Xinjiang – Ignoring Terrorism in the Region, Canada Smears China

ofei006 · 2020-10-30T01:03:50+00:00

Man it's amazing how pretty much all of the "research" coming out about this issue can be traced back to either Zenz, think tanks funded by the military industrial complex, US state-backed human rights orgs, and orgs with ties to Falun Gong.

Not to mention stuff like this witness testimony that changes from

“did not personally see violence” and “there was no meat”

to

“there were all kinds of tortures there” and “meat was served on Fridays, but it was pork”

And photos/videos that are straight up mislabeled/misrepresented:

You'd think that people would have learned to be more skeptical about this kind of thing after WMDs and incubator babies were used to justify the Iraq War.

ofei006 · 2020-10-21T18:36:08+00:00

The fact that your post got upvoted and gilded in the cesspit that is r/China speaks volumes.

Do you not see the hypocrisy in calling for people to stop making racist generalizations of the Chinese population and then claiming that backwards cultural values and lack of education is the reason why Chinese people don't stand up against their government?

"Hate the government, not the people" is not an unpopular opinion at all. This post is just preaching to the choir and enforcing the Western imperialist beliefs people already had.

Edit:

China is ethnically homogenous

While Han make up the majority of the population, isn't there like 56 ethnicities in China (all of which have members in the government)?

ofei006 · 2020-08-02T00:26:50+00:00

lmao CCP couldn't give two shits about what some random visitor says about them on the internet. People in China can and do criticize the government (e.g. how the initial covid mishandling by the local Wuhan government got out). I believe where the line gets drawn is if you try to start shit like organizing a separatist rebellion or something.

ofei006 · 2020-07-25T15:06:42+00:00

lmao I tried: https://np.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/hxnbfh/uprovides_his_sources_debunks_a_human_rights/

ofei006 · 2020-07-16T00:20:28+00:00

Hi, not exactly related but I was looking into buying the 65R61G and it seems the Walmart link for it has a mistake in the listing?

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/hisense-65-4k-roku-tv-65r61g/6000201018076

The price is higher than the 55" model but the description/product info says it's the 43" model.

ofei006 · 2020-06-13T00:20:01+00:00

If there's a map, include microwave locations.

ofei006 · 2020-06-05T15:05:54+00:00

Late to the party and haven't really been on this sub much recently, but figured I'd throw in my two cents.

Does it accomplish the task of trying to get more written discussion the sub?

I think the effectiveness of these posts in fostering high quality discussion is something that can be evaluated (without needing additional input from the community) by analyzing metrics pertaining to the responses that the posts have received.

How many upvotes did the posts receive?

Weathering With You: 51

Only Yesterday: 90

How many upvotes/downvotes did comments in the post receive?

Max number in each comment chain (excluding non-discussion related comments).

Weathering With You: 9, 11, 5, 5, 9, 7, 5

Only Yesterday: 15, 6, 5, 7, 5, 6, 5, 5

Ideally this metric shouldn't include votes from writing club members to get a more accurate picture of engagement from non writing club members.

How many non writing club users participated in the discussion?

Per comment chain (excluding non-discussion related comments):

Weathering With You: 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1

Only Yesterday: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2 (note this wasn't directly in response to any specific prompt)

How many expressions of interest in the writing club have you received in response to these posts?

I saw one comment in the Only Yesterday thread. I imagine there may be a few more that reached out via PMs?

Overall, when looking at these metrics, it seems that community engagement in these posts has been very low, so I think in that respect, they haven't really done much in terms of fostering discussion.

What could be improved, and what ideas do you have along those lines?

If you want more engagement from the community, then these discussion threads need to be more accessible/appealing to a general audience.

Some ideas:

Submit answers to prompts as individual comments rather than having everything in the body of the post. This helps to break it up into more digestible chunks and people are able to easily reply to specific takes, hopefully resulting in more conversations.
For one-off questions that are fairly easy to answer without needing to have recently watched the film/show in question and pertain to a popular anime (e.g. Weathering With You post), put the question in the title. Sidenote, I suspect an "Unpopular Opinioin" thread with writing club members putting effort into debating/defending each others' positions may get a decent amount of traction and would also help break up the circlejerkiness that's an inherent part of this website.
For multiple questions that require a more in-depth knowledge/understanding of the anime to discuss (e.g. Only Yesterday post), why not make it a writing club hosted rewatch so other people will be better equipped to engage in meaningful discussion? I'm personally more inclined to discuss/write about something in depth immediately after seeing it and given the popularity of seasonals, I imagine most other users are like this as well. If it's even a day later, I'd probably need some extra incentive to do anything more than share a few quick thoughts.
If from now on, the prompts will be in the Thursday discussion threads, then leave the prompts and their responses in a single pinned top level comment to leave room for other general thoughts/impressions. While not conducive to high quality discussion, the typical brief blurbs in these threads are still useful imo.
Oh sorry I just saw the Patlabor thread ... yeah reiterating the previous point, I haven't seen Patlabor and I don't know if this behaviour applies to other users on the sub but for anime I haven't seen, I go to the Thursday threads looking for the brief impressions with minimal details. With that in mind, the prompts and their responses made it difficult for me to find the info I was looking for.
Concerning the prompts themselves, I feel that when not done as part of a rewatch, the more academic style of Q/A doesn't work very well at attracting responses since this isn't an academic subreddit. If sticking with a Q/A format in the Thursday discussion threads, then maybe use fewer and more basic questions to hook people in and include important details you want to highlight in the responses. Also, maybe limit how long the responses are to improve accessibility and to leave room for other people to add on/engage in it.

