China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media

Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by dx87 on Sunday April 21, 2019 @04:36PM (#19714425)

That reminds me of an interview with a Chinese esports team I saw at a tournament a few months ago. The interviewer was doing a light-hearted game where they showed twitch emotes to the Chinese team and asked what they thought the emotes meant. One of the emotes was a frog (the creator of the game goes by IceFrog), and the Chinese translator said that the players weren't allowed to say anything about the emote. We later found out that they were afraid to say anything because the nickname of the former president of China was "Toad King", and the players were worried that they'd get in trouble if they said anything about the frog emote.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by HAL9000Ti on Sunday April 21, 2019 @05:56PM (#19714808)

Fasinating, I never heard about that one before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_worship_(Chinese_internet...

searching "膜蛤" on baidu.com yields zero results.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by helloindia on Monday April 22, 2019 @02:34AM (#19716981)

Similar to how "Winnie the Pooh" is censored in Chinese social media. Because, a meme became popular comparing Xi Jinping to the character. https://www.businessinsider.in/Pictures-of-Winnie-the-Pooh-a...

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by yrlihuan on Monday April 22, 2019 @04:42AM (#19717425)

You get the whole thing wrong.

In China, Toad King Warship (膜蛤文化) is very popular in some people, espcially young ones. There are tones of memes and internet jokes around that and obviously nobody gets into trouble because of it.

I don't know why your interviewer told you he was afraid. A wild guess is that he was one of those young people who loves Toad King Warship, and your ice frog reminded him of it. But it's hard to explain it to a foreigner (or he find it inappropriate to mention in an interview. it's a sub-culture anyway). So he just say he cannot say about it. As you further asked for reason, he gives you the answer you have in mind, by acting as victim of surveillance state (another culture thing).

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[dead]

Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by wahnfrieden on Sunday April 21, 2019 @07:58PM (#19715324)

As a symbol of racist misogynist hate of marginalized groups, not a statement against a totalitarian leader. What exactly are you comparing?

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by mistermann on Monday April 22, 2019 @12:27AM (#19716523)

Perhaps comparing how different cultures dramatically interpret or react to images, and how we often view the behavior of other cultures in this respect to be odd or silly, while our unique behavior is based in rational, fact-based logic. But that's just a guess.

Take your interpretation for example, am I mistaken to conclude that you believe all who post that frog are both misogynist and racist, or did I guess wrong? If so, could you clarify?

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by wahnfrieden on Wednesday April 24, 2019 @05:25PM (#19742742)

I did not say that. Not really interested in clarifying for you here, sorry. Not was the poster I replying to making a good-faith philosophical inquiry of the sort you’re suggesting.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by Dylan16807 on Sunday April 21, 2019 @08:25PM (#19715446)

Not for talking about it.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by Buge on Sunday April 21, 2019 @08:38PM (#19715500)

It depends on what you say about it. If you say you think it's funny then you could get in trouble with some people.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by Dylan16807 on Sunday April 21, 2019 @08:52PM (#19715555)

You can always find someone willing to jump to conclusions. It's easy to have an in-depth discussion about the history, symbology, use, the way meaning and irony are twined together... and if someone lowers their opinion of you after that then oh well, either there's no pleasing them or you earned it from your opinions. It's a far cry from having something that can't even be brought up, ever.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by Buge on Sunday April 21, 2019 @09:01PM (#19715594)

Yeah, but this is about when an interviewer with a camera asks for a quick comment about the meme. There isn't time to have an in-depth discussion about it. And it's difficult to be put on the spot like that with a camera in your face, and you know that whatever you say, people can replay that clip over and over again and spread it about the internet to criticize you. To avoid the potential backlash, declining to talk about it could be a smart move.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by Jonnax on Sunday April 21, 2019 @09:56PM (#19715805)

The man you seem to be talking about was a proud white supremacist that got punched in the face.

It's interesting how on the internet those in positions of power get described as the real victims.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by Buge on Sunday April 21, 2019 @11:48PM (#19716374)

I wasn't referring to any specific person.

The closest person I was referring to is the player in the "Chinese esports team" that dx87 was talking about. Or possibly a hypothetical white player on who could have been put in a similar situation by an interviewer. I guess they have a little bit of power due to their position on a top team, but I don't consider that to be much power. I don't consider them victims either, just humans who have their own set of goals and fears, that I can try to analyze.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by jtms on Sunday April 21, 2019 @11:52PM (#19716393)

I believe this person was referring to the esports team not neo nazis

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by walrus01 on Sunday April 21, 2019 @10:06PM (#19715843)

What happens if you show them a photo of a Llama, and ask about the Grass Mud Horse?

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by Gigablah on Sunday April 21, 2019 @11:58PM (#19716414)

That means you’re intentionally trying to get them in trouble?

This is as asinine as getting someone to say “bomb” at airport security.

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by walrus01 on Monday April 22, 2019 @02:24AM (#19716949)

Right, I got it, here in the free world we should totally avoid Winnie the Pooh, Llamas, frogs, river crabs, or other things that are seen as anti-central-authority/anti-government by the powers in Beijing.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/07/china-bans-win...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_Mud_Horse

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemisms_for_Internet_censor...

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Re:China Bans the Word 'Leica' on Social Media by okmokmz on Monday April 22, 2019 @12:45PM (#19720399)

That's not at all what he said....

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