"Mainland"? Which "mainland"?

An obvious symptom of brainwashing in Taiwan (and elsewhere)

Because of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), for most of the past six decades, Taiwan's educational system has indoctrinated students with the concept that "my country" (我國/本國) includes Taiwan, the territory now controlled by the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Mongolia. As a result, certain words used by Taiwanese reveal how deeply this indoctrination has penetrated.

An old Geography textbook used in Taiwan
Tim Maddog photo
(Click to enlarge)
While most elementary school students these days will state "Taiwan" (台灣) as the name of their country, and only an incredibly small minority will say they are from the "ROC" (中華民國), there's still a lot of deep-set confusion. As Professor Lee Hsiao-feng (李筱峰, AKA Jim Lee, of National Taipei University's Graduate School of Taiwanese Culture) explains in the piece I will translate below, the words we are exposed to on a daily basis affect our ability to see clearly and even to clearly form our own identity.

Here it is, 「大陸」「大陸」，哪個大陸？ ("'Mainland,' 'mainland,' which mainland?") [translations, text coloration mine]:

俗話說「什麼人玩什麼鳥」，同樣的，「什麼人說什麼話」。在當前國家認同錯雜混亂的台灣，從每個人使用的不同用詞，就可以判斷他的國家認同和政治立場的差異。

People say, "This kind of person plays with this kind of bird" and "This kind of person uses these kinds of words" [both meaning: "A person is defined by the words they use"]. In the past, Taiwan's national identity has been a jumbled mess. From the different words that people use, you can spot the differences in people's sense of national identity and political affiliation.

記得蔡英文與馬英九進行電視辯論的時候，凡是對「中華人民共和國」的稱呼，馬英九一律把它改稱「大陸」，但是蔡英文則清清楚楚叫它為「中國」。全世界都知道，「中國」指的就是那個全名叫做「中華人民共和國」的國家。但是「大陸」呢？全世界沒有一個國家叫做「大陸」，倒是在地理上，有歐亞大陸、非洲大陸、美洲大陸。「大陸」，指的是哪一個大陸？馬英九不稱中國為「中國」，而稱「大陸」，為什麼？因為他所認同的國家就是中國，而且台灣是中國的一部分，如果他將對岸稱為「中國」，等於是將台灣置於中國之外，這是他無法容忍的。稱中國為「大陸」，表示兩邊都屬中國，而有「大陸地區」和「台灣地區」之分。所以將中國稱為「大陸」，其實是對台灣的矮化，是對台灣的貶損！

Think back to the televised debate between Tsai Ing-wen and Ma Ying-jeou. Each time the PRC came up, Ma consistently referred to it as the "mainland" while Tsai referred to it more clearly as "China." The whole world knows that "China" refers to the country whose full name is the "People's Republic of China." But what about "mainland"? There is no country on Earth called "Mainland" [Maddog note: Though I've capitalized it here (as if it were the name of a country), it shouldn't actually be capitalized unless it's the first word in a sentence.] -- it's merely a geographic term which could variously refer to the Eurasian continent, the African continent, or the North and South American continents. So why say "mainland"? Because Ma identifies with China and considers Taiwan to be part of China. If he were to call the other side "China," it would mean that Taiwan is something separate -- something Ma could never admit. By calling China the "mainland," he means that the two sides belong to China and that the "mainland area" and "Taiwan area" are both part of that China. This actually belittles and disparages Taiwan.

中國人馬英九稱中國為「大陸」，一點都不奇怪。奇怪的是，竟然也有自以為是獨派的人士，也習而不察，跟著人家把中國稱為「大陸」，這就自我矛盾了。

For Ma-the-Chinese to call China the "mainland" isn't strange at all. What is strange is when supporters of Taiwan's independence use the word out of sheer habit, following others' use of "mainland" when they mean "China" -- this is a contradiction of their own principles.

最近台灣出現了一個名詞叫做「陸生」，其實也有一樣的意涵。所謂「陸生」，就是「大陸學生」的簡稱。把中國來台的留學生稱為「陸生」，和稱中國為「大陸」一樣是對台灣的矮化。中國來的留學生，當然簡稱「中生」，怎麼變成「陸生」？

The word "lùshēng" has recently entered Taiwan's vocabulary. This contains a similar meaning. "Lùshēng" is merely a short form of ""dàlùxuéshēng" ("mainland students"). To call Chinese students "lùshēng" is just as belittling and disparaging of Taiwan as using the word "mainland" instead of "China." A more natural short form would be "Zhōngshēng." How did that become "lùshēng"?

