Hacker News Reader

Comment by Darmody | Hacker News Reader

I do boycott Chinese products. I can't boycott everything because sometimes there are no alternatives but I do what I can.

Lebron can't solve this but what he can do is at least talk about it. One word and millions of people would know about it.

Same thing happens with the NBA. They're very vocal about BLM but when it comes to HK...you can't even buy a t-shirt with "Free Honk Kong" on it.

View on HN

A positive view would be that you could say that even the NBA needs to "pick it's battles" and can't do all of BLM, HK, Uyghurs, etc.

A more grim view would be that in the end companies will do what's best for them. Currently It's in the NBA's best interest to support BLM since it affects their base. HK, Uyghurs, etc. doesn't really affect them and fighting a battle for it doesn't help them in anyway.

NBA players choose BLM for their protests and you choose China, I don’t see the problem. Blaming them for international policy seems a little naive.

It sounds like you may not be aware that the NBA has been actively and specifically blocking criticism of China. It sounds like currently they've reversed that policy on at least what custom jerseys they'll print, but only after a lot of pressure. The NBA is not neutrally "permitting" their players to protest things if they happen to want to, they have taken an extremely active role in what political actions are and are not allowed, and anti-China protests have consistently been on the "not allowed" side, by the league. The NBA, as an organization, is not a neutral; they have chosen sides.

I am well aware of the NBA's actions. The specific question was about an NBA player, which would be the NBA Players Association, not the league itself. They work for the league, in the same way many of the companies HN Readers work for do business in China.

They'd block BLM support as well if they could get away with it.

I don't choose China. I'll speak up against anything that I think is wrong. China treatment to the Uighurs is one of them.

You won't see me saying "black lives don't matter" only to earn some money.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com