Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrations

[Anonymous]

or Toronto

http://www.citynews.ca/2012/08/25/toronto-under-smog-advisory/">http://www.citynews.ca/2012/08/25/toron ... -advisory/">http://www.citynews.ca/2012/08/25/toronto-under-smog-advisory/

[Romero]

I thought you might try that! Too bad it's no comparison. Toronto had a record 48 moderate smog days back in 2005. Beijing last year?

Beijing only had 13 days considered "good" on the US index last year, with 70 days of moderate air pollution, 64 at unhealthy for sensitive groups, 148 unhealthy days, 45 very unhealthy, 14 deemed hazardous and one day that registered at "beyond index", ie off the scale.



http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/12/china-smog-pollution-beijing">//http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/12/china-smog-pollution-beijing

Whoa. That's really, really bad.



Wait, what? It could actually be worse?

Analysis shows nine other Chinese cities suffered more days of severe smog than the capital in 2013.



The worst was Xingtai, a city of more than 7 million people south-west of Beijing, which was hit by 129 days of "unhealthy air" or worse – the threshold at which pollution is considered at emergency levels – and more than twice as many days as the capital experienced.

 ac_wot



No comparison at all. You won't see millions of Canadians wearing masks nearly every day, or having to risk their lives just going outside. You won't see at least 500,000 Canadians dying from pollution every year.



China - where the pollution has more democracy and freedom than the people!

[Anonymous]

Life expectancy, my beloved Singapore is 4 and Canada is [size=200]12[/size]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... expectancy">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

[Wulf]

All I know is the last time I was in Beijing, before the 2008 Olympics, the air was a lovely shade of shit brown accented with a pale grey.  ac_huh

[Romero]

Life expectancy, my beloved Singapore is 4 and Canada is
Ooh, a whopping year and a half difference. So I can live until 82.5 in Canada or be caned in Singapore until I'm 84.



China? 76. If the pollution doesn't get you first.



The Asian countries with the highest life expectancy are Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea. Just goes to show how beneficial Western influence is!

[Romero]

China is ramping up its internet censorship program, as pro-democracy protests sweep Hong Kong. It's blocked Instagram for the first time, and is censoring results on the country's largest search engine, Baidu, more than ever before.



Until now, Facebook-owned Instagram has managed to stay on the right side of the censors, having been seen as relatively harmless. Now, though, the thousands of photos of police using tear gas on peaceful protesters have apparently been too much for the government to take. While it's still possible for Hong Kong users to post to the site, images are blocked in China and only viewable abroad. A message simply reads: "Can't refresh feed."



As usual, the Chinese are finding ways round the social media bans, most notably through the use of FireChat, an app that uses Bluetooth connections to allow users to connect to each other directly over short distances. It's put on more than 100,000 users in the last 24 hours, with protesters using it to coordinate their actions. Unfortunately, though, it has little take-up in the rest of the country.



Meanwhile, and unsurprisingly, the mainstream Chinese press is toeing the party line, again keeping the mainland in the dark.



As a result of the increase in censorship, many mainland Chinese people are apparently unaware of the protests in Hong Kong. One Chinese newspaper has even run a photo of the demonstration with a caption suggesting it was a show of support for the electoral rules.



http://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2014/09/29/can-chinas-social-media-censorship-keep-the-lid-on-hong-kong-protests/">//http://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2014/09/29/can-chinas-social-media-censorship-keep-the-lid-on-hong-kong-protests/

Freedom!

[Anonymous]

Life expectancy, my beloved Singapore is 4 and Canada is
Ooh, a whopping year and a half difference. So I can live until 82.5 in Canada or be caned in Singapore until I'm 84.



China? 76. If the pollution doesn't get you first.



The Asian countries with the highest life expectancy are Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea. Just goes to show how beneficial Western influence is!

What influence is that? They are all very different from Western "democracies" now aren't they? Did you know infidelity is punishable by jail time in South Korea? Taiwan is the most like Western "democracies" of any Mandarin speaking jurisdiction. Did you know being a commie is punishable by death there? The West needs to look at Asian values, not vice versa.

[Romero]

What influence is that?

Those countries are the most Westernized. That's why they have the highest life expectancy and standard of living of all Asia.

The West needs to look at Asian values, not vice versa.

"How to oppress and censor your citizens in five easy steps"

[Anonymous]

What influence is that?

