Peyji
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Their names were Fang Xiaotong (left) and Liu Jixi (right). Murdered in Hong Kong on June 2nd because a guy didn't like the look of them. Kinda has me a bit fucked up because Liu Jixi looks a little like my multiracial niece.
An unpleasant reminder that hate crimes happen everywhere even today.
Not gonna link the CCTV video recording of their murder. It's out there if you know where to look.
What makes current media coverage of the attack personally really irksome is that every article that I've found - even CNN - downplays or deliberately leaves out the fact that these two young women were members of Hong Kong's LGTBQ+ community. They try to portray them as 'just friends' which makes a mockery of Liu Jixi's attempts to fight off their attacker and drag Fang Xiaotong to safety.
They deserve better than that.
Edit: I have to credit @Sexycyborg for drawing my attention over on Twitter to what happened to these young women. I usually watch the international news pretty closely but I still might have missed it if it weren't for her. She's good people, that one, and found the image of Fang Xiaotong and Liu Jixi that I'm sharing here.
2nd Edit: I have mixed feelings about this hitting Most Viral.
Remember their names. Not just Liu Jixi and Fang Xiaotong, but ALL of their names.
3rd Edit: the informative Wikipedia article. It's only in Chinese but google does a good job of translating it to English:
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E9%91%BD%E7%9F%B3%E5%B1%B1%E8%8D%B7%E9%87%8C%E6%B4%BB%E5%BB%A3%E5%A0%B4%E6%96%AC%E4%BA%BA%E6%A1%88?wprov=sfla1
the very disappointing CNN article:
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/06/03/asia/hong-kong-two-women-knife-attack-intl-hnk/index.html
Hong Kong Free Press:
https://hongkongfp.com/2023/06/03/hong-kong-mall-double-murder-police-say-no-evidence-suspect-knew-victims-as-public-urged-not-to-share-vids/
Straits Times:
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/man-stabs-2-women-to-death-in-hong-kong-mall-plunging-his-knife-25-times-into-one-of-them
And finally, SexyCyborg's tweet. I'm going to reiterate a warning she gives: the footage in the CCTV clip that she shares in this tweet is brutally unpleasant to watch. It is horrific. And worst of all, it is absolutely heartbreaking. I could barely get through it myself.
https://twitter.com/RealSexyCyborg/status/1665014145048268800?t=u6aLxErHeVP5D4-NqBAEFw&s=19
CommentMalone
CNN no longer owned by neutral interests.
TheobromineAddict
Just realized I hate homophobes as much or more than they hate LGBTQ++. That's a lotta hate going around.
Sean7
wow that video, no one deserves to go like. I can't imagine what went through their heads in their last minutes. I hope they burn that animal alive.
bnuihj
Translated Wiki page: https://zh-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E9%91%BD%E7%9F%B3%E5%B1%B1%E8%8D%B7%E9%87%8C%E6%B4%BB%E5%BB%A3%E5%A0%B4%E6%96%AC%E4%BA%BA%E6%A1%88?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
koflan
Can someone start a list of all the people we're all supposed to remember, with notes for whose name we're supposed to say out loud or place respect upon?
Peyji
There's a lot of victims of hate crimes everywhere. I try to remember every victim that I learn about, not just in the US but worldwide, because they don't deserve to be forgotten. When I say remember all of them, it's a reminder as much as to myself as to everyone else that victims should never be forgotten or overlooked or dismissed.
IronCore
In response to your 2nd edit about this hitting front page I'm glad that it did. I hadn't heard about this at all until now. I know it's painful, but it's good that more people know.
bnuihj
Original tweet: https://twitter.com/realsexycyborg/status/1665014145048268800
Sheldonian
Rest in power and fuck each and every single one of the homophobes and those who chose to erase their relationship
NonstopRampage
This is the kind of thing I try to warn people about. One, we are FRIGHTENINGLY fragile critters. Two, there are lunatics EVERYWHERE, and it doesn't even take ANYTHING to incite them to violence. They bump YOUR shoulder, and before you can turn around, they're trying to shiv you for bumping THEM. Hell, I laid out a crazy guy, when he plots down RIGHT NEXT to me, on an empty bus, and muttered to himself- after he picked a fight, because I looked & thought, "huh, that's weird, what's he doing?".
sinnfinn86
so someone who has so much anger in them to murder two women is hope in jail? or let free? not sure how china law works.
