With the presidential election looming, the nation is almost overwhelmed with an onslaught of disinformation and misinformation. That is not news though. The same phenomenon indirectly cost a diplomat’s life last year, created a widening fissure in society and interfered with the local elections.
Apparently, the government has learned its lesson and has been stretched thin clarifying endless falsehoods. It has also tried to reinforce punitive laws for the fake news deluge.
Unfortunately, once a false impression has been implanted in people’s minds, it is not easily erased. Taiwan is not the only place struggling with a surge of falsehoods. Plenty of countries are in this together.
There are definitely “bad actors” operating behind the scenes, but it seems impossible that the shadow puppets will succumb to their conscience, so what can be done to stop this fierce penetration?
At the same time, people should reflect on why they are so incapable of critical thinking.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are the invaluable constituents of a democratic nation, but nowadays, they are used as the most powerful and cheapest weapons to harm democracy.
In Taiwan’s case, the dark forces behind this activity are suspected of mainly emanating from China, which persists in its pursuit of unification with Taiwan.
Infiltrating Taiwan’s media industry is one of the methods it uses. The so-called “red media” has been spreading pro-China, anti-Taiwan information for some time.
In addition, it seems that the bad actors have recruited an army of trolls, who spread a cascade of memes that convey falsehoods with distorted content to harm officials’ reputations or dismiss the government’s achievements.
It is true that the Taiwanese government has begun to take some measures to tackle this issue, including enforcing laws, making clarifications on official Web sites, and appealing to the media and the public for morality.
There are also some civil groups dedicated to detecting and clarifying fake news. The mass rally against the red media in Taipei on June 23 showed that most people are no longer willing to stand by and let the red media influence politics and society.
However, it is not enough if individuals do not take responsibility. Taiwanese should dig into the sources of information and look for balanced reports before believing a story or passing it on to friends.
It is easy to recognize suspicious information if it is obviously out of the norm, but sometimes the information is a half-truth. In that case, if a person cannot conquer their unreasonable emotions and prejudice, they are highly likely to accidentally become accomplices.
The more hatred a person feels, the greater the need to understand the whole story. Otherwise, they become nothing more than pawns for the bad actors.
People tend to stay in their echo chambers, but if everyone always jumps to conclusions and takes the bait without a second thought, the fissure in Taiwanese society will never be healed — and that is just the ticket the bad actors want.
Everyone knows that the falsehoods not only come from the red media, but also people who hold a grudge against someone or the government.
Victims are increasingly taking a more proactive approach, and dealing with the defamation through the courts. People should be educated that everyone must be responsible for whatever they say or do.
On the other hand, the victims of falsehoods also should stand up to fight the initiators of evil. It is especially true for the government.
Janet Hung is a physical therapist.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations