Thank you for another great piece. Everything you have been doing, from the podcast to this Substack, is excellent. I can't wait to see what you do next.
Love the title to this article! Saw some comments about Capitalism which indicate a lack of understanding of what Capitalism is, which is built on systems of morality i.e. trust, non-coercion, integrity. It is an economic concept, but unfortunately most businesspeople today are not capitalists at all. They have been trained to be masters of the mixed economy, beholden to government beaurocrats, feeding at the trough of the state and at the feet of despots. I personally find so few whom I can respect, whatever their wealth or apparent achievements. And today, when they, with their platforms to reach millions, have the opportunity to help put a stop to the insidious WOKE culture taking over America, they say...nothing. And eagerly go along. If you are looking to Ray Dalio or the Oracle of Omaha or Jeff Bezos or pretty much any of them, to do or say the right thing in regard to China or to our domestic aspiring totalitarians, don't bother.
Re: Reply and commentary to your piece on Thursday December 2, “Women's Tennis Has Balls. Does Wall Street?”
Bari,
I’m a big fan of you and your reporting. But I think you missed the mark in your recent post…
The system of “always believe the victim,” where the presumption of guilt toward all men, (simply for being men), creates an impossibility of harmony between the sexes... Is this cutural approach in America somehow so superior that it should be exported?
And how do you know what actually happened to Peng Shui? Let’s assume she was “assaulted” - (whatever that means in this context).
Was she brutally raped? Did this communist scumbag squeeze her boobs? Did he tell her a dirty and suggestive joke? Did he whip it out and pleasure himself? What exactly is the crime here? You make no mention and so - as usual - the reader is left to imagine what impropriety was committed. The implication is, once again, that men are up to their same old wicked ways. So, let’s hear what happened if you have privileged info. That’s proper reporting, no?
And while we’re at it, what is the precise line separating a man's appreciation for female comeliness vis a vis actual sexual violation? Are men allowed to look? Is that demeaning too? Who gets to decide? You?
Point number two… Dalio’s refusal to comment on something he isn’t following is a reasonable deferral at a time when 20-year-olds on YouTube present themselves as experts on everything from fitness to day-trading.
Don't we have enough people loudly expostulating about things they don't fully understand and do not follow? His refusal to comment on something he doesn't follow is cowardice? Are you sure about that? And are you saying (as you imply) that if Peng was brutally raped that he is somehow clearly in favor of it because he has a China fund? I doubt it.
And if Dalio is biased and blinded because he runs money for a living, what is your particular bias? Do you own any bias as an American lesbian who grew up in the tradition of what is now a system so dysfunctional that notions of “equality” are based almost entirely on one’s victim status? Once upon a time, good reporters wrote with their own biases in mind… In this case, your failure to do so makes the entire article (and maybe your other work) somewhat ridiculous.
In other words, if he's a rich, calloused, capitalist with no balls, doesn't that, (in all fairness), make you a bitter lesbian with an ax to grind about men... who knows nothing and couldn’t care less about healthy male admiration? That would seem like a fair quid pro quo…
What makes Dalio’s answer so “indefensible?” I missed that part.
Please note, I’m not defending rapists… What man would? And I don’t pretend to know what happened to Peng Shui. I wasn’t there. If I understand correctly, you weren’t either. But here’s a good follow-up story to cover…
Do women ever use male attention as an opportunity to ratchet up their victim status scorecard? Has any woman ever used her sexual attractiveness to manipulate both men’s attention and her perceived helplessness? If any serious female writer has ever written even one such story about what has to be the oldest dynamic in human society, I’ve never found it. Why not do a hit piece on women who use pussy to get what they want. There’s a story!
Next… There is a way to criticize China and the Chinese system that shows why our way of life might be worth defending... And there is a way that mocks your reader.
Do you really know so much about China’s cultural epistemology to presume their totalitarian regime is such a bad idea? I’m fairly certain the average Chinese person doesn’t agree with you. I'm not actually defending China. But the almost slap-stick, puerile way in which Western reporters think to cast blame on China’s bad behavior actually encourages more of it. How?
It shows the Chinese that we Westerners don’t know how to be honest about our own cultural failings. Look around you at the raging culture war in the West. Every societal institution is failing at once. It’s at least questionable whether or not our elections are rigged… Silicon Valley is surveilling absolutely everyone at every moment - and continuing to lie about it… and the Fed is pulling off the biggest bank heist in the history of the human race in broad daylight... Your point is that the Chinese should copy us and adopt our values?
Is there any recognition in your world that perhaps the Chinese are right - i.e. that Western “values” are a little too decadent for the rest of the world to stomach? And why is the US culture war - where women have free reign to get revenge on men because of some supposed historical injustice - why is our current status quo on this topic so superior to the Chinese? Can you explain that to me?
Based on your article, you possess questionable expertise on this topic. That you assume Peng Shui suffered outrage and want - as is the norm - to trumpet your own solidarity with your oppressed sisters around the world is really not reporting of any kind. It’s more like a long-winded Twitter post designed to incite yet more outrage.
Normally, a writer of your caliber would counter such knee-jerk emotion - or at least provide evidence about what actually happened to Peng Shui... But calling out Dalio for keeping mum doesn’t make you a “ballsy” female hero. If you think it does, then your standard for hero-worship is pretty low.
And how about Steve Simon of the WTA... Is he not also well-served by the opportunity to flash his virtue skyward like a huge Batman spotlight?
And what “state of affairs” is he so “greatly concerned” about if the WTA holds events in China? Is he worried that CCP state apparatchiks will ogle WTA players? Or rape the WTA staff members? Because I doubt if that’s a legitimate concern and he knows it.
Furthermore, does the WTA speak for all women? Do you?
Saving the best for last… What credibility does Winston Lord actually bring to this matter? Is he suggesting that China should be boycotted because of “economic intimidation and political bullying”?
The inclusion of Winston Lord insults your audience. Do you really believe a US ambassador to China is innocent of the same economic intimidation and bullying tactics he is trying to pin on the Chinese? Using someone like Lord as expert testimony in a loosely written article like this one does nothing to advance your case. In fact, it costs you credibility.
To summarize: Me thinks you may be a bit too self-congratulatory.
The total breakdown of male-female relations in the US - and the almost laughably high divorce rate (where women initiate some 90% of all divorces) - leads to a certain cognitive dissonance when it comes to tut-tutting China over allegations that a political big-shot was inappropriate.
Any man can see that being a woman is not easy. But the current climate where men are collectively put on trial because women have a get-out-of jail-free-card for manipulating opinion hardly makes for good reporting. If you know what happened to Peng, tell us. Don’t play the, “well, you know she must be telling the truth because men always do such things (hint, hint).”
The historical pendulum swing in which female revenge is now the subject of numerous movies and TV shows are hardly things any woman should be proud of. Women of goodwill should be against stoking the flames of such unrest between the sexes - just as you clearly expect any good man to stand up and defend both women’s honor and her right to choose who gets to enjoy her intimacy.
Where are the good women who decry the “all men are trash” hashtag as not only unacceptable but counterproductive of healthy male-female relations? Instead, you opt for the convenience of writing yet another tired piece about how we must all “believe the victim” and denounce male perversion. No proof… no acknowledgment of the somewhat less than pure motives of women who use sex to manipulate men… no mention of the deaful state of affairs our own values have produced in lifting women to the pinnacle of freedom - all so your sisters can complain it isn’t good enough and men need to suffer some kind of retribution… nothing of that flavor. Just another denunciation of men for not doing enough to protect and honor the beautiful flower of femininity.
The line separating proper and improper relations between the sexes has consistently moved in one direction in my lifetime. So, please help me sort this out... I like to dance Argentine tango. Does my pleasure at feeling a woman's breasts against my chest as we embrace constitute untoward behavior?
She consented to dance with me... but certainly not to my enjoyment at the sensation of her delicious anatomy. Which is it (since you are appointing yourself the judge in these matters)?
Are all interactions between men and women so clear-cut as you would like us to believe? Or did you miss something along the way - like the wonderful admiration men bear for women and the delightful game of cat and mouse that makes the world go round?
Whence your phony outrage at all things Chinese? Don't we have enough to do to fix in our own crumbling nation? There is an honesty about the dangerous brutality of the CCP. In the US, we are surveilled but lied to, elections are fixed and people continue to worship democracy as a God, the financial system is rigged while no one even bothers to hide it anymore.