再者，近年來出現了一個不三不四的名詞叫做「阿六仔」。許多人把中國人稱為「阿六仔」，所謂「六」，當然是大「陸」的轉音。「阿六仔」這個名詞，本身帶有輕蔑的語氣，殊不知用這種輕蔑的名詞形容對方，其實是矮化了台灣，貶損了自己而不自知。

Another strange word which has appeared in recent years is "a-la̍k-á" [Maddog note: The pronunciation of that term is invariably Taiwanese, not Mandarin]. Many people call Chinese (people) "a-la̍k-á" with the middle word "la̍k" ["six"] having the same pronunciation in Taiwanese as the "lù" in "dàlù." "A-la̍k-á" itself bears a pejorative tone, but actually one may not realize that using this kind of tone to describe others can also belittle Taiwan, disparage the user, and show self-unawareness.

這種矮化台灣、貶低台灣的用詞還有很多，例如，將孫文（孫逸仙）先生稱為「國父」就是。所謂「國父」是哪一「國」的「國父」？當然是指「中華民國」的國父。不要說連孫文本人都不知道他被國民黨稱為中華民國「國父」，孫文如果知道台灣人竟然也稱他為「國父」，一定詫異萬分。因為孫文在過世前一年曾經呼籲日本應該讓「朝鮮和台灣兩民族」獨立自治，而台灣人竟然還在叫他「國父」，真是蠢蛋！

There are many more words used to belittle and disparage Taiwan. For example, calling Sun Yat-sen the "nation's founding father." Which "nation" is he the "founding father" of? Of course that would be the "Republic of China [ROC]." Don't say that even Sun himself didn't know he was called "the nation's founding father" by the Chinese KMT, but if he could know that some Taiwanese still call him the "nation's founding father," he'd be completely amazed because a year before he died, Sun appealed to Japan to allow Korea and Taiwan to become independent. For Taiwanese to call him the "nation's founding father," they must really be morons!

至於那些遊走對岸淘金的藝人，也跟著中國人將中華人民共和國稱為「內地」，那就不只是「蠢蛋」兩字所能形容了！日本殖民統治時代，台灣人稱日本本土為「內地」，清帝國時代則稱中國本土為「內地」，現在台灣不屬中華人民共和國，卻也稱呼人家「內地」。台灣人，你要自我作踐到幾時？

As for entertainers who wander off to China in search of money and who refer to the PRC as the "heartland," not even the word "moron" can describe what they are! When Taiwan was a Japanese colony, Taiwanese referred to Japan as the "heartland." However, during the Qing Dynasty, [what we now call] China was the "heartland." Present-day Taiwan doesn't belong to the PRC, yet people still use the term "heartland." People of Taiwan: How long will you humiliate yourselves like this?

One "mainland" which Professor Lee left out was Australia's. People in Tasmania will refer to the non-Tasmanian part of Australia as the "mainland" while people in New Zealand never do so -- because it's a whole other country. It's a good example to use with people who don't seem to "get it."

Related:
* A guy I met later on Facebook called in to New Taiwan Go Go Go (新台灣加油) to complain about so-called pro-Taiwan TV stations using the word "mainland." I posted the video on YouTube:

1:23 YouTube video: "Mr. Chuang wants green media to stop saying "mainland""
* Hena (Taiwanese for erhu, 二胡) player Kenny Wen is one of those who sold his soul to Beijing and was "forced" to call China the "heartland" (內地):

9:00 YouTube video: "Kenny Wen Teaches: How to sell your soul to the demons in Beijing"
* A Taiwan Matters post with links to videos of the entire debate referred to in Lee's piece: "Ralph Jennings pushes anti-Taiwan, pro-Ma propaganda"

* If you need help with the videos linked in the post at the link above, the Taipei Times translated the entire debate between Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) into English:
- Part One: Ma, Tsai lock horns in ECFA debate
- Part Two: Tsai questions Ma on job losses from signing ECFA

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Words which mean things: Taiwan, 台灣, propaganda, 宣傳, brainwashing, 洗腦, Lee Hsiao-feng, 李筱峰

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

Miss Fu（福小姐）And Hearsay

Update (8/18/07): Tim Maddog pointed out that I associated "Miss Fu" with a wrong event. I have made some corrections. The point that I wanted to make before the correction remains. Thx a lot, Tim. I apologize for mixing up "Miss Fu" and "Little Nurse" (see below). But maybe I deserve a pardon -- pan-bluers have practiced "evidence cooking" on every chance they got. It's hard for me to keep track of their shows.

Thomas Huang, a Junior Physics & Political Science major in Iowa, posted some comments on Michael's blog article Ma: Acquitted.

In response to his comments, I have some of my own that seems to get too long for a comment. So I put them here. I'll invite Thomas over for further interactions.

Thomas: A deep-green Taiwanese poli-sci professor I knew, who was President Chen's close adviser, once said to me that Ma's case is indeed kind of a revenge from the DPP, whose President Chen was troubled by corruption charges initiated by blue politicians.

This is not a convincing way of establishing an arguments. Thomas is trying to give his arguments based on an extremely damaging hearsay that is not verifiable. It is not different from spreading a rumor.

