Blizzard Chose Tyranny (The Jimquisition)

/ jimquisition
www.thejimquisi...
www.thejimpori...
Activision Blizzard has been mired in controversy since it punished professional Hearthstone player Blitzchung for his vocal support of Hong Kong. Seen as a move made to placate China, the decision to suspend and withhold money from Blitzchung was torn apart by critics.
As Hong Kong protesters fight for their continued autonomy from China, and as corporations across America cuddle up to an authoritarian Beijing government for money, Blizzard claims its actions had nothing to do with its own political relationships.
This is wrong. Even if Blizzard believes its decision was purely apolitical, it wasn't. Regardless of reason, the message is clear and the context is obvious. Blizzard chose tyranny, plain and simple.
#Blizzard #HongKong #China #Hearthstone #JimSterling #Jimquisition
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Twitter: / jimsterling
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Jim’s Big Ego (No Relation): bigego.com/
Bandcamp of the Sax Dragon - carlcatron.ban...
Nathan Hanover - / @nhsynthonicorchestra

[@JimSterling]

This video was reuploaded to replace an image. My art director - who does a fantastic job - made an oopsie by using a photo of Japan in one moment while we were discussing China. While most people would accept that as an honest mistake, I always feel bad leaving even small errors in videos, and in this case the subject matter is controversial enough that I want to make sure we come correct and don't look like we're trying to be untoward. It'll have cost us views, but I'd rather have the video be as perfect as possible than leave it up to keep the viewcount. Sorry for the earlier inconvenience, please enjoy!

[@adamhenry6793]

Oof!

[@kurozero1072]

Ahh that's why the vid got taken, it's fine Jim boi

[@hog21]

O ok

[@calenthebard2051]

Such integrity. Keep it up, you're the best, man.

[@fryergurothad]

And here I was thinking that youtube removed it for being too controversial.

[@lokiskywalker]

President Xi was never quite the same after he got his head stuck in the hunny tree.

[@european-one]

Is that a euphemism for his head being up his own arse. Because if it isn't it should be

[@ricardofrometa4221]

@@european-one thats a very awesome interpretarion of the comment.

[@The_Keeper]

@@european-one It is now!

[@grubbybum3614]

"The more Xi eats honey, the more he shits. But the more Xi shits, the more he eats honey"

[@ManoredRed]

Dude could have easily laughed off his supposed resemblance to Winnie the Pooh, throwing a hiss fit about it means that it will now haunt him forever.

[@momo.the.cow...]

As a Hong Konger who's tasted more tear gas, rage, sadness and despair than I ever thought I would, I can't tell you how meaningful it is to hear support like this from overseas. Even if your actions can't help us, just knowing you haven't forgotten us is a genuine comfort. Thank you. We desperately need the world speak out and show not just governments but corporations that you won't stand for appeasing tyranny for profit. If there's one thing this movement has taught me (and I'm the most cynical person I know) it's that you collective actions truly do matter, that you're not alone, and if we speak as one we have power that impossible to suppress.

[@damienkendrick1664]

Keep fighting! Our hearts and minds are with you. We have your back.

[@lagartijamuerta]

Stay safe, I'm rooting for you

[@kekecnakvadrat]

Stay strong, we support you from Slovenia!

[@orangedalmatian]

#StayStrongHongKong big love from your friends down south in New Zealand!

[@masamunetozzi]

Keep safe stay strong!

[@ronaldderosa]

Poor Winnie the Pooh. He doesn’t deserve his name attached to all of this.

[@labrynianrebel]

"Oh bother"

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

I like to think that he died fighting for democracy.

[@sage11x]

I love the idea of Pooh: revolutionary icon.

[@pygmypenguin334]

​winnie the pooh has no colon

[@uccidere1939]

Winnie the Pooh is going to be this year's Martyr, China/Blizzard made the choice, and now they're going to see what happens when you choose Tyranny over freedom.

[@everforward5561]

"Companies are terrified of making statements without realizing that terror is, itself, a statement." Perfectly summarized.

[@obnoxiouspriest]

Jim is good with the wordy things.

[@verywhite6372]

How is Jim for "Trans Rights!" if he's against my demand that society learn all 365 of my different genders and my 6900 different pronouns?! Strong with this one the double standard is.

[@zerker08]

Jim's a nice milk toaster when it comes to free speech. He's certainly not a fucking American. He sits the fence and enjoys playing devil for both advocates. Unfortunately

[@ionseven]

China is the role model for how major shareholders run their small oppressive kingdoms where yesmen employees are punished without trial, they must always kneel, kiss the ring, and drink the koolaid all while labor is exploited here and overseas - except for those who work for the pride of the company.

[@Marinealver]

How fitting "The Defenders" is made by Marvel.

[@SixWingZombi]

Aw, Jim, you forgot my favorite part: they never ONCE apologized for their overreaching punitive actions against the casters and Blitzchung. They 100% still stand by their original decision and only gave back the stolen earnings and hesitantly gave the casters back their jobs only because we complained so loud they felt it in their wallets and staff.

[@leebard9335]

True, but this makes me realize companies are catching on to how to be assholes when under fire: They know apologizing doesn't work, but that it IS distracting. They misdirect with their words, getting people to complain about what they SAID without noticing they haven't DONE anything to fix their mistake. When they do take action, it's a small token gesture.

[@davidjasinski334]

Also didn't bring up the response made by Blizzard's Chinese branch where the decision to punish blitzchung was openly and proudly stated to be in offense to his "outburst", and to defend the pride of China. You know, in direct, black-and-white opposition to the English version of their claim.

[@bwood6337]

Wait did they give the casters back their jobs? I thought they were still suspended.

[@therealbahamut]

@@davidjasinski334 yeah that was all I really needed to hear. They're literally two-faced about it depending on where you get your IP address. I got no love left for these guys. Maybe if they decide to break away from Activision (who I'm almost certain are the ones actually making the decisions) then we'll talk. Until then, me and Bliz are pretty much done.

[@zanthor5422]

@@bwood6337 Originally, the casters were fired. They were given their jobs back, but will still have to wait 6 months to work again. For some reason.

[@TheDSS64]

The story is damning enough without it, but I’m surprised Jim didn’t bring up the Weibo post where blizzard basically said to the Chinese audience the exact opposite message it tried to send to its NA one.

[@magiconic]

Do you have an article on this? I've only heard of the NA message.

[@leadpaintchips9461]

Wait, what?

[@greenpinapple820]

@@magiconic www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/10/verified-chinese-blizzard-account-doubles-down-on-political-policy TLDR account owned by Blizzard, operated by Netease, doubles down on shaming the player and re affirming China's "National Dignity".

[@absnx]

@@leadpaintchips9461 Yeah, Channel 'YongYea' had that bit in his last video on the subject. I think that bit is getting buried and isn't well known right now.

[@Hevach]

To be fair, Netease controls that account. Netease runs the already censored versions of several Blizzard games (to remove ghosts and skeletons and vaguely Tibetan themes), and can just reskin and rename any characters that get tied to the Hong Kong resistance without impacting the global version. On the other hand, it was posted within minutes of the North American statements and reeks of coordination. The translation reads, “We express our strong indignation [or resentment] and condemnation of the events that occurred in the Hearthstone Asia Pacific competition last weekend and absolutely oppose the dissemination of personal political ideas during any events [or games]. The players involved will be banned, and the commentators involved will be immediately terminated from any official business. Also, we will protect [or safeguard] our national dignity [or honor].” Makes clear this is about nothing except China's fragile national ego. Also overstates the consequences, claiming everyone involved would face a greater penalty than they were even before Blizzard scaled things back.

[@tonyrobinson1088]

"Eating Pooh" God-tier pun

[@sytherwusky]

That was well timed

[@Francis5795]

There is an old russian proverb i really like, it went something like this: "In war, there are two camps. And in war, you must choose one of these camps. If you pick neither, then God help you" In this case, Blizzard and NBA tried to appeal to both camps and got neither in return.

[@sulijoo]

I think it was Dante who also said the hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in a moral crisis. 😀

[@dplocksmith91]

@@sulijoo but the coldest part of Hell is reserved for those who betray their country. And Blizzard has committed treason.

[@AxelLeJeff]

HOT AND COLD! HOT AND COLD! And a combination of the two which I call... "HOLD" ahhhahhhh

[@arifhossain9751]

@@dplocksmith91 I see what you did there with "Blizzard"

[@ShaynaLynn]

@gatheringoflight Yeah, fuck pro sports.

[@DammitSinged]

_Asked my Chinese friend what it's like living in China._ _He said he can't complain._

[@almondjoy4938]

Literally.

[@thomasc9719]

Ba-Doom CHA!!

[@thepickles8833]

*Bah duh tsk*

[@michaelflammer3622]

your post, sums it all up.

[@CherubiJubell]

Oof, lol

[@proteus2103]

"Even if you choose not to choose, you still have made a choice!"

[@vojtechstepanek7145]

Is it in quotes because you're quoting Twilight Sparkle chastising Rainbow Dash or ...?

[@AxionZetaOne]

Quoting "Free Will" by Rush.

[@proteus2103]

@@vojtechstepanek7145 Rush...

[@jimpyre5038]

Proteus There is no neutrality to tyranny...

