Hungarians must face their Nazi past, not venerate it (by The Guardian)

"History cannot be erased, nor forgotten. Discovering and understanding the past is the duty not only of governments and political parties, but also of the people, the whole nation. We must face it together – even when it is not pleasant – and try to learn from the consequences. Hungarians have not yet been through this process."

The words above are excerpted from the press article in the Guardian, with the title "Hungarians must face their Nazi past, not venerate it." 

I think the message here should be taken seriously by Taiwanese people as well. Please think about how you guys would like to cherish the democratic values, those that you always utilize as the symbols indicating the difference between Taiwan and China. Democracy as well as any kind of freedom is not natural but artificial, which means the value is the way you prefer to be governed by whom you recognize. If you like them, pour efforts into safeguarding them. If not, fine, let it be and stay where you are.

Pink is not the warmest color

London gay parade 2012

That day I didn't turn up to take a close look because I thought it would not be worth going. However, I am wrong. It turned out to be such a fascinating field where I could observe grotesque bigotry and hatred emerging on the basis of abuse of freedom of assembly.

On 30th November, there were thousands of people taking to the street in an attempt to stop the amend of Article 972 of the Civil Code, which is tempted to redefine the concepts of "marriage" and "family." According to Taiwan Family Guardian, the civil partnership right will shatter the traditional values. In addition, the same-sex marriage will have such negative impacts on Taiwanese society as labor force and child welfare. The latter refers to the circumstance where the children are allowed to learn the different mannerism and disposition between a man and a woman and thus will grow up soundly healthily. 

What a jarringly splendid remark! Really impressive! Are they saying that DINK as well as being single is sin? Or the people who, for whatever the reasons are,  are not capable of fertility should be charged with not having offspring? Or widow and widower have to marry again otherwise they might fail to raise their kids, if any, one the basis of a world comprising one man and one woman. In other words, the people who devote to the safeguard of marriage and family simply make a disgustingly contrived world by dismissing (consciously or unconsciously?) and hiding the social relations that they can't see. You know what? It is not of traditional value at all. On the contrary, It marks your line with eugenics that actually provokes racism. It also implies class violence and sexism. 

However, the protest taking place on that day completely went beyond my imagination  in a sick way. Ok, to be fair, I was not there, so my judgment is mainly based on those articles like "A feast of hatred" and "Bigotry and hatred under the sun." (Please see the details as the lines show; I don't intend to repeat the details here.) If what these articles described were true, then I would have to say that this "Happiness of the Next Generation Alliance has to come under huge criticism for the creepy things that you did not expect to witness in a democratic country. Well, it might partly explain why a guy dared to dress in Nazi uniform, citing the anti gay statement in reference to Nazi. His insane mannerism not only besmirched Taiwan's reputation but also profaned the metaphysical figure his spotless faith has always rested on. This guy's hatred, by coincidence, matched the pink as the color theme of the protest (please see A feast of hatred mentioned above).

To me, the traditional values embodied by "marriage" and "family" are nothing more than sufferings. Well, it is so due to my childhood experience. I just want to say that we should not overly deify or metaphysicize any single social system. Marriage would be too cheap if its holiness only lived for the moment couples saying " I do." Family would be too industrial if it was seen as the basis of population/society (are those guys going to safeguard the values seen in Industrial Revolution?). The value and holiness do not rest on the gender and labor division with a family; they are built upon family members' love and supportive characters. Marriage, followed by family, is not a certificate of love. It's the first step to establish a emotional shelter for all. How come civil partnership right is going to collapse the nation?

That day I turned up as a tourist in the London gay parade. The most touching moment was the moment when two Nigerians showed up with the crowds applauding for their mighty braveness. Their tough appearances signified the uneven distribution of risk faced by people across the world who have chosen to voice how they want their body to be lived differently. In this sense, people in Taiwan are lucky because they won't get killed (but bullied...) for being different. Although the hideous behaviors akin to those staged in that event will be consistently seen, the bright future is no doubt ahead of us.