Is it a cunning plan to make us beg for the PLA, who at least will be more disciplined and probably polite? It’s as good a weird theory as any to explain what the Hong Kong Police were trying to accomplish yesterday. (Pix etc here, here, here and all over.)
The authorities must by now have given up hoping that violence on the streets will reduce support for protesters/increase it for the government. So the least-absurd conclusion is that Beijing’s officials directed the cops to go Full Mayhem over the weekend on the assumption that it will convince everyone not to turn out tomorrow.
In other words, when you see (among much else) lawmaker Eddie Chu Hoi-dick pepper-sprayed in the face and someone in a wheelchair shrouded in tear gas, then hear of the latest arrests, having read about academic Dan Garret being turned away at the airport and lawyer Jason Ng losing his job – you will suddenly become obedient and love the Chinese Communist Party. Or at least resolve to make sure the regime doesn’t lose face on National Day.
Because we can’t have that, can we?
And in case you were wondering: What would Confucius think?
Also, Atlantic looks at how Hong Kong is winning, in some ways leading, the international public-opinion war.
The image from yesterday that sticks in my mind is when a cop stopped and “subdued” a special needs person who was crying for his mother. There really is no bottom to the barrel is there.
I am quite happy for the current situation to be HK’s permanent state. It’s a bit like when the English Premier League (football) is underway. Everything is comforting, you get the occasional bit of action, there’s lots to talk about during and post skirmish; when the EPL is in its off-season everything seems a little boring. Moreover the angst is very focused, so it’s quite safe – simply plan the time and route of any trips you have to make and wear tops with non-aligned colour(s). In fact the Hong Kong Tourism Board should take full advantage of the situation and market the riots to those into disturbance porn, the training of overseas law enforcers, and shouty-louties from other countries who are looking for tips and inspiration.
Has it occurred to you that the popo really don’t have a clue?
Well, the title of today’s post is spot on; the HK PoPo’s behaviour(s) is acting as a sort/type of recruitment tool for anti-government movements. Let us not forget the rumours swirling around the tear gas that mainlanders are among those brave patriots who swing batons and cover their faces with tinted visors.
On the positive side of things, Alan Semen joins Junius Ho the SCMP’s Tammy Tam as a part of the glorious HK SAR delegation to the imperial capital! One wonders if they will arrive in the polluted city in time to join Winnie the Pooh in honouring the murderous tyrant Mao Ze Dung.
I hear that Curry Lamb will be consulting embalmers while in the mausoleum; apparently they can work wonders with skin tone and tautness! Just the thing for the dry and cold Hong Kong winter now approaching.
Any predictions for tomorrow? MTR Stations closed? Cross Harbour Buses boarded in Hung Hom for, er, “checks on passengers”, choking off traffic through to the Island?
When the rioters were last night having a go at the abandoned taxi beneath the Canal Road flyover, I was very much reminded of Basil Fawlty and the time he give his car a “dammed good thrashing”. Over the years, the latter has provided much merriment. In the decades to come, I am sure that HK’s “reply” will be viewed with equivalent levels of fondness.
“On the positive side of things, Alan Semen joins Junius Ho the SCMP’s Tammy Tam as a part of the glorious HK SAR delegation to the imperial capital!”
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1483351-20190930.htm?spTabChangeable=0
With any luck, they will all be kept there, permanently.
No decision by a Civil Servant serving the community means no responsibility so best is to have the decision taken by one’s superiors or a Court: Civil Servant pensions are therefore intact until the proletariat discovers that public funds are held to answer Civil Servant pensions, first
@Gerald
All of those. And tear gas, baton charges, shotguns, the squirtmaster 3000™, beating up disabled people and water-boarding four-year-olds. They’ll probably even have another go at killing people.
And it won’t make a lick of difference. Tomorrow is going to be a total PR disaster for China. Ironic: PR is two thirds of the PRC.
Mostly thanks to the police, who on being given carte blanche, actually believe that they will have impunity from the CCP when it finally dawns on the CCP that the cops are actually their main PR problem in Hong Kong.