Yet somehow the illusion persists that all is well. Better yet, we should run around the world inflicting our values on others. The Chinese political class is reprehensible - no question. But so is our own.
I doubt you will respond. But if you do, I should like to have you on my podcast to discuss this matter with you. I’m a big fan of your work. Which is why I thought to send you this note to pose an argument that you seemed either unaware of or have already decided against. It seems to me the Dalio piece is beneath you. Am I wrong?
I think that this is a wonderful action, but I also do not think that Americans have as much room to criticize China as we believe. For example, something like 80% of intellectually disabled children are aborted, often at the recommendation of doctors. And this is of course an action that China takes at the state level as well.
We are not as distant morally from the Chinese as we like to think.
That is indeed a pair of brass ones and he should be commended and held us as a moral hero. Now if we can just get some of our politicians to grow a pair and open an investigation into the funding of Wuhan gain of function research and the origins of COVID, we will be doing something. But alas, I doubt we will see such spinal or testicular fortitude.
Dalio should just get out of the public eye. He is very hard to take. I have no problem with how he invests on behalf of pension funds etc——even if most of it is without any excess value——look to your politicians if it bothers you——but who wants to listen to him? Why does he have the need to pretend he has great wisdom?
However, while many of us like to complain about the self evident paranoia and grotesque nature of comrade Xi, the Chinese people are not evil——or any more evil than the average human on this planet. Do we actually believe we would be morally or materially better off by not doing business in China? How does that make any sense?
Of course we should continue to speak out against the CCP—-we should show a tough hand, roam the China sea, make appropriate demands and show no fear. This administration will not of course.
But this has nothing to do with Apple, Lebron or the odious Ray Dalio. Or for that matter, the WTA. Ms. Peng is a brave woman ——as were the original doctors who broke the Wuhan “flu” story. We can only do what we can do——right now it is too little—-but don’t ever think it will be much more.
So first off, thanks to Bari Weiss and all those who contribute to "Common Sense" for all their terrific work!
Secondly, I wonder if we aren't too quickly giving up on the argument that a liberalized Chinese economy will ultimately bring about China's political liberalization?
China's population is still being lifted out of a level of poverty completely unfamiliar to us in the United States. As long as there is in China an economic misery even more despairing than stifling political oppression, then does that not allow the CCP to maintain political legitimacy with the Chinese people until a certain tipping point arrives, a moment which is not likely to occur as early as those of us in the United States wish it would?
Also, if the Chinese social order is that of a caste system, and the Chinese government is currently trying to protect the social status quo, then should we not read the frustration of political liberalization in China as a result of the CCP's retreat back toward a mercantilist economy rather than the ineffectiveness of economic openness to bring about greater political freedom for the Chinese people?
To sum up, is it possible that we've (The United States) have had the right theory, but we've been expecting it to work within too short of a time frame? If the Chinese continue to move away from a competitive economy toward a more corrupt CCP run approach, will this not eventually have deleterious effects on the efficiency of their economy? If they recommit to economic competition, then will they not be forced to guarantee property rights along with the basic political rights necessary for individuals' to protect themselves from the arbitrary dispossession of their property? If the CCP can't eventually embrace these changes, then I would have to think that eventually American corporations would begin to respond negatively to the increasing insecurity (described by Shum) that comes with investing in China.
We need to support any and all people with a voice in the world who are willing to stand up to and defy the authoritarians in China and in Washington, D.C.
Balls are sensitive little things that disappear when cold and have a negative pain tolerance. I don’t understand how this became an idiom for strength and power.
“I hope, but do not expect, this step will serve to shame and galvanize other organizations and businesses to counter the economic intimidation and political bullying of China.” - Winston Lord.
So proud to have signed up for Common Sense Media at its nascent phase. That’s the headline of the year Bari. Congrats! The first paragraph says it all. Professional sports and Wall Street - consider yourself shamed!
Any business entity considering doing business in China really needs to study the history behind the opium wars and the Boxer Rebellion. To us, this is ancient history, to the CCP it happened yesterday.
