I think it’s important to note that _most_ of the ratfucking appears to have been Dave McCarty just out on his own making crazy decisions, and it seems than the Chinese fans and Chinese authors were some of the worst treated in the whole scenario.
Obviously, the level of censorship from the PRC is hugely problematic, and something to seriously consider when deciding where to hold the award ceremony, but the fact that this one was a disaster should reflect mostly on McCarty and the other administrators. This shouldn’t be evidence that Chengdu was a problem.
This is clearly evidence that China is the problem. It's exactly what everyone predicted. And it's what I've witnessed in the past few years at scientific conferences. This is how the system puts pressure on outsiders, it gets the locals to explain how dire the consequences would be for them.
15 years ago conferences were legitimately free and everyone felt free. I felt comfortable visiting China.
Now, I get emails asking for slides ahead of time to make we don't say anything. Chinese faculty members show up with minders. I get pleading comments in private to make sure to never say anything political because my hosts would be punished.
Heck, we had to change the ethics section of a paper recently to make my student comfortable in case he plans to return home because employers and the government would hold him accountable for what it said originally. Nothing crazy by the way, nothing even directly mentioning China, just about the general idea of freedom.
15 years later, I don't feel comfortable going to China anymore or letting any of my students go to conferences there anymore.
The only thing you know about Dave McCarty's actions is that he was extremely concerned about the locals. I could have said something in my talk about the Uyghurs and Hong Kong when I was there. And if it was a Chinese funded event in the West I would have. But it would have been my innocent friends and their families who were hosting us at the conference that would have paid the price for that. You're really buying into exactly what the system wants you to think here.
The latest news is the McCarty swapped a “slate” of votes for Chinese authors (that was actually a recommended reading list, published by a magazine), and just replaced those votes for votes for western authors.
This goes well beyond just ham-handed and incompetent attempts to preemptively appease Chinese censors, and into outright manipulation to deny Chinese fans their votes at all.
If we were still just in the world of “McCarty is attempting to preemptively censor to appease the government”, I’d agree with you. But we went past that point, and at this point McCarty’s hands are so dirty, it’s hard for me to assume he was just looking out for his local contacts.
Sounds a lot like you’re trying to argue that you can only be against one evil at a time, which is exactly how people have convinced themselves that you must support terrorism from either Israel or Palestine if you criticize the other.
Funny how you blame Palestine crisis on the "West" instead of the insane Iran and Ruzzia actually sponsoring that hellhole for almost a century and smuggling terror weapons there, and both of these Axis of Losers countries being supported by the same China.
Comments
I think it’s important to note that _most_ of the ratfucking appears to have been Dave McCarty just out on his own making crazy decisions, and it seems than the Chinese fans and Chinese authors were some of the worst treated in the whole scenario.
Obviously, the level of censorship from the PRC is hugely problematic, and something to seriously consider when deciding where to hold the award ceremony, but the fact that this one was a disaster should reflect mostly on McCarty and the other administrators. This shouldn’t be evidence that Chengdu was a problem.
This is clearly evidence that China is the problem. It's exactly what everyone predicted. And it's what I've witnessed in the past few years at scientific conferences. This is how the system puts pressure on outsiders, it gets the locals to explain how dire the consequences would be for them.
15 years ago conferences were legitimately free and everyone felt free. I felt comfortable visiting China.
Now, I get emails asking for slides ahead of time to make we don't say anything. Chinese faculty members show up with minders. I get pleading comments in private to make sure to never say anything political because my hosts would be punished.
Heck, we had to change the ethics section of a paper recently to make my student comfortable in case he plans to return home because employers and the government would hold him accountable for what it said originally. Nothing crazy by the way, nothing even directly mentioning China, just about the general idea of freedom.
15 years later, I don't feel comfortable going to China anymore or letting any of my students go to conferences there anymore.
The only thing you know about Dave McCarty's actions is that he was extremely concerned about the locals. I could have said something in my talk about the Uyghurs and Hong Kong when I was there. And if it was a Chinese funded event in the West I would have. But it would have been my innocent friends and their families who were hosting us at the conference that would have paid the price for that. You're really buying into exactly what the system wants you to think here.
The latest news is the McCarty swapped a “slate” of votes for Chinese authors (that was actually a recommended reading list, published by a magazine), and just replaced those votes for votes for western authors.
This goes well beyond just ham-handed and incompetent attempts to preemptively appease Chinese censors, and into outright manipulation to deny Chinese fans their votes at all.
If we were still just in the world of “McCarty is attempting to preemptively censor to appease the government”, I’d agree with you. But we went past that point, and at this point McCarty’s hands are so dirty, it’s hard for me to assume he was just looking out for his local contacts.
Freedom only exists is when it is periodically exercised and consistently defended without compliance or compromise.
What a laugh to point a finger at Chinese treatment of Muslims when the NATO countries are arming the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Sounds a lot like you’re trying to argue that you can only be against one evil at a time, which is exactly how people have convinced themselves that you must support terrorism from either Israel or Palestine if you criticize the other.
Funny how you blame Palestine crisis on the "West" instead of the insane Iran and Ruzzia actually sponsoring that hellhole for almost a century and smuggling terror weapons there, and both of these Axis of Losers countries being supported by the same China.