[@jeremiahchambers6025]

It's not quoted correctly, but I'll take a rush reference any day.

[@lethalsleuth2977]

光復香港 時代革命 五大訴求 缺一不可 As a Hong Konger, this video warms my heart. Thank God for Jim Fucking Sterling Son

[@artbargra]

Stay strong and stay safe, my friend. Thank God for Jim Fucking Sterling Son and YOU.

[@SolusWhite]

As a Brit, it really annoys me to see China doing this to Hong Kong. I have friends that were born there, one of whom went back to be with friends and family during this time... If I could of afforded the time off work, I would of gone with her... but for now, I shall voice my support, and pray that Hong Kong succeeds in keeping its freedom.

[@nauaito]

You are not alone, stay strong!!

[@BrunoAnton]

​@@SolusWhite Brits gave Hong Kong their democracy 5 years before it was handed it over to China. Brits knew for 99 years they were ceding Hong Kong to China and didn't bother with democracy until the hand-off date was right around the corner. It looks like Brits don't really like democracy either unless it screws over a strategic rival. I feel sorry for Hong Kong. Much of the western world is just using them as an instrument to attack China and Hong Kong is going to pay the price.

[@nothuman3083]

You'll have no clean water by 2030 your tryant pooh emperor will wage a war with India to get water. India is already arming its 100 million untouchables for a sucide charge over the mountains.

[@NathanCassidy721]

I remember how years ago Jim said that Activision used Blizzard as a shield. The only reason it worked was Blizzard did their own thing as an autonomous company. Then Mike Morhaime left and Activision wasted no time with the hostile takeover. The problem with using a shield is that it eventually breaks.

[@Akojiguy]

And he criticizes BOTW for weapon and shield durability! :P

[@gateauxq4604]

When the unstoppable force no longer has to deal with the immovable object...

[@SuperNuclearUnicorn]

The delightful part is that if Blizz just totally ignored blitzchung the whole thing would have just passed over and nobody would have cared or even noticed. The Streisand effect in full force

[@RealPeoplePerson]

I'm sure the Chinese state would threaten retaliation against Activision/Blizzard if they didn't take any action. The damage state retaliation could do to Activision/Blizzard's bottom line likely far outweighs the potential damage resulting from angering western consumers.

[@Shinkajo]

I wouldn't be surprised if China put pressure on them. I mean they banned Winney the Pooh ffs.

[@blackwood4734]

if they could just talk in personal with chung and atleast try to solve or even punish him a few days later WITHOUT taking away his prize money, everything would have been fine. But nope they couldn't stop licking china's boot and being a completely idiot, fuck up everything

[@Dilaudid281]

People who are, "outraged" about this wouldn't have cared, but the Chinese government might have....which is basically crippling to the potential success of a video games developer/publisher. People are being really unfair about this.

[@naclcube6558]

@@Dilaudid281 Unfair? How so? They cannot have their cake and eat it too, so sad for them. They are not going under if they lose money from China, and ironically IMO if these companies all told China to deal with it, China would HAVE to deal with it. The road of making money goes both ways, these companies are integral to China's ability to influence the western market, without that they lose money same as anyone else. Sucking up to them is only grooming China into being a spoiled little daycare bully who thinks they have all the power in the playground. If all western companies just said "oh well we'll just stay filthy rich over here instead of super filthy rich from your Chinese investment, have a nice day!" That would force China to adapt. But no, Capitalistic greed forces these companies to scramble over one another in a bid to look the most attractive to China while begging for money on their knees like the pathetic sell outs they really are. These companies are destroying themselves for greed and I do not pity them one bit for it. And new Chinese competitors will fill the void when these companies die out. The gaming industry will be a part of the front line against Chinese influence over western culture for the foreseeable future... And it's not going to stop any time soon sadly.

[@cizd]

Basic human rights are truly the most divisive thing of our time.

[@zikundeng9449]

First, agree. Second, those criminals in Hong Kong should keep that in mind

[@servantrider7044]

Wow, you're right.

[@8DX]

@@zikundeng9449 Yes those criminals the Chinese stooges in the Hong Kong government should pay for their crimes, as well as whoever sanctions police brutality and violent attacks against activists and protest supporters and the police officers who have murdered people.

[@andemnon657]

You think you want Freedom, but you don't.

[@cizd]

@@andemnon657 Human rights is just some mumbo jumbo libtards invented to limit the ability for corporations to profit. If it wasn't for human rights we could force workers to work 24/7, but noooo they need "leisure" time and sleep. I say bullshit. People need work. That's what keep people alive. So more work would just extend their lifespan.

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

"Money, it's a hit, Don't give me that do goody good bullshit." That should be Blizzard's new motto right now.

[@ZionSairin]

They don’t deserve the sweet tones of Pink Floyd

[@ezri6585]

MONEY! It's a crime (to advocate for free speach)

[@chrisryden6589]

MONEY! Its a gas (to fuel the violation of human rights)

[@cautemoc4624]

Don't sign a contract that says not to being politics onto their platform if you plan on bringing politics onto their platform, and if you do, don't bitch and moan about it like someone who doesn't understand anything. But that's harder to make into a song.

[@iceyarticuno]

Man, imagine if someone had mentioned Tibet. That's another place that's already practically forgotten, so sure, let's just add Hong Kong to the list of Never Mention For Fear of China.

[@AG26498]

Or Xinkiang and the Uyghur who are also being purged by china.

[@cometmoon4485]

Tibet, East Turkestan, Taiwan, Hong Kong... The list just keeps on growing. The Chinese government is a nightmare.

[@AG26498]

@@hungryhedgehog4201 for now let's keep it within china or the list will be endless. Unfortunately.

[@Kolvarg]

@@cometmoon4485 And what are we gonna do about it? I know, let's be angry at a game developer that does business there. That will fix stuff.

[@iceyarticuno]

@@Kolvarg I think the thought is that a business/corporation from some particular place represents that place, and/or is endorsed by that place. It came from that part of the world after all, and was established originally after touting and following certain laws and rules from the US (aka that place). I think, in this case, it hurts especially more due to the fact that these are Capitalistic values, these aren't fringe ideas bursting out of nowhere. They've been cultivated under a massive corporation that still came from the US. It feels, to me, like an accurate view of how a lot of folks are encouraged to promote or engage in the accumulation of wealth and living - that is, to the expense of human life/rights.

[@erttheking]

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, then you have chosen to side with the oppressor. If an elephant is standing on the tail of a mouse, that mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Apartheid

[@themaplesamurai]

You know, up until now, I'd only heard the first half of that quote, and had even used it in a comment I'd left on Jim's shorter video on the topic when the story originally broke. Now I really wish I'd known the whole thing this whole time.

[@overlord7310]

I disagree with that quote. Sometimes it's not even clear to an outsider wether or not there even is any injustice, whose word to take etc. Sometimes people don't feel qualified or informed enough to take a real stance on an issue.

[@Necron00b]

@@overlord7310 And yet they could educate themselves in a very small amount of time, but they dont care to so therefore...have sided with the oppressor.

[@overlord7310]

'Just look it up' isn't always an applicable option. There could be doubt cast on the veracity of either side's information about the matter. It could boil down entirely to two conflicting accounts of what happened, where no one who wasn't there could possibly assert for sure what occurred. Plus lots of people just don't have the time to go performing research on every matter of possible injustice just to have an opinion on something that doesn't affect them anyway.

[@overlord7310]

I just disagreed with the line of thought behind the quote. I do think China is clearly treading on peoples' freedoms and Blizz is dodgy for pretending they're not sucking up to keep the money rolling in.

[@thechugg4372]

When you can bully the lead of a nation with a cartoon bear what is this country haha

[@GigglingStoners]

Seriously, guy is at the head of one of the most powerful nations in the world and he's acting like a petulant brat.

[@thechugg4372]

@@GigglingStoners More like a cartoon villain made real!

[@MatrixExpress]

And Fucking Brizzard up the ass for Money .. Who's the bitch now ..

[@finiteenergy7155]

Brisson Kévin That seems to be a trend around the world.

[@LimboJimbo]

That's all too common among authoritarian snowflakes, look at Erdogan in Turkey as an example. That little snowflake is sueing people left and right for insulting him as soon as somebody criticizes him.

[@javascap6258]

Activision would do well to remember an old Rush song. If you choose not to decide, You still have made a choice.

[@tyrus1235]

A song named Freewill, even! Love that song!

[@WhoTookMyMirr]

You forgot the fun part of Blizzard's Chinese social media outright stating "we will defend the pride of China". Yeah, Blizz. Totally had nothing to do with your decision. Not at all.

[@gateauxq4604]

This was a totally missed (and very disturbing) opportunity. I’m waiting for the new tweets that translate to ‘ALL HAIL FOREVER THE GREAT CHINESE EMPIRE AND ITS HORDE AND ALLIANCE SPOKESPEOPLE!’

[@TongsTheGreat]

That wasn't blizzard buddy. That was Tencent that made that tweet.

[@WolfCoder]

@@TongsTheGreat I can understand the confusion

[@Nunya345]

@@TongsTheGreat It was made by the official Hearthstone Weibo account, which Netease and Blizzard jointly control. Tencent isn't in the equation except as a shareholder of Blizzard. That statement can still be considered from Blizzard, since it came from the official account of Blizzard's IP. Netease could have made a separate statement on their own account if this was just Netease's statement.

