There are always people who love to attract the world's attention by showing off their wealth amid endless extravagance. But they also expose their ignorance and lack of taste in doing so. As we admire their glory, we are also forced to come to terms with the damage they inflict upon society.
Stock-market player Huang Jen-chung (
in the money game.
His fortune and extravagant life became the focus of media reports in the 1980s. But the media did not analyze how he obtained his wealth. Rather,
they allowed Huang to show off
his tasteless extravagance and womanizing as if he were a role model for all men.
But after the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) power structure collapsed, the younger Huang could no longer "summon wind and rain," as the Chinese saying goes. His wealth rapidly shrank and he began to suffer from diabetes before his death.
In the 1990s, Liu Tai-ying
(
Huang and Liu trampled on community spirit and broke political and social rules. They caused damage to social values and many individuals as well.
Those who lose their money and power are always eager to take revenge, and complain to society that they have been set
up. Recently, former Pacific Construction Group chairman Chang Min-chiang (章民強) and former Tuntex Group chairman Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) bravely -- or shamelessly? -- accused President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of not playing the money game
by the rules.
Such tragic and destructive behavior has received some sympathy -- perhaps these acts of revenge can clear their names. However, from the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal to the Zanadau debacle, the public has been unable to see the truth because political power has prevented the truth from emerging.
Because of their political conditioning, many people would rather not see the truth, but continue believing in the innocence of their favorite politicians. But even putting political biases aside, people tend to tolerate the behavior of the rich. This attitude is apparent in the present mania whipped up over Hsu Chun-mei (
Why is the public so interested in Hsu's ridiculous "upper-crust" legend? Maybe we are simply treating her as a consumer good to satisfy our own voyeurism, allowing ourselves to imagine that we inhabit a world across a border that in fact we dare not cross. After peeping at her life for a while, we can go back to the reality in which we reside.
None of us has committed any crime -- unlike those business tycoons who mercilessly use their power for private gain, or that famous upper-crust lady who only cares about her assets, and not the daughter she apparently abandoned. But when we gossip about their exploits, we allow them to continue harming society.
Such tolerance will produce more people like Huang and Liu. And they will continue to ridicule as "pigheaded" the very public that tolerates them.
Ku Er-teh is a freelance writer.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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