Han’s vulgarity campaign
At the inauguration of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) presidential campaign support team in Yunlin County, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan chapter head Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) asked those in attendance: “Who is the biggest real-estate speculator?” and Han’s supporters responded with a resounding: “[President] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).”
Astonishingly, Hsieh then shouted: “Like father...” and the crowd responded: “Like son,” to which Hsieh said, in a Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) wordplay: “Like daughter (其女)! Not ‘prostitute’ (妓女)!”
This vulgar and crude joke has been unanimously attacked by Internet users.
Hsieh is very fluent in Taiwanese, but such an attack, and in particular such discrimination against women, is a serious breach of gender equality principles that should be condemned. All women should protest.
Han has no filter and he has admitted to womanizing, drinking and playing mahjong as a young man, and during the campaign, he has repeatedly used foul language, talking about “butt hair” and calling people “good-for-nothings” and “bastards.”
He has also said that putting former premier William Lai (賴清德) on the same ticket as Tsai is like Wu Dalang (武大郎) sharing a bed with his adulterous wife, Pan Jinlian (潘金蓮) — characters in the classical Chinese novels The Golden Lotus (金瓶梅) and Water Margin (水滸傳).
It is outrageous that someone who wants to be our president should use such inappropriate language.
Some have said that Han’s language allows him to connect with common people, but opinion polls show that they are clearly deceiving themselves and everyone else.
It should be quite obvious to everyone what Han stands to gain, or lose, if he and those who promote him continue to use such vulgar language and crude jokes.
Chi Chao-hsi
Taipei
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