Afghanistan [late last month] was taken over by the Taliban and people were panicking. The capital, Kabul, suffered terrorist attacks, which were claimed by the Islamic State group.
As US and NATO forces retreated, terrorist attacks left many people homeless, and after US President Joe Biden ordered counterattacks, the two sides fought, suffering heavy casualties.
On Taiwanese Internet forums, people were ridiculing the international community, mocking the capabilities of Muslims, making fun of Islamic texts and doctrines, and showing great disrespect to Islam, one of the world’s three major religions with 1.9 billion believers.
This hurt the Muslim community in Taiwan and prompted the Islamic Association of Taiwan to issue a statement.
This so-called “parody culture,” satirizing real life, is prevalent in the entertainment industry. In this era of online information and extreme news, it is often used to tarnish the image of political figures. It seems humorous and comical, but is irresponsible and humiliating.
Since the terror attacks in the US on Sept. 11, 2001, the world has been paying increasing attention to Islam, and differences of faith are yet another source of misunderstanding as we try to understand the complexities behind terrorism and the clash of civilizations.
This is particularly true in monotheistic cultures, where there is no god other than the one true God. This makes tolerance and acceptance between religions important issues that we must understand.
The mockery of Islam on Taiwanese Internet forums is not only ill-advised, but it also damages the nation’s international image and affects diplomatic relations.
Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine, in 2015 was attacked by terrorists, leaving 12 people dead, raising the terror alert in Paris to its highest level and forcing schools to close in one of the greatest threats to security in France in the modern era.
The reason was that it had published cartoons ridiculing the Islamic Prophet Mohammed, which led to discontent among Muslims, and threats and attacks from extremists.
This tragic case is a reminder to all of us who live in nations that enjoy freedom of expression that we should respect others in what we say and do.
We should refrain from making frivolous jokes about other people’s religious beliefs, because it hurts others and is of no benefit to ourselves, and it could even endanger the public.
Liu Wei-ting is a postdoctoral fellow at Academia Sinica.
Translated by Perry Svensson
On May 7, 1971, Henry Kissinger planned his first, ultra-secret mission to China and pondered whether it would be better to meet his Chinese interlocutors “in Pakistan where the Pakistanis would tape the meeting — or in China where the Chinese would do the taping.” After a flicker of thought, he decided to have the Chinese do all the tape recording, translating and transcribing. Fortuitously, historians have several thousand pages of verbatim texts of Dr. Kissinger’s negotiations with his Chinese counterparts. Paradoxically, behind the scenes, Chinese stenographers prepared verbatim English language typescripts faster than they could translate and type them
More than 30 years ago when I immigrated to the US, applied for citizenship and took the 100-question civics test, the one part of the naturalization process that left the deepest impression on me was one question on the N-400 form, which asked: “Have you ever been a member of, involved in or in any way associated with any communist or totalitarian party anywhere in the world?” Answering “yes” could lead to the rejection of your application. Some people might try their luck and lie, but if exposed, the consequences could be much worse — a person could be fined,
Xiaomi Corp founder Lei Jun (雷軍) on May 22 made a high-profile announcement, giving online viewers a sneak peek at the company’s first 3-nanometer mobile processor — the Xring O1 chip — and saying it is a breakthrough in China’s chip design history. Although Xiaomi might be capable of designing chips, it lacks the ability to manufacture them. No matter how beautifully planned the blueprints are, if they cannot be mass-produced, they are nothing more than drawings on paper. The truth is that China’s chipmaking efforts are still heavily reliant on the free world — particularly on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
Last week, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) unveiled the location of Nvidia’s new Taipei headquarters and announced plans to build the world’s first large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer in Taiwan. In Taipei, Huang’s announcement was welcomed as a milestone for Taiwan’s tech industry. However, beneath the excitement lies a significant question: Can Taiwan’s electricity infrastructure, especially its renewable energy supply, keep up with growing demand from AI chipmaking? Despite its leadership in digital hardware, Taiwan lags behind in renewable energy adoption. Moreover, the electricity grid is already experiencing supply shortages. As Taiwan’s role in AI manufacturing expands, it is critical that
RSS