Controversial Opinions (For Everything Other Than DC Comics)

[TheRay]

Furthermore, with the time that has passed, the Return of the King has only gotten better, so much so I’m going to pretend I haven’t seen it so I can watch it again with fresh eyes.

[Jim Kelly]

Of course, you don't actually know who more than one of those people are, nor you can you seemingly articulate what they've done that's upset you so much, but I'm sure your reasons for hating them are totally legitimate.

I was being very careful in my word choice, because I didn't want any confusion. I don't hate the people in China, I don't hate China. What I should have said was I hate the powers that be in China. I hate a system of hate. But since it's people that enact that system--I don't like the thing they do.

I guess to be the most delicate, one would have to say they don't hate the person firing the gun at their head, they just hate the bullet being fired at their head. After all, you don't know the person. Just because they're firing a gun doesn't mean they're someone you should hate.

But maybe I'm not being fair to bullets. Why hate them--they never asked for this life. They have no feelings at all. So why hate a system--it's has no personal motivation--it just exists. It's a construct.

I think most people here know I live in Canada. I hoped some people would get my reasons, without having to go into a big long polemic. Just google "China Canada"--you should find a few reasons there.

But it bothers me that many Americans don't know anything about what's been happening in the last few years--given it all derives from the U.S.A.

[TheRay]

The Mummy is the perfect movie. Even with the boring romance stuff, it still beats films like The Notebook hands down.

[babyblob]

The Mummy is the perfect movie. Even with the boring romance stuff, it still beats films like The Notebook hands down.

Which version of the Mummy?

[TheRay]

Version?
The 1999 one.

[babyblob]

Version?
The 1999 one.

Then I will for sure agree with this statement

[PwrdOn]

I was being very careful in my word choice, because I didn't want any confusion. I don't hate the people in China, I don't hate China. What I should have said was I hate the powers that be in China. I hate a system of hate. But since it's people that enact that system--I don't like the thing they do.

I guess to be the most delicate, one would have to say they don't hate the person firing the gun at their head, they just hate the bullet being fired at their head. After all, you don't know the person. Just because they're firing a gun doesn't mean they're someone you should hate.

But maybe I'm not being fair to bullets. Why hate them--they never asked for this life. They have no feelings at all. So why hate a system--it's has no personal motivation--it just exists. It's a construct.

I think most people here know I live in Canada. I hoped some people would get my reasons, without having to go into a big long polemic. Just google "China Canada"--you should find a few reasons there.

But it bothers me that many Americans don't know anything about what's been happening in the last few years--given it all derives from the U.S.A.

If you're referring to the whole situation with Meng Wanzhou and the Michaels, that situation was entirely of Canada's own making, it has nothing to do with the Chinese government holding a gun to your head. The Canadian authorities arrested a very prominent and well-connected individual on what we know now to be completely trumped up charges, for the purposes of extraditing her to the US for a dramatic show trial meant as an indictment of Huawei and the Chinese tech sector at large. You'd have to be exceptionally naive to expect the Chinese to simply take this lying down, and whether you are happy about it or not, arresting the Michaels gave them the leverage to resolve this situation without doing any real damage, except perhaps to the Canadians' national pride.

Ultimately, what you really hate is the fact that Western countries, even relatively small ones like Canada, used to be able to impose their will on the rest of the world with no risk of retaliation, but that with the changing world and shifting balance of power geopolitically, this is no longer the case and that attempting to flex your diplomatic muscles will become increasingly more dangerous as time goes on. There's no sense in trying to play the victim here or pretend like the evil communists are somehow out to get you. The reality of the situation is that Xi Jinping and the rest of the party leadership doesn't even like Huawei or any of the other big Chinese tech companies, and is as we speak working to curb their influence. But however much distaste the government has for people like Meng at home, they are still not going to just allow them to be effectively kidnapped by foreign countries without retaliating.

[Jim Kelly]

Canada held Meng Wanzhou under house arrest in her palatial home in Vancouver--where she had access to high priced lawyers and she could communicate with the outside world--at the behest of the U.S. government. They were honouring their agreement with the United States. It was exactly something that began with the United States and should have been resolved by them with haste. All the Americans had to do was release Canada from that agreement and then Canada could have avoided the whole mess and the waste of millions of dollars in giving Meng Wanzhou her due process according to a fair justice system and the rule of law.