[@johannderjager4146]

Them saying "they're defending the pride of China", would be like some company in the 1930's and 40's taking down anti-Nazi propaganda and claiming "they're protecting the pride of Germany".

[@NicolaBrio]

"please don't demonetize me" Ha, imagine even a single jimquisition episode being monetizable in the eyes of youtube

[@ABRAsylum]

These days, the only way to have your videos monetized is to make content for 6 year old children.

[@wadespencer3623]

@ Ohhhh, edgy.

[@CDexie]

@ oh no! Not Buddha!

[@fussel676]

but jim was "BORN DIFFERENT, BORN INNOCENT" :O

[@Croyles]

@@CDexie think of the children!!

[@Kona696]

Btw who wouldn’t want to be compared to Winnie the poo? He’s nice, he’s polite, he’s cuddly and he’s a meme god

[@shaesullivan]

He also has a bad habit of sticking his nose in everyone's honeypot. XD

[@Canadamus_Prime]

On top of that, everyone loves him.

[@Ragnarok540]

And is fat.

[@BlindErephon]

He is a cuddly snuggly little fuck.

[@nickball4071]

Also who wouldn't want to run around all day free balling in nothing but a t-shirt? I know I would.

[@TazTheYellow]

As thoroughly as I appreciate how thorough you were in this piece, I feel it could have been mentioned somewhere how people were closing their WoW subscriptions and battle dot net accounts en masse, providing their reasoning in the provided feedback form "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age". That particular field was quickly removed from that particular form, and eventually Blizzard got all hands on deck to make it as difficult as possible for people to close any of their accounts associated with them, in an obviously desperate ploy to stop hemorrhaging customers in wake of this news. I could understand if it was cut for editing reasons. I just wanted to note that that has been the most delicious part of this debacle for me, a grizzled Final Fantasy XI veteran who has had blood vendetta against Blizzard (now Activision-Blizzard of course) for over the past decade, to finally watch the Blizzard catch some long-deserved fire.

[@landonhagan450]

So this was a bad decision, even from a bottom-line perspective.

[@Twisted_Code]

@@landonhagan450 not necessarily, considering the size of the chinese market, unfortunately...

[@ZombieDeathRace]

"Hold my Blizzard while I find a thousand people to dislike this video." - China

[@FroggyMosh]

Heh, I imagine Blizzard is worth about as much to the Chinese government.

[@ScryeTheMindless]

Soooo... one small forced labor re-education camp then?

[@007kingifrit]

i disliked it because he bitched at capitalism in a video clearly showing communism is worse and he goes out of his way to be divisive with his far left SJW shit on what should be a unifying message

[@andrewd084]

@@007kingifrit Looks like someone doesn't understand what words mean.

[@007kingifrit]

@@andrewd084 that response was so generic you could make it to anything and not advance the conversation in any way like you just did

[@SonicMTD]

I trust people, I do not trust companies. So long as there is financial incentive, a company will gladly throw away their morals and integrity in the pursuit of more money.

[@Brsrk9]

ehm dafuq companies are ruled by people who want more money? This kind of greed is obviously in the nature of humans

[@DrPonner]

Nik9 yes but there is a difference between greedy individuals and greedy companies

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

@@Brsrk9 but not all human act on there greed we all can be greedy sometime as well as selfless but the problem the people who run those companies are greedy beyond belief it like their cartoon character

[@WotsOnSecond]

Blaming a company for greed instead of the people who run it. That reminds me of something.

[@Drex...]

corporations are legal persons apparently so its ironic...

[@PaperFlare]

A VERY important point about the "statement" from Blizzard is that it is super suspicious about the origin of the author: Despite being published Friday, October 11th around 7pm PST, the document is dated October 12th. Nowhere in the United States was it the 12th. It was the middle of the night in Europe. But you know where it was daytime on the 12th? China. Furthermore, many lines are written in bizarre English syntax. One example is the usage of future-passive (the combination of past tense with future modifiers to create a passive statement in the future tense; ex. "Have been") Commonly used by non-English speakers, but very rare for native English speakers. I'm not saying anything, but I'm /implying/ this document was clearly written by their Chinese overlords.

[@MrAhriman42]

Yeah, it's got chinese-native-speaker fingerprints on it.

[@suraventri2544]

While you could be right - in these situations PR people will work overtime - they may have been waiting for the final OK from the upper management to post the version, or add in more edits or whatever. Just like we know politicians don't work late - when they have to, they do (my parliament in West. Australia did an all night sitting to get a controversial bill through recently for example). That said, they could have been waiting for a response from the Beijing liaison on the media release as well, hence that time.

[@MrAhriman42]

@@suraventri2544 it's not the time, it's the syntax. The grammar.

[@mattd2641]

PaperFlare Maybe I've misunderstood, but "Have been" is a valid phrase. "We have been looking for you" "They have been waiting for hours" Saying "He has been looking for you" is ok, but "We has been looking for you" sounds goofy. Depends on the subject, not past or future tense, etc.

[@PaperFlare]

@@mattd2641 You partially got it. It IS correct English and grammar. Have been/ has been/ to be/ and other forms of "future passive" tense are grammatically correct and have their places in the English language. However. Their usage is often frowned upon in written works (doubly so in professional works like a PR statement) because they are fundamentally redundant. For example: "We are to be reinstating the prize money," is grammatically correct. But the "future passive" clause of "to be" is not only redundant, but very awkward and entirely unneeded. You can simply write, "We are reinstating the prize money," and have equal, if not greater, effect. The reason the usage of "future passive" phrasing is suspicious in my eyes is because some languages (Chinese included) do, infact, rely on and require that tense for proper grammar, syntax, and linguistics. English, however, does not require it (again, because it is often redundant). Any PR department of an English company would have an editor, especially for a company of Blizzard's size. The fact these kinds of frowned-upon literary devices were used says to me that the author and/or editor was not an English native AND spoke a language where these linguistic devices are common...aka Chinese. Or I'm being a nutty conspiracy theorist. 😂😂😂

[@papersamurai00]

Quick update, as this is my most practical point of spread: there was an ad on KZbin trying to show the Hong Kong protestors as a violent riot with no solid meaning. Just sayin' it somewhere public!

[@OpreRoma]

Even if that was true it's justified in opposition to the violence of the cops. When that shit is happening to you, you either fight back or get your dome cracked Here's basically what the PRC propaganda is saying: "We're so bad that we made one of the most affluent cities in the world descend into riots, we are that fucking bad, please sympathise with us!"

[@blockyoxwinkle5829]

Man 2019 is the year for game companies to prove their literally the worst

[@roflcopter98765]

Blocky Oxwinkle No Kidding...

[@Slysheen]

Seriously. It's like at new years 2018 all triple Ayyy publisher's agreed to a "Who can be the biggest wanker" contest. At this point so many have made completely baffling mistakes that I can't explain it with sheer incompetence anymore.

[@lonewolf6884]

This why I choose Indies.

[@nachomanrandy]

damn, man, is like capitalism was a mistake.

[@cpthornman]

They proved it years ago. But no one was paying attention.

[@buzz4633]

"Every cent matters." Fixed that for you.

[@Hornswroggle]

"... especially the Ten-cent" I see myself out...

[@Xfade81]

every tencents

[@TJRex01]

....you mean every renminbi matters

[@purefoldnz3070]

Everyone o̶n̶e̶ matters. Every yuan matters.

[@argumentumadhominem3977]

Every Yuan matters.

[@timmer919hep]

"Guys, seriously, this political decision we made wasn't political at all"

[@LeQuack147]

“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.” - Elie Wiesel

[@cautemoc4624]

Kids these days think whatever they agree with is "fighting for human rights" - fact is, you're not, they're not, and Hearthstone isn't the place to do it anyways.

[@AuspexAO]

@@cautemoc4624 Every place can be a battlefield for liberty, even a game. And it's sad that you're too old and impotent to recognize the importance of youthful struggles for a better world.

[@cautemoc4624]

@@AuspexAO No it's not, and look up the word "self-righteous". These morons decided to sign a contract that says they can't talk about politics, then they talked about politics, then they enforced the contract. That's it. Blizz doesn't want involved in ANY politics. Not Trump. Not Hong Kong. They are putting on a tournament, not edgy social justice warriors.

[@Inogat]

@@cautemoc4624 dude still though,

[@gabrielpadro5589]

@@cautemoc4624: Blizzard approves of your comments. Jackass.

[@rtaraquin]

I only regret that I have but one like to give for my Sterling.

[@theblackbaron4119]

The only regret I have is having bone-itus D: aah!

[@nickclark1815]

"We believe in free speech, and encourage everyone to give their opinion, *as long as we agree with it* "

[@astrochiken]

I don't know, that sounds pretty normal nowadays.

[@LeMicronaut]

"It's not really free speech. It's hate speech."

[@verywhite6372]

Hold this anti-china message while Jim mixes it with Trans Rights and Trump... One of the only men, this century, who has been actually on the offensive against China since his election in 2016! My ironic ignorant bliss itch needs scratching.