If you watch Taiwan politics for some time, you would have found that it is the way pan-blue commonly used to launch their attacks. For example, in the infamous Ear-Licking Scandal (舔耳案，then PFP whip Diane Lee ^[x]Li Chin-An (李慶安) vs. the acting director-general of the Department of Health (DOH) Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲)) in 2002. Li set up a press conference to introduce a senior schoolmate of Twu's who claimed to be with Twu and witnessed Twu when the so-called sex scandal happened. It later turned out that there wasn't such a schoolmate of Twu's and the entire witness show was a setup by Li just to incriminate Twu.

Another example happened on March 19, 2004, after two bullets were fired at DPP presidential candidate pair Chen and Lu during their campaign. Sisy Chen (陳文茜, an advisor to KMT's president candidate Lien-Chan)^[x]Sissy Chen (KMT's campaign manager, I believe) held a press conference, in which ^[x]she presented a "witness", Miss Fu (福小姐), a self-claimed nurse saying that she saw how Chen's people faked the event in the hospital where Chen was treated for his gunshot wound. Of course the nurse was "anonymous" and her face covered such that nothing of this person and her words is verifiable. After the conference she was no where to be found when the investigation started. she said (ref,ref) that an "anonymous nurse" had seen Chen's people faked the event and the doctors in the hospital tampered the medical records to conspire with Chen's story. The "anonymous nurse" never showed up, and the accusation of conspiracy was quickly dismissed by the hospital.

Not long after the "Little Nurse in Chi-Mei" show, pan-blue's legislator Chou Hsi-Wei(周錫瑋) put up another one. Another anonymous witness, Miss Fu (福小姐), with her face half-covered and unrecognizable, was introduced in Chou's press conference to claim that she has a video proving that the 319 shooting was a conspiracy. Her accusation was later dismissed by forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee(李昌鈺博士).

Since then the term "Little Nurse" (小護士) or "Little Nurse in Chi-Mei" (奇美小護士; "Chi-Mei" is the name of the hospital), as well as "Miss Fu" (福小姐) have become the symbols of pan-blue's imaginary witness or cooked up evidence.^[x]Since then the term "Miss Fu" has become a symbol for describing the way pan-blue cooks up evidence. If you visit pan-green forums and mention these terms, every frequent poster knows what you are talking about.

More examples can be drawn from those so-called-scandal exposing press conferences held by pan-blue's legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅). Most of his accusations on so-called DPP scandals are base-less, unverifiable hearsay that was cooked up by you-know-whom. If there's a chance for these accusations to go to the court of law, the so-called witness or evidence will be either no where to be found or discarded by the court. I believe deep down Chu Yi knows that, and that's why he held press conferences before the investigation such that by the time the investigation starts, the public is already brainwashed by his false accusations. As I pointed out last year ([0606] Society-breaking conspiracy in Taiwan and here), this is the formula pan-blue follows to paralyze the society:

(pan-bluers)... exaggerating the suspicions, adding up all circumstantial evidences and making it look guilty. This process provokes the public. Then, a looked-guilty, people-outraged case is investigated. If it ends up with not-guilty charges, Chiu then has the outraged people to support him to ramp the court.

If he goes legal way, all those circumstantial suspicions will have no chance to be manipulated. Only by provoking public first, by which he can tag those suspicions with his own judgement, can he turn doubts into something more.

You can easily spot this pattern on almost every attempt pan-blue work their way to attack pan-green.

I am not saying that Thomas intended to spread cooked-up information to pollute the society like that. Obviously I have no way to determine that, for one thing the story is not verifiable. It's just that this sort of hearsay won't help on building any solid argument, and certainly will hurt your credibility seriously, especially when it becomes a routine --- in another comment on the same page, Thomas did it again:

Thomas: Earlier, a high-rank official from the Clinton administration told me that he once tried to help the two sides negotiate a treaty of "maintaining the status-quo." Contrary to public perception of greedy Communists, Beijing was very interested in the plan and agreed that Taiwan can be given more room of international visibility under the treaty (even participation in WHO and UN, etc). President Chen, on the contrary, was lukewarm about the idea. To him the NAME of independence matters more because of elections. So in some cases, the more you fight, the less you get.

The way Thomas described both stories bears the similar characteristics of 福小姐:

(1) Authority - came directly from top or whom close to the power center;
(2) Covert - secrets you can hear from nowhere but me;
(3) Damaging - so damaging such that it renders the target defenseless;
(4) Non-traceable - readers have no way to verify its credibility.

This kind of "hearsay spreading"^[x]opinion expression has huge negative impact on the society. It is a fortune that most Taiwan-politics-related English blog articles are free of this sort of hearsay-spreading style talking. But if you visit some Taiwan forums (in Chinese language) long enough, you can spot these sort of hearsay frequently. People grow up in that environment would certainly pick up those "hobbies". But that doesn't justify the act. IMO, whoever intends to put up such an "unverifiable hearsay" should assume responsibility and think more on what kind of negative impact those hearsay could bring to the society.

