Air pollution remains a significant concern for most people, a survey released yesterday by the Professor Huang Kun-huei Education Foundation showed.
Among respondents in the nationwide poll, 74.7 percent said air pollution from scooters and restaurant exhaust fans was “very serious,” with the rate being 81.3 percent among respondents in Kaohsiung, and Pingtung and Penghu counties.
The survey asked respondents whether they would confront a person who was “harming the public interest,” with 1.9 percent saying that they would.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“Today’s society has too few busybodies, but for a society to be good, there needs to be more nosy people, more virtuous and courageous people,” foundation chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said.
Eighty percent of those polled said that Taiwanese are “friendly toward strangers,” including people from overseas.
A refined moral character among the majority of the population is necessary for a nation to be great, poll committee convener Kuo Sheng-yu (郭生玉) said, adding that the survey was conducted to measure the nation’s moral character.
People in the US are nosy about small things, even telling strangers to take home leftovers from restaurants, Kuo said.
However, in Taiwan when he confronted a driver who ran a red light, the person was completely unapologetic and even defended themselves, he said.
This was why people in Taiwan prefer not to stir up trouble and get involved in issues, he said.
On areas where society could be improved, 67 percent said environmental protection needed the most attention, followed by “respect for others” and “respect for the law,” the survey showed.
On other behavioral issues, 64.7 percent said they felt satisfied with how often Taiwanese use “polite language” such as “please,” “thank you” and “sorry,” 50 percent said they felt Taiwanese spoke at a respectable volume in public and 67.3 percent said they felt Taiwanese dressed “appropriately for the occasion.”
On the issue of driving behavior, respondents were largely unsatisfied, with 70 percent saying Taiwanese often change lanes without signaling, block lanes while parking, fail to yield to pedestrians and run red lights.
The survey showed that 66.5 percent said Taiwanese are likely to break rules if they were sure they would not get caught or fined, while 77 percent said they believed Taiwanese “expressed a moral attitude more often than they acted morally.”
Regarding environmental issues, 56 percent said that a shift to green energy was not being given enough attention, with the rate rising to 66 percent among respondents in Tainan, and Yunnan and Chiayi counties — while 67.3 percent said that littering was a serious problem.
Nearly all of the respondents said they believed a perceived lack of morals was due to poor upbringing, misinformation in the media, a lack of attention to the issues in school curricula and the influence of poor behavior among famous people.
University of Taipei professor Tan Chao-wei (但昭偉) said Taiwanese should be commended for improvements to their public spirit over the past few decades, despite the nation being crowded and bustling with commercial activity.
The cleanliness of parks near his home were evidence of that civil spirit, he said.
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