When ranting on Facebook just doesn’t do it for you anymore…

Posted on June 13, 2021 by ascruffyandscentladenframe

Saw this anti-American rant on my way to the shops today. Clearly someone’s out for attention. As the punctuation is a bit of a mess, I’ve tried to interpret the most likely meaning, but welcome any corrections.

如果美國認為台灣是善的力量.是亜洲自由民主燈塔.就該給予對等公平待遇而不是派衛生部長來.我們就吞下高端。全民抵制高端抗議美國強力干預我國疫苗政策疫情下不暫停台美貿易談判.抵制高端.抗議美國醫藥霸凌台灣抗議不公平貿易.抗議以生命權交換其它利益認清偽善美國

If the US thinks Taiwan is a force for good, and a beacon of freedom and democracy in Asia, they should treat us as equals. We shouldn’t accept the Medigen vaccine, just because they sent the health secretary. Everyone should resist Medigen and resist the US strong-arming its way into interfering in domestic vaccine policy and not halting Taiwan-US trade negotiations during the pandemic. Boycott Medigen, resist US medicine’s bullying of Taiwan, resist unequal trade, resist the right to life being exchanged for other interests; See the fake kindness of the US for what it is.

To be honest, this kind of rant is not uncommon on social media platforms in Taiwan, I just thought it was interesting to see it posted over a traffic box.

I also thought it was slightly ironic that the poster used the Japanese variant of 「亞」(亜), given that people with this kind of anti-American stance, are usually very anti-Japan too.

The views expressed above are just an observation, and do not represent my own views.

選舉

Posted on October 29, 2019 by ascruffyandscentladenframe

我在台灣沒有投票權，跟政治人物的接觸也頗為有限。我們里的里長出來拜票的時候，看到我，一直貼在嘴巴上的僵硬微笑會一時鬆開。有時候某些候選人一不留意就會伸手過來要跟我握手，一抬頭看到我的白臉就會立刻把手收回來。但是當一個外來者也有好處。其一是朋友之間或在工作場合，不用跟人表達你家的政治立場，就算你想要告訴別人，也沒人要聽；同時你的政治立場也不會在潛意識的層面上，被同事或朋友察覺出來。簡而言之，台灣人不會以他們一般的標準來對待你，因此你可以很自（白）由（目）地詢問他人的政治色彩。不過久而久之，你不用問也多少會感覺到。

講到這一點也不是很準確，因為你可以大概從一些細節，猜測他人的家庭是藍是綠是紅，但這也不代表在投票箱前，他們就會聽話地投給父母要他們投的那位候選人。我待過不同「顏色」的學術和工作單位：藍的綠的大學、綠的科系、紅媒體到白的公司，後來也算是回到一個（還帶一點藍的）綠色單位。在每個單位都需要看很多宣傳品，也因此很容易被洗腦。在藍的單位時也許會覺得綠營做事不踏實，不懂得妥協；在綠的單位時也許會覺得藍營只有在看錢、沒什麼原則。可能都有；可能都沒有，不過也許都是因為我們以不同框架看，所以會有不同的印象。

講到框架，我以前一直對柯文哲有一種說不太出口的反感，可能是略受媒體的影響，說他恐同、親中、自我感覺良好等等。媒體最近也有報導他父母在最後時刻替他到中選會登記連署，最後卻遲到了。媒體報導這則新聞的大方向帶有一點幸災樂禍的意味。但就算深綠的人看到這則報導，儘管讀起來很爽，應該也很清楚這大概不是真相。柯文哲若真的想選，不會拖到這時候，還派老人家幫他登記。剛好我最近在看柯文哲寫的《白色力量3》，柯P對民進黨很失望不是因為民進黨對他的直接攻擊，而是他們在明明知道一個污衊他的假新聞報導是偏頗的情況下（如器官移植的葛特曼案），還去煽動爭議。

也許當一個選民最重要的，是能夠離開同溫層，用不同的框架反省政治立場。

ㄟ對啊，我忘了……你上次總統大選是投哪一位？

An Overbearing Duck? 「鴨霸」

Posted on January 9, 2019 by ascruffyandscentladenframe

ducks-3826244_1920 Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), a KMT legislator-at-large, is another regular on TVBS’s political panel show ‘The Situation Room’.

In an interesting discussion on the long delay to Kuan Chung-Ming’s inauguration as President of National Taiwan University, she used the Taiwanese term 「鴨霸」(ah-pà) in the middle of a Mandarin sentence on political panel show ‘The Situation Room’, as follows (from roughly 5:29):

他為什麼會被卡

Why was the inauguration unable to proceed?

就是因為全面執政太鴨霸

Because the ruling party has been too overbearing about it all

According to the information I can find, it’s unlikely that 「鴨」(ah) is the original character in the expression, and it’s likely used as a stand-in for either 「亞」(a) (as the original form of 「惡」 or「壓」(ah) (according to the Ministry of Education dictionary). The nearest Mandarin equivalent is probably 「霸道」, although 「鴨霸」 can also be used in Mandarin.

For another duck-related phrase, you might want to check out my previous post here.