Bari--go back and Bang Cuban's Balls over his abysmal stance on China. "All of these American behemoths — Apple, Coca-Cola, the NBA, you name it — pride themselves on virtues like diversity, inclusion, and justice. Yet they are struck with a curious silence when it comes to the evils of the Chinese Communist Party. I’ve written about this subject before and I pressed Mark on it. It was definitely the most heated part of our talk, which I’m eager for you to hear". The fact that these men have "f....u money" in no way corresponds to their understanding of the Tyranny which rules China. They visit. They leave. They are but poor counsel on this subject. Best, M
Bari, I've just subscribed so I can post this seriously negative comment - though I was thinking of subscribing anyway because of the good parts of your content.
Here's the comment. Stop the mindless China-bashing. Genocide against its Uyghur Muslim population? China has disappeared doctors and scientists who tried to blow the whistle on Covid-19? How do you know? You say, "These are facts discoverable to any American with an internet connection." Of course they are. Lots of facts that aren't true are discoverable to any American with an internet connection. And they're repeated over and over by thousands of people who haven't checked their facts carefully - including careless journalists. Look into the facts about "genocide against its Uyghur population" yourself, weighing all the evidence, including countervailing evidence. Same for your allegation that "China has disappeared doctors and scientists who tried to blow the whistle on Covid-19."
I live in Hong Kong, I know. The standard Western media story, repeated without question, is that "China crushed freedom and democracy in Hong Kong." This is completely wrong, sorry. From the little evidence available, I suspect the Uyghur story is wrong too - even if the truth is not quite in accord with the American way of doing things (and remember the downsides of America's war on terror).
"I live in Hong Kong, I know." Do you read and speak Chinese, Mr. Edesess? I do, and I lived in Taiwan for a couple of years, at a time when China was just opening up to the West.
The current oppressive actions of the CCP are really no different than 40 years ago. It's just that today more Westerners are starting to pay attention and call them out.
The people of China are quite different from the government of China. If you visit the PRC, it is chillingly similar to Cuba, where people self-censor all the time, speak in riddles and convolutions to avoid arrest.
Tibet was invaded by the Communists, thousands of monks were executed and thousands of Buddhist monasteries and temples were destroyed. The regime has been methodically transferring Han Chinese to the region to displace the indigenous population. It is ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.
For years, the Uyghurs have been rounded up and placed into education camps because of their opposition to the regime and their stubborn attachment to their Muslim faith. The West's reaction to these actions has been muted, partly because of a lack of sympathy for Muslims. Surprisingly, and hypocritically, however, the Muslim states of the Middle East continue to sell China all the oil it desires. Money talks.
The notion that China was somehow going to liberalize its political system as a necessary byproduct of its pseudo-capitalistic economic development has been proven to be dangerously false and mistaken. The rationale underlying the sell-out policies of the Bush 1 and Clinton era -- admitting China to the WHO and accepting one-sided trade policies and disregarding little embarrassments like the June 1989 slaughter of students at Tiananmen -- was really just pretty words to cover for massive corporate profits to be had, at the cost of our principles.
We are facing today the greatest existential threat since the founding of our country. China is more dangerous than Japan in the 1930s, than the USSR in the 1950s-60s, than the British Empire in the 18th-19th Centuries. We should be taking this threat a lot more seriously, and apologists like you are doing us no favors.
Full blown denialism, yes. Sort of like how someone saying "Stalin would never hurt a fly" in 1950 was more or less guaranteed to either be a Soviet asset or a very, very useful idiot.
You may have noticed that I didn't say anything like that. And I neglected to mention that I agree with the Women's Tennis Association and admire Steve Simon for his stance. The CCP, like certain other parties, has major problems and imperfections. I would offer similar congratulations - and have - for admirable pushback against the US Democratic Party, US Republican Party, whatever. But it doesn't make all the allegations against China true.
That's still a pretty loaded false equivalency, like comparing the Nazis to Doctors WIthout Borders.
"The National Socialist Part of Germany, like certain medical nonprofits, has major problems and imperfections. And of course, many of the allegations against the Third Reich are not true"
Thank you for another great piece. Everything you have been doing, from the podcast to this Substack, is excellent. I can't wait to see what you do next.
Thank God.
We can not allow human rights to go awry so some idiot can buy a TESLA!
