Imlisanen Jamir
“It’s not worth living in a world where China controls my art,” says one character in last week’s episode of satirical animated comedy show South Park.
Following the episode, called ‘Band in China,’ which poked fun at the tendency in US culture to adjust content to accommodate Chinese censorship laws; China had scrubbed all episodes, clips and content related to the long-running comedy cartoon from Chinese streaming and social media platforms.
It hasn’t reached that level in India, but there are subtle signs.
South Park’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, responded with a mock apology to the Chinese response.
They posted a statement on Twitter under the headline: “Official apology to China from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which said: “Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts.”
“We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look just like Winnie the Pooh at all,” the statement continued.
“Tune in to our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?” it added.
Just following the South Park fracas, the NBA was also put in the difficult position to either stand with Houston Rockets General Manager, Darrel Morley’s declaration of support to the pro-democracy protestors in Honk Kong or to appease the enormous Chinese market into which the association has pumped in billions.
Many would think they chose the latter, making Parker and Stones’ portrayal of self advertising ‘woke’ and progressive corporations for what they really are.
It is not exactly breaking news, that with the advent of “woke” companies, consumers are often duped by a few words of mainstream progressiveness and realize that these “woke” companies are only truly woken by the prospect of cash.
The People’s Republic of China is the land of opportunity. But doing business there often entails many compromises, most of all the pressure to abide by behavioral rules set by a repressive regime.
It would be naive to think that corporations would even stop to think about leaving their values and principles at the departure gate. But the NBA defying that pressure was a brave and welcome move.
It stood up for Morey’s right to speak for himself — even as it emphasized that he wasn’t speaking for the league.
“It is inevitable that people around the world — including from America and China — will have different viewpoints over different issues. It is not the role of the NBA to adjudicate those differences. However, the NBA will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say on these issues. We simply could not operate that way,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.
That’s a principle worth sacrificing for and an example not just for big corporations but anyone engaged in the business of sacrificing values for profit.
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