Peyji
Their murderer got pounced on by Hong Kong law enforcement. Not sure what's going to happen to the guy but hopefully it'll be a very long stay in a very unpleasant prison. What I've found says that the guy has a history of mental health problems, so this might tip things in the direction of 'locked up for a few decades.'
HyperCynic
Holy shit. I have seen some shit in my life but that was targeted and brutal.
Bondsmith10
Watched it without sound because I didn't think I'd be able to watch it if it had sound, still couldn't even get halfway through it and I will likely have nightmares. No good
wylkyn
Are there any article links? I tried googling them and got nothing.
bnuihj
Original tweet: https://twitter.com/realsexycyborg/status/1665014145048268800
bnuihj
Translated Wiki page: https://zh-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E9%91%BD%E7%9F%B3%E5%B1%B1%E8%8D%B7%E9%87%8C%E6%B4%BB%E5%BB%A3%E5%A0%B4%E6%96%AC%E4%BA%BA%E6%A1%88?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
wylkyn
Thanks. I don't know what I expected, but I'm actually sorry I read that. I feel traumatized.
HankGrim
Naomi Wu (@SEXYCYBORG) is herself a lesbian who publicly came out on one of her videos IIRC. She's a brilliant electrical engineer inventor/creator with TONS of content on YouTube and similar
Peyji
Yep, she's one of the smartest people there is, brain the size of a planet and an incredibly creative techie; she often gives reviews concerning various pieces of tech that she comes across. Also something of a foodie too - the lady has some sort of super sense for finding places to eat, and for someone as tiny as she is, she can *really* clean off a plate, it's incredible. Also, one of us, one of us, one of us (even though it's been like a year since she's been on Imgur)!
Girlie1337
Other than this post and the Twitter account you mentioned, nothing comes up at all when I Google their names. Is that a censorship thing?
bnuihj
Translated Wiki page: https://zh-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E9%91%BD%E7%9F%B3%E5%B1%B1%E8%8D%B7%E9%87%8C%E6%B4%BB%E5%BB%A3%E5%A0%B4%E6%96%AC%E4%BA%BA%E6%A1%88?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
MyNameIsntChris
Same here, only works if you search adding date, city and "knife attack"
SlayerOfGoat
@op I can understand with the nature of the story why you would have reservations about going most viral, but the story is more important that some "internet trophy". I have friends that are LGBT, I have family in Hong Kong. I appreciate you sharing this more than anything.
flordelasantillas
Trump, Abbott and DeSantis and people like them stir up violent hatred then praise those that do. These are the wannabe fascist dictators who must be stopped before they get control.
NonstopRampage
Are we talking a, "Would you kill hitler?" scenario here, because it seems like we are. The fucker is a criminal and should be put away. It's that easy. It's that easy with EVERY republican on the terrorist-right. I don't know why we're sitting on our hands, waiting for the literally bloody nightmare scenario.
DeathLemons
This is what republicans want.
[deleted]
[deleted]
SoftKleenex
Don’t bother trying to defend that side on here
joot
Yeah, don’t bother trying to defend the indefensible.
5NoteHalf
Yes, it actually seems to be. They're passing anti-gay, anti-LGBT, anti-trans legislation DAILY that is aimed at hurting LGBTQ families.
Bhargo
DeathLemons
Republicans across the country have chosen an extremely aniti-educatuon and anti-LGBTQ agenda. You deciding that its not like this is either very ignorant of you or devisely evil. Good luck with your enclosed and bigoted life. I hope you are able to live with yourself.
Herefortheboos
Then someone needs to explain to them very slowly that this is what they're doing. This is the current out group for their in group to hate on. If they have a shit about the children they would do something about the priests, clergy, and cops that assault children all the damn time.
ThatOtherGirlYouKnow
Yes, it is.
IWasGoingToMakeEspresso
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt!
Bhargo
IT LITERALLY FUCKING IS! There are posts right now on the front page with a pastor advocating for the murder of all gay people or republicans defending countries with death penalties for being gay. Stop fucking pretending it isn't what they want when they scream it from the roof tops at every opportunity.
TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsTheBabyAteMyDingo
MyNameIsntChris
I tried finding the video but can't. Is it possible to point me at where to find it?
TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsTheBabyAteMyDingo
It's posted in the tweet i posted.
