Everyone knows a leopard cannot change its spots. Why do people forget this when it comes to politics? It seems that humans have a terrible memory.
By nature, we are willing to turn a blind eye and sacrifice morality for personal gain, determined to win, by means fair or foul. In the end, all we achieve is a temporary victory, having lost sight of what really matters. Our nation and the next generation are being placed in jeopardy for the sake of getting what we want.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), its presidential candidate, consistently spouts nonsense and lies and, after entering politics, has continued to use discriminatory language. All of this displays his ignorance. His statements have garnered much attention, but also polluted our politics. His words conjure up the feeling of some bizarre creature, shocking and frightening. People are mesmerized by everything that comes out of his mouth and forget what they have known him to be.
As a surgeon, Ko was accused of live organ harvesting and crimes against humanity, which should have tipped us off that he was someone to be avoided. It has been a decade since Ko first ran for Taipei mayor. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the media and pundits still respect, embrace and collaborate with him. Why?
Out of political and personal need, hypocrites have chosen to ignore public welfare and justice. They are all complicit in endangering our nation.
The DPP, helping Ko win the 2014 local election and Taipei mayoral election, was the trigger, and for that it must take responsibility.
The KMT, now seeking an alliance with the TPP, is still willing to indulge this serial fabricator. The KMT should take a long, hard look at what it is about to do, and yet it seems hell-bent on doing just the opposite.
Few people in the media have publicly repented for the mistakes that have led us to this sorry impasse. Politicians, always on the lookout for their own personal benefit and sacrificing the good of the public, would be loath to accept responsibility or apologize for spawning this creature.
Taiwanese should consider their national dignity. Politicians and voters should not focus on short-term benefits. They should learn lessons from how they voluntarily or subconsciously engage in the invention of a political monster. It is high time that Ko be disqualified from interfering in political affairs. This is the most that we could hope to salvage from this litany of errors, just as garbage becomes valuable only after it is recycled and reused.
Ten Len-phone is a retired radio program host.
Translated by Hsieh Yi-ching
Taiwan has lost Trump. Or so a former State Department official and lobbyist would have us believe. Writing for online outlet Domino Theory in an article titled “How Taiwan lost Trump,” Christian Whiton provides a litany of reasons that the William Lai (賴清德) and Donald Trump administrations have supposedly fallen out — and it’s all Lai’s fault. Although many of Whiton’s claims are misleading or ill-informed, the article is helpfully, if unintentionally, revealing of a key aspect of the MAGA worldview. Whiton complains of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s “inability to understand and relate to the New Right in America.” Many
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month raised its travel alert for China’s Guangdong Province to Level 2 “Alert,” advising travelers to take enhanced precautions amid a chikungunya outbreak in the region. More than 8,000 cases have been reported in the province since June. Chikungunya is caused by the chikungunya virus and transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes, most commonly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These species thrive in warm, humid climates and are also major vectors for dengue, Zika and yellow fever. The disease is characterized by high fever and severe, often incapacitating joint pain.
In nature, there is a group of insects known as parasitoid wasps. Their reproductive process differs entirely from that of ordinary wasps — the female lays her eggs inside or on the bodies of other insects, and, once hatched, the larvae feed on the host’s body. The larvae do not kill the host insect immediately; instead, they carefully avoid vital organs, allowing the host to stay alive until the larvae are fully mature. That living reservoir strategy ensures a stable and fresh source of nutrients for the larvae as they grow. However, the host’s death becomes only a matter of time. The resemblance
Most countries are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with condemnations of militarism and imperialism, and commemoration of the global catastrophe wrought by the war. On the other hand, China is to hold a military parade. According to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, Beijing is conducting the military parade in Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3 to “mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.” However, during World War II, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had not yet been established. It
RSS