Both Billie Jean King, the founder of WTA, and Novak Djokovic support WTA’s announcement [1].
“I applaud Steve Simon and the WTA leadership for taking a strong stand on defending human rights in China and around the world,” said Billie Jean King. “The WTA is on the right side of history in supporting our players. This is another reason why women’s tennis is the leader in women’s sports.”
Novak Djokovic, World No 1 and cofounder of the Professional Tennis Players Association, said he fully supported the WTA’s stance, and everyone including the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) was “asking for clarity on what is going on”.
“We don’t have enough information and I think it’s a very bold, very courageous stance from WTA,” he told reporters.
Wow! Compare this to Hollywood, always telling us how to think and behave but otherwise happy to turn a blind eye on Uighyrs etc if they can sell a few more tickets.
If forced to chose a location to do business, I have a feeling Hollywood would opt to pack up and relocate to China.
Their leaders don’t see anything other than the number of humans they can get in front of their movies, and 1.4 billion people is a whole lot more than 300ish million.
The difference is that that the WTA actually has leverage on China because China loses legitimacy in sports from this decision. No Chinese woman can ever be the best tennis player anymore. The NBA and John Cena actually have negative leverage on China. Both are purely American exports, so getting them banned in China only serves to widen the trade imbalance. China would love to find an excuse to do so.
Kudos! As oblivious bystander and no real tennis-knowledge apart from how the game is played, how much pressure will this put on China? How much weight does WTA carry? It will no doubt cause some media coverage no matter the outcome.
I don't see the chinesse people raising against CCP for this. Not even if the olympics are cancelled.
It's well-known that CCP leaders are untouchable in China just like Kim is untouchable in NK.
On the other hand if you look a bit to our politics, how affected was Trump by the rape/harrasment accusations? Certainly a big part of population would still vote for him even if the rape would be recorded.
I don't defend China or CCP but we should put things in perspective.
The most disturbing issue in China I believe is the censorship and persecution of the victims.
It will probably turn into a non-event in China. As long as other entertainment is available, this is likely to be nothing but a blip.
People do not rise for entertainment, but only when they are seriously affected in their lives. Or when unfairness accumulates enough that they had enough — this will happen at some point in China, if they don't tone it down. But protesting today (and in the past) is a form of luxury: those most in need to protest their treatment usually have the smallest possibility of effectively running one (they are in a constant race to survive).
It's no accident that even throughout history, many protests and revolutions were led/supported by someone from the "elite" (rich, well-educated, plenty of spare time).
The better question is how much pressure does it put on other organisations when it comes to bowing to China? Or any other rich, not-so-democratic country like Saudi or Qatar, or...
Because now the WTA, by no means a small sports organisation, did what the IOC, FIFA, NBA, film studios,... didn't have the courage to do. And these orgs now don't have any excuse of doing nothing about those human rights abuses.
China will ignore it and start their own tennis authority, inviting all of the belt-and-road nations to partake. In a way we're seeing the birth of a new "Warsaw Pact vs NATO" kind of thing.
Hey now, no need to be racist/xenophobic about it.
The Chinese government is a terrible regime that commits many atrocities. But China has more than a billion people, most of whom do nothing morally wrong beside being complicit to the regime's crimes by inaction. And as we've seen time and again, that's just what regular people do and will do, as long as their lives aren't getting worse ( e.g. Nazi Germany). Most people don't want to risk their lives for noble causes.
Blacklisting any Chinese national and company will only sharpen an us vs them divide, which helps the CCP because they paint any criticism of them as criticism of China. Furthermore, most businesses owners on this boards are probably in the US, who has a less than stellar human rights record and supports many regimes with even worse ones. Why pick out China specifically and not Israel or Saudi Arabia? They're all different degrees of terrible. Yes, action against one is still better than no action against any one, but i wonder, why China and not the Saudis? Or Israel, the boycot movement against which is specifically disenfranchised in the US? If the only reason is that they're getting too rich and starting to give the US as a global power a run for their money, your priorities are weird. Anything else, you do you and boycott the one(s) you want, but don't forget the rest.
In any case, no need for outright racial hatred of a whole nation.
In this matter, I see very little nuance and perspicacity from WTA when dealing with people of a different culture both politically and otherwise.
In general WTA setting out terms to nation state is a very absurd situation. If the situation was reversed, American government would care zero bit to appear accountable to any foreign or international organisation.
But what is surprising is how WTAs take on this matter is taken as is without necessary skepticism. It is rather clear that WTA don't have first hand information on the subject to take a considered judgement.
