019-11-16 13:43:10)

uziq wrote:

well to be fair having one of your diplomats mobbed in the street and pushed over is kind of unacceptable. it wouldn't be cool if it happened to a saudi or a russian ambassador, let alone one of our 'nice guy' european diplomats. being pushed over in the street is a common assault regardless of who you're shoving and for what reasons.

I mean it's natural for them to object. It would be weird for a country not to. But there's still an air of irony to it in the midst of stories emerging from HK.

did you see that video footage of erdogan's team beating the shit into a bunch of people during his last visit? lol it was like a street brawl.

no one said anything! absolutely hilarious. this shit makes china look reasonable and sane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5urNZi6THh0

Reminds me of the Axe Gang from Kung Fu Hustle. They're just missing the hats and hatchets.

isn’t getting great press? it was an unmitigated disaster. that will go down as one of the worst ‘candid’ tv interviews of all time. he really isn’t the brightest tool — especially considering his calculation regarding the appearance was clearly based on him thinking he’s cleverer than the public.

I think people sometimes confuse guaranteeing individual freedom of expression with profiting off of unchecked misinformation campaigns.

i mean, almost all of his satires have been punching down affairs. ali g was a baron-cohen (they are a distinguished upper-middle class family; all cambridge, etc.) punching down on the (sub)urban underclass. funny, yes, but not exactly generous in spirit. borat? funny but it's no secret that it caused huge problems for the people it mocked, including even a legal struggle. bruno? that film was 10 years out of date when it was released; the individual skits included in the ali g show at least caught something of the campiness of the 1990s. it just seemed bizarre. the dictator film i guess had a lineage of 'hollywood mocks dictators', but his effort was hardly chaplin. i'm sure he's done a film or two since then that have sunk like a stone without notice.

i actually think he's a pretty lazy comic and the above is another example of really lazy thinking.

Last edited by uziq (2019-11-24 04:46:02)

facebook owns instagram and decides which adverts are put on there. 'smaller and more fun'? it's hardly a niche and emerging app. instagram is in many ways even more negative to people's mental health than facebook. facebook have been totally absent in regulating self-harm/suicide promotion communities on the app, for instance.

Dilbert_X wrote:

I remember when Baron-Cohen was funny.

When was that? His fake Kazakhstan anthem rousing patriotic ire in an American rodeo audience was memorable, but beyond that it just seemed like more stereotype bits.

i dunno, watching him get dick cheney to sign a waterboarding kit was funny.

Also loved his left-wing, white guilt, NPR sweater-wearing dude.

"I'm a cisgender white heterosexual male. For which I apologize." GOOOOOD STUFF