I would say to the majority of HK Apple Daily represents freedom and democracy, few refers it as “trash”

It depends on which majority you're talking about.

I think the more balanced sentiment (which I've seen across my friends and a couple "KOLs") is that -- it's a trash tabloid, and it's also fighting for freedom and democracy. It's both, and given the current situation it is in, most people are willing to overlook its past as a trashy tabloid and voice support for it.

(IMHO that doesn't make it less trash though.)

Majority of Hong Kong.

Can’t quite get how balanced the sentiment is as seen from your friends and… KOLs? Seriously?

Most people have always supported Apple Daily, not just because of the situation. And honestly I’ve never heard of anyone referring it as trashy tabloid, I mean… even those who oppose it know it is a proper newspaper.

In Taiwan it had a sensationalistic reputation ... and not everyone thought that was a good thing.

Yeah, agreed. While I think it's a trashy tabloid, it's also less biased comparing to other media in Taiwan. Since other news sources are also becoming sensationalist and gossipy if not already, I ended up read Apple Daily more often. Not an optimal situation unfortunately.

Agreed that on TW, but for the HK one what it represents is very important to the citizens

The majority of Hong Kong people believe ridiculous conspiracy theories, have anti-immigration sentiments, and racist ways of thinking, worse so because racial discrimination is just a way of life for many in HK, so I wouldn't say majority rules is the best argument here. Hong Kong isn't this shining jewel of liberalism by any means. All of it just gives China more justification for their actions.

Sorry for this being off-topic, but could you please stop creating accounts for every few comments you post? We ban accounts that do that. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

You needn't use your real name, of course, but for HN to be a community, users need some identity for other users to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames and no community, and that would be a different kind of forum. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

Dehumanising HK people by calling them racist. I really have to ask, who is the racist here?

As your talk is quite generic, here is what I perceive as a guy who lived in HK for 10+ years.

If you are referring to against mainland China people on anti-immigration issue. It is quite normal as the citizens don't agree the government's policy on allowing mainland non-professionals to be HK citizens easily (500+ mainland Chinese people becoming HK citizens per day), statistically speaking more than 70% of them doesn't have a degree and is using government funding to survive every month (which is actually from HKers' tax) as I recall.

If your Conspiracy Theories are about COVID vaccinations, which many HKers believe that they want to wait for 1-2 years to make sure the long term side effect is minimal. I do think that is understandable given that there are quite some correlation of certain side issues (not causation)

I visited HK in 2018 for a conference. All I can say is that I am glad that I went with my white friend, and speak English all the time. Otherwise, I would be afraid of walking on streets.

That is completely nonsense. There were 50 millions[1] tourists from China to Hong Kong via Individual Visit Scheme in 2018. If it is that dangerous, how come so many Chinese tourists keep visiting Hong Kong?

[1]: https://www.tourism.gov.hk/en/tourism-statistics-2018.php

I wasn't trying to say it is a shared experience. A few Mandarin speakers were attacked in streets prior to my visit. It definitely had me question my safety in the city. I didn't have any issue while I was in HK, but it was just how I felt, I wouldn't feel safe without my white colleague.

This breaks the site guidelines. Please read them and stick to the rules: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. They're there for very good reasons. If you want more explanation, there is years' worth at these links:

https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

Commenting on this subject will follow your account on HN forever. Random people comment in my posts to say that I didn't toe the official line on China every so often, and thankfully they're down voted.

I have a pseudonymous account, so I don't care so much. But if I had an account with my name on it, I certainly would consider making a throwaway. It's unlikely that this is a "CCP shill", rather it's very probably someone that doesn't want to face real life repercussions for their honestly held beliefs.

Japan also treats non Japanese people differently. Nobody says anything bad about Japan. My opinion is Hong Kong people have the right to keep mainland Chinese people out of Hong Kong.

Why should we be afraid of China PR?

>Japan also treats non Japanese people differently. Nobody says anything bad about Japan.

What? I see claims of Japanese racism everywhere on the internet. A load of people seem to think it's one of the most racist countries on earth.

Yet in my 5 years here, and as someone visibly foreign, I've never been treated differently from a local. If anything, being treated completely normally put a lot of pressure on me early on since the only thing holding me back was my own lack of language ability.