US Announces Diplomatic Boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics Over Rights Abuses
Love the title to this article! Saw some comments about Capitalism which indicate a lack of understanding of what Capitalism is, which is built on systems of morality i.e. trust, non-coercion, integrity. It is an economic concept, but unfortunately most businesspeople today are not capitalists at all. They have been trained to be masters of the mixed economy, beholden to government beaurocrats, feeding at the trough of the state and at the feet of despots. I personally find so few whom I can respect, whatever their wealth or apparent achievements. And today, when they, with their platforms to reach millions, have the opportunity to help put a stop to the insidious WOKE culture taking over America, they say...nothing. And eagerly go along. If you are looking to Ray Dalio or the Oracle of Omaha or Jeff Bezos or pretty much any of them, to do or say the right thing in regard to China or to our domestic aspiring totalitarians, don't bother.
Re: Reply and commentary to your piece on Thursday December 2, “Women's Tennis Has Balls. Does Wall Street?”
Bari,
I’m a big fan of you and your reporting. But I think you missed the mark in your recent post…
The system of “always believe the victim,” where the presumption of guilt toward all men, (simply for being men), creates an impossibility of harmony between the sexes... Is this cutural approach in America somehow so superior that it should be exported?
And how do you know what actually happened to Peng Shui? Let’s assume she was “assaulted” - (whatever that means in this context).
Was she brutally raped? Did this communist scumbag squeeze her boobs? Did he tell her a dirty and suggestive joke? Did he whip it out and pleasure himself? What exactly is the crime here? You make no mention and so - as usual - the reader is left to imagine what impropriety was committed. The implication is, once again, that men are up to their same old wicked ways. So, let’s hear what happened if you have privileged info. That’s proper reporting, no?
And while we’re at it, what is the precise line separating a man's appreciation for female comeliness vis a vis actual sexual violation? Are men allowed to look? Is that demeaning too? Who gets to decide? You?
Point number two… Dalio’s refusal to comment on something he isn’t following is a reasonable deferral at a time when 20-year-olds on YouTube present themselves as experts on everything from fitness to day-trading.
Don't we have enough people loudly expostulating about things they don't fully understand and do not follow? His refusal to comment on something he doesn't follow is cowardice? Are you sure about that? And are you saying (as you imply) that if Peng was brutally raped that he is somehow clearly in favor of it because he has a China fund? I doubt it.
And if Dalio is biased and blinded because he runs money for a living, what is your particular bias? Do you own any bias as an American lesbian who grew up in the tradition of what is now a system so dysfunctional that notions of “equality” are based almost entirely on one’s victim status? Once upon a time, good reporters wrote with their own biases in mind… In this case, your failure to do so makes the entire article (and maybe your other work) somewhat ridiculous.
In other words, if he's a rich, calloused, capitalist with no balls, doesn't that, (in all fairness), make you a bitter lesbian with an ax to grind about men... who knows nothing and couldn’t care less about healthy male admiration? That would seem like a fair quid pro quo…
What makes Dalio’s answer so “indefensible?” I missed that part.
Please note, I’m not defending rapists… What man would? And I don’t pretend to know what happened to Peng Shui. I wasn’t there. If I understand correctly, you weren’t either. But here’s a good follow-up story to cover…
Do women ever use male attention as an opportunity to ratchet up their victim status scorecard? Has any woman ever used her sexual attractiveness to manipulate both men’s attention and her perceived helplessness? If any serious female writer has ever written even one such story about what has to be the oldest dynamic in human society, I’ve never found it. Why not do a hit piece on women who use pussy to get what they want. There’s a story!
Next… There is a way to criticize China and the Chinese system that shows why our way of life might be worth defending... And there is a way that mocks your reader.
Do you really know so much about China’s cultural epistemology to presume their totalitarian regime is such a bad idea? I’m fairly certain the average Chinese person doesn’t agree with you. I'm not actually defending China. But the almost slap-stick, puerile way in which Western reporters think to cast blame on China’s bad behavior actually encourages more of it. How?
It shows the Chinese that we Westerners don’t know how to be honest about our own cultural failings. Look around you at the raging culture war in the West. Every societal institution is failing at once. It’s at least questionable whether or not our elections are rigged… Silicon Valley is surveilling absolutely everyone at every moment - and continuing to lie about it… and the Fed is pulling off the biggest bank heist in the history of the human race in broad daylight... Your point is that the Chinese should copy us and adopt our values?
Is there any recognition in your world that perhaps the Chinese are right - i.e. that Western “values” are a little too decadent for the rest of the world to stomach? And why is the US culture war - where women have free reign to get revenge on men because of some supposed historical injustice - why is our current status quo on this topic so superior to the Chinese? Can you explain that to me?
Based on your article, you possess questionable expertise on this topic. That you assume Peng Shui suffered outrage and want - as is the norm - to trumpet your own solidarity with your oppressed sisters around the world is really not reporting of any kind. It’s more like a long-winded Twitter post designed to incite yet more outrage.
Normally, a writer of your caliber would counter such knee-jerk emotion - or at least provide evidence about what actually happened to Peng Shui... But calling out Dalio for keeping mum doesn’t make you a “ballsy” female hero. If you think it does, then your standard for hero-worship is pretty low.
And how about Steve Simon of the WTA... Is he not also well-served by the opportunity to flash his virtue skyward like a huge Batman spotlight?
And what “state of affairs” is he so “greatly concerned” about if the WTA holds events in China? Is he worried that CCP state apparatchiks will ogle WTA players? Or rape the WTA staff members? Because I doubt if that’s a legitimate concern and he knows it.
Furthermore, does the WTA speak for all women? Do you?
Saving the best for last… What credibility does Winston Lord actually bring to this matter? Is he suggesting that China should be boycotted because of “economic intimidation and political bullying”?
The inclusion of Winston Lord insults your audience. Do you really believe a US ambassador to China is innocent of the same economic intimidation and bullying tactics he is trying to pin on the Chinese? Using someone like Lord as expert testimony in a loosely written article like this one does nothing to advance your case. In fact, it costs you credibility.
To summarize: Me thinks you may be a bit too self-congratulatory.
The total breakdown of male-female relations in the US - and the almost laughably high divorce rate (where women initiate some 90% of all divorces) - leads to a certain cognitive dissonance when it comes to tut-tutting China over allegations that a political big-shot was inappropriate.
Any man can see that being a woman is not easy. But the current climate where men are collectively put on trial because women have a get-out-of jail-free-card for manipulating opinion hardly makes for good reporting. If you know what happened to Peng, tell us. Don’t play the, “well, you know she must be telling the truth because men always do such things (hint, hint).”
The historical pendulum swing in which female revenge is now the subject of numerous movies and TV shows are hardly things any woman should be proud of. Women of goodwill should be against stoking the flames of such unrest between the sexes - just as you clearly expect any good man to stand up and defend both women’s honor and her right to choose who gets to enjoy her intimacy.
Where are the good women who decry the “all men are trash” hashtag as not only unacceptable but counterproductive of healthy male-female relations? Instead, you opt for the convenience of writing yet another tired piece about how we must all “believe the victim” and denounce male perversion. No proof… no acknowledgment of the somewhat less than pure motives of women who use sex to manipulate men… no mention of the deaful state of affairs our own values have produced in lifting women to the pinnacle of freedom - all so your sisters can complain it isn’t good enough and men need to suffer some kind of retribution… nothing of that flavor. Just another denunciation of men for not doing enough to protect and honor the beautiful flower of femininity.
The line separating proper and improper relations between the sexes has consistently moved in one direction in my lifetime. So, please help me sort this out... I like to dance Argentine tango. Does my pleasure at feeling a woman's breasts against my chest as we embrace constitute untoward behavior?
She consented to dance with me... but certainly not to my enjoyment at the sensation of her delicious anatomy. Which is it (since you are appointing yourself the judge in these matters)?
Are all interactions between men and women so clear-cut as you would like us to believe? Or did you miss something along the way - like the wonderful admiration men bear for women and the delightful game of cat and mouse that makes the world go round?
Whence your phony outrage at all things Chinese? Don't we have enough to do to fix in our own crumbling nation? There is an honesty about the dangerous brutality of the CCP. In the US, we are surveilled but lied to, elections are fixed and people continue to worship democracy as a God, the financial system is rigged while no one even bothers to hide it anymore.
Yet somehow the illusion persists that all is well. Better yet, we should run around the world inflicting our values on others. The Chinese political class is reprehensible - no question. But so is our own.
I doubt you will respond. But if you do, I should like to have you on my podcast to discuss this matter with you. I’m a big fan of your work. Which is why I thought to send you this note to pose an argument that you seemed either unaware of or have already decided against. It seems to me the Dalio piece is beneath you. Am I wrong?
