I wanted to welcome Harry Chen PhD to #QOTO his account is @HarryChenPhD

He lives in China, and from what I can tell is currently living in Wuhan, the epicenter of the #coronavirus where he posts videos updating us all on the situation. He labels himself as a "renegade journalist".

He was recently banned from twitter because, well, China doesnt really like renegades or journalists. So we are proud to act as a platform to help him host his videos and get the word out on how things develop. Consider following him.

You can read a bit about how twitter oppressed his freedom of speech and what ultimately brought him to the fediverse at these two links:

https://reclaimthenet.org/twitter-suspends-harry-chen-phd-cornavirus/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/f938j3/twitter_suspends_harry_chen_phd_known_for/

#Wuhan #CoronaVirus #FF #FollowFriday #China #Journalism #Journalist

@freemo @HarryChenPhD looks like anti-China low quality material tbh

@elia

Not even sure what that means. Its mostly just posts of videos by the look of it. Anything "anti-china" about it seems to mostly just be honesty around their practices (manipulation and dishonesty) to their citizens.

@HarryChenPhD

@freemo @HarryChenPhD I was not referring to the videos per se. He could try harder with his claims. He says "they are hiding evidence", evidence of...? It's just a gratuitous attack against China with literally nothing to back it up.

@elia

Ahh yes, I agree, I was skeptical of that wording as well. But when I pressed him he basically just said "well they arent telling us what is int he disinfectant".. which is kinda fair, I lived in china I think id be constantly scared of them slipping something in the chemicals they spray me with too.

In the end when I pressed him though his responses sounded rational enough. Could also just be a language barrier thing.

Why not ask him about it?

@HarryChenPhD

@freemo

From what I can see so far it does seem like just biased opinion if not agenda. Not what I would expect from a journalist, renegade or not.

In my opinion a journalist shouldn't just sit back and complain that the government doesn't go out of its way to do their job for them. A journalist will go and ask the driver what they are spraying, then go inquire in local government building/unit/whatever, maybe even take a sample and take it to a lab(or closest renegade equivalent) for examination. Report on all of that exactly, and then maybe express an opinion under a disclaimer.

Not saying there is anything wrong with expressing an opinion (even if biased), just scrutinizing the "renegade journalist".

@elia @HarryChenPhD

@namark

Fair criticism and all.

Though to be fair your basically saying "Why didnt you do more and get arrested"... Well if he actually followed your advice we would never hear from him again as he would be locked away against his will.

Im not sure you realize how risky it is for him to do even this much.

@elia @HarryChenPhD

@freemo

hmmm, I don't think anything I said can be used as an excuse for an arrest, I didn't mean to suggest to snoop out evidence with any means necessary. If the government stands on the way, reporting on that would be enough. Are police battalions escorting the workers not letting anyone close? Do the workers refuse to talk?

If it's about evil government abusing power to arrest people they don't like, even without an excuse, then actively speaking against said government is more dangerous in my opinion, than unopinionated journalism. None of those things require anti-government rhetoric, they can even be framed as pro-governmant - "look at the amazing technology and state of the art chemistry out government deployed!".

An analogy would be firefighting equipment or even police arsenal. I can't see why would the government go out of it's way to publish a thorough explanation on the technology used up to the chemical composition. On the other hand it would be totally normal for a journalist to do that. Nothing incriminating or out of ordinary there.

That said I don't know what the situation is in the quarantine(or the evil China in general), so maybe there is something I'm missing. I'm as usual out of touch.

@elia @HarryChenPhD

@namark

Umm I dont think you know china then... Yes what you suggest will almost certainly wind up in an arrest. They do **not** have any measure of freedom of speech there. By accusing the government of wrong doing in any sense you will get arrested presuming that accusation is loud enough that they care.

@elia @HarryChenPhD

@namark

I think you forget, the videos he is posting here even without any details already got him in trouble. The chinese government told twitter to ban him and they did. Could you imagine how much more trouble he would get in if he actually did what a real journalist would do and ask questions and probe deeper....

@elia @HarryChenPhD

@freemo

Sure I know nothing, but I don't understand your logic either... I'm saying "you don't have to accuse the government, you can just report on facts", and you are arguing that "accusing the government will get you arrested".

If what is posted here is the same as what was posted on twitter, you can't claim that it was the videos alone, they are clearly accompanied with anti-government rhetoric, which according to you is more than enough to warrant an arrest, not just a ban. There is also one pointless video of street violence, which might be against terms of service there.

I really don't see how trying to ask a couple of questions to the operator of the spray (after their shift even), or a visit to local government office in good faith, will put you on the radar of the evil government anymore than what @HarryChenPhD and anyone else involved are already doing there.

@elia

@namark @freemo @elia so I should turn a blind eye to the evils of my government? I'm not sure what you want from me...you want me to stop posting my opinions on the internet? Or stop addressing accusations or questions?

Sounds like censorship to me...🤷‍♂️

@HarryChenPhD

I think what he wants is instead of you just videoing the trucks spraying or other incidents, you actually record yourself asking questions and trying to do some research, which would make the videos have more value.

I am arguing that you already put yourself at a lot of risk and doing that would likely put you in too much risk.

@namark @elia

@freemo @namark @elia hahahaha, that's a great way to get never heard from again.

I wont be doing that, he is welcome to, he can even sing the praise of the communist party in the streets of wuhan, the people will love him for it and he would be a national star overnight in China...I mean why wouldn't so many reputable public figures stand up for China and how great it's doing? They could all be stars too.

I would like to see a report of someone using their own white face to say how great China is...that video would go viral, I recommend him to do that...I'm sure many westerns would support his affirmation towards communism

@HarryChenPhD

So if whoever took the video of spraying, tried to talk to the guy spraying, he would go to jail, but taking the video and posting it along with anti-government rhetoric is totally ok, no jail?

I'm not suggesting you to show your face in a video, or even link the identity of the interviewer to the identity of the publisher, or change your rhetoric.

@freemo @elia