We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us

Allen

The United States has long known about the brutal and bullying methods the Communist Chinese use to stifle dissenters within their borders. The protests that began in Hong Kong in early summer were sparked by a now-suspended law that would allow extradition of Hong Kongers to mainland China for trial. They have swelled to fever pitch and have the attention of mainstream American media. These protests differ from past dissention because the coordinators have remained fluid and elusive. This makes it difficult for the Chinese authorities to quickly root them out and turn them into a public example to scare the rest of the protesters into submission.

What has also caught the eye of the six o'clock news crowd this time is the bullying censorship tactics China uses to silence speech abroad. In the past, we have witnessed Hollywood change entire storylines to accommodate the Chinese government in order to get their movies played in Chinese theaters. However, the recent news of the National Basketball Association banning "Free Hong Kong" signs and throwing out ticket holders flashing them have given a lot of Americans uneasy pause. Likewise, Apple turning off a popular app in China because it was being used by protesters to track Chinese police shows the world that Apple is more interested in sales than they are in human rights violations. Finally, Blizzard's swift punishment and banning of Chung "Blitzchung" Ng Wai from his gaming win at a Hearthstone tournament for shouting pro-Hong Kong freedom slogans demonstrates the giant corporation's complete willingness to override basic freedoms in order to capitulate to the Chinese authoritarians guarding their lucrative market base.

In short, money talks. China controls 10.93% of global imports, second only to the United States. Unlike in the U.S., businesses wishing to bring their wares into China are not only required to follow China’s regulations; they must also allow goods and services to be scrutinized and changed lest they expose the dark side of Chinese communism or the human rights violations rampant within the country’s borders. Apparently, China does not keep this bullying within its own walls. Using its market advantage, China is pressuring U.S.-based companies into suppressing the free speech of Americans in our own country. Simply put, the Chinese expect complete capitulation if a U.S. business expects to tap into the lucrative Chinese market. 

How far will these companies go to appease their Chinese overlords? If Americans’ freedom of speech is less valuable than China’s market base, what else are U.S. businesses willing to concede to the Chinese in order to stay in their good graces? To answer that question, one need only look as far as our now far-left Democrat party.

Over the past few years, we have watched the National Football League, Anheuser-Busch, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Citigroup Bank, and many others cower to pressure from the left to the point of throwing any concern for future Constitutional rights violations to the wind in order to appease the outrage mob. If this hard-left mob, led by the leaders of the ‘Democratic’ Party, perceive a political opinion other than its own sordid philosophy, it is quick to rise up and make every effort to financially cripple any threat to their political ideology. In August, this outrage mob attacked Stephen Ross, a major real estate developer and major shareholder in Equinox and SoulCycle, simply for planning a fundraiser for President Trump at his home in the Hamptons. Unfortunately, conservatives have begun to pick up this abhorrent ‘cancel culture’ habit in retaliation to attacks from the left.

This insanity must stop if Americans want their future to remain free from tyranny. While protesters in Hong Kong are laying their lives on the line to retain the freedoms and rights to which they are accustomed, the left seems to be busy implementing the Chi-Coms bullying tactics to silence climate change skeptics, Second Amendment advocates, pro-life advocates, and straight-white-conservative-Christian-males. We simply cannot permit the Chinese or the leftists' cancel culture within our own borders to control our businesses and our personal lives. If left to their own devices, this is precisely what they will do. They have already shown us their intentions. Now it is time to push back. Hard. Even if it costs us a few dollars.