
Chinese Olympic ski team requested a Norway public library to remove books - datashow
https://norwaytoday.info/news/chinese-skiers-want-book-removed-from-meraker-library/
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Canada
Something is fishy about this story. Why would a sports team in town for
training care what is in the local library? Even if they went there, surely
the team members would be well aware that drawing attention to a taboo subject
has no personal upside.

The librarian they quoted doesn't actually say that anyone associated with the
team brought it up, and speaking of that interview, where did the reporter get
this story idea from in the first place? Seems more likely that someone else
is showing some faux concern to attract attention.

~~~
netsharc
Interesting point. Maybe a Chinese student living in the city has come across
the books and thought the visit would be a good excuse to get the books to
disappear.

Interestingly they'll probably moan about the city needing to be good hosts
and cater to their guests' wishes, and maybe there'll be tantrum thrown about
the Norwegians being rude and offensive...

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hnarn
The hubris of authoritarian states never ceases to amaze. I very much doubt
Norway will comply with this, and they very well shouldn't.

~~~
solveit
It's not hubris, it's showboating for internal politics. Not only will Norway
not comply with such a ridiculous request, the ridiculousness of the request
is _the whole point_ because "only a true believer could request something so
ridiculous".

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k_sze
China trying to interfere with another country’s internal affairs. The irony.

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eesmith
A common and more effective technique (at least in US libraries for books
deemed by some as "pornographic", "evolutionist", "offensive", etc.) is to
check it out and never return it, or to hide it somewhere in the library.

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lidHanteyk
> "They have said that if any of the Chinese skiers are caught with these
> books, they are afraid that they would risk being sent to labor camp or
> prison in China."

So don't go to the library and check out those exact books, then.

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Aperocky
Highly doubtful of this being the actual words being spoken. Likely translated
from incentivized reporting. Getting in trouble? Sure. labor camp? If they
existed past 2015 they’re highly unlikely to exist in official language.

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VintageVibes
tldr; Norway library politely tells Chinese book banners to go fuck
themselves.

Good. China's leaders need more push back in their overreach in censoring
content around the world.

~~~
mc32
It's not always easy if large amounts of money is involved especially for
small countries.

It's one thing to hold countries' feet over the fire over international
conventions and other generally agreed upon conventions but this is basically
international freedom of speech.

Imagine if Japan demanded that China take down books about Nanjin/Nanking when
Japan was ascendant and China was weak...