I applaud "A Bit about My Viewpoints" on the front page of Thomas' blog:

Just like Beijing's cornering Taiwan only alienates people from their already dwindling tie with China, unfair or unfounded criticism to the PRC also helps it justify its isolation of Chinese people from outside.

My studies tell me that engagement always works more effectively than containment; peaceful penetration always works more efficiently than armed confrontation (haven't you had enough for Iraq?) - and less costly.
Listen carefully, watch thoughtfully, and speak reasonably; back up a little bit, calm down, and things will work much better...

I also welcome Thomas' attempt for interactions. Unlike most participants in the circle of Taiwan-politics-related English blogs (should we come up with a term like TPREB?), Thomas seems to represent more on the pro-china side of Taiwan political spectrum. The interactions Thomas initiated are much needed for healing and mutual understanding and will contribute significantly to the future of Taiwan. But it will achieve nothing if we turn the interactions into "hearsay competitions."

Tu Cheng-sheng stands up for the people of Taiwan

The right stuff -- but first, some wrong stuff

The editorial in yesterday's Taipei Times is a bit of an improvement over some of their recent drivel, but I think they still don't "get" why President Chen Shui-bian didn't kick and scream like a spoiled baby when during his relatively successful diplomatic journey to Nicaragua last week, Taiwan was mistakenly referred to as "China-Taiwan." (TT quote: "Whatever the reason behind such confusion, Chen, as head of state, should have taken a more active gesture and lodged a protest.")

I'm just making an educated guess based on some of the things that have occurred during Chen's administration, but I suspect the Taiwanese side, in an attempt to exercise a bit of control, requested that at the very least "Taiwan" be added to the usual designation of "Republic of China." I could imagine that on the Nicaraguan side, "Republic of China, Taiwan" may have seemed a bit long and that Nicaraguan officials unfortunately shortened that to the final two words. (Note: the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] thinks that their "ROC" equals China and often refers to PRC-controlled territory as "the mainland" instead of calling it "China," so it's easy to understand how others might be confused.) Yet the Taipei Times didn't even explore this possibility, and instead of commending Chen for the positive aspects of the journey (such as the simple fact that it happened, duh), they ironically whined that the president didn't whine. Go figure.

(Note: I would rather see people complain every time anyone in Taiwan refers to the country as 中華民國 [Republic of China] in non-diplomatic settings.)

Anyway, let's get to the better part of the editorial:

At the London School of Economics (LSE) last Thursday, Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) demonstrated nicely how government officials should promote Taiwan and handle insults to the country in front of international audiences.

[...]

In view of the disruption and attempted provocation, Tu performed admirably. He did not avoid the questions.

Tu, poised and unperturbed, responded calmly, noting Taiwan's values, rights and freedoms. He emphasized to his audience that Taiwan, as a democratic country, would decide its own future according to the will of its people.

Looks like it's time for another round of "Spot the Difference." Chen was attending a planned meeting with friendly dignitaries, while Tu was facing off against hostile opponents. Both Chen and Tu, however, responded diplomatically and according to the circumstances.

"I am Taiwanese!"
Last Friday's edition of the FTV program 頭家來開講 ("Boss Talk") showed some excerpts from Tu's speech on "Education Reform in Taiwan: local and global perspectives" at his alma mater. (Note: Some editing is apparent in the footage, so it's unclear at times what exactly Tu is responding to. See the other footage linked below.) During the event, some students from China disrupted the speech by shouting slogans and holding up ironic signs saying "No cultural brainwashing" and "Taiwan is a part of China." (Note: Taiwan has never been controlled by the PRC [AKA China] -- which is a mere part of "mainland Asia" -- and the only reason anybody thinks so is because it has been repeated a million or more times.)

Because he doesn't have the same restrictions required of the president when on diplomatic missions, Tu was able to say loudly and proudly, "I am Taiwanese!" The audience cheered loudly for this seemingly simple statement of truth. They also shouted down the real "cultural brainwashers" in the audience who were pushing propaganda while merely pretending to ask questions. You should really see it for yourself.

Pass me the eye opener, will ya?
Look no further. Here's the segment from "Boss Talk." (Note: I added the yellow, green, red, and blue English-language titles seen onscreen.)



3'50" YouTube video: "Tu Cheng-sheng stands up for the Taiwanese"
Click here to download the latest version of Adobe Flash.
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Related videos:
* 教育部長杜正勝先生LSE演講 [Minister of Education, Mr. Tu Cheng-sheng, LSE speech] (0'31")
* 教育部長杜正勝先生LSE演講II [Minister of Education, Mr. Tu Cheng-sheng, LSE speech II] (0'51")
- the guy on the balcony can be heard out of frame talking about Taiwan "buying" allies
* 世界教育部長會 正名「台灣」 (2007-01-10) [Rectifying Taiwan's name at meeting of world's education ministers] (2'30")
- a Hoklo-language video from Taiwan's Formosa Television (FTV) which tells more about the event and focuses on the importance of Tu being listed as coming from Taiwan, not the ROC.
* 杜正勝倫敦演說 兩岸學生互嗆 (2007-01-11) [Cross-Strait students' shouting match during Tu Cheng-sheng's London speech] 3'33"
- Another FTV video with just a little more footage. This one shows the signs that were held up by the students from China.