Rather than make a blanket statement that people should be skeptical, can you provide a concrete reason why one should be skeptical in this case? I think most people here believe that victims of sexual assault should be able to come forward without fear of retribution. I’m curious what your counter argument is.
[+] [-] hker|4 years ago|reply
Joe Pompliano thinks the WTA will lose 1/3 of their revenue [2].
[2]: https://twitter.com/JoePompliano/status/1466142522628059144
[+] [-] ekanes|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maccolgan|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lazyeye|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ecf|4 years ago|reply
Their leaders don’t see anything other than the number of humans they can get in front of their movies, and 1.4 billion people is a whole lot more than 300ish million.
[+] [-] shmde|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Aunche|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deltaci|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skinkestek|4 years ago|reply
It would be great if the internet could somehow make this a fantastic decision for WTA.
Ideas?
[+] [-] q-base|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] theplumber|4 years ago|reply
It's well-known that CCP leaders are untouchable in China just like Kim is untouchable in NK.
On the other hand if you look a bit to our politics, how affected was Trump by the rape/harrasment accusations? Certainly a big part of population would still vote for him even if the rape would be recorded. I don't defend China or CCP but we should put things in perspective.
The most disturbing issue in China I believe is the censorship and persecution of the victims.
[+] [-] necovek|4 years ago|reply
People do not rise for entertainment, but only when they are seriously affected in their lives. Or when unfairness accumulates enough that they had enough — this will happen at some point in China, if they don't tone it down. But protesting today (and in the past) is a form of luxury: those most in need to protest their treatment usually have the smallest possibility of effectively running one (they are in a constant race to survive).
It's no accident that even throughout history, many protests and revolutions were led/supported by someone from the "elite" (rich, well-educated, plenty of spare time).
[+] [-] hef19898|4 years ago|reply
Because now the WTA, by no means a small sports organisation, did what the IOC, FIFA, NBA, film studios,... didn't have the courage to do. And these orgs now don't have any excuse of doing nothing about those human rights abuses.
[+] [-] arvigeus|4 years ago|reply
Step 2: Withdraw all Chinese tennis players. Complain how WTA decision is hurting sport and this issue should not be politicized.
Step 3: Ban broadcasting of all women tennis tournaments.
Step 4: Massive disinformation campaign against WTA.
Step 5: Push the other organizations that are under CCP's thumb to pressure WTA to back off.
[+] [-] kstenerud|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dmitrygr|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Loic|4 years ago|reply
This is sadly something you find everywhere in this world, but at least, in some countries, women can hope to get the justice to investigate fairly.
Being a woman in this world is not easy.
[+] [-] tibbydudeza|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] reunification|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jarym|4 years ago|reply
Perhaps not everything is about ‘sticking it’ to your homeland.
[+] [-] kuaile|4 years ago|reply
Did you mean to say "hostile takeover of an independent nation"? China hasn't controlled Taiwan in recent history.
[+] [-] MaoSharted|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] redact207|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dadarecit|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] sofixa|4 years ago|reply
The Chinese government is a terrible regime that commits many atrocities. But China has more than a billion people, most of whom do nothing morally wrong beside being complicit to the regime's crimes by inaction. And as we've seen time and again, that's just what regular people do and will do, as long as their lives aren't getting worse ( e.g. Nazi Germany). Most people don't want to risk their lives for noble causes.
Blacklisting any Chinese national and company will only sharpen an us vs them divide, which helps the CCP because they paint any criticism of them as criticism of China. Furthermore, most businesses owners on this boards are probably in the US, who has a less than stellar human rights record and supports many regimes with even worse ones. Why pick out China specifically and not Israel or Saudi Arabia? They're all different degrees of terrible. Yes, action against one is still better than no action against any one, but i wonder, why China and not the Saudis? Or Israel, the boycot movement against which is specifically disenfranchised in the US? If the only reason is that they're getting too rich and starting to give the US as a global power a run for their money, your priorities are weird. Anything else, you do you and boycott the one(s) you want, but don't forget the rest.
In any case, no need for outright racial hatred of a whole nation.
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] pingpongtn|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] eddie_gibbon|4 years ago|reply
In general WTA setting out terms to nation state is a very absurd situation. If the situation was reversed, American government would care zero bit to appear accountable to any foreign or international organisation.
But what is surprising is how WTAs take on this matter is taken as is without necessary skepticism. It is rather clear that WTA don't have first hand information on the subject to take a considered judgement.
[+] [-] rp1|4 years ago|reply