Communist China, Corporatist America
Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey dashed off a late-night tweet: “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” The Chinese government swung into action, canceling broadcasts of Rockets games and threatening the NBA with a broader ban. The NBA groveled, trying to balance abject capitulation and Morey’s free speech. The whole affair reminded me of corporate America’s response to the North Carolina bill requiring men to use men’s bathrooms and women to use women’s bathrooms. That episode likewise involved anti-democratic institutions using their economic power to cow Americans, not unlike what the Chinese Communist Party does.