Didn't mean to bump him down so soon
Be sure to check out Feiren's earlier post about Su Tseng-chang's announcement of official recognition of the Sakiraya people as Taiwan's 13th aboriginal tribe and the relationship of that announcement to the rectification of Taiwan's official name. I lean heavily toward Feiren's "symbolic red meat" interpretation.

UPDATE: Via fiLi's world, here's a link to a 152 kb PDF of the text of Tu Cheng-sheng's excellent speech.

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Easels: Taiwan, 台灣, Republic of China, 中華民國, ROC, China, 中國, People's Republic of China, 中華人民共和國, PRC, 中共, brainwashing, 洗腦, Taipei Times, 台北時報, Tu Cheng-sheng, 杜正勝, London School of Economics, 倫敦政經學院, YouTube

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

3-in-1 example of Chinese propaganda in Taiwan

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
- comedian Groucho Marx

Television has done much for psychiatry by spreading information about it, as well as contributing to the need for it.
- director Alfred Hitchcock

Declare independence from this
Earlier tonight, after having dinner in the food court at Carrefour, I got up to take a picture of the nearest TV. I did this with the sole purpose of illustrating how the citizens of Taiwan have a hard time escaping the influence of the pro-China media. Wouldn't you know, this was the very first thing I saw:



Maddog the Clairvoyent?
Let's play "psychic word association," shall we? If I said "panda," I bet you'd say... China! Was I right?

The next thing I noticed was the logo at the upper right corner of the screen. Wouldn't you know, it's that goddamned bane of Taiwan, CTiTV, where the "C" stands for China. Here, we see channel 36, their so-called variety (綜合) channel "enlightening" the viewers about such "varied" things as China, Chinese, and Chineseness.

Thirdly, I noticed the text at the upper left of the screen reading "經典中國" ("Classics of China"). Are you with me so far? My "third eye" tells me you are.

All your eyes are belong to us
This is the kind of propaganda that is broadcast on televisions in public places all around Taiwan, and many people are fed up with it. Follow these links to find out who some of them are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

What else can you do?
Did you ever wish you could say to those idiot boxes, "Begone!"? There is a way. A device called TV-B-Gone is available for online purchase and seems like a way to bring peace of mind to many a public place. It's a type of "universal remote control" which can turn off most television sets within 17 seconds via a single click.

If you should ever find yourself at the hospital visiting the doctor because of high blood pressure, and you're sitting in the waiting room with the TV blasting lies and hatred at you, you might be able to help yourself before you even see the doctor. Tense and nervous, and you can't relax? Kill the TV signal! Qu'est-ce que c'est? Turn that sucker off, and go do some reading!

I wish I'd had one of those devices earlier tonight.

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Tech specs: Taiwan, 台灣, China, 中國, People's Republic of China, 中華人民公和國, PRC, 中共, media, 媒體, propaganda, 宣傳, brainwashing, 洗腦, television, 電視, CTiTV, 中天電視

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

10 or so sources of KMT brainwashing

His brain has not only been washed, as they say... It has been dry cleaned.
- actor Khigh Dhiegh, playing the role of Dr. Yen Lo in the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate

In KMT-world, black is still white
Yet again, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has lost a big election by a small margin, and their immediate response of their Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英) was to demand that the election be invalidated. Let me just say for the record that it's exactly the response I expected to see from a party I've referred to as "sore losers" and "crybabies" so many times in the 3-1/2 years or so that I've been blogging.

Another unsurprising thing was that when confronted with evidence of KMT vote-buying, party chairman Ma Ying-jeou, currently entangled in allegations of pocketing loads of dough from his "special allowance," would cry "自導自演" (loose translation: "It was staged."), even though that tactic is a standard pan-blue trick.

Got colic?
The poow wittow kwybabies! For most of their existence, they controlled 100% of the media, and they still control a large portion of it. For this reason, whatever they said "became" the truth, since anyone who said otherwise was drowned out by a vast ocean of KMT voices.

Enter the 'Net
These days, they don't have the kind of total control that is necessary to get away completely with such things, but old habits die hard, and they're still reflexively using the same tactics, despite the ability of anybody with access to a computer and an Internet connection to use free services such as Blogger and YouTube to outflank the KMT's rigorous control of the flow of information.

By the time Huang lost the mayoral election in Kaohsiung this past Saturday by 1,114 votes, the KMT propaganda machine was already spinning in high gear and making obnoxious noises, but Huang and Ma weren't the only ones making such noises.