MyNameIsntChris
Thanks and sorry for asking something that obvious. This is absolutely horrible I just have no words to express my anger
bnuihj
Translated Wiki page: https://zh-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E9%91%BD%E7%9F%B3%E5%B1%B1%E8%8D%B7%E9%87%8C%E6%B4%BB%E5%BB%A3%E5%A0%B4%E6%96%AC%E4%BA%BA%E6%A1%88?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
bnuihj
Original tweet: https://twitter.com/realsexycyborg/status/1665014145048268800
tokenhooker
Jesus FUCKING CHRIST. I have never seen someone get so brutally murdered before. Jesus Fucking Christ.
DrMissAnonymous
That link shows up as a black and decker drill ???
bnuihj
Translated Wiki page: https://zh-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E9%91%BD%E7%9F%B3%E5%B1%B1%E8%8D%B7%E9%87%8C%E6%B4%BB%E5%BB%A3%E5%A0%B4%E6%96%AC%E4%BA%BA%E6%A1%88?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
bnuihj
Original tweet: https://twitter.com/realsexycyborg/status/1665014145048268800
yup8888
"the tweet is unavailable" . ?
RunningDroid
That tweet is flagged as adult content and Musk decided people should have to sign in to see adult content.
bnuihj
Not here.
notacobra
I had a friend when I was doing my residency, many years ago. She was a lesbian back in China and only recently moved to Australia. At 26, she had literally never dated seriously because she felt so unsafe to do so. Even in Australia she was nervous about somebody recognising her and telling family back home. I really wanted to introduce her to queer companions of mine, but I had to respect the boundaries she had set, even if (indeed, specifically because) the reasons why were terrifying.
Peyji
I sincerely hope that today, your friend is walking with her head held high and is no longer afraid to hide herself like that. No one should have to live in fear.
sortofkindamadbutnotreally
I can tell you now that Australia could be dangerous for an entirely different reason. I have a murse friend near a resort town and every season when the Aussies fly in, the rate of venereal disease diagnosis skyrickets.
notacobra
Australia isn't even in the top 100 countries for STDs, compared to America at number 78
Peachcappuccino
Lmao what? As an Australian I was expecting "hurr big snek" not "you're all full of stds" hahaha
Onlyhereforthelaughs
You are a good friend. You wish better for them, but don't want to cross set boundaries. That's very respectful.
AnonOmis1000
Unfortunately that's not an entirely unreasonable fear. We've seen Chinese "police stations" set up all over the world to keep tabs on nationals abroad.
OogaOogaMooshka
In what countries have you seen these?
AnonOmis1000
US and Canada at least.
spookyu
A lot of Asian cultures are fine with homosexuality in the context of two men, but absolutely vehement if it's two women. I realize this sounds a bit...for lack of better words, histrionic, but it's truly from a premise of patriarchal ownership over women. Essentially "don't care what other guys do but women aren't taking other women off the market." China is terrible with it now considering the ratio of men and women, Japan is exceptionally bad with it as well.
spookyu
From the family context, and I can only speak of what I saw firsthand in Japan, there's a lot of sentiment from parents of daughters that "Who are you to deny me grandchildren? This is just a childish/selfish faze."
Algebraicrhombus
I simply cannot imagine. If someone in my family hated who I was, I'd cut them off in an instant. It's so strange what culture and religion can do to a person's brain.
Strategicgnomer
There's benefits to that culture, familial closeness, *in general* gives very high life satisfaction and feelings of safety and belonging. My partner's family is her greatest joy in life. But in countries that haven't moved forward on human rights, issues like this are magnified, because you lose everything when you lose your family. A lot of the time, they come to accept it, even if they want it kept quiet, but if they don't, it's very bad. Hard to take that gamble.
kyoukon
It's easier to say when you're only thinking of one person. In a country where homophobia is still accepted, coming out or being outed could mean losing most if not all of your family/support network.
TheWarHymn
It's a messed up world. My wife does immigration. A lesbian client of hers ran away from home to escape her family. Parents hired a private investigator to locate her, flew over and literally tried to drag her back home. She called my wife freaking out because her mother and brother were banging on her door yelling at her to come out. My wife had to call the police for her. Heaven knows what they wanted to do to her. You hear about families commiting "honour killings" on their own children or /
TheWarHymn
kin because of how ashamed or angry they are of them for just being gay.
Algebraicrhombus
Yeah, fuck that. I hope she's ok.
DeadeicPrints
I cannot pretend to know how it feels to some people, the fear of losing family ect, but I agree. I HAVE cut off a lot of family and friends for various reasons, and while it does hurt, I have no problem doing it.
polarbearbaby
The more you do it, the more efficient you get as regards being intolerant of bullshit. You don’t worry about missing them bc they never liked you anyway.