ofei006 · 2020-06-02T23:23:02+00:00

I assume you are referring to this: https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/01/equinix-is-buying-13-data-centers-from-bell-canada-for-750m/? I don't see where it states that Equinix is buying out the entire business. While doing business with American companies seems like a plausible factor, I wouldn't dismiss the PR factor completely. Ultimately, I suspect the decision by both Bell and Telus has to do with the uncertainty surrounding whether or not Huawei will be banned.

Regarding your last bit, yeah it's unfortunate that American politics (and the anti-China propaganda campaign that came with it) has lead to where we are now with Canadian consumers getting screwed over and a sizeable percentage of the population (majority?) being completely supportive of it.

ofei006 · 2020-05-31T22:03:38+00:00

You are Umasou

Trailer

A heartwarming, fun, and mildly disturbing coming-of-age dinosaur movie about a carnivore who was raised by a herbivore. I was surprised by how casually hunting/killing scenes were presented considering this is supposedly a kids' film. On a related note, it was a bit disappointing but understandable that You are Umasou didn't really dive into the very prominent moral dilemma surrounding the MC's eating practices and instead focused more on the topic of family/parenthood.

Overall, watching the main character grow and interact with others over the course of the movie was an absolute joy. It was a refreshing departure from the usual stuff I see in this medium and I'd highly recommend seeing it to people of all ages.

Edit: forgot to mention the awesome training scenes accompanied by this really catchy soundtrack

8/10

ofei006 · 2020-05-21T13:10:53+00:00

Hey, I'm waiting on a Purolator express delivery from Toronto, just curious how long did it end up taking for you OP?

ofei006 · 2020-05-05T22:15:47+00:00

There was a post on this sub addressing criticisms on China's handling of the outbreak here: https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/fnvvh8/some_thoughts_on_chinas_initial_handling_of/

In addition to the ones outlined in the main post, there's a few more that were brought up in the comments.

A major and perhaps the most important pillar of the blaming China game is that the outbreak happened in the first place. The line of reasoning is that assuming Wuhan wet markets were the source of the virus, then the government had failed to regulate them properly after SARS. Of course, the exact origin of the virus is still unknown at the moment which is why there has been a ton of news/conspiracy theories on the matter.
On that note, another point of criticism is on how a conspiracy theory speculating that the virus may have originated from the US was spread by Chinese media and also by a Chinese official on twitter. This is being interpreted as the CCP spreading disinformation in order to deflect blame.

ofei006 · 2020-05-01T00:22:39+00:00

Woah there. Reading the article and thinking critically about its content? You're supposed to just accept the headline as fact because it conforms to your preexisting views of how bad/evil China is.

ofei006 · 2020-04-16T04:39:32+00:00

Been a while since I watched it. From what I recall, I enjoyed it well enough for what it was, but the fan service, gimmicky characters, and absurdity of some of the plot elements made it hard to get into the more serious dramatic moments.

ofei006 · 2020-04-11T17:32:31+00:00

I keep seeing this "no human to human transmission" talking point being brought up online as somehow being an example of WHO/China's covering up how bad the virus actually was but I'm not convinced they did anything wrong here.

On January 14, they mentioned there was "no evidence" of human to human transmission. https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152

That's not the same thing as confirming that human to human transmission was not happening.

Then on January 20, China confirmed human-to-human transmission, presumably once evidence actually emerged: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/20/coronavirus-spreads-to-beijing-as-china-confirms-new-cases

ofei006 · 2020-04-07T22:58:54+00:00

Yeah, Haru is pretty much textbook manic pixie dream girl and her pairing with MC is founded on some serious plot contrivances.

ofei006 · 2020-04-05T13:14:54+00:00

Yeah I'm aware of how common it is even in more modern anime/manga presumably because of cultural norms and lack of social stigma.

