I've lived in Hong Kong. It's a wonderful place full of wonderful people. To express no sympathy for Hong Kong's people--and to imply that no sympathy is deserved because some unnamed "globalist set" seems to like the place--is shameful.
Globalists like Hong Kong as it is: where the government enforces laws to enable the market, but where people cannot vote on other laws they want. Its the globalists that lack sympathy for Hong Kong's people, not me.
Do you know how many cities on earth would kill for HK's prosperity? How many have more 'freedom' yet are ruined by ineffective governance, crime, and corruption?
I'm not saying HK's protesters don't have a legit grievance, but some perspective is required. They're getting democracy no matter what (the right to vote, even amongst vetted candidates is something they didn't have before), a more effectual way to go about it would be to prove to Beijing that democracy works.
Not to ruin a great thing that they already have...
It's a product of a free market system with Chinese entrepreneurial spirit.
Not every British colony was nearly as successful, most if not all were less successful...
China's recent strategy has been to set up regions as 'tests' for future policy. There's no doubt that with them granting HK an election (even if they want to vet the candidates), they're looking to a soft transition to democracy in the future; much like they've transitioned to a market economy.
And finally - keep in mind Hong Kong was never democratic under British rule...
The Milton Friedman set is enamoured by freedom of the market in places like Hong Kong and Singapore: http://www.chicagobooth.edu/magazine/fall97/hongkong.html. They paper over the fact that this comes at the cost of democracy: the government uses its monopoly on violence to protect the wealthy (property rights, etc), but the people are not free to vote for protections for themselves (labor laws, etc).
We've had our share of problems, and continue to have them (genocide of Native Indians, slavery, persisting racism, rampant classism at many stages, corrupt for-profit prisons, the list goes on). HK, Singapore and others are developing fast, they've improved markedly in the last few decades, and I think they will continue to. I'm not saying they should get a free pass on whatever current wrong they're doing now, I'm just saying they seem to be reaching stabilization a little later and maybe a little slower than us. To totally put these places aside so strongly is a short-sighted thing to do (Pakistan, Congo, etc. are places truly deserving of this sort of criticism and outrage).
I'm not putting aside these places, I'm asserting that progress will be them becoming more like us,[1] not the other way around. And I don't mean to whitewash our own problems, but at least they are largely the problems endemic to democracy (the majority oppressing the minority), rather than authoritarianism (the minority oppressing the majority).
[1] And us continuing to resolve our own injustices.
> I'm asserting that progress will be them becoming more like us,
You know, having been thinking about this very extensively over the past few months, I disagree. The American populace, with its great freedoms, is now becoming a prisoner to the corporate worlds -- interestingly , the corporate and governmental parts so often increasingly seem intertwined that it would be fine calling them one (certainly at least in the limitations of this context). The subjugation of large amounts of people in a BNW-fasion I think should be just as actively recognized as a very bad thing as classical authoritarian oppression is. Make no mistakes, that we are being screwed in a massively pernicious way -- when Facebook exploits the cognitive weaknesses of a fat woman by showing her an ad for a fat-loss pill which will probably hurt her more than help her, that's very bad. It's not action being performed by the US gov't, but so far as I'm concerned it certainly is being enabled and arguably abetted by it. Progress for HK, Singapore, etc. should not be them becoming more like us -- the thought of that is terrifying. Since spending a lot of time with my Chinese co-workers, I've come to deeply respect their diligence in work and in being committed to providing for their family in a wholesome manner -- I think Facebook et al. has the potential to bring this to ruin, I hope that never happens.
Sorry, all of this is a very weak and sloppy defense of what I'm arguing and thinking right now -- I'll write more when I get done with work. Basically, I'm very concerned with eroding values in America - as this erosion is permitted and encouraged by the US gov't, but I don't know how to express this without being relegated as some "think of the children" Helen Lovejoy personality.