[@meatsafemurderer7743]

@@astrochiken Lol...was just gonna say that. An awful lot of people talking about blitzchung's right to free speech, while right, are massive hypocrites.

[@lordhughmungus]

@@LeMicronaut lol exactly.

[@Tr0waAyanami]

In before Activision Blizzard go back and update Tracer's quote: "The world could always use more heroes...unless you support the Hong Kong protests. We love money too much, OK?"

[@natk205]

Scout wants to have a word with you Tracer, regarding your future.

[@bificommander]

The world can always use more useful idiots.

[@lactofermentation]

"The world could always use more yuan!"

[@Finwolven]

"'ello luv, the cavalry is suppressing rioters in Hong Kong!"

[@MrCarlanimex]

Who? Oh the porn gal! ok, ok.

[@martincann5052]

Once, Blizzard was Jim Raynor. Now they're Arcturus Mengsk.

[@1HammerHaunt1]

Blizzard were always Mengsk. We simply just hit New Gettysburg.

[@KungKras]

@@1HammerHaunt1 These references are the most on-point ones I've seen in my life. Let's hope we can destroy the Ion Cannon and flee from them before it's too late.

[@thundersoul6795]

Are they really Mengsk tho? They're more like a yet another company in the KMC. No point in giving them a big baddy role when they're just a part of the vile mass of corporations.

[@KungKras]

​@@thundersoul6795 Aside from Mengsk in the SC lore you have the UED, Overmind, Kerrigan, etc. All of them are bad.

[@thundersoul6795]

@@KungKras Blizzard still doesn't tick enough boxes to be any of those(and Overmind being bad is arguable). Just a yet another company in the Kel-Morian Combine doing Combine things like mining worlds empty and employing mercs to make sure that the miners meet their quotas.

[@danieldancza6171]

"We will always respect and defend the pride of our country." -chinese hearthstone twitter

[@HellecticMojo]

you mean a chinese website promoted a pro chinese message? What a shocker? People are losing their minds over nothing.

[@danieldancza6171]

@@HellecticMojo It's the fact that they claim that their relation to china had nothing to do with it, even though they said this...

[@HellecticMojo]

@@danieldancza6171 Chinese office wrote Chinese things. Do you honestly think that California Blizzard office worker is looking at Chinese Hearthstone streams at work going "SHUT IT DOWN NOW" on their big red emergency phone? No. The whole point of branch offices are that they handle local logistics, whether it be PR, law, technical issues, etc with self guidance. There's more than likely chance that Blizzard US found about this incident about the same time as everyone else did given the language and time zone barrier. People also forget that Blitzchung did in fact violate the TOS. The punishment and enforcement is up to the private policy holder, ie Blizzard. Different sentencing is not hypocrisy unless explicitly stated that each violation will be met with specific punishment. Finally, if people are wondering why nothing else is being denounced by Blizzard, it's likely because the matter is far more complex than what's under the surface of simply denouncing a statement. First, is Chinese office supporting China, regardless of moral, political, economic reasons behind it, is it not their own voice? When you retract a pro statement, it's basically the same as posting an anti statement. If I write God Bless America then edit with RETRACTED, people would naturally assume that I retracted it as either anti America or anti religion stance. From what I've seen, the actual Chinese people or the government haven't actually done anything about this. What is Blizzard supposed to do against the police taking over Hong Kong? Throw vanilla WoW disks at the police? Turning Blizzard into agents of Chinese government is both dumb and harmful. Help the Hong Kong people if hurting China is that important for you. Secondly, there's also the possibility that they can't shut the chinese office people up from California. If the message wrote on the page went through multiple channels and people, you can't just fire shit load of people at every level and expect the company to function. "Let it burn" you might say, but can you imagine an entire nation's service support being shut down because of mass firings? That's another shitshow in the making. Even making a single scapegoat to fire would have very bad PR being shown for being a company willing to ditch employees. Thirdly, the best thing for Blizzard to do is actually lay low. They are cutting out the various feed for Blizzcon this year and it's actually a smart move. At this point Blitzchung got his money, and the suspensions of people have been reduced by half. People still grumbling at this point will not be satisfied. There's absolutely zero need to engage with people that will not be satisfied no matter what you do, good or for ill. Best thing for Blizzard to do is maintain silence, keep things stable and not make knee jerk reactions to things.

[@Sephirajo]

@@HellecticMojo wow gringx thats a lot of words to say you support this shit. Or as wqs noted above lol bootlicker. You fucking tongue shine those shoes.

[@HellecticMojo]

@@Sephirajo I support not being reductive and actually seeking solutions rather than just being angry for the sake of angry. The casters are rehired, Blitzchung made his money, the punishment for TOS violation has been delivered, everything is in neutral state. Any further anger is just outrage catharsis farming.

[@BrennanCh06]

Tencent isn't just a company either, it had government, uh, advisors at every level and massive subsidies in order to make an inroad on a market so they can extend their power further.

[@noahbossier1131]

They are government owned and owned by the government

[@paulmoitoso9658]

EA: I am the worst gaming company in existence Blizzard: Hold my human rights.

[@Sonicfalcon16]

I wouldnt count out EA yet they never got a chance yet

[@ceropuntocinco]

EA: What human rights? Blizzard: Exactly

[@SavageGreywolf]

EA has ceded its crown as worst gaming company ever to Activision Blizzard. They are merely #2 now.

[@ninjagonepostal]

This made my day. This portion of the comments, right here.

[@MisteRRYouTuby]

You know, at this point, Jim should just have an 'awards' show about who's the worst company in existence...after the Top Ten Shittiest Games of [current year].

[@lordcinderwell]

Players caught *cheating* in HTC: kicked out of that event only, no ban. Acti-Bliz continuing to write the book on how to have zero credibility.

[@tgreaux5027]

i dont think you mean to say credibility, i think you mean integrity or consistency. What about what you just said makes them "not credible"?

[@jonmac1987]

Now if Jim dies in a freak pog incident, I won't know if it was part of a Chinese conspiracy or just a by-product of Jim's hobbies...

[@Draconicrose]

And there's still people who think we shouldn't be suspicious of any company backed by Tencent.

[@gracecarpinter8623]

Looking right tf at Epic Games. I know Tim Sweeney (sp?) claimed that he wasn't going to be influenced by the Chinese government, but I wouldn't trust that man as far as I could throw him. Besides, like I needed more reasons to stay far away from the Epic Games store.

[@DemagogueBibleStudy]

You should be suspicious of any company, period. They aren't your friends and they don't have the interests of regular people at heart.

[@lurksnitchtongue8986]

@Caio Coelho Even if he owns more stock than Tencent and technically is the deciding factor in business decisions, they still own 45% (which is a ton, if you didn't know), and even if they can't technically make a decision they can absolutely throw their weight around and threaten to sell all their stock at once if Sweeney doesn't comply with their wishes, which would destroy the company's value on the stock market and lead to its inevitable collapse. Sweeney's constant obsession with bringing up his majority share only works on quelling the ignorant; anyone who actually understands markets understands how much power that level of stock control grants you, especially with a company as large as Tencent. If you piss them off selling their stock will be a drop in the bucket to their overall assets, (and their concerns are first and foremost the interests of China, not profits, as they are simply an arm of the Chinese government) and when the market sees nearly half of your stock was dropped in the span of a single moment no one is going to want to buy that at close to its previous market value because no one will have faith in it. Thus causing your company to be worth far less than it was before the sale. This is literally markets 101, this is exactly what caused the Great Depression except on a market wide scale. tl;dr tencent has controlling share of Epic in everything but name. If you think differently its because you have no idea how the stock market works.

[@Known_as_The_Ghost]

@@Kamellion Almost to the point where if he says something, just think he's saying the opposite- It'd sound far more honest.

[@tyrbaan7295]

@@DemagogueBibleStudy, except CD projekt red. Maybe that's because the executives are known for cherishing their friends.

[@lpoki8897]

I had one of those 'wow' moments when I was younger when a teacher told me that humans are always communicating. You cross your arms, yawn or make a facial expression while someone is talking to you, you could be communicating something to that person. Because we're always looking for meanings and patterns and that. So when I hear someone say 'I'm not political' or 'it was just a joke' I gotta roll my eyes, and sadly I was like that myself once. But now I understand that there's no perfect shield that can be used to excuse everything you do, what you say and do has a consequence and says something. I just wish multi million dollar companies understood that too.

