US neglecting its duties
My wife and I watched the 1981 film Escape from New York on HBO lately in shock. The film portrayed a passenger plane commandeered by a suicide-bent terrorist pilot crashing headlong into a tall, boxy skyscraper in lower Manhattan. The film showed the stunt in graphic detail.
So, Hollywood grinds out a cheap film with an unlikely scenario centered on the World Trade Center. For two decades, America fobs this trash off on TV audiences around the world. Then, some al-Qaeda operative watched the film, I'm certain, and got the idea for Sept. 11 from it.
The film is filled with an American self-hatred pervasive in certain circles back when it was made, especially a hatred of New York and its then decaying urban center. It's so amazing we can export our own hatred of ourselves and give it to others together with a detailed blueprint of how to act upon it.
Even what our enemies do comes from us. We create so many of our own problems and blame them on others. This level of awareness is lacking in American leadership. If US President George W. Bush could live for just one day in this small Taiwanese town, he would see just how pervasive the US is. No matter where he turns, he'd find the US' footprints. Without doing anything, US iconography is all over the place. The US goes about bullying and insulting friends, twisting arms to get what it wants -- this isn't the way a giant should act. The country is not behaving as it should. This is the feeling in Taiwan.
"With a true leader, no one knows he's leading," said Lao Tzu (老子), the ancient Chinese sage. Subtlety, tact, a willingness to respect the will of the majority and maybe even a modicum of self-understanding -- these are the traits the world is looking for in the superpower, but not finding.
William R. Stimson
Taichung
More circuses, less bread
I have seen many articles over the past year about attempts to bring more tourists to Taiwan. I was a tourist during the Lunar New Year holiday and would like to comment on the situation.
First, I like to see traditional dances, houses, costumes, etc -- stuff we don't have back home. The Nine Tribes Cultural Center in Yu Chih, Nantou, is wonderful for that reason. As is the tribal cultural center in Nantou Kuohsing. History of the Japanese treatment of aborigines is horrifyingly interesting. The Taiwanese Folk Village in Changhwa has some interesting old buildings and exhibits too.
Otherwise, most tourist attractions I have been to have been disappointing. Too much to eat, not enough to see or do. Basically, a waste of gate fee. Second, I wish that there were unique gifts at each different tourist attraction. This was not the case. At each place I went to, the trinkets were nearly the same. The same toys for kids, the same jade pieces, the same wood carvings. Nothing that proudly said "Taiwan Folk Village." Nothing unique.
To attract tourists, one needs to have something they don't have back home. Play up the old costumes, dances and songs. I like them. I'm not the only one. And offer unique products with place names, like the hat I bought in Kenting 10 years ago. It boldly said "Kenting National Park." Be proud of the natural beauty, be proud of your past culture. And let us foreign visitors see small glimpses of that time.
Shervin Marsh
Ilan County
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