It was the biggest sign of Chinese people actually demonstrating in the streets fighting the opression. Not sure we will see something like that in the next 20 years in China again. It was impressive to see how they were organized and fought for their freedom
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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It was scary how easily it was squelched though.
What I find disheartening is that it ultimately didn't work. Or am I wrong?
That’s not entirely true. Protests like these, at the very least, demonstrate class awareness to towards those in power. “Look what we can do”
Never forget that true power lies with the people. Always.
You are correct, it didn't work.
HK was economically dependent on China already, so their last struggle occurred too late, under the implied threat of the Chinese army moving in. The city government found ways to bring in Chinese police (or interior ministry troops) to overcome and outlast the protests.
I've read an article where one of the protestors said that these yellow hardhats aren't actually so good, they break after one good hit. Better go with something more sturdy.
Alsoy the umbrella serves another function. The more moderate protestors can use it to block vision while the radicals change to be ready when the police comes.
Those HK protests were really sophisticated.
Also don't forget proper encrypted messaging.
The laser pen part makes me uneasy, on one hand its maximum damage for minnimum percieved violence, on the other hand you could cause permament blindness which is a hell of a thing to inflict on anyone regardless of circumstances. Its genius but also pretty brutal.
If one uses a disco laser or laser pointer in the visible wavelength range, it's hard to inflict permanent blindness with it. During the time it would take to inflict thermal damage to the retina, reflexes kick in and the person looking into a laser will close their eye and turn their head.
Occurrences of permanent blindness are rare. This study, even if a bit old (2015) introduces the topic with helpful case reports, for example:
Two young soldiers (Cases 1 and 2) aged 27 and 28 years respectively, serving in the Oman army, projected penlight like devices emanating bright blue-green light into each others eyes (left eye for Case number 1 and right eye for Case number 2) for about 5–10 s. They competed with each other to determine who could bear the light longer while celebrating the success of a local football game.
Basically, they did the utmost stupidity: forcing oneself to stare into a laser at close range. They paid a price and damaged their vision, but didn't go blind from it.
Of course, it's a different story with cutting and engraving lasers, and lasers outside the visible wavelengths - you can stare into those without any reflexes helping avoid damage. The same article mentions another source, reporting about a guy (also military) who looked into a high-power range finder and perforated his fovea (the area where high-resolution vision occurs). It was most likely an infrared laser.
So, be careful but disco lasers won't strike a person blind.