Ma is not Hitler
A photograph of a recent rally held to protest Taiwan’s beef policy (“Rally held to protest beef policy,” April 2, page 2) showed protesters holding posters that compared President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to Adolf Hitler. While I do not support Ma politically and would never vote for him, I feel that such an attack goes too far.
I am not sure why the Taipei Times printed this photograph because just a few days earlier, Dan Bloom (“PRC claims Dalai Lama has ‘Nazi’ tendencies,” March 30, page 8) complained about the Chinese government calling the Dalai Lama a “Nazi.” As Bloom correctly pointed out, the Nazis were mass murderers, and the Dalai Lama is not. I have also been called a fascist for simply expressing an opinion (just google my name and “fascism”).
If anybody compares a democratically elected leader to Hitler, the peace-loving Dalai Lama to the Nazis, or an opinionated environmentalist to a fascist, it is nothing short of pathetic. It demonstrates the complete lack of moral compass and a basic lack of commonsense.
Why the Taipei Times would give a platform to people who cannot distinguish between democratic discourse and mindless insults, I do not know (unless the photograph was printed to embarrass the people in it).
The goal of hate speech is to dehumanize the subject of the attack so as to either ostracize or eradicate them (the Nazis used hate speech to prepare the ground for genocide). Vilification of the perceived enemy always comes before steps are taken to remove them. In a civilized, democratic country, such hate speech should never be tolerated.
Flora Faun
Taipei
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS