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Editorial: McCarthyism reborn amid VCD flap

The McCarthyism that was prevalent in 1950s Hollywood is being replayed in Taiwan. Actor Lin Fu-chin (林富進), better known as Andy (安迪), may face revocation of his membership from the Entertainment Union (演藝工會) today because of his involvement in the Special Report VCDs and his campaigning for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) re-election bid.

Few entertainment people in Taiwan have ever faced criticism of their performances from people who didn't like their work. Under Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule, as both show business and the news media were controlled by the KMT and the Government Information Office (GIO), artists and media workers used to sing along with the mainstream tune, rarely rolling out off-key productions. If artists, journalists or writers did not cooperate with the machine, they were arrested by the Taiwan Garrison Command (警備總部) and charged with treason. As a result, the Entertainment Union did not need to deal with dissidents.

Former GIO director-general and KMT secretary-general James Soong (宋楚瑜) knows well how this mind-control mechanism works.

Andy has suffered from attacks from the pan-blue camp, with special hostility coming from the People First Party (PFP), owing to his role in the Special Report series. There is no evidence of a direct relationship between his union troubles and Soong, but in light of the "special" rapport that Soong has built over the years with entertainment figures, suspicions are reasonable.

In response to the criticism of Soong that the character played by Andy voices in Special Report, Soong described the series by using the word "vulgar" six consecutive times, and his wife said that the "Special Report VCDs are scarier than nuclear bombs." Despite the Soongs' resentment of the VCDs, they should not isolate the character from the context, nor ignore balancing remarks by other actors and actresses in the series.

Even if Soong is unhappy with the plot and dialogue, he should file lawsuits against the writers and producers, rather than venting his anger on the artists who simply followed scripts and performed. Soong's inability to distinguish between the acting world and the real world, and his repeatedly throwing tantrums in public, have shown that his ability to manage his emotions is seriously flawed and that his democratic instincts remain at the low level of the authoritarian era.

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), on the other hand, who is similarly satirized and criticized in the Special Report VCDs, has displayed more tolerance towards differences of opinion.

Artists' right to work was restricted on account of their political stands when McCarthyism was prevalent in Hollywood. Many outstanding playwrights and artists were therefore forced to leave the entertainment business. This was a tragedy of the era. The US has learned its lesson. The concept of free speech has been internalized in American democratic values and tolerance has become an attitude necessary in daily life.

The union will decide how to deal with Andy's case today. Any punishment he receives will be a blow to Taiwanese democracy because this is an obvious example of politics interfering with matters it should stay out of. It will also indicate that Taiwan still has a long way to go before it becomes a real democracy.

Andy announced yesterday that he would drop out of the union, so any decision the union makes will have no real influence. And luckily the union, given that it is an organization that primarily provides social opportunities for artists, has no control over artists' opportunities to work. Andy's livelihood will not be affected.

The resurgence of McCarthyism in Taiwan has added an absurd footnote to the already disorderly 2004 presidential election.
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