[@rade-blunner7824]

I would argue your teacher was definitionally a little off the mark. Communication implies intent, people aren't always communicating, but people are always assessing, interpreting and oftentimes inferring from others what _could_ be communication, but _could_ also just be random noise. His point is I think that we should aim to be as clear as possible when we communicate, which is good advice, but what he's saying here is you're always at the behest of how other people choose to interpret you, and that's more important than whatever your own actual intentions may be. You're running with it like an extention of the "death of the author" concept into everyday interaction... are you fine with that? We're in a world where cognitive bias is quite clearly ever increasing, what with everyone becoming more extreme and polarised in their views. I'd rather encourage people to think that if I happen to yawn while they're talking, I might just be tired, rather than immediateely assume I'm bored of them and take it as an insult. You're saying it's better for me to suppress that yawn, a simple thing that everyone does, rather than risk being misinterpreted. I'd rather not have to contort myself every day in order to not be misinterpreted uncharitably. I'd rather remind people to accept that we can never truly understand each other, and we should account for that when judging the statements and actions of otthers. To be clear, I'm not defending Blizzard or China, and I'm in full support of Hong Kong, but I can't help but wonder if the runaway furore over this particular thing is starting to get a little over the top. For sure, the capitalistic draw of the billion+ Chinese population combined with the authoritarianism of the Chinese government is a concerning one. But I can't help but cringe a little at how every slight mistake or awkwardly worded statement has people screaming THEY'RE CHINESE PUPPETS, IT'S SO OBVIOUS. I think what I'm saying is, people are too willing to let themselves become hypercynical, because it lets them feel smart and affords them the opportunity to be outraged and entitled about everything. I'd much rather try to discourage that than accept it and work within it, because that only _encourages_ it, which only increases the mental burden on everyone. Basically, thinking "I can't be so certain I'm right about this" about everything is a lot easier for everyone to do than fretting over "how can this be uncharitably misinterpreted?" about every action and statement you make. I think that just increases the amount of energy needlessly spent on stress and distrust in the world. I somehow wrote a lot here. But then again, I could be wrong!

[@lpoki8897]

@@rade-blunner7824 Well it was like one lesson out of many about social skills and stuff like that so not anything we where tested in. I don't think you're wrong about drama being a hot commodity but it's nothing new. on or off the internet gossip/soapboxing/virtue signaling has always been a thing humans jump on. But when million/billion dollar corporations start to sway and bend to the perceived will of large tyranical governments because there are shit scared to loose as much as a penny. While not paying taxes and getting a rebate on the taxes not payed. And being able to get away with the mistreatment of people whom are trapped in a capitalist prison they control and make stronger. Maybe it's time to get worked up. While I agree with what you wrote about cognitive bias in many situations this is not one of them.

[@thpion]

Corporations do understand that. But they try to convince their audience of this not being the case.

[@thecodewarrior7925]

Rade-Blunner actually you are wrong. Communication has nothing to do with intent, it’s simply conveying information, and body language conveys a hell of a lot. Your example of the yawn isn’t a question of the yawner not communicating, it’s a question of the receiver jumping to conclusions about what that yawn means. Source: my interpersonal communications class, plus my experience as a people-watcher

[@net_spider]

Bans people on the forums for 1000 years for mentioning Hong Kong, "This decision had nothing to do with Hong Kong."

[@silverdragon122]

We're apolitical !

[@B0K0691]

Look at it logically, the shit happening in hong kong is political, and it's the hottest news around, so when you mention it in a game from a company that's heavily apolitical, what do you think is gonna happen?

[@Eleriol84]

@@B0K0691 Oh please Blizzard banning people for supporting Hong Kong is very much a political stance in favor of the Chinese goverment to avoid getting banned from the chinese market. This isnt the same as if someone had made some proclimation about black people or jews. Or even better had someone held up a sign supporting gays and trans people you would never in a million years see action taken by Blizzard because of the same reason as they are afraid of angering the Chinese goverment.

[@B0K0691]

@@Eleriol84 Do you have any proof that they're "afraid" and that they didn't just simply act accordingly with the rules?

[@Eleriol84]

@@B0K0691 Just watch jims video and youll realise just how weak that argument really is. I can understand them not wanting politics in there live streams but when they ban people on the forums for the same thing Blitzchung got banned for it makes perfect sense that they are doing this to avoid the Chinese ban hammer. Its sickening watching all these companies bend over backwards to support a tyrannical goverment all in the name of money.

[@archfeymirth]

I'm still pissed for those casters. They literally did nothing wrong whatsoever.

[@NathanCassidy721]

I remember one of those casters said publicly that they are just flat out done with Blizzard altogether. Which is what you should do in general.

[@blazethegryphon9990]

@@NathanCassidy721 It's good that they don't accept getting screwed over like that.

[@desmondbrown5508]

Neither did Blitzchung

[@blazethegryphon9990]

@@desmondbrown5508 Well, arguably he did provoke it with something, I completely disagree with the way they treated him but he wasn't a literal bystander.

[@CheddarGetter]

They told him to "Say the 8 words" which yes is nothing wrong. But ya know, they were involved so Blizzard gonna Blizzard.

[@theresastarmanwaitinginthe5149]

The fact that Blizzard managed to be more hated than EA in just a single day is hilarious.

[@mercenarygundam1487]

Yet ironically it is an achievement in it's own

[@nemtudom5074]

EA has been laying low for a while, someone had to take their place,i kind of expected bethesda or 2K to take the spot tho.

[@TitaniaBird]

And that they made Epic look good by comparison when Epic claimed that they would not fold to Chinese pressure on such things. Odd, considering that Tencent owns more of Epic than they do of Acti-Blizz.

[@nemtudom5074]

Dont worry, epic will go back on that, once they get to the stage of their professional players going against china. They are proud, until the ball's in their court at which point they will turn into grouchy old men.

[@lhumanoideerrantdesinterne8598]

Well, it's not the first time they get bad press recently. Although none as severe as this last one we can't forget the backlashes over Diablo Immortal ("Don't you own a phone ?"), WoW Classic ("You think you do, but you don't"), Overwatch's lootboxes ("This has nothing to do with what we're offering" speaking about lootboxes) and mass layoffs. As a (former) Blizzard fan, this has been a pretty saddening fall from grace to see happen.

[@jimmykrabklaw1216]

Blizzard was absolutely cowardly and unethical in this instance.

[@LikaLaruku]

Blizzcon is going to be a hilarious shit-show this year.

[@D_YellowMadness]

Cowardly & unethical are the only things Blizzard knows how to be.

[@megasean3000]

1999: Race to the top. 2019: Race to the bottom.

[@shaesullivan]

So does this mean in 2001 they hit a glass ceiling?

[@vienlacrose]

More like "dropped a glass ceiling on their own faces."

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Winnie the Pooh: “Christopher Robin! Will you kindly shake your umbrella and say ‘tut tut it looks like rain!’?” ;P

[@bun6134]

wow yellow man look like funny yellow bear!! hilariouss!?!!!

[@ceecee6521]

@@bun6134 Well shit, now I feel like a racist.

[@iamvigant]

the west didnt invent the pooh meme. no so-called racism involved.

[@ceecee6521]

@@iamvigant I know, but it doesn't change how I feel.

[@bun6134]

@@iamvigant "so-called racism" wtf are you talking about, what's so 'so-called' about racism

[@quiettimegaming3642]

It’s crazy when you think that Venom was the 5th highest US release *EVER* in China, and it made nearly 40% of its entire gross from China ALONE.

[@startide]

That's also because it tanked badly everywhere but China. Obviously if you sell zero, anything above zero of infinitely higher.

[@quiettimegaming3642]

startide idk bro. Sure it underperformed domestically, but 800 million for a new IP is an objective success no matter how you slice it.

[@MasterYoda389]

​@@quiettimegaming3642 We don't give a shit though. The movie sucked. Why would you think movies fare better in a censored state? .... I mean , it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you keep feeding your cat canned tuna , it gets accustomed, then all of a sudden you come home with a semi-rotten salmon. That shit would get your cat excited as hell, though it's still rotten salmon D: Anyway fuck China.

[@kingrix]

It means we have China to thank for Sony (temporarily) pulling out of the Spider-Man deal. Thanks, China.

[@FOX12-y2e]

@@kingrix to be fair, that was disney's fault. they're the ones that actually pulled out. They wanted 50% of film revenue, plus 100% of merchandising revenue, PLUS they wanted creative input in Sony's films. they were being greedy.

[@BerryTheBnnuy]

When listing some of the human rights violations, you forgot one worse than all of the ones you named... harvesting organs of political prisoners... Like it's not enough that they keep political prisoners, they *harvest their organs* too.

[@Earthstar_Review]

That's so messed up.

[@DPoddy]

@@Earthstar_Review It is. While it's difficult to get a transplant everywhere else in the world, in China getting one is so easy like you're ordering stuff in a restaurant. Your "donor" could be ready within a week!

[@sealedpaladin]

i feel like you missed a big opportunity to put blizzard in their place when they say their decision had nothing to do with china yet their chinese twitter (the chinese version of it atleast) stated they "would defend the pride and reputation of china" lol. activision blizzard have no leg to stand on lol

[@TheLastApostle]

They actually said OUR COUNTRY. They included themselves with china. I say if thats their country they should just take their business there and nowhere else. Have fun running a company under communist rule assholes

[@ShaunDreclin]

Not to mention the statement posted to the US news feed was most likely written in Chinese and then translated. (Saw an English major on twitter analyzing it) And the fact that it was posted on "October 12th" while it was still October 11th everywhere in the western world. It just so happened to be October 12th in China though. Totally unrelated, I'm sure.

[@lncerante]

@@TheLastApostle Oh, companies do very well in China, workers don't.

[@sealedpaladin]

@@ShaunDreclin thats interesting to know thank you. but as you stated purely coincidental and unrelated i agree lol

[@sealedpaladin]

@@TheLastApostle lol damn i overlooked that part, nice call thanks for pointing that out

[@puddingcess8452]

Every Voice Matters* *_as long as it doesn't hurt our money_

[@glint3924]

you watch Jim sterling too?

