Online misogyny
Following New Power Party Legislator Hung Tzu-yung’s (洪慈庸) criticism of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), a wave of gender-specific attacks erupted on the Gossip board of Professional Technology Temple, the nation’s largest bulletin board system.
Some have said that Hung has been brainwashed by her husband, Cho Kuan-ting (卓冠廷), a Democratic Progressive Party politician who is director-general of Taichung’s Information Bureau.
Others said that she “should stay home and have her baby” after she confirmed that she is pregnant or said: “Why is she getting pregnant after being elected legislator using the dead body of her younger brother Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) as a stepping stone?”
One netizen said that supporters “did not vote for her to get married and pregnant,” while yet another one called her a “trashy sow.”
It is hard to believe that anyone would make such remarks.
Everyone is born from the body of a mother, although not everyone will necessarily get sufficient maternal love and nurture. How could they harbor so much hatred against women, especially expectant mothers?
Were there Chinese cyberarmy members trying to encourage misogyny? Maybe.
Were some netizens simply messing around on the Internet? Perhaps.
No matter what, this has highlighted the insufficiency of Taiwan’s gender education, as many people engaged publicly in gender discrimination without feeling that their words were inappropriate.
Meanwhile, conservative groups strongly opposed to offering gender education in schools putting the issue to a referendum on Nov. 24 through a yes-or-no question. This is absurd.
As for men, no matter how unwilling they are to do so, they cannot deny that they enjoy a certain “gender dividend.”
The male organ is not used as a swear word, men will not be accused of being brainwashed after getting married or expected to stop having their own opinions and become the accessories of their wives.
Nor will anyone tell a man to be a good boy, stay home and take care of the children, accuse a man of being busy getting his wife pregnant instead of working hard, or tell a man to stop airing his views and step aside with his big belly.
There is no need to condemn men for enjoying these advantages: Once our gender education is good enough, these advantages will disappear.
However, all men with their vested interests should condemn these kinds of discriminatory remarks against women.
Would you not be furious if someone used such abusive language against your mother, grandmother, girlfriend, wife, daughter or the cute little baby girl that your friend posted on Facebook yesterday?
Let us not let those verbal bullies continue to run amok.
Chen Po-hua
Taipei
Power of deterrence
What do the San Francisco Peace Treaty, the Cairo Declaration and the Taiwan Relations Act have in common? They will not help Taiwan gain independence or protect it from a Chinese invasion.
If you do not believe me, find out if the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances stopped Russia from annexing the Crimean Peninsula.
What do Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un have in common besides family, bad haircuts and worse human rights records?
Generations of US leaders did nothing about their nuclear weapon and ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] programs.
Why?
Long before North Korea ever developed nuclear weapons, it built a formidable battery of artillery aimed at Seoul — which prevented invasion through, if not mutually assured destruction, at least mutually assured demolition.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is hell-bent on gaining control of the South China Sea and the unsinkable aircraft carrier at its center, and has not forgotten that “political power grows from the barrel of a gun.”
China has 1,500 missiles aimed at this island and, in response, Taiwan’s primary defense strategy is to accumulate enough defensive weapons that it can hold off until the US (hopefully) comes to its aid.
Great powers cannot be relied upon to protect anything outside of their core strategic interests and, therefore, Taiwan needs to increase military spending dramatically and develop enough long-range offensive missiles that it creates an effective deterrence against Chinese invasion.
Mutually assured demolition is the only thing that can protect Taiwan’s democracy and prevent an invasion by the CCP.
Luke Paul
Taipei
Rating English proficiency
Did English proficiency really “slip” in Taiwan? (“Taiwan’s English proficiency ranking slips in EF’s index,” Nov. 9, page 3).
This conclusion was based on performance on the EF English Proficiency Index, an English test that is taken voluntarily online. We know nothing about who took the test and nothing about why they wanted to take it.
Also, Taiwan’s slip was tiny, less than one quarter of a point, probably not a statistically significant drop. I do not think the results of this test should be taken seriously.
Stephen Krashen
Los Angeles, California
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