He's stupid and ugly, and nobody likes him
Tell me if this isn't obnoxious. The director of the KMT's Kaohsiung headquarters during the recent campaign, Hsu Fu-ming (許福明), let loose this unfortunate choice of words in response to his party's slim loss to DPP candidate Chen Chu.

[My transcript:]
高雄市教育水準比較偏低的。這些選民尤其是在很多媒體特別是地下電台長期以來這個本土意識的這個... 這個... 洗腦。

[My translation:]
The standard of education in Kaohsiung is rather low. These voters have been, er, brainwashed by many media outlets for a long time with ideas about local identity, especially by underground radio stations.

The video of that statement was rebroadcast by FTV on the show "頭家來開講" ("Boss Talk") and subsequently uploaded to TaiwanUS.net where it can now be seen world-round. (Click the button for video #2 below the embedded player. Hsu is the fourth person to speak.) In all fairness, Mr. Obnoxious did step down to "take responsibility" for the election loss (only to be immediately replaced by an exact replica?).

Here, there be pirates!
It's quite simple to explain the existence of "underground" radio stations in Taiwan. Because the KMT controlled all of the media for several decades, and people naturally fight against unjust oppression, it was the most mobile, most easily-hidden, cheapest, and most effective method of counter-propaganda, and was thus the one that flourished.

Although many of the stations have subsequently become legally authorized broadcasters, some still exist in the deep-blue ocean that is Taiwan's media environment because it is also an attempt to maintain local-language programming (such as the sound effects and dialog from traditional Taiwanese puppet-show theater or music in the Hakka language) in a place where people with "star status" brashly say that speaking Taiwanese is "low class" and where political shows like the ones hosted by Taiwanese activist Wang Ben-hu are taken off the air because they were "too local" (as opposed to what -- "suitably Chinese"?).

Who's brainwashing whom?
As promised in the title, here are more than 10 examples of where you can see the KMT's brainwashing tactics still in force, without any sort of interdiction from the unconstitutional, pan-blue dominated National Communications Commission (NCC). These are the kinds of media spigots whose language policies are visible by their use of words like "大陸"
("mainland") or "內地" ("inland China") instead of just saying "中國" (China), which promote kids who blindly imitate their elders, which have "entertainers" like the one ("小馬") pretending to check his watch while imitating the "thumbs down" gesture of the anti-Chen movement, and who have hosts on multiple shows who make shit up out of thin air like "a bullet can't make a hole like that in a window" or "somebody called me and told me Chen Shui-bian staged his own shooting, but I can't tell you who they are":

* 東風電視 ("Dong Feng" AKA Azio TV)
Taiwan? How do we "love" thee? We give thee and thine an entire TV station with the same name as one kind of Chinese missile. I say they can stick that Dong Feng right up their Azio!

* 2100 全民開講 ("Speaking Your Mind at [9 PM]") (TVBS)
General manager Lee Tao (李濤) does his worst Larry King impression while saying that two right out of ten is good enough for him. Is he talking to people with "high standards"?

* 新聞夜總會 ("News Night Club") (TVBS)
Lee's wife, Lee Yen-chiu (李豔秋), attempts to convince viewers that the DPP's resistance to authoritarian rule is worse than the KMT's resistance to democracy and performs other bescarfed acts of ill-logic.

* 搞董新聞 ("Explaining the News") (TVBS)
So-called analysts "enter-splain" [my neologism of the day] the news while mostly spinning and rumormongering. I wouldn't buy a used scooter from any of these people.

* 新聞龍鳳配 ("Dragon and Phoenix") (ETTV)
Mouthpieces mouth off until their faces look like they'll crack at any moment. If you've seen the movie "They Live," you'll know what I see when I look at these people, even without the special sunglasses.

* 周末談政治 ("Weekend Political Chat") (ETTV)
Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), whining ever since his loss to Chen Shui-bian in the 1994 Taipei mayoral election, lets the BS flow. Read about the jabber-Jaw and his gangster brother on pp. 9 - 12 of this PDF file (~435 KB).

* 全民大悶鍋 ("Pressure Cooker") (CTiTV)
"Making fun" of both sides, while pushing the memes of only one. (Can you guess which?)

* 文茜小妹大 ("Sisy Chen, Gangster Gal") (CTiTV and terrestrial station CTV)
Sisy Chen (陳文茜) and Emile Sheng (盛智仁), together like peas in a pod -- except for the fact that they're both totally red!

* 文茜的世界周報 (Sisy's World News) (CTiTV)
Sisy Chen, again, tells ethnic Chinese in Taiwan (Wait -- I thought they thought Taiwan was part of China!) the "news they mustn't miss" about China (and that other "outland" called international-something-or-other).

* 火線雙嬌 ("Two Women Under Fire") (Videoland)
Brings together 2 hosts with such "varied" backgrounds as China Times, Era News, TVBS, CTi, and ETTV. Oh, wait! Those are practically all the same thing.