Peyji
Cultural differences make it hard to grasp at times. Someone like @sexycyborg can explain it a lot better than I, but I get the sense that just like in the West, it also can depend on wear you live. Nevermind the discriminatory biases towards women in general, the best way that I can think of it is being analogous towards being African-American in the Southern US.
TheWarHymn
Homophobia is still the established norm in most of the world today. Outside of Canada/US and Western/Central Europe, LGBTQ people are still regularly discriminated against, harassed, or straight up murdered by their communities.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
Chinese state media has a taboo on queer topics. a holdover from it was actually illegal to be gay, making the attack not be seen as a hate crime. Naomi is right to be angry about it.
SergeyPrkl
Yeah. less than one billion accepts it. so, 1/8 of world population. And that one billion is counted assuming ALL westerners accepts it. Truth is even worse.
louster
Hell, even in those countries, it's still just 'better' than it used to be. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/03/recorded-homophobic-hate-crimes-soared-in-pandemic-figures-show
louster
And yeah, link is about how it's been getting *worse* recently. But it's still safer than, say, 40 years ago? (I initially wrote '20 years' thinking that was referring to the 80s. Oops.)
dingybasement350
I have some bad news for you about what it's like to be LGBTQ in thr United States.
FUKYU350
As bad as it is in the US, it cannot actually be made illegal. They don't bash down your door, identify the butt plug and shoot you in the face or drag you otf for life in prison to be raped by closet gays or "Re-educated". That harmful and scary of experience of being in the US? Just massively falls short of what it's like in many other countries where homophobic people make the laws. In the U.S. it's americans making a tactile choice to be hateful. In other countries, it's the default.
dingybasement350
Many states are making gender affirming care illegal. Many others are trying to do the same. If that isn't making queer identities illegal I don't know what is. "It can't happen here!" is a naive statement. The US is an very right wing country and it's only getting worse.
FUKYU350
It is getting worse yes; But it's still not as bad as many other countries. In pride month it's kinda important to take notice of the lesser represented and spoken for, no? Like the issue with the U.S. is a massively legitimate convo, but pointing it out when the conversation isn't about rhe U.S. is asking for the argument of unequivocal suffering vs unequivocal suffering. Both are horrible, no one will deny that, but sometimes we just need to speak up for those that can't for themselves
dingybasement350
You can be concerned about two things at the same time. I mostly just wanted to take a swipe at my own shitty country because I am angry.
MarkySpaceMagnet
Or murdered by their families
navagon
Well... half of America. The other half doesn't seem to be much different to Afghanistan.
GigiDundas
I think if you asked that half of the US population most wouldn't identify themselves as hating anyone. They don't vote for republicans because of the anti gay stuff it's just that the democrats are satan worshipping socialists who love murdering babies. And of course republicans then attack and undermine public education at every turn because the ones pulling the strings know just how dumb they need people to be to keep voting against their own interests.
dingybasement350
Yes, bigots often don't think of themselves as such. Some of them just say "Well I don't hate them, I just don't agree with that lifestyle/want to see that in public." many other think they're not bad people because they aren't actively committing hate crimes so clearly they're okay. And a lot more are just fucking liars.
FUKYU350
A reportedly 50% of Islamic people in THE UK think being gay should be made illegal. It's not enough that an lot of the world is homophobic; They come to other countries and spread their hateful ideologies. Makes you realise Christianity and Catholicism aren't so different from Islam. I am tired of being told I am racist or discriminatory because I am not tolerant of intolerance. Fuck those gods and prophets. Jesus and Mohammed can suck each other off.
dicot
you're probably being called racist and discriminatory because your world view doesn't allow for the possibility of white Muslims. "they" don't have to "come to other countries" to spread Islam.
FUKYU350
Not really, you think a white muslim born in the UK hasn't already been given rhe opportunity to grow and learn to accept EVERYONE without bigotry? Being homophobic is not the default attitude and certainly not the majority in a modern UK. Only 50% think being gay should be illegal; That leaves the other 50% equal opportunity to be decent human beings. And I've met those in the latter group. They're lovely as can be and no one dislikes them, myself included.
dicot
wow. woke racism, whole other vibe.
FUKYU350
To be clear, it's not racist to hate religion ot only be tolerant of religion when they keep their teachings and rules to themselves and only apply it to themselves. Racism is to do with you know; Race? Maybe invest in a dictionary instead of a Bible or Quran or Torah.
FUKYU350
What the actual fuck are you on about? 🤣