Sat, Oct 24, 2009 page8

• JOHNNY NEIHU'S MAILBAG

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  Reasons don’t/do matter

  Dear Johnny,

  You challenged: “Explain why the BBC would be ‘dishonest’” (Johnny Neihu’s Mailbag, Oct. 17, page 8). Are you asking me to explain their motivations, or do you want me to draw a Venn diagram comparing the BBC’s reports, China’s claims and the facts for uninformed readers?

  If it’s the former, I don’t know that the reasons matter so much as getting readers to take notice of such behavior, since it’s highly improbable (by which I mean “an utter impossibility”) that they’ll stop doing it. As I point out in the Taiwan Matters blog, the BBC’s “diligent ‘laziness’” ensures that well-crafted memes get repeated endlessly — and rarely (ie, only on days when TVBS isn’t attacking Chen Shui-bian) in Taiwan’s favor.

  If it’s the latter, the arguments are presented step-by-step (with links) in the blog post I linked to in my earlier letter and in the 11 previous installations of the series.

  TIM MADDOG

  Johnny replies: I’m not really convinced. Stubborn, incompetent, plodding, lazy ... all might explain the BBC’s casual treatment of Taiwan. “Dishonest” suggests a hidden agenda, so the reasons do matter.

  A big-nose perspective

  Dear Johnny,

  To quote you: “In the meantime, what are you, as a person most locals would regard as a foreigner, willing and able to do, other than write letters to me?” (Johnny Neihu’s Mailbag, Oct. 17, page 8).

  Well, I read some BBC Web pages and wrote them a letter. I do hope they print it. I know I’ll get a polite reply that they have received my comment, and that they thank me for my contribution. However, they’ll say, we can’t assure you that it will get printed and yada yada yada.

  I can’t do anything else except write to you and hope to educate the electorate. Which is a tacit way of saying that you should translate foreigners’ letters for your sister paper.

  I would hope that some Taiwanese could see the perspective of us dabizi (大鼻子)!

  We foreigners have seen things here and back home, as well as in China and all over the Earth. Any civilized and rational person would not be in the KMT’s favor. Most of my friends agree that the only reason the KMT clings to power is because so many of its voters are direct beneficiaries: teachers, soldiers, civil servants. How can the DPP get more votes with only 40 percent of the vote belonging to “farmers”?

  The only way I can help, Johnny, is by reminding voters to punish the KMT in the year-end elections.

  I believe that on one of those BBC pages I saw a stat I thought was wrong. Correct me if I’m wrong, but did the DPP ever have control of the Legislative Yuan? Let me know, Johnny, and in time we’ll see if the BBC will hire me.

  HARRY ADAMOPOULOS

  Johnny replies: The DPP has never controlled the legislature. And if the BBC hires you, don’t tell Tim Maddog.
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