* 超級新聞駭客 ("Super News Hacker") (Star TV Mandarin)
Yet another piece of super-crap from super-hack Jaw Shaw-kong.

This one's been dry cleaned
With so may flavors to choose from, it's no wonder KMT legislator Ho Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) has drunk boatloads too much of her own party's Kool-Aid. A report in ETToday tells us that on Tuesday Ho said that the 冤魂 ("the ghost of a person who was wrongly put to death or murdered") of Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄) (the guy who all evidence points to as having shot Chen Shui-bian on March 19, 2004) came to her in a dream and told her that he didn't want the "key man" accused in a case of buying votes on behalf of mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying to end up like him. By the way, the person who is suspected of actually putting the money into voters' hands and telling them to vote for Huang has already admitted to doing so.

To me, Ho's "dream" could mean any or all of the following: 1) She needs psychiatric help. (Most people have weird dreams from time to time, but only a very small number willingly put them in the news and use them to try to influence the public's perception of their political opponents.); 2) The KMT is planning to have the guy offed, and she's prepping the public for the blame to be placed upon the DPP; 3) The problem of uneducated and easily-brainwashed people is not with Kaohsiung's voters, but rather some of the KMT politicians in that area.

Pre-completion update
It seems that another suspect in the Kaohsiung vote-buying case turned himself in to police early Thursday morning while yet another fled to Hong Kong, and a connection to Huang Chun-ying seems to exist. I'll add those details as I find them. [See UPDATE below.]

Bonus examples
I've written previously about the perpetuation of this kind of brainwashing here and here. Go back and view those pages again, even if you think you remember them well. You may see them in a different light this time around.

UPDATE: Here are some of Friday's articles related to the above.

* Taipei Times - Suspect in vote-buying scheme turns himself in
Key point: Ku Hsin-ming (古鋅酩) turns himself in, says he worked independently and just wanted to do something good, but then implicates 43-year-old suspect surnamed Yang. Excerpt: "A profile of Ku showed that he had received a 16-year sentence for a murder committed in 1989 but that he was released during an amnesty in 1994." Quote: "The prosecutors must look deeply into the case and find out who he contacted during the past four days. They must also find out why he chose to give an exclusive interview [to the Liberty Times]," [KMT chairman] Ma [Ying-jeou] said. Comments: Judging from Ma's response, I'd say Ku probably went to the Liberty Times so as to deflect blame off of the KMT. A murderer who "admired Huang and hoped he would be elected as Kaohsiung mayor"? Wow!

* Liberty Times - 檢出示同鄉會傳真 古供出實情 [Translation: Investigator shows fax from Partner Township Association, Ku confesses what really happened]
Key point: After investigators confront Ku with faxes and records of phone calls between the Kaohsiung City/Yunlin County Partner Township Association, Yang Ching-teh (楊慶德), and himself, he admits that he worked in coordination with the others. Additional info: The image below is just above this article in the print edition. Observation: Friday night's FTV News showed video of Su Wan-chi (ph) (蘇萬其) onstage during a campaign rally right up front and next to KMT candidate Huang Chun-ying. Comment: Yowzer! The plot thickens, eh? Question: What evidence will Ma Ying-jeou reveal with his next spin attempt?


* Taiwan News - Vote-buying suspect turns himself in
Key point: When suspects disappear and their stories change, suspicions are naturally aroused. Quote: "Yang reportedly left the country on a 7:45 flight headed for Hong Kong on Wednesday night." Comment: Since 1997, that means the same thing as "fled to China."

* Taipei Times - Hau picks two key players for team
Key point: Taipei mayor-elect Hau Lung-bin (KMT) chooses "special assistant to the chairman of the Chinese-language China Times" Yang Hsiao-tung (羊曉東) "as director of the city government's information department." Comment: How 1984!

* Taipei Times - Pirate radio station operators protest outside NCC
Key point: An unconstitutional body ironically works hardest at enforcing unjust laws. Quote: "The threshold that the NCC has set for licensed stations is NT$50 million [US$1.5 million] in assets and capital, which puts licensing totally out of reach of independent operators," said Tsai Chi-feng (蔡吉豐), a pirate radio station owner. Comment: You might ask yourself, haven't they ever heard of blogs?" The answer might be that many of their listeners haven't.

* China Post - Groups protest radio crackdown
First line: "The independent National Communications Commission (NCC) promised yesterday to continue cracking down on the rampant underground radio stations in Taiwan." Comments: "[I]ndependent"?! 屁! "[R]ampant"?! That would describe pan-blue brainwashing.

