Once the Hong Kong question was exposed, though, it was deeply revolting to watch those who benefit most in a meritocratic society acquiescing to the illiberal diktats of a foreign regime.

In the Federalist, David Harsanyi takes on Lebron James.

Americans tend to use word like “stand” and “fight” in their political disagreements, although they never really have to stand and fight for anything. Tank Man stood and fought. The Hong Kong protesters stand and fight. We take to social media and argue. Posting a Nike-approved picture on your Instagram account of Kaepernick—adorned with the $40-million market-test slogan, “Believe in something, Even if it means sacrificing everything”—is not an act of bravery, LeBron.

…There’s nothing wrong with playing NBA games in China. The Chinese people are the victims of their system, after all, and the more connection they have to the rest of the world the better. There isn’t really even any pressing demand for professional athletes to speak out on geopolitical issues. Once the Hong Kong question was exposed, though, it was deeply revolting to watch those who benefit most in a meritocratic society acquiescing to the illiberal diktats of a foreign regime.

It’s especially galling to listen to those who peddle hysteria about contemporary American politics pandering to the Chinese commissars. Apparently, those most prone to calling out pretend Hitlers can’t get themselves to say a negative word about real-world Hitlers.

Take Warriors coach Steve Kerr, a constant social media commentator, with opinions on seemingly every contemporary political issue. First, Kerr deflected questions about the totalitarian Chinese state by risibly claiming he needed to confer with his brother-in-law, a professor, to get a better handle on the issue. When later asked if he’d ever been confronted about human rights abuses on his previous trips to China, Kerr replied, “No. Nor has (America’s) record of human rights abuses come up either… People in China didn’t ask me about, you know, people owning AR-15s and mowing each other down in a mall.”

Showing contempt for your own country doesn’t erase 70 years of mass murder, famine, and incomprehensible hardship for the Chinese people. The Chinese state not only sanctions concentration camps today, it subjects countless people to other forms of totalitarianism. Those who shoot AR-15s in American malls are criminals and murderers who are breaking an array of laws in a free country. Not a single politician or organization approves of their actions. The fact that Kerr would compare the two is at best clueless, and at worst shamefully unpatriotic.

What happened? The Chinese Basketball Association cut some ties with the Rockets, and it would probably cut ties with the NBA if players and managers had the decency to speak out.

I suppose it’s too much to expect NBA stars to back Hong Kong freedom fighters rather than agonize over rounding errors in their banking accounts. The NBA wants to make money in China. There’s nothing wrong with exporting capitalism. But if the NBA is going to start adopting and enforcing the illiberalism of the Chinese state to make money, it becomes a huge ethical problem.

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