Actions speak loudest
The recent controversy over the Special Report VCD series reveals a lot about the media. What is more revealing is how the pan-blue camp has reacted to the VCD, and how it has become another occasion for them to show their true colors.
In the US, lampooning of the president and other politicians by talk show hosts is so common that one would think it was required by law. Yet there is never any controversy. Presidential candidates will show up for a good-natured interview with the same hosts who tell jokes about them almost every night.
However, people of a certain political tint in Taiwan seem to be saying that they ought not be satirized.
What they are really trying to say is that people ought not be allowed to satirize pan-blue politicians.
On the other hand, if people want to satirize pan-green politicians, they are welcomed and encouraged. In most cases, pan-blue politicians will be leading the charge.
As former president Lee Teng-hui (
Premier Yu Shyi-kun made the same observation when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Like emperors, they will not tolerate anything negative said about them, regardless of whether there is any factual basis to what is said. Although Chen Chien-jen was acting on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian (
Prince Soong also knows the proper protocol in dealing with his subjects. If someone displeases a member of the imperial circle, then consequences will follow. The controversy created by Soong and his cronies regarding the Special Report series is an example of this. This is the standard procedure of feudal lords.
And this seems to be happening more frequently. Pan-blue supporters have threatened or attacked Contemporary Monthly editor Chin Heng-wei (
It is no coincidence that the attackers have been pan-blue supporters. They learn from their masters.
The pan-blues pay only lip service to democracy and freedom, while practicing their old ways of intimidation and violence against critics and dissenters.
Actions speak louder than words.
Among the main issues in the upcoming election is the deepening of the nation's democracy through referendums and creating a new constitution. Despite the blindness that emperors have always had toward the needs of their subjects, the pan-blues have realized that they need something to trick voters. This would explain their policy U-turn on referendums and a new constitution.
Voters can spot this trick by observing how the pan-blues react to democratic issues such as freedom of speech. Voters will see that the blues' belief in democracy extends only as far as what will increase their power. Witnessing such a violent reaction toward a VCD, and then comparing this with how Chen has dealt with three and a half years of nonstop abuse, one can clearly see who the mandarins are, and who can be called democrats.
Kevin Hsu
New Jersey
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