Today marked the third time in as many months that I ran across Mormons proselytizing in the street. As I was making a left turn into a narrow street I was forced to swing out wider than I had intended to avoid a Mormon on a bicycle importuning some luckless local on a motorcycle in the middle of the intersection.
The Mormons smiled patronizingly at me when I yelled at them colorfully to stop hassling people in the road. They were indifferent to realize how dangerous such activity is. As the light turned green, they were still there, preventing the scooter driver from moving forward.
In Taiwan customary usage is that if a pedestrian or bicyclist is struck and killed by a vehicle, the vehicle driver will generally do jail time regardless of who is actually at fault.
Each time some Mormon runs out into traffic to harass a local sitting at a light, he threatens the safety and well-being of every individual in that intersection, because whoever hits him is going to jail, most unjustly.
Religious proselytizing is by its nature dehumanizing, turning human beings with needs and agendas of their own into mere objects that validate the proselytizer's own insecurity and need for control of others. Every Mormon missionary who behaves in such a manner simply makes it that much harder for those of us long-term expats who have to live in the stink they leave behind.
Eventually even the seemingly limitless tolerance of the wonderfully patient Taiwanese will reach its limits, and all here will suffer.
It is high time this dangerous and discourteous activity of plunging into traffic to accost passing motorists was brought to a halt. It is time that Mormon missionaries displayed maturity, dignity and restraint, and behaved as responsible members of the foreign community whose widespread acceptance in Taiwan they constantly abuse for their own religious purposes.
Michael Turton
Chaoyang University
Taichung
The Chinese government on March 29 sent shock waves through the Tibetan Buddhist community by announcing the untimely death of one of its most revered spiritual figures, Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche. His sudden passing in Vietnam raised widespread suspicion and concern among his followers, who demanded an investigation. International human rights organization Human Rights Watch joined their call and urged a thorough investigation into his death, highlighting the potential involvement of the Chinese government. At just 56 years old, Rinpoche was influential not only as a spiritual leader, but also for his steadfast efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan identity and cultural
Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) has long wielded influence through the power of words. Her articles once served as a moral compass for a society in transition. However, as her April 1 guest article in the New York Times, “The Clock Is Ticking for Taiwan,” makes all too clear, even celebrated prose can mislead when romanticism clouds political judgement. Lung crafts a narrative that is less an analysis of Taiwan’s geopolitical reality than an exercise in wistful nostalgia. As political scientists and international relations academics, we believe it is crucial to correct the misconceptions embedded in her article,
Strategic thinker Carl von Clausewitz has said that “war is politics by other means,” while investment guru Warren Buffett has said that “tariffs are an act of war.” Both aphorisms apply to China, which has long been engaged in a multifront political, economic and informational war against the US and the rest of the West. Kinetically also, China has launched the early stages of actual global conflict with its threats and aggressive moves against Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, and its support for North Korea’s reckless actions against South Korea that could reignite the Korean War. Former US presidents Barack Obama
The pan-blue camp in the era after the rule of the two Chiangs — former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) — can be roughly divided into two main factions: the “true blue,” who insist on opposing communism to protect the Republic of China (ROC), and the “red-blue,” who completely reject the current government and would rather collude with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to control Taiwan. The families of the former group suffered brutally under the hands of communist thugs in China. They know the CPP well and harbor a deep hatred for it — the two
RSS