Link to video: https://lnkd.in/eqEb7Ug
By Jess Chingwa Ng, Co-Founder and Head of Content, Upleash — Hong Kong Creative Marketing Agency focused on social entrepreneurship and innovation.
Disclaimer: Understanding philosophical premises before diving into a political assumption, debate or a claim is important in discerning the truth. In my opinion, this bill is a victory for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrators, while some will choose to side with this influencer’s premise and believe that evil American imperialism is true, possibly allowing more division and bias to take place. China will also be infuriated by the USA’s interference, partially due to her pride, and partially due to the increasing uncertainty and upper hand their opponent has in the trade war.
In fact, Hong Kong has no chance of winning unless the demonstrators choose the opportunity to negotiate with the SAR Government and the Central People’s Government.
The title of conviction in the video has lost 10% of my trust, and I don’t think it’s a legitimate journalist or commentator, but a pro-Chinese storyteller or influencer.
To me, the video raises a philosophical question without proving its claim to be right. A philosophical question must be explored: To what extent should imperialism be justified? One must prove that an act is improper and sinful before he can be convinced that it exists. This is the fundamental nature of law.
This is an important question to consider: if you are convinced by the influencer’s narrative, it is not hard to engage and develop bias or even hatred in extreme cases against the so-called enemy or oppressor.
After watching the video, this is my question: Does a person or a nation have a moral reason to use means to expand power to defend interests? How morally acceptable is it? Do other parties have an obligation to care and participate?
Think of a person in society who uses the means to survive and grow. The expansion of influence is intended to preserve and prolong survival opportunities and to promote their values and culture. It’s very human, but over time, we learn to collaborate, not compete through trial and error to advance the common good.
Think about it: on the day the British used force and drugs to fuel colonization, we were in a much worse position. If I say this man is right, then imperialism is now in the form of trade agreements and human rights law. Well, that sounds better to me than it used to be.
Looking through history books, the rise and fall of empires, whether in Europe, Latin America or Asia, is essentially the same, except with different a location, time and space. That is to reinstate imperialism is a pattern that has occurred in human civilization over time, and I am questioning if it is a problem or phenomenon. Will imperialism always exist? I believe so, and the only thing we can do is to neutralize this ambition to excessively dominate by addressing greed and ignorance.
Semi-economic and semi-cultural problems can only be solved through legalization and means to rightfully control within commonly agreed boundaries between the government and the masses. This is exactly the failure of the SAR Government and the Central Government: they leverage force and legal means unrighteously when they should listen more.
I believe the intervention of the USA is here to serve as a soft push and guard to demonstrate freedom and power to another superpower, but the bill is not justified to be a serious diplomatic intervention or an act of imperialism. At most, I consider it a human right restriction and protection. The US does this to bring China under control against her ambitions to fight trade wars and lead the world. The protesters in Hong Kong and the United States share the same democratic values and interests, and the bill can, therefore, promote a fundamental, supportive backbone to our social movement.
I know that this may sound doubtful because of America’s poor record in establishing so-called democratic governments in the Middle East to obtain resources, but a better question is, what does Hong Kong have?
What’s the price of wanting to side with the United States? It is fair to say that democracy certainly strikes societies with uneducated voters and socio-economic inequality.
However, I support democracy as a better means of allocating and mediating the benefits and powers of resources; it is a political system that promotes change, representation, and growth of citizens through fair elections.
On a final note, this dramatic, over-information and loose-fitting way of assessing and using facts to gain insights into a political situation is not necessarily the best analytical method. #hongkong #standwithhongkong