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Agents and reagents: Taiwan, 台灣, media, 媒體, propaganda, 宣傳, brainwashing, 洗腦, Democratic Progressive Party, 民主進步黨, DPP, 民進黨, Kuomintang, 中國國民黨, KMT, 國民黨, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, special allowance fund, 特支費, Huang Chun-ying, 黃俊英, Ho Tsai-feng, 侯彩鳳, elections, 選舉, YouTube

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

The Anti-Chen crowd continues brainwashing children

... and posting it on the Internet for the world to see

It's not surprising to me, but it is disgusting. Since last month when I blogged about a 2-year-old girl being taught by her father to hate Taiwan's president Chen Shui-bian, I've discovered 2 more similar videos, both posted by YouTube users who identify their location (on their profile pages) as Hong Kong. Imagine their "pride" and "joy"!

Then get ready to feel the nausea!

Shut up 'n' brainwash yer kids some more
The first of these latest examples of horrible parenting is titled 倒扁囡囡 ("Depose Chen baby") and consists solely of a very young child (with a crib visible in the background) repeating "下台" ("step down") and imitating the spasmodic "thumbs down" gesture of the redshirt protesters while two adults mumble outside the camera's view.



0'17" YouTube video: "倒扁囡囡"
Click "Play" at lower left to load the video here.
Click on the screen to open the video in a new browser window.
(I suggest hitting "Pause" until the video loads fully.)
Click here to download the latest version of Adobe Flash.
Click here for YouTube help.

(The user's other currently-posted videos are all related to fire and karaoke.)

Return of the sons of shut up 'n' brainwash yer kids
(AKA "Ew, baby baby!")
Although the children in the next video aren't exactly "babies," it is titled "Twins baby" [sic] and accompanied by this description: "Twins shouting Taiwan against Ah Bin slogan" [sic]. Adults can be heard encouraging the kids to repeat the Mandarin words for "A-bian, step down." If their age isn't enough for you to understand that these kids are being exploited for their inability to discern right from wrong, I hope this makes it even clearer: the kids mistakenly pronounce "下台" (xià tái) as "下來" (xià lái) at the beginning, but the adults "correct" them. The parents are already blindly repeating the memes pushed by pro-China media across the region, and their unknowing children will carry on the "tradition."



0'48" YouTube video: "Twins baby"

The above video is currently this user's only posted video.

What bile is this?
Just in case I have to explain, go back to my earlier post on this subject, and scroll down to the part about "Family tradition." The kind of values I personally hope to pass on are enunciated in one of my own mottoes: "Question everything -- especially this!"

Your comments, questions, criticism, and complaints are welcome.

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Exhibits I through U: Taiwan, 台灣, Chen Shui-bian, 陳水扁, A-bian, 阿扁, brainwashing, 洗腦, child abuse, 虐待兒童, emotional abuse, 精神虐待, YouTube

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

How the anti-Chen crowd perpetuates the hate

If you did something stupid or evil, would you videotape yourself and put it on the web?

Imagine someone who hates Taiwan's president Chen Shui-bian and his family, says that they are corrupt, and thinks that they and others who have similar ideas should be in jail. Imagine that the only person among them who has been formally charged with anything -- and just as importantly, not yet convicted -- is Chen's son-in-law.

The above may not be so difficult, as the pan-blue media continually tells us to hate these people. So let's take it a step further. Imagine, if you will, a father proudly teaching his 2-year-old daughter this kind of hatred. Can you?

It's not your imagination running away with you
Unfortunately, every bit of the above scenario is true, and you don't need to imagine it at all. The father has posted the video on YouTube to demonstrate how "even a 2-year-old" opposes President Chen. See for yourself.



00:23 YouTube video:
"Ting-ting topples Chen Shui-bian"
Click here for YouTube help.

Translation: The father begins to say the names of political figures, including Chen Shui-bian, Lee Teng-hui, and Chen-haters Chen Wen-qian (Sisy Chen) and Jaw Shaw-kong, but he lets the daughter finish saying the last word of each name. The last name the father mentions is the president's son-in-law Chao Chien-ming. He then asks if Chao and a few others close to the president are corrupt. Each time, the daughter answers, "Yes." The father suggests, "Make them step down, okay?" and "Send them to jail, okay?" The daughter answers each question, "Okay!" The father's voice is cut off at the end as he says "Well done!" and it comes out sounding instead like the Mandarin equivalent of "Fuck!"

Family tradition?
Child abuse is said to be like an "infection" which "creates a downward spiral through generations, each victim more likely to infect more and more victims."

Did the father's parents teach him to be this way? Did he learn such behavior via pro-unification politicians? Is the media both the reflector and the director of such behavior?

If you discovered such a video of yourself as a child being programmed with such hatred, how would you feel toward your parents? Would you begin to question everything? Would you worry how it would impact your own children?

And what about the victims who have no idea that such abuse occurred -- what happens to them? Victims of emotional abuse tend to have "social, cognitive, and economic difficulties" when they grow up. How many among the anti-Chen crowd are the result of such emotional abuse?

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Exhibits A through H: Taiwan, 台灣, Chen Shui-bian, A-bian, 陳水扁, brainwashing, child abuse, YouTube

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!