Elections

¡@

For all those uninformed souls, the most recent craze of the taiwan entertainment scene is the recent presidential elections. oh what the hell, it has been the craze of the entire "nose-shit" shaped island. green or blue? chen or lian? war or peace? independence or unification? on and on.
this is what i think will happen to taiwan in 50 years: NOTHING. nothing will change. taiwan and china are both too huge trading partners with each other that nothing will be allowed to happen, other than loud threats and scare tactics. but this is if both sides are rational and know what's good for them. and as experience teaches us, to assume rationality is not always rational.

***

but all these political talk aside, what i really want to talk about is what i heard over the radio. a dj said "we shouldn't be talking about democracy if we don't even know what it really is. if we had to choose between fake democracy and an authoritarian leading party, we rather be in a authoritarian society." this immediately triggered off a linkage in my mind: are we better off?

authoritarian society, singapore, enjoys peace and prosperity. not positive growth rates every year, but still relatively peaceful except for the occasional terrorist threats, but yah, generally rather peaceful. and in times of peace, what bothers people (or rather me) most is the lack of passion for anything. you have all these bored critics with nothing better to do, asking why we don't feel like we belong, why we don't feel that nationalistic pride in our small but wonderful country. boredom kills.

next, turn your eyes to taiwan, where the only industry that is flourishing is politics. taiwanese politics may be a big joke but it is certainly entertaining. and what all these excitement and divisions and pseudo-racial divides create is passion. nationalistic emotions are evoked when you are asked to stand up for your roots or your country. unity is at its peak when the leaders are out to break down the adhesive between different "racial" groups in society. but... wait a minute, isn't singapore the one with many different coloured people?

oh yes, and you were complaining about mr. goh's long and boring speech during national day? well, would you then prefer the kind of drama put up but a ridiculous president who gives himself a undignified nickname? it seems obvious now, only theatrical drama will yield dramatic passion in response. so, if we really want passion, maybe we need president nathan to be kidnapped by the opposition party or something. i mean, what is the fun if all he does is to jog in east coast park every evening...

what does this show? is it really a trade-off between peace and passion? does passion really arise admist chaos? or more accurately, does passion ONLY arise admist chaos? if that is the case, do we still want passion? maybe we are indeed better off without racing heartbeats and yells for freedom.

¡@

***

¡@

view guestbook :: sign guestbook

back to drieddeadfish's head.

¡@

¡@

¡@

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1