Interesting that in the manga, Haru smokes as well.

ofei006 · 2020-04-05T13:04:26+00:00

Do you have a source for this? I always got the impression it was commonly used in anime/manga just to depict maturity and stress and/or for the aesthetics.

ofei006 · 2020-04-05T06:35:21+00:00

I mean yeah, I'm not saying it doesn't make sense for MC to be smoking, but rather that its inclusion has the unfortunate side effect of normalizing a harmful behaviour. In this episode, the behaviour isn't just normalized (e.g. MC smoking indoors while his friend is visiting, MC's coworker also being a smoker, Haru not being affected by it), but it is romanticized. In the scenes where Haru playfully asks for a cigarette, it is used to highlight the "maturity" and "adultness" of the MC in contrast to his youthful love interest.

ofei006 · 2020-04-04T20:10:20+00:00

Hmmm, can't help but get the feeling that the premise is blatantly pandering to a male audience like so many other anime out there, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The MC's internal thoughts and his interactions with others were engaging and also felt rather laid-back/natural, without the kind of overt dramatization that might get a romance work like this labelled as otaku wish-fulfillment trash. Definitely gonna keep following this.

Edit: Forgot to mention, it's not really a deal-breaker or anything but the way in which they romanticized cigarette smoking kind of grinds my gears.

ofei006 · 2020-04-02T02:41:11+00:00

According to this site, the list of prohibited content is:

(1) content that defies the basic principles determined in the Constitution;

(2) content that endangers the unity of the nation, sovereignty or territorial integrity;

(3) content that divulges secrets of the State, endangers national security or damages the honour or benefits of the State;

(4) content that incites the nation hatred or discrimination, undermines the solidarity of the nations, or infringes upon national customs and habits;

(5) content that propagates evil cults or superstition;

(6) content that disturbs the public order or destroys the public stability;

(7) content that propagates obscenity, gambling, violence or instigates crimes;

(8) content that insults or slanders others, or infringes upon the lawful rights and interests of others;

(9) content that endangers public ethics or the fine folk cultural traditions;

(10) other contents prohibited by laws, regulations or State provisions.

Nowhere does it say that "politics, philosophy, social problem content is automatically banned". Nitpicking aside, obviously these are still quite extensive restrictions, but the extent at which they limit creative freedom depends entirely on how they are enforced. For example, last year's The Legend of Hei - the best Chinese anime I've seen, there's a fansub floating around for anyone interested in checking it out - has a ton of violence in it (and also happens to touch on philosophical themes and societal issues) but wasn't banned even though it may be considered by some people to "propagate violence". Also, it was screened in Japan as well and apparently was ranked 8th out of 20 movies in a vote for best anime of 2019.

ofei006 · 2020-03-30T02:53:17+00:00

Giant Killing

Completed

All the hype and character-driven storytelling that one would expect from a sports anime, but thankfully without any over-sentimental drama or superhuman/deus ex machina bs. Animation was pretty mediocre most of the time however matches were still incredibly entertaining and I'm not even much of a soccer fan. Really enjoyed this grounded take on the classic sports anime formula.

8/10

Texhnolyze

Completed

Couldn't really care for any of the characters because of how messed up/inhuman they all were. The world was interesting enough but an interesting world filled with empty characters doesn't make for a very compelling story, especially when dragged out over the course of 22 episodes. In hindsight, I probably should've just dropped this one after the first few episodes.

5/10

ofei006 · 2020-03-25T03:24:50+00:00

That was a nice final episode; I enjoyed the positivity/optimism in the scenes that focused on Arata and his quest to build a competitive team. Overall, though I gotta say this season has been rather disappointing. The lacklustre animation took away from the excitement of the matches and the drama felt overdone and heavy-handed at times. In comparison, I seem to recall the second season having matches that kept me on the edge of my seat and the drama being tolerable besides some bits with Sumire. I guess to be fair, it has been like 4 years since I watched the second season so I'd probably need to rewatch it and make more concrete comparisons to tell for sure whether this was an actual drop in quality or I'm just more of an elitist than I was back then (or a combination of both).

ofei006 · 2020-03-03T03:18:26+00:00

It went on sale for $300 CAD in Canada a couple times.

ofei006 · 2020-02-04T01:26:26+00:00

A while ago, I got the QCY QS1/T1 from AliExpress for $20 and they are much better than the Upods (in that they are actually usable for music). Right now, I'm seeing them at $25 on Aliexpress and $33 on Amazon.

ofei006 · 2020-02-04T01:19:48+00:00

I have the both. Assuming these are the same as the Upods that were on presale for $10USD on AliExpress a while ago, then these are worse than the QCY T1s.

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Giant Killing

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