Regards,
Christian
Is this fake? If not, This is a naked piece of propaganda and ode to moral relativism.
RIght on Michael... but where exactly is the ode?
What morality in my piece is morally relative? What do you mean by fake? By the way, you seem like a deep thinker...
I think that this is a wonderful action, but I also do not think that Americans have as much room to criticize China as we believe. For example, something like 80% of intellectually disabled children are aborted, often at the recommendation of doctors. And this is of course an action that China takes at the state level as well.
We are not as distant morally from the Chinese as we like to think.
That is indeed a pair of brass ones and he should be commended and held us as a moral hero. Now if we can just get some of our politicians to grow a pair and open an investigation into the funding of Wuhan gain of function research and the origins of COVID, we will be doing something. But alas, I doubt we will see such spinal or testicular fortitude.
Dalio should just get out of the public eye. He is very hard to take. I have no problem with how he invests on behalf of pension funds etc——even if most of it is without any excess value——look to your politicians if it bothers you——but who wants to listen to him? Why does he have the need to pretend he has great wisdom?
However, while many of us like to complain about the self evident paranoia and grotesque nature of comrade Xi, the Chinese people are not evil——or any more evil than the average human on this planet. Do we actually believe we would be morally or materially better off by not doing business in China? How does that make any sense?
Of course we should continue to speak out against the CCP—-we should show a tough hand, roam the China sea, make appropriate demands and show no fear. This administration will not of course.
But this has nothing to do with Apple, Lebron or the odious Ray Dalio. Or for that matter, the WTA. Ms. Peng is a brave woman ——as were the original doctors who broke the Wuhan “flu” story. We can only do what we can do——right now it is too little—-but don’t ever think it will be much more.
Also, good for the WTA!!
So first off, thanks to Bari Weiss and all those who contribute to "Common Sense" for all their terrific work!
Secondly, I wonder if we aren't too quickly giving up on the argument that a liberalized Chinese economy will ultimately bring about China's political liberalization?
China's population is still being lifted out of a level of poverty completely unfamiliar to us in the United States. As long as there is in China an economic misery even more despairing than stifling political oppression, then does that not allow the CCP to maintain political legitimacy with the Chinese people until a certain tipping point arrives, a moment which is not likely to occur as early as those of us in the United States wish it would?
Also, if the Chinese social order is that of a caste system, and the Chinese government is currently trying to protect the social status quo, then should we not read the frustration of political liberalization in China as a result of the CCP's retreat back toward a mercantilist economy rather than the ineffectiveness of economic openness to bring about greater political freedom for the Chinese people?
To sum up, is it possible that we've (The United States) have had the right theory, but we've been expecting it to work within too short of a time frame? If the Chinese continue to move away from a competitive economy toward a more corrupt CCP run approach, will this not eventually have deleterious effects on the efficiency of their economy? If they recommit to economic competition, then will they not be forced to guarantee property rights along with the basic political rights necessary for individuals' to protect themselves from the arbitrary dispossession of their property? If the CCP can't eventually embrace these changes, then I would have to think that eventually American corporations would begin to respond negatively to the increasing insecurity (described by Shum) that comes with investing in China.
We need to support any and all people with a voice in the world who are willing to stand up to and defy the authoritarians in China and in Washington, D.C.
The best part of this is that Ray Dalio is worshipped for his Principles book…yet another billionaire hypocrite.
Balls are sensitive little things that disappear when cold and have a negative pain tolerance. I don’t understand how this became an idiom for strength and power.
THIS QUOTE NEEDS TO BE ECHOED!!
“I hope, but do not expect, this step will serve to shame and galvanize other organizations and businesses to counter the economic intimidation and political bullying of China.” - Winston Lord.
So proud to have signed up for Common Sense Media at its nascent phase. That’s the headline of the year Bari. Congrats! The first paragraph says it all. Professional sports and Wall Street - consider yourself shamed!
Any business entity considering doing business in China really needs to study the history behind the opium wars and the Boxer Rebellion. To us, this is ancient history, to the CCP it happened yesterday.