[@MatrixExpress]

Brizzard: We stuff hairy lemon popsicles down the throat of our customers.

[@damanamathos]

1 out of every 5 people on the planet lives in China. Do their voices matter?

[@dreambrother16]

Every wallet matters

[@cometmoon4485]

@@damanamathos "Lives" in China. If you consider being shot at, having your home demolished, being kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured, brainwashed and locked in concentration camps "living".

[@BigbossShoshka]

Not a month ago we had a content drop in world of warcraft where one of the major character development points was about how "They don't get to hide" from the responsibility they're expecting to uphold. It was a big rallying moment. Blizzard doesn't get to hide either. They dont get to run away from politics if they're going to operate globally.

[@backlogbuddies]

As someone who just moved to China for work: That mei shit is catching on and making mainlanders mad. If blizzard can't stop it ow will be banned

[@augabachoo]

Interesting tidbit. My Uncle did the costuming for the "North Korean" soldiers on the Red Dawn remake. They shot the entire movie as the Chinese as the invading army. To get into the Chinese market, they went frame by frame digitally changing all the Chinese references to Korean. But despite the little flags being changed, military uniform experts would know they're distinctly Chinese.

[@bagrym]

which is kinda still fucked up because china is still buddy buddy with good ole kims empire

[@MikoyanGurevichMiG21]

@@bagrym Bruh China is literally NK's life support. Uncle Kim's little nation will collapse if Uncle Xi stops his help

[@alexandredesbiens-brassard9109]

@@bagrym Oh course China supports NK - they consider it a buffer zone between them and the US-allied South Korea. But mark my words - the minute NK steps out of line (say, by launching an attack against SK and provoking a war), China will sweep in and "liberate" North Korea. And to be fair to China, it's not like the US doesn't support its own murderous monarchic country because they act as a safe zone in an otherwise hostile region - Saudi Arabia anyone?

[@zetsumeinaito]

@@alexandredesbiens-brassard9109 China 'supports' NK simply because they are exploiting NK for mineral rights. Once they got nothing left to gain I bet China would abandon them.

[@MikoyanGurevichMiG21]

@@alexandredesbiens-brassard9109 Said safe zone is massacring people and making an absolute joke of its military in Yemen too.

[@Ser-Smiley]

Blizzard An american company Owned by China ヾ(=`ω´=)ノ”

[@angellittleton8901]

So true and sad at the same time.

[@Oborowatabinostk]

An American country owned by China

[@thetee8682]

To be fair, Blizzard WANTED to be owned by China. They bent down and spread wiiide for a quick buck. No room for ethics and selfrespect if you're filled to the brim with sweet and delicous honey because you wanted ALL the money.

[@jasconius_maximus]

Just like Riot Games, makers of League of Legends. The irony? Activision-Blizzard is only 5% owned by Tencent, and they’re being complete assholes. Riot Games IS a Tencent subsidiary (100% owned). Imagine how they’d react in a similar situation!

[@sandraday6955]

@@thetee8682 President pooh has all the honey

[@gunja556]

"Every voice matters, unless that voice tarnish the honor of China, then its off with your head and out with your liver!" -Bobby Kotick, probably

[@ninjagonepostal]

™

[@Red_Lanterns_Rage]

BURN ACTIVISION BURN!!!

[@lokishoi7382]

That's absurd to claim Bobby Kotick said that... The Chinese regime would never allow him to talk about organs.

[@gunja556]

@DanGraves1983 well, of course, the liver was just the first thing Bobby saw being extracted on his tour of the China's wonderful healthcare facilities

[@Red_Lanterns_Rage]

@@lokishoi7382 liver, brains, heart, scrotum, sphincter, eyeballs, lungs....... come get me China!!! oh, hey, Asphinctersayswhat?? kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4XaiomNhtiLo7M

[@Litintha]

"The rights of the individual shall be protected, so long as they don't conflict with the state. NOTHING is more dangerous to a society." Star Trek Voyager totally nailed it.

[@AnonYmous-db2yy]

>so long as they don't conflict with the state Isn't that exactly the problem, though? Who decides what conflicts with the state? The state does. And if the state is tyrannical, well...

[@Sammy-qx5mx]

@@AnonYmous-db2yy that was the point, It is dangerous to make a decree that gives absolute power to the state like that. I think op just punctuated it a little bit wrong, but what you said is the point.

I'd rather go with TNG on this one: "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

[@landonhagan450]

@ That includes "Hate-speech".

[@Tjoeb123]

You forgot Activision Blizzard's REAL statement on Chinese social media. Edit: By "real statement", I mean the one from Activision Blizzyblizz's buddies at NetEase.

[@brandoncrawford6896]

Oh yeah that shit was ridiculous to read

[@FingersMcGeddon]

Yeah, I was waiting for mention of that.

[@Kuukeksi]

Didn't he tackle it in another video?

[@MatrixExpress]

Yeah, it says: Brizzard takes Chinese Panda Cock Up the Ass for Money.

[@spawniscariot9756]

"NetEase, Blizzard's regional publishing partner and the operator of the Weibo account, is based in the mainland city Guangzhou". So, not Activision Blizzard's 'REAL statement'. Honestly, they're putting out enough real crap openly thatthere's no need to act like they're hiding the truth of their actions.

[@espio87]

I love how everyone is saying Blizzard is "bending the knee". I know the expression existed before but I will always relate it to the Nighthold raid in WoW:Legion. Whenever Gul'dan killed a player he would say "You should have bent the knee!". Blizzard seen as Gul'Dan fills me with joy.

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

No, you should have bent over

[@phoenixlich]

It makes me think of Game of Thrones. They must have said it once per episode by the later seasons.

[@faranglao8006]

...more like splaying the cheeks.

[@bificommander]

From what I heard, at the same time as Blizz was claiming this was purely a tournament rule issue on English sites, they had Chinese press releases apologizing profusely for insulting the good name of China.

[@DaFro3713]

Oh yeah, that was true

[@Andronicus87]

China does not have a good name except in China.... doesn't China realize this? WHat they do to their people and what they do to NK and Taiwan is disgusting. We need to free all of asia from the despots like we did to South Korea. South Korea is a small example of what China could be if allowed to actually join the free market without government interference.

[@deltav864]

The problem with playing the "we want to avoid politics"-card is that in the current dumpster fire of geopolitics, silence in itself is already a statement.

[@SherrifOfNottingham]

Standing up against the Hitler of our time and supporting freedom from tyrants is hardly political. It's more political to NOT stand up for the moral high ground.

[@satqur]

@@SherrifOfNottingham Standing against tyrants and dictators is political. But it's the good kind of political. Something being political is not necessarily bad.

[@elliottpowell5130]

Well the silence isn’t a political statement it’s wanting to stay out of it

[@Evilanious]

0:40 You'd think Jim listed the harshest accusations but there is also the ethnic cleansing, religious suppression, organ harvesting, the Orwellian social credit system and concentration camps, the list really goes on and on.

[@Gandaleon]

Well, at least that's according to our totally unbiased media outlets. I'm not saying, it's made up, but I'd be very, VERY careful about taking anything western media has to say about China at face value. As you should always be sceptical when anyone talks about their enemies/competitors. Chances are, China is no more or less corrupt than western countries and the demonization is pure propaganda. Again, not saying, that makes any of the things that happen in China any better, but I recommend at the very least being as nuanced about it as you would be concerning the shortcomings of your own country.

[@YARGGG_GG]

@@Gandaleon you sound like a tankie. china's been human rights hell for many decades. they literally censor most social media. if you're capable of independent thought, then fucking think for once.

[@BlindErephon]

@@Gandaleon I mean I'll full stop criticize the shit out of the US. We do a ton of fucked up shit, and I would say we need to quit that shit too. It doesn't change my opinion that the Chinese government can fuck off and needs to stop doing their shit, and huge corporations should stop being so goddam worried they wont be able to sell shit to the Chinese.

[@AegixDrakan]

@@Gandaleon Mate, in a humanities class, I came across articles in the university library from someone who literally saw the organ harvesting happen. Basically, they were with people who rolled up in a jeep near a "work camp", hopped out at a ditch where corpses/junk was thrown, and found a few unconscious/drugged prisoners, nipped up their organs, and left them to die. Apparently it was a "common arrangement" for when the people running the work camps really want to just get rid of someone. Not to mention we have footage of the "reeducation camps" they're shunting huge swaths of Uighur (SP?) muslims to, Not to MENTION Tibet has been completely absorbed at this point... So yeah, they are pretty damn bad.

[@rateater1857]

​@@Gandaleon dude, are you kidding? it's probably WAY WORSE than what western media tell you. i will remind you that during WW2, americans literally didn't want to believe in nazi death camps for a while because "it can't be that bad" despite having eyewitnesses. during communism behind iron curtain western journalists risked their lives to photograph government rolling out tanks on the streets agains unarmed protesters and western countries were like "nah, it can't be that bad".

[@wdcain1]

Everyday feels more and more like I'm living in a capitalist dystopia but one where without all the cool sci-fi tech. This sucks...

