Taiwanese minds
In his letter, Herbert Hanreich reacts to my letter, itself a reaction to Hanreich’s opinion piece (“Naive religious views,” June 15, page 8; “Religious provocation,” June 8, page 8; “Missionary positions in Taiwan,” May 30, page 8).
I think our dispute is not based on religious views — it was the editor who gave our letters titles suggesting this — but about the quality of young Taiwanese minds, the education they receive and the general culture that fosters that education.
Hanreich writes in his letter that he is simply stating his experience and that he accepts that mine might be different.
Yes, now he does, but Hanreich’s original point was categorical: Young Taiwanese minds are vitiated by an authoritarian culture that honors blind obedience and discourages people from thinking for themselves.
I realize that in an opinion piece, nuance can fall victim to argument, but by giving no scope at all to possible experiences outside of his own, Hanreich gets his argumentative way too much at a discount.
My experience, as I wrote in my letter, is that in every classroom there are a few bright minds in a majority of more humdrum ones. Without such spots of brightness being a teacher must be a truly dispiriting experience. I hope this is not Hanreich’s lot. I do not think it has to be.
Nearly all of Hanreich’s students agree with his portrayal of educational practices, he writes — but how happy can Hanreich be with such support, coming as it does from people who, according to his own view, are simply unthinkingly obedient to a teacher’s authority?
Given the force of Hanreich’s argument, you would expect that he would give more weight to the few dissenting voices. Perhaps those one or two students are unacknowledged bright minds in his classes?
As for our views of religion: I never used the word “naive” in my letter to characterize Hanreich’s view: It is a word he puts in my mouth.
I recognized in Hanreich’s view those of “New Atheists” such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. I read those authors with fascination and they are anything but naive. Their argument is Hanreich’s: If the Bible is read literally, it is nonsense and dangerous to boot.
I take this largely to be true, but much of worth that has been written releases its value only when not taken literally — a closed chapter for anyone who cannot find other ways to read.
Rudolphus Teeuwen
Kaohsiung
A series of strong earthquakes in Hualien County not only caused severe damage in Taiwan, but also revealed that China’s power has permeated everywhere. A Taiwanese woman posted on the Internet that she found clips of the earthquake — which were recorded by the security camera in her home — on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. It is spine-chilling that the problem might be because the security camera was manufactured in China. China has widely collected information, infringed upon public privacy and raised information security threats through various social media platforms, as well as telecommunication and security equipment. Several former TikTok employees revealed
For the incoming Administration of President-elect William Lai (賴清德), successfully deterring a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attack or invasion of democratic Taiwan over his four-year term would be a clear victory. But it could also be a curse, because during those four years the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will grow far stronger. As such, increased vigilance in Washington and Taipei will be needed to ensure that already multiplying CCP threat trends don’t overwhelm Taiwan, the United States, and their democratic allies. One CCP attempt to overwhelm was announced on April 19, 2024, namely that the PLA had erred in combining major missions
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday last week held a debate over the constitutionality of the death penalty. The issue of the retention or abolition of the death penalty often involves the conceptual aspects of social values and even religious philosophies. As it is written in The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, the government’s policy is often a choice between the lesser of two evils or the greater of two goods, and it is impossible to be perfect. Today’s controversy over the retention or abolition of the death penalty can be viewed in the same way. UNACCEPTABLE Viewing the
At the same time as more than 30 military aircraft were detected near Taiwan — one of the highest daily incursions this year — with some flying as close as 37 nautical miles (69kms) from the northern city of Keelung, China announced a limited and selected relaxation of restrictions on Taiwanese agricultural exports and tourism, upon receiving a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation led by KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁). This demonstrates the two-faced gimmick of China’s “united front” strategy. Despite the strongest earthquake to hit the nation in 25 years striking Hualien on April 3, which caused