Meanwhile, China retaliated against Canada--not the U.S.A.--by not only arresting the two Michaels and putting them in prison with a death sentence over their heads, in a corrupt justice system that denied them their basic rights, but detaining other Canadians, as well. And furthermore attacking Canada ecomically and politically and trying to isolate Canada as if it were a global pariah, who all other nations should shun.

There is just no equivalency between the corrupt and abusive system in China, that victimizes its own people, and the open (but flawed) system in Canada. To suggest that is offensive to every Canadian--we're not perfect, but we're trying to do better.

Anyway, it's a Controversial Opinions thread, so allow me my freedoms as I allow others theirs.

[PwrdOn]

Canada held Meng Wanzhou under house arrest in her palatial home in Vancouver--where she had access to high priced lawyers and she could communicate with the outside world--at the behest of the U.S. government. They were honouring their agreement with the United States. It was exactly something that began with the United States and should have been resolved by them with haste. All the Americans had to do was release Canada from that agreement and then Canada could have avoided the whole mess and the waste of millions of dollars in giving Meng Wanzhou her due process according to a fair justice system and the rule of law.

Meanwhile, China retaliated against Canada--not the U.S.A.--by not only arresting the two Michaels and putting them in prison with a death sentence over their heads, in a corrupt justice system that denied them their basic rights, but detaining other Canadians, as well. And furthermore attacking Canada ecomically and politically and trying to isolate Canada as if it were a global pariah, who all other nations should shun.

There is just no equivalency between the corrupt and abusive system in China, that victimizes its own people, and the open (but flawed) system in Canada. To suggest that is offensive to every Canadian--we're not perfect, but we're trying to do better.

Anyway, it's a Controversial Opinions thread, so allow me my freedoms as I allow others theirs.

Well it looks like the people you should be mad at are all in the American government. What you SHOULD be taking away from this whole situation is that the Western notion of fair justice is always rather selectively applied, and certainly takes a backseat whenever geopolitical machinations are involved. The crime that Meng was being accused of was violating US sanctions by trading with Iran, a curious charge to begin with because for one thing, there shouldn't have been sanctions in the first place because Iran was abiding by the terms of the nuclear deal before the US unilaterally broached it, and for another, what sense does it make that US sanctions should prevent Iran from trading with China?

Now, perhaps none of this is Canada's fault, but globally you are largely just viewed as an appendage of the US, and loyally following their directives in this case even when your own interests were being threatened doesn't exactly do a whole hell of a lot to dispel that notion. And obviously, the Chinese are far more comfortable going after the weak sister in this case rather than trying to go after the US directly, and it's also not their fault that the US didn't lift a finger to help you in this situation.

As for the conditions under which the Michaels were being held, well I hate to break it to you, but Meng is a very wealthy and influential individual, whereas the Michaels were just a couple of random dudes, and I can't imagine that two random Chinese guys arrested in Canada would be treated any better, while a wealthy businesswoman from Canada would get the red carpet rolled out for her wherever she went. If you think this is wrong or unfair, then perhaps you should embrace communism.

[babyblob]

Everyone love Chinese food. I really dont like Chinese food at all. or Tai food for that matter.

[CSTowle]

I like both, but could do without Japanese food (for the most part). I'm sure purists/experts would say most of the Chinese food I enjoy is not really "Chinese", but as I know it I likes what I sees/eats. Still, take a taco or a burrito any day over any of it.

[TheRay]

Then I will for sure agree with this statement

Would it have made a difference?

[babyblob]

Would it have made a difference?

Yea. The Tom Cruise Mummy sucks the big one!

[Gray Lensman]

I like both, but could do without Japanese food (for the most part). I'm sure purists/experts would say most of the Chinese food I enjoy is not really "Chinese", but as I know it I likes what I sees/eats. Still, take a taco or a burrito any day over any of it.

It might be what one grew up with. I still miss the Americanized Chinese food from upstate NY, I haven't found anything that really comes close, even in Vegas. I have excellent Japanese, Thai, and Korean food readily available, but Chinese is surprisingly harder to come by.

Mexican food is the easiest thing to find where I live, but I didn't grow up with it. Plattsburgh had a Taco Bell, a succession of short lived local places, and one that lasted a while but never actually kept the hours posted on the door. Whenever I was in the mood to try it, they were always closed, so I stopped trying after a few aborted attempts.

[achilles]

Everyone love Chinese food. I really dont like Chinese food at all. or Tai food for that matter.

Well, there are wildly different kinds of Chinese food; that's really just a vast oversimplification of the whole cuisine. You might like some kinds and hate others.