Teaching social justice
When a class at Taichung Municipal Taichung First Senior High School caused controversy recently for naming a booth at the school fair “Hsi Huan Na” (烯環鈉) — which sounds like “indigenous bastard” (死番仔) in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) — I reminded my son, who is in senior-high school, to pay attention to words and deeds that could be seen as racist or discriminatory. He replied indifferently, saying: “Big deal. Was it that serious? You guys thought it was discriminatory because you overthought it, and you are so sensitive and protective of certain ethnic groups.”
Later, the offensive proposals by two candidates running for president and vice president of the student council at National Taiwan University’s economics department caused another controversy. This time, I collected in-depth articles about the issue from experts and academics, hoping to get my son to take the matter seriously.
To my surprise, he still replied with “big deal,” adding: “It is obvious that the content on the department’s election bulletin is impossible to implement anyway, so we will talk about it when the two candidates are really elected. If they are elected and their policies are implemented, then there is a real problem.”
I pursued the matter.
“How could they propose policies in the bulletin that were not only absurd, but also discriminatory and disrespectful?” I asked.
“Well, isn’t that freedom of speech? Candidates have the right to express their views freely, as long as there are no specific personal attacks,” he said. “Besides, I’ve seen such discriminatory policies in Taiwan’s election bulletins.”
He quickly found a news report on his cellphone about a candidate’s policies, such as a husband must buy his wife a Hermes bag if he does not have sex with her, and provide proper training for parents-in-law to become quiet and polite.
“Don’t such policies discriminate against men and disrespect the elderly? Why can they be published without being banned?” he said.
I was more shocked by what he said next.
“The policy of protecting the disadvantaged in society mitigates the unfair treatment they received in the past. However, we have been taught from childhood that all people are equal, and this is the mindset with which we face the world,” he said. “Since everyone is generally regarded as equal in society today, why should anyone be given special protection in Taiwan — such as extra points for indigenous students in certain examinations or reserved seats for female candidates in certain elections?”
“There are some individuals from unprotected groups who are more disadvantaged than those from protected groups,” he added. “What should they do? Does this mean that the protected groups need to be discriminated against to enjoy such special protection? The students’ attempts at humor were simply a reaction against political correctness.”
I was shocked, perhaps because those words seemed cold and even heartless, but they also showed deep empathy with the angry students who were condemned by the public, while reflecting the possible blind spots of social justice.
The argument of a senior-high school student made me, as a mother, think about it for a long time. I also hope that while society teaches and punishes the students for discrimination, someone can try to have a deep dialogue with them.
Hsieh Hsin-chien
Chiayi
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