[@PsychadelicoDuck]

Turns out cyberpunk is real, and we're all living it. *Deflated party blower noise*

[@MrSafior]

@@PsychadelicoDuck Pretty sure plenty of sci-fi author wanted to warn people aboot the savage capitalism. To bad not many people litsen.

[@Zom13y]

MrSafior I mean we did listen it's just we couldn't do anything, too many people opting for the "moral victory" or saying 'if you wrestle with pigs you get dirty.' Yeah but you also get bacon, and bacon is delicious! Fuck this they go low we go high bullshit I say we bring home the fucking bacon!

[@LexYeen]

@Brent 21 "Going?" We're already _there._

[@SiilkLone]

Don't we have mobile phones though?

[@josh-rz3uq]

ALL corporations will choose profits over people. ALWAYS.

[@OllieMendes]

All the people that say "cORpOrAtIOnS eXisT tO mAKe MoNEy" to try and defend capitalism as if it's a good thing that corporation try to make money regardless of human rights or the environment.

[@Kitkat-986]

Corporations exist to make money. It's not a good thing or a bad thing, it's a simple fact. It becomes a bad thing when a company abandons all semblance of morality in the name of making more money. Unfortunately, that is pretty much the norm with any publicly traded company.

[@editthemadparts1913]

So when do we get mad at governments that have relationships with these regimes. There are detention camps with about 11 million people in China not from Hong Kong that apparently no one cares about. It’s good to see people stand up for free speech except when they actually are not.

[@vienlacrose]

@josh fritz Go lick corporate boots elsewhere. You will be notified when your request to beg the CEO of Nestle for water is approved.

[@Wintd1]

@@vienlacrose I can't help but think you only read the first sentence of his comment.

[@jellyfishjones4741]

I love how as Jim says, "some have defended", and an image of "The Defenders" pops up. Mostly because that's exactly what I would have done if I were editting this video.

[@mutalord]

I must tell you something Jim, something a lot of people will disagree and that you will dislike from the bottom of your heart... I liked your old portrait more Also incredible video

[@dudesame2207]

Same

[@lurtz8656]

This is wholesome. And you're wrong.

[@TheAlison1456]

I agree, it looked better. I think it's the background.

[@GameJames-Arkveveen]

You know, it's extremely sad to see Blizzard like this. I remember defending them a lot, but I simply can't do that anymore. I admired them for their commitment to never abandon games ( unless exceptionally old, like Lost Vikings as a franchise ), to not rely on yearly sequels, and support games for many years to come. But after being a dumbass defending loot boxes in Overwatch, which IS a game I love, I no longer want anything to do with loot boxes in my games. Sick of being strung around and made to feel guilty about "missing out" on cool skins, and as an artist... as a visual person... they took advantage of me with those skins. I haven't played Overwatch for what seems to be 2 years now. Blizzard created a lot of good memories, but just because you like something that a company made doesn't mean that company is "good". That's something that I should always remember going forward, especially after this mess.

[@stylesrj]

It's sad to see Blizzard suffering like this. Activision should put them down... Then do the same for themselves...

[@The_Keeper]

Blizzard has been steadily getting worse and worse, ever since they launched WoW. I think they got their first taste of Big money then, and now they are completely addicted to making the Big Money, and will stop at nothing to get it.

[@jcardboard]

Turning Mei into a Hong Kong democracy symbol is brilliant. The ban being "reduced" is still obscene. In other sports which don't like political statements you just get a fine for example, in football (soccer), my club got a fine for fans waving Palestinian flags against Israeli opposition (and the fans crowdfunded to raise an equivalent sum to donate to Palestinian causes). That's bad too but at least has a certain logic to it. Long term bans for this are incompatible with western democracy.

[@SomeRandomJackAss]

Tell that to Colin Kaepernick...

[@TheSerbianEmperor]

Blizzard is a company and not a democratic nation. They provide the platform and as such they get to choose what happens on that platform. Whether we agree or disagree is irrelevant.

[@dplocksmith91]

@@TheSerbianEmperor They're still bending over backwards to lick the ass of a dictator.

[@douglaslangley9251]

@@TheSerbianEmperor and we all get to boycott, mock, and criticize said decision because it shows their inhumanity.

[@Bluecho4]

Moreover, the "reduced" ban is an attempt by Blizzard to seem like _they_ are the reasonable ones, for "compromising". Any amount of banning in this case is obscene, because it was not motivated by policy. The policy is just their excuse for silencing dissent against the Chinese government. Reducing a ban doesn't change that Activision-Blizzard was making an _example_ of that player, and keeping any of it is tacit approval of and concordance with China's totalitarian ways.

[@jaidev777]

Corporations: *can/do lie* Some people: *surprised pikachu face*

[@thundersoul6795]

A disturbingly large amount of people: *convinced/relieved*

[@TallDarknGruesome]

I was 2 minutes into the original upload when you pulled this to fix the image, thought the Chinese got ya Jimbo!

[@TitaniaBird]

I give you a quote from Rush that describes what "apoliticality" really means: "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

[@LordHookie]

Bad example, apolitical can be no choice, but I get the point, yeah

[@vienlacrose]

Defaulting on the status quo is what doing nothing means.

[@SaberViper]

@@LordHookie no choice is still making a choice, by actively distancing yourself from making a choice, you've given that power to someone else. Apolitical is a choice only the privileged get to make because their lives go on much the same one way or another, usually at the cost of a minority group.

[@TheSerbianEmperor]

@@SaberViper Does that mean that you always need to have an opinion on every issue, otherwise you'll be packed with the one deemed worse?

[@zeroshadowzs]

@@TheSerbianEmperor in broad strokes yes, in some niche issues, I'm sure there's instances that exist where my answer would change to no

[@TheDuckClock]

I made a comment on Angry Joe's video suggesting that those attending Blizzcon: Should go there dressed up as Winnie the Pooh That comment now has over 2k upvotes. I would be surprised if a few Pooh Bears are spotted there now.

[@falloutbunker]

Blizz's officially stated that anyone dressed as the Big Yellow Boi will be removed from the con

[@lillieofthevlly]

@@falloutbunker you cant just call something official when all youve seen is screenshots. because its fake

[@Nightstalker314]

Irrelevant since chinese viewers won't get to see any of this. no twitch and specific stream for their region.

[@t3hGawd]

I've tried it once, they won't let you in without pants.

[@123gradiuss123]

You know what would make me laugh out loud for a long time everytime I remember it happening, into the future: If Mei was actually banned from China because of all the ways she has been made into a symbol and blizzard actually took the character out of the game until further notice.

[@InfernalDalek]

"Mei has been disabled in all game modes"

[@PyroMancer2k]

Slavery was also extremely profitable. Doesn't make it right, BLIZZARD!!

[@angellittleton8901]

Nice, and true. I would love to hear their response to this.

[@Kolvarg]

Slavery caused direct harm on people involved. What harm is Blizzard directly causing by making business in China?

[@Greenley013]

@@Kolvarg Why don't you go and ask all the lower classed citizens who have strong public criticisms about the chinese government in China. Oh wait.

[@Kolvarg]

@@Greenley013 You said it yourself, the strong criticism would be towards the chinese government, not Blizzard. That's the problem I have with the outrage. It's just people circle-jerking over moral superiority without any actual purpose to help anyone.

[@Xick]

@@Kolvarg Blizzard is suppressing dissidents to cover up tyranny and murder on behalf of the Chinese government. Expressing to Blizzard, and the rest of China's capitalist proxies, that there is a price for making this choice is of *incredible, incalculable* importance.

[@jshadowhunter]

What Blitzchung started turned into an inferno that won't be extinguished. THIS. Is the revolution of our age! If last year's Blizzcon Q&A had "Is this an early Aprill fools joke?" for Diablo Immortal (which lemme remind you is a game developed to pander to Chinese mobile market), this year's Q&A will be SPICY AF.

[@storyteller2285]

Turmoil Hong Kong will be the revolution of our age but we’ll keep stoking the fire worldwide as gamers and human rights activists

[@Deoxys_Used_Mimic]

You know what they say: It's a cULtuRaL DifFeREnCe.

[@DuGarjzla]

Always a fascinating rebuttal - especially since Beijing actively suppresses so much culture. Censors artistic expression and persecutes religions, for example.

[@Deoxys_Used_Mimic]

DuGarjzla And Japan has 14-year-old prostitutes and has a 99% criminal conviction rate because they want to upkeep the "illusion of peace." It's an excuse that needs to die in a fire. I'm not a fan of it if you haven't figured that out. I'm not saying The West is perfect either, but come the fuck oooon...

[@SteveChisnall]

Who's "they"?

[@starvalkyrie]

Oh that Mei thing is actually brilliant. Gotta remember this tactic for future.

[@ahmataevo]

"Every yuan matters" - Blizzard

[@SolusWhite]

"Think Greedily; Lead Rimmingly and importantly, Every Voice Maimed." There we go... I think that's closer to what the CEO's of Blizzard are going for...

[@bannisher]

"If you choose not to decide You still have made a choice" remaining apolitical is political.

[@jeice13]

Arguably not banning him and actually sticking to a reasonable interpretation of the rules they laid out and enforce normally would have been apolitical. Letting everyone or no one speak isnt partisan

[@elegantoddity8609]

It's funny I first learned that lesson from an Animorphs book. Maybe companies just need to read more Animorphs.

