One of the characteristics in Taiwanese society is the tendency of its people -- from the president to the social elite to peddlers and servants -- to rely on external judgements to determine their self-worth.
In psychology, constructing self-identity from this kind of dependency on others is like a bottomless pit that can never be filled. It can cause an individual to live in an empty and anxious norm, and create difficulties with relationships because indifference and estrangement are used to defend oneself, or one falls into a cycle of abuse and violence. Such conduct perfectly represents the current phenomenon of Taiwan today, doesn't it?
The social problems caused by people confused between applause and criticism can be seen everywhere. Take gender relations for example. Men's eagerness to be seen as strong in the eyes of women makes Taiwan the biggest consumer of Viagra in the world.
Meanwhile, the superstitious belief that by selecting an auspicious delivery date you can become the mother of an elite child has resulted in Taiwan having almost the world's highest proportion of caesarean sections.
The advances in medical technology which allow men to have optimal sex and women to choose when to give birth, however, cannot make people good lovers, husbands, wives or parents.
What is worse is that overemphasizing technology as a mean to pursue public approbation can engender a less intimate relationship between a couple or among relatives. After all, lacking the element of love, gender or family relations will inevitably be dehumanized, and all sorts of social problems will arise.
When reading the major newspapers, we see exaggerated reports about sex, about gender and about domestic violence. Rape and domestic violence that are the result of vanity and a search for social status are among the gravest social problems today.
Problems in politics and the media are also the result of people clinging to public opinion as a way to guide themselves. Examples of politicians' craziness in pursuing publicity are everywhere, and some politicians aren't even aware of their lack of subjective selves.
As examples, one could cite Diane Lee's (
Given Lu's intolerance of criticism, a once simple issue develops ramifications, and the criticism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Lu, who is always getting into hot water, may envy Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (
Ma's media management techniques can be regarded as a kind of Viagra, which gives men assurance of sexual function, but with a trade-off of losing the passion for love and being enslaved to a little blue pill. Despite Ma's high ratings in opinion polls, he is just an empty shell lacking creativity and cannot stand the test of critical events such as Typhoon Nari and the SARS epidemic.
What is even more pathetic is the media getting swept up in the search for applause and forgetting their primary mission is to monitor and criticize the words and deeds of politicians. From the financial scandal surrounding fugitive tycoon Chen Yu-hao's (陳由豪) to the legitimacy of the chauffeur service provided to to first lady Wu Shu-chen's (吳淑珍) caregiver Lo Shih Li-yun (羅施麗雲) -- the media sensationalizes stories, frequently distorting the facts or just making up stories without a credible source.
As a result, the people must deal with the awkward behavior of politicians and media mesmerized by outside voices. No wonder politicians and media are regarded as major villains for their roles in creating social unrest.
Becoming an eternally virile man, an eternally beautiful woman, or a beloved politician is an impossible mission. But Taiwanese people can always ignore reality by making themselves puppets in the hands of others. This inflicts personal injuries and also causes instability -- the source of Taiwan's social problems nowadays.
This modern tragedy will only end when Taiwanese wake up to the pain of living in this fashion.
Bob Kuo is a professor of Information Systems at National Sun Yat-sen University.
TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
Taiwan is rapidly accelerating toward becoming a “super-aged society” — moving at one of the fastest rates globally — with the proportion of elderly people in the population sharply rising. While the demographic shift of “fewer births than deaths” is no longer an anomaly, the nation’s legal framework and social customs appear stuck in the last century. Without adjustments, incidents like last month’s viral kicking incident on the Taipei MRT involving a 73-year-old woman would continue to proliferate, sowing seeds of generational distrust and conflict. The Senior Citizens Welfare Act (老人福利法), originally enacted in 1980 and revised multiple times, positions older
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has its chairperson election tomorrow. Although the party has long positioned itself as “China friendly,” the election is overshadowed by “an overwhelming wave of Chinese intervention.” The six candidates vying for the chair are former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former lawmaker Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文), Legislator Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強), Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), former National Assembly representative Tsai Chih-hong (蔡志弘) and former Changhua County comissioner Zhuo Bo-yuan (卓伯源). While Cheng and Hau are front-runners in different surveys, Hau has complained of an online defamation campaign against him coming from accounts with foreign IP addresses,
Taiwan’s business-friendly environment and science parks designed to foster technology industries are the key elements of the nation’s winning chip formula, inspiring the US and other countries to try to replicate it. Representatives from US business groups — such as the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and the Arizona-Taiwan Trade and Investment Office — in July visited the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) headquarters and its first fab. They showed great interest in creating similar science parks, with aims to build an extensive semiconductor chain suitable for the US, with chip designing, packaging and manufacturing. The
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday won the party’s chairperson election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes, becoming the second woman in the seat and the first to have switched allegiance from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the KMT. Cheng, running for the top KMT position for the first time, had been termed a “dark horse,” while the biggest contender was former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), considered by many to represent the party’s establishment elite. Hau also has substantial experience in government and in the KMT. Cheng joined the Wild Lily Student
RSS