Bari--go back and Bang Cuban's Balls over his abysmal stance on China. "All of these American behemoths — Apple, Coca-Cola, the NBA, you name it — pride themselves on virtues like diversity, inclusion, and justice. Yet they are struck with a curious silence when it comes to the evils of the Chinese Communist Party. I’ve written about this subject before and I pressed Mark on it. It was definitely the most heated part of our talk, which I’m eager for you to hear". The fact that these men have "f....u money" in no way corresponds to their understanding of the Tyranny which rules China. They visit. They leave. They are but poor counsel on this subject. Best, M
"You gotta lower your ideals of freedom if you wanna suck on the warm teat of China" - South Park
Bari, I've just subscribed so I can post this seriously negative comment - though I was thinking of subscribing anyway because of the good parts of your content.
Here's the comment. Stop the mindless China-bashing. Genocide against its Uyghur Muslim population? China has disappeared doctors and scientists who tried to blow the whistle on Covid-19? How do you know? You say, "These are facts discoverable to any American with an internet connection." Of course they are. Lots of facts that aren't true are discoverable to any American with an internet connection. And they're repeated over and over by thousands of people who haven't checked their facts carefully - including careless journalists. Look into the facts about "genocide against its Uyghur population" yourself, weighing all the evidence, including countervailing evidence. Same for your allegation that "China has disappeared doctors and scientists who tried to blow the whistle on Covid-19."
I live in Hong Kong, I know. The standard Western media story, repeated without question, is that "China crushed freedom and democracy in Hong Kong." This is completely wrong, sorry. From the little evidence available, I suspect the Uyghur story is wrong too - even if the truth is not quite in accord with the American way of doing things (and remember the downsides of America's war on terror).
"I live in Hong Kong, I know." Do you read and speak Chinese, Mr. Edesess? I do, and I lived in Taiwan for a couple of years, at a time when China was just opening up to the West.
The current oppressive actions of the CCP are really no different than 40 years ago. It's just that today more Westerners are starting to pay attention and call them out.
The people of China are quite different from the government of China. If you visit the PRC, it is chillingly similar to Cuba, where people self-censor all the time, speak in riddles and convolutions to avoid arrest.
Tibet was invaded by the Communists, thousands of monks were executed and thousands of Buddhist monasteries and temples were destroyed. The regime has been methodically transferring Han Chinese to the region to displace the indigenous population. It is ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.
For years, the Uyghurs have been rounded up and placed into education camps because of their opposition to the regime and their stubborn attachment to their Muslim faith. The West's reaction to these actions has been muted, partly because of a lack of sympathy for Muslims. Surprisingly, and hypocritically, however, the Muslim states of the Middle East continue to sell China all the oil it desires. Money talks.
The notion that China was somehow going to liberalize its political system as a necessary byproduct of its pseudo-capitalistic economic development has been proven to be dangerously false and mistaken. The rationale underlying the sell-out policies of the Bush 1 and Clinton era -- admitting China to the WHO and accepting one-sided trade policies and disregarding little embarrassments like the June 1989 slaughter of students at Tiananmen -- was really just pretty words to cover for massive corporate profits to be had, at the cost of our principles.
We are facing today the greatest existential threat since the founding of our country. China is more dangerous than Japan in the 1930s, than the USSR in the 1950s-60s, than the British Empire in the 18th-19th Centuries. We should be taking this threat a lot more seriously, and apologists like you are doing us no favors.
CCP asset is CCP asset.
? - Is this meant to imply that anyone who expresses anything less than 100% outrage against the Chinese Communist Party is a CCP asset?
Full blown denialism, yes. Sort of like how someone saying "Stalin would never hurt a fly" in 1950 was more or less guaranteed to either be a Soviet asset or a very, very useful idiot.
You may have noticed that I didn't say anything like that. And I neglected to mention that I agree with the Women's Tennis Association and admire Steve Simon for his stance. The CCP, like certain other parties, has major problems and imperfections. I would offer similar congratulations - and have - for admirable pushback against the US Democratic Party, US Republican Party, whatever. But it doesn't make all the allegations against China true.
That's still a pretty loaded false equivalency, like comparing the Nazis to Doctors WIthout Borders.
"The National Socialist Part of Germany, like certain medical nonprofits, has major problems and imperfections. And of course, many of the allegations against the Third Reich are not true"
Comparing the Nazis to the CCP is a false equivalency. I know some will disagree, but mostly those without much experience of China.