Mon, Jul 30, 2012 page8

• [ LETTERS ]

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  It’s all in the name

  What one calls a terrorist another calls a liberator. It is all in the name; how those who hold power or desire power wish the masses to perceive something. The media obviously plays its part in all this.

  Take the Taipei Times article “Environmentalists protest over EIA” (July 26, page 3). Environmentalists? Images of long-haired hippie types stuck in a 1960s mindset rambling on about free love and Mother Earth come to mind. And I am pretty sure that is just what some politicians, developers and corporations want you to think. “Yeah, the lunatic fringe up in arms again causing disruptions!”

  The first paragraph of the article read as follows:

  “Environmentalists yesterday protested against an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for an expansion project at a naphtha cracker complex that failed to include fine particles.”

  You would be forgiven for thinking it was just those pesky environmentalists that have a problem with an environmental impact assessment for the fourth phase expansion project at Formosa Plastics Corp’s sixth naphtha cracker complex in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). Some group of crazy green bunny-huggers whining about fine particles not being listed.

  Now, let us delete “environmentalists” and give a more accurate description of those that typically are present at these protests against the expansion projects down in Mailao:

  “Concerned local residents, civic groups, fishers, farmers, workers, teachers, academics, parents, lawyers, doctors, conservation and environmental groups yesterday protested against an EIA for an expansion project at a naphtha cracker complex that failed to include fine particles.”

  OK, it is a bit long, but you get the point. It sounds different, doesn’t it? It changes things. We relate to these people. They are us. They do not sound so loony.

  However, the Taipei Times so often boxes these regular folks and organizations as “environmentalists” or “activists” or some other “ism.” I am sure the so-called developers must smile at this subtle eroding of Joe Citizen’s image and credibility.

  You see. It is not just environmentalists that are pissed off with Formosa Plastics and its toxic hell down in Mailiao. After all the pollution, fires, greed and lack of ethics, after soaring cancer rates, dirty air and smokey gray skies, people have had enough. They want to know why the Environmental Protection Agency allows this toxic nightmare to continue.

  However, others would have you believe it is just some nutty environmentalists who have a problem with it.

  T.W. Sousa, Yunlin County

  All bark and no bite

  A couple of days ago I wrote to the Taipei Times about Want Want Group chairperson Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明).

  Today I read that the group got the deal approved anyway, as it was quickly pushed through by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

  I also read the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) blasted the “mega media merger.”

  It is all very nice to blast, but so typical of the Democratic People’s Party.

  What are they going to do about it?

  Why not arrange a protest and encourage people not to buy or read any of Want Want’s newspapers or other publications?

  Why not arrange a protest and encourage people not to watch any of the Want Want Group’s channels?

  Why not arrange a protest and encourage people to cancel their Multimedia on Demand (MOD)?

  I will. All it shows are reruns and the old movies I can watch for free on the Internet.

  If all DPP voters and possibly some independents keep this up for a few months, the Want Want Group will surely go out of business.

  However, I know the DPP, they only bark, but never bite.

  Gert Floor, Cingshui, Greater Taichung

  The real Olympic spirit

  The Summer Olympic Games, held in London this year, are the greatest sports event in the world, drawing athletes from myriad nations to one city.

  The games are an important school to educate participants and spectators in important values, including self-sacrifice and respect for one’s adversaries. They provide an opportunity to overcome the logic of individualism and selfishness, which often characterize human relations, in order to make room for the logic of brotherhood and love, the only things that can lead to promoting the common good on every level.

  The games hold important symbolic value and, for that reason, they should be looked upon with special fondness and attention.

  In the spirit of the “Olympic truce,” the international sporting event provides an opportunity to promote peace and reconciliation throughout the world.

  The Olympic truce tradition, originating in 8th century BC Greece, asked that all wars and conflict be suspended before and during the games as a way to make sure participants could safely travel to and from the Olympic venue.

  Let us pray that all nations will respect this truce and learn to live together in complete love and harmony.

  Paul Kokoski, Ontario, Canada
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