[@billpeel4408]

One of the most important political lessons that people so rarely understand

[@mjc0961]

They didn't remain apolitical, though. They clearly sided with China.

[@leeoliver9322]

is listening to Rush a form of protest? lol. doesn't matter, Hong Kong deserves democracy, and Activision-Blizzard can go fuck itself. *loads Spotify, searches for Free Will*

[@Mr_Waffle.]

I've seen so many Destiny fans say "I'm so glad Bungie left Activision! Boycott Blizzard!" etc... despite the fact that Bungie is partly owned by Tencent's major rival, Netease, another billion-dollar Chinese tech giant, who have a seat on their board...

[@vsm1456]

yup, we don't know if Netease is any better

[@Sonichero151]

@@vsm1456 well if they are rivals of Tencent...... That's an iota of an improvement to say the very least

[@vsm1456]

@@Sonichero151 just because they are rivals it doesn't necessarily mean they are any better. could be even worse in the end

[@Proiteus]

"HEARTHSTONE!! Where China's Pride always matters!" "HEARTHSTONE!! Where caster's dreams are left in tatters" "Listen well a hero lies inside of you, but if you mess with the state your though" "That's it for yooooouuuu" ""HEARTHSTONE!! Where the CEO words don't make much sense "HEARTHSTONE!! This is truly Blizzard's biggest mess! "The voices cry out to free Hong Kong" "HEARTHSTONE!! Will you join me in this song? :D

[@gateauxq4604]

I know this is supposed to be a take on the Rammstein song but I keep hearing YMCA in my head 😅

[@Proiteus]

@@gateauxq4604 LOL oh no it's much better. It's based on the song from the Hearthstone animated short. ;D

[@Bathala]

And here I thought it was based on Lion King 2’s Upendi. Haha!

[@Azraleee]

"Craven bootlicking worms." You're being way too nice to them.

[@bongosmcdongos4190]

This is probably among the top 3 best, and most important jimquisitions.

[@solidcopy2822]

What are the other two?

[@helloofthebeach]

It really came out of the gate strong and never stopped.

[@AlukardTheDeathknight]

Suits: "pledge allegiance to China" Me: "oh ok" *puts Helghast uniform on* "You bought this on yourself" *Red Alert plays*

[@RRW359]

I'm not sure whether to condemn or congratulate China for somehow being an example of the worst parts of both Communism and Capitalism.

[@SteveAkaDarktimes]

its a dictatorship.

[@trashman8080]

its just extreme capitalism donning the communist disguise now

[@mwep415]

@AmateurThespian State capitalism is a direct contradiction

[@AbstractTraitorHero]

@@mwep415 It's um a thing. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capitalism

[@icyjiub2228]

@@mwep415 capitalism literally doesn't exist without the enforcement of private property by the state. This is why anarchocapitalism isn't Anarchism and is more of a loose pipedream than anything the wildest tanky Leninist has ever dreampt of.

[@Stevethepirateyarr]

Don’t you guys have human rights? -Blizzard probably.

[@MatrixExpress]

Don't you guys have some Vaseline -- Brizzard definitely

[@MatrixExpress]

Pulp Fiction but lemon flavour

[@danodeny7561]

Every time I search the word “Jim” on the KZbin search bar, it suggests a whole lotta Jims but deep down we all know only Jim Sterling matters. Thank you for your content Jim.

[@Japaneseanimeguy]

Jim Henson mattered

[@ThisDamnNymrod]

There's mister metokur

[@AkinolaEmmanuel]

#allJimsmatter

[@tonysee9170]

jimmy neutron

[@Camkitsune]

@@ThisDamnNymrod He hasn't deleted his channel yet?

[@mrbadguysan]

Starcraft and Diablo II came out a long time ago. We owe Blizzard nothing.

[@noahgray543]

We owe them a slap in the face.

[@CheddarGetter]

Can we just call the Chinese Prime-esident "Pooh-Ping" from now on?

[@zeppelopod]

Dan Larkin Xinnie the Pooh?

[@davidbrough6242]

Xi Jin Pooh?

[@PolarPhantom]

Works on many levels.

[@SherrifOfNottingham]

Xi JinPooh

[@GENKI_INU]

Xinnie Pooh Ping

[@minneicecube4215]

I love that Jim has, over the years, slowly started to call out political figures and organizations, subtly(ish) making his stance known.

[@PsychadelicoDuck]

It's pretty heartening to see someone saying it out loud.

[@pedrotfsilva]

Yeah. Also I'm pretty sure this could use a Bobby kotic picture to associate it with anti China protests

[@sixwingedasura3059]

Jim is anything BUT subtle.

[@finiteenergy7155]

SixWingedAsura In comparison to typical KZbin political personalities, i would consider him subtle.

[@shmekelfreckles8157]

MinneIceCube I like how he avoids any controversy that may actually challenge his worldview though.

[@ZeroHourProductions407]

My only regret is that i can only like this video once, and that the algorithms at play for Google will instantly demonetize this video for no other reason than to appease that Winnie the pooh cosplayer running things in China. 😉

[@ThEjOkErIsWiLd00]

Speaking of Winnie the Pooh cosplayers, I sure hope we see a lot of them at the next Blizzcon and/or Blizzard's E3 conference. FURRIES RISE UP AND BECOME THE HEROES WE NEED!

[@pink1200]

@@ThEjOkErIsWiLd00 Gamers: Never though I'd die fighting side by side with a furfag. Furries: What about side by side with a friend? Gamers: Aye I could do that.

[@16xthedetail76]

Jim doesn't monetize this series.

[@manuelalbertoromero9528]

HTEN LET'S KEEP GOING!! THEY CAN'T SHUT US ALL UP!!

[@ZeroHourProductions407]

@@pink1200 *mental image of bobby kotick as sauron* Fuck, it fits too well.

[@Destinychanged]

Remember, it wasn't a feminist, an "SJW", or a liberal that did this. It was a corporation.

[@crazymotionride]

SJW's glorified allowing these corporations to censor people. They decided to invent 'hate speech' and now that is being used against other groups.

[@Destinychanged]

@@crazymotionride If you you said that out loud in front of stable adults, you'd realize how deranged that sounds.

[@Destinychanged]

@TheDrewSaga Or they are just deranged.

[@StrazdasLT]

But Blizzard is a feminist and liberal corporation!

[@StrazdasLT]

@@Destinychanged Careful there. You are insulting his feelings and thats illegal now.

[@kamurotetsu4860]

I can’t wait to see all the Free Hong Kong signs at BlizzCon this year. They can’t stop them all.

[@filthycasual6118]

Raid Blizzcon wearing Winnie the Pooh costumes. They can't taze us all.

[@riftis2210]

You missed the best part Jim. They were 100% in it for Chinese $$$, here is a translated version of what their Chinese PR department had to say on the issue: “We are very angered and disappointed at what happened at the event and do not condone it in any way. We also highly object the spreading of personal political beliefs in this manner…We will always respect and defend the pride of our country.” Blizzard is trying to have it both ways and is failing miserably. They have spoken with their actions.

[@baddragonite]

They might actually ban him for yelling trans/lgbt rights in china. After all soldier and tracer are straight in the chinese Overwatch.

[@maximsavage]

Soldier's gay? I didn't know that. Shows how little I follow Overwatch, I guess.

[@garrettzkool63]

youre kidding, theyre straight in china? why the fuck do we have different roles? OH YEAH BECAUSE MUH LIBERAL AGENDA

[@TheHorreK2]

tencent seems to be more and more like Nestle, a really bad company you should avoid/not support but is seemingly everywhere

[@D_YellowMadness]

Yeah, not a lot of people know that hot pockets & Digiorno pizza are Nestle products.

[@markhaus]

Very true once I started learning of Nestle's psychotic wrangling of water sources I decided I'd never support them again... easier said than done. Seemingly every day I'm finding a new product that's a subsidiary of nestle.

[@Eunostos]

@@markhaus There are numerous apps out there to help you check the chain of ownership of your brands.

[@mhurgle]

Somewhere on the Internet there is like "family" tree over who owns who. It's a good infograph really, if you wanna like be mindful about that sort of things to avoid.

[@livirus3826]

I like to think I've done a good job avoiding Nestle's products. I frequently go to the grocery store to grab a quick snack, and I never buy any of their products. Pretty much every time I see Nestle's logo slapped onto somewhere, I treat it like that particular thing is infested by maggots. I can't deny I kinda miss Lions tho

[@kurozero1072]

Blizzcon's gonna be worth the watch this year

[@Tosinus]

I hope there will be a demonstration with Winnie-the-Pooh and mei cosplay showing up :D

[@alistairmckellar]

@@Tosinus mei as Winnie the pooh?

[@kesamek8537]

They will lock it down and sanitize it completely, I would not be surprised if the whooping 'crowd' was deepfake.

[@realzachfluke1]

A hugely prominent protest-organizing group has already pledged to be at Blizzcon with hundreds of people at the very minimum already signed up. God this is going to be such a good watch.

[@YARGGG_GG]

they'll probably moderate it heavily. it won't matter. i can't wait to see it.