Those countries are the most Westernized. That's why they have the highest life expectancy and standard of living of all Asia.

The West needs to look at Asian values, not vice versa.

"How to oppress and censor your citizens in five easy steps"

They returned to Asian traditions after being colonized by the West and the Japan. Asian ingenuity is superior to the West's neophytes.



Does it bother you the Western version of "democracy" doesn't work anywhere outside the Western world?

[Romero]

Sorry, there's just no way your denial can alter the reality. Hundreds of thousands of Asians immigrate to the West every year. Millions more dream of it. The greatest countries in Asia are Westernized, social democratic and capitalist. The worst are communist, socialist and authoritarian.



I don't know you're bothering to try to convince me otherwise. You yourself prefer it here for you and your family. You know the West is best. You won't be moving back to anywhere in Asia.

[Wulf]

What influence is that?

Those countries are the most Westernized. That's why they have the highest life expectancy and standard of living of all Asia.

The West needs to look at Asian values, not vice versa.

"How to oppress and censor your citizens in five easy steps"

They returned to Asian traditions after being colonized by the West and the Japan. Asian ingenuity is superior to the West's neophytes.



Does it bother you the Western version of "democracy" doesn't work anywhere outside the Western world?

It doesn't bother me at all. Most people outside the west shouldn't even entertain the thought of western style democracy because they have no fucking clue what to do with it. It's a recipe for failure because western style democracy requires it's people to develop a level of personal and societal responsibility that people outside the west don't have or really want.

[Anonymous]

Those countries are the most Westernized. That's why they have the highest life expectancy and standard of living of all Asia.





"How to oppress and censor your citizens in five easy steps"

They returned to Asian traditions after being colonized by the West and the Japan. Asian ingenuity is superior to the West's neophytes.



Does it bother you the Western version of "democracy" doesn't work anywhere outside the Western world?

It doesn't bother me at all. Most people outside the west should even entertain the thought of western style democracy because they have no fucking clue what to do with it. It's a recipe for failure because western style democracy requires it's people to develop a level of personal and societal responsibility that people outside the west don't have or really want.

^Pragmatism....honourary fucking Asian.

[Obvious Li]

Sorry, there's just no way your denial can alter the reality. Hundreds of thousands of Asians immigrate to the West every year. Millions more dream of it. The greatest countries in Asia are Westernized, social democratic and capitalist. The worst are communist, socialist and authoritarian.



I don't know you're bothering to try to convince me otherwise. You yourself prefer it here for you and your family. You know the West is best. You won't be moving back to anywhere in Asia.

they do that primarily for two reasons....cheap schools and it is easy to scam the generous social programs here....low hanging fruit

[Anonymous]

Sorry, there's just no way your denial can alter the reality. Hundreds of thousands of Asians immigrate to the West every year. Millions more dream of it. The greatest countries in Asia are Westernized, social democratic and capitalist. The worst are communist, socialist and authoritarian.



I don't know you're bothering to try to convince me otherwise. You yourself prefer it here for you and your family. You know the West is best. You won't be moving back to anywhere in Asia.

they do that primarily for two reasons....cheap schools and it is easy to scam the generous social programs here....low hanging fruit

I don't think they come here for our subsistence existence level social programs, but the first one is definitely true. Why else would some Korean engineer with a great life and low taxes come to this country to own a c-store? It makes no sense until you look into the ultra-competitive madness which is Korean schools. This and compulsory military service of course

[Romero]

Sorry, there's just no way your denial can alter the reality. Hundreds of thousands of Asians immigrate to the West every year. Millions more dream of it. The greatest countries in Asia are Westernized, social democratic and capitalist. The worst are communist, socialist and authoritarian.



I don't know you're bothering to try to convince me otherwise. You yourself prefer it here for you and your family. You know the West is best. You won't be moving back to anywhere in Asia.

they do that primarily for two reasons....cheap schools and it is easy to scam the generous social programs here....low hanging fruit

Hypocrisy alert! No, they don't come here to scam EI. The real money is in working and Asians prefer to work. Education isn't cheap. It's not like there's some Asian discount, and they still have to pay for airfare, big city rent, food etc. It would be much cheaper to get an education staying home.



We all know Asians here. They study and work as if their very lives depend on it.



I've known lots of Asian immigrants. They've all come here for the better opportunities, standard of living and lifestyle.