Given that the police have managed to beat and corrupt their way from “Asia’s finest” to “less popular than paedophiles, more lawless than triads” in under four months, that may not be far away.
I must say that I very much regret that this platform lacks a “block” function à la facebook. If it did (and although I hesitate to acknowledge his/her/its/their existence), Reactor #4 would be out of my face pronto.
As it is, I have to train myself to overlook his/her/its/their lame, humourless, content-free, and usually unpleasant contributions in much the same way as I once did those of the egregious “Sage of Stanley”.
Of course, it has yet to be disproved that Reactor and Adams are one and the same.
Will tomorrow be the first time that a protester gets killed in the street?
Will the Popo blame it on ‘unpatriotic’ rioters?
Will people get burned alive, just like Lam Bun got burned alive in 1967 by the patriots of the Federation of Trade Unions?
Stay tuned for our next episode of Batman!
They’ve gone for fear-mongering. Don’t go outside tomorrow, there will be packs of murderous cosplayers roving the streets!
@Red Dragon
At least it’s not like SCMP where 90% of the comments are filled with wumao babble and reasonable non wumao comments are frequently removed.
Biglychee on the other hand had some of the best comments I have ever seen on any site. Sometimes the comments are as good as the main blog post.
Also I am willing to bet Reactor is in fact Adams. Both are unfunny and out of touch
The only “radicals planning murderous attacks” tomorrow that I’m afraid of are the same ones that attacked us yesterday, i.e. HK Police Force.
Regardless, I will still go out and protest.
@Optical delusions
I completely agree with you that the HKPF is now the CCP’s main PR problem in Hong Kong. And is not unthinkable, someone higher up in the CCP decides to throw them under the bus. Would be very interesting to see what happens afterwards.
‘Knownot’ eat your quill, Hong Kong has spawned its very own Poet Laureate.
Charles Ho let rip in yesterday’s Standard with a full page ten verse epic ‘The beach misses you’.
Among its references are the double entendre lines
‘When the autumn breeze is up
so is the mood for love’
to give an idea of the quality of the verse
Unfortunately I cannot find the online link but perhaps someone more teck savvy can check out page 5 of the print edition, such virtuosity deserves a wider audience.
Of course many would consider that he would be well advised to stick to a haiku next time.
@Mark Bradley @Red Dragon
I completely agree that this blog has one of the best comment sections I’ve seen, with the sole exception of when it’s sullied by posts (which, unfortunately, are quite frequent) from the very sad man that is Reactor #4.
I would hope that Hemlock exercises more editorial discretion in the future when approving such posts. In the same vein, I bet Hemlock has to weed out dozens of comment submissions these days on his posts which originate from other, more obvious wumao.
If it were not obvious enough already, the PLA is in full cyber-attack mode as indicitated by the wumao-filled SCMP comment section, deploying any and all English-speakers — however poorly trained — within their ranks to flood the comment sections of major news outlets.
I wonder, given the wide-spread censorship in the Mainland, would it be an effective counter to reply to them with some of the more taboo topics, such as Xi Jinping’s corruption-begotten wealth, Bo Xilai’s failed government coup in 2011(?), the classic Tiananmen Square Massacre, etc.? I realise that these wumao likely have a VPN through which they are accessing sites and comment sections that are otherwise censored in the Mainland and thus theoretically have access to an uncensored internet, however I strongly suspect that they still cannot browse the internet freely, as the VPNs they depend upon (as well as their supervisors) are likely keeping a very close eye on what they’re doing. Being fed censored information while on-the-job could make for an interesting workday for these wumao.
@Mary Melville
Indeed, this seizure of poesy has within it the seeds of genius. Why has this person not published more?
I almost convulsed in paroxysms of a slightly erotically-tinged flight of ennui, when I thought back to my own dreamy days of beach lazing. Sigh. Back when the glimmer of water on the bared midriffs of the young sent me into tizzies of delight. I mean do not get me wrong, I am referring to when I was also young, not, in fact, less old than I am now. But still.
The beach, I miss thee, too.