Xi Jinping Breaks his Bowl: ‘More speed less haste’「食緊挵破碗」

Posted on January 7, 2019 by ascruffyandscentladenframe

3203291222_c0fe41d465_o One of the great things about living in Taiwan is that when political leaders make speeches, like the speech made by Xi Jinping on Jan. 2, there is a flurry of discussions and critique on political panel shows and on social media, and people aren’t scared to express their own opinions on them. This is also a great learning opportunity, as people are more likely to come out with an interesting turn of phrase when they’re not being overly careful about what they’re saying.

One, such political panel show that I’ve grown fond of over the years is TVBS’s political chat show ‘The Situation Room’. Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文), a politician and broadcaster previously aligned with the Democratic Progressive Party but who later became a Kuomintang member and is now the KMT Vice Secretary-General, is a regular on the show and is one of the more humourous panelists.

In critiquing Xi’s speech in which he proposed a “one nation, two systems” approach to Taiwan, she said that he’s trying to push cross-strait relations forward at such a pace that he risks not getting anywhere at all. She used a Taiwanese phrase similar to “more speed less haste”, 「食緊挵破碗」(lit. eating with such haste that you break your bowl), which is pronounced “Tsia̍h-kín lòng-phuà uánn“:

You can hear her say this phrase in Taiwanese while she’s primarily speaking in Mandarin at 5:27.

Photo by timlewisnm, licensed under Creative Commons.

Forget Chiang Kai-shek’s Progeny – Shit Hits the Fan for Hongwu Emperor Scion

Posted on March 19, 2018 by ascruffyandscentladenframe

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Saw this poster on a traffic box on the way to work. Someone went to a lot of effort just to mock this guy.

The picture on the top left is the Hongwu Emperor (朱元璋) and the one on the right is the former head of Da’an’s Guangxin Li (smallest administrative division in Taiwan) Chu Hsueh-chang (朱雪璋） who claims to be the great^¹⁹ grandson of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of China’s Ming Dynasty and his wife Wu Pei-hua (吳佩樺).

(Guangxin) Li Head Chu Hsueh-chang is the descendant of an emperor! So he can’t be guilty~! There is nothing wrong with protecting your wife. Chu Hsueh-chang is innocent

After the”not guilty”, “喔！” an empty particle used to add emphasis, and which is often used in advertisements in Taiwan, is repeated six times, which adds to the sarcastic tone of the poster.

He was sentenced to six years (105,訴,207) for “Destruction of or serious damage to the function of one or more limbs” (See Criminal Code Article 10 Clause 4), when he and a group of other men allegedly assaulted martial artist Kenny Wang and two other men. Chu was the manager of the Tiger Martial Arts Fitness MMA Club. The alleged events, according to the court documents are as follows. In January of 2016, Kenny Wang (王毓霖) and Tsai Chao-chuan (蔡櫂全), both of whom were martial arts practitioners, live-streamed themselves outside the club picking their noses and sticking up their middle fingers on Facebook. Chu was angered, and under the pretense of inviting them to compete in a martial arts match, he invited Wang and Tsai to the club on February 16, 2016. Wang and Tsai arrived with a referee they’d designated for the contest and some friends. The door was then locked from the outside. When Wang, Tsai and the referee entered the club their phones were taken by force. A gang of men entered from the fire escape and beat the three men with a range of weapons, including aluminium bars, wooden bats, as well as with punches and kicks. Chu has appealed the verdict to the High Court.

It’s not the first time Chu has been in trouble. During a dispute over parking in Danshui, he got into a scuffle with a crowd of onlookers, after which nine people were hospitalized. After being arrested, he’s reported to have told police “I know Hung Hsiu-chu!”, referring to the then vice president of the Legislative Yuan, now the KMT chair (and who was briefly the KMT candidate for president in the 2016 election before being replaced). He’s also alleged to have been involved in other unsavoury incidents, including a dispute with a resident of his li, an incident where he “confiscated” the passport and mobile telephone of a Thai Muay Thai (Thai boxing) coach.

Smear before bedtime in Taipei’s 8th electoral district 台北8號選區立委選舉抹黑戰爭

Posted on December 31, 2015 by ascruffyandscentladenframe

As the legislative and presidential elections draws near in Taiwan, politics is in the air… and on buses and on every street corner.

If anyone missed the first part of the presidential candidate debate on Dec. 27, you can view Part 1 here:

The next one is on Jan. 2 at 2pm.

Meanwhile, in District 8, independent Lee Ching-yuan (whose KMT membership was revoked in July due to his opposition to then KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu) is gunning for incumbent legislator Lai Shih-bao. He’s released two leaflets with the intention of smearing Lai, both on the basis of whether he’s actually living in the district and his alleged incompetence in dealing with food-safety issues surrounding the Ting Hsin oil scandal.

The first leaflet attacking Lai on the Ting Hsin scandal is below:

The first page of the

Continue reading →

Smearing political rivals in Taipei: Freddie Lim take-down! 林昶佐被林郁方「抺黑」了

Posted on December 23, 2015 by ascruffyandscentladenframe

Have you been enjoying the flood of campaign leaflets flowing through your letterbox? I’m living near the boundary between the 5th and 8th electoral districts, so have been getting a range. One particular leaflet released by KMT candidate Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) caught my eye, as the entire thing was dedicated to smearing Lin’s rival for the 5th electoral district of Taipei, Freddy Lim (founding leader of the New Power Party (時代力量) and lead singer of heavy-metal band Chthonic):

The front side of the leaflet poses a question to Lim:

I want to ask Freddy Lim: “Why did you burn our national flag?”