Oh my goodness, the mess on my desk is that bad! I'm referring to the foot-high pile of papers and assorted documents that has been sitting there, well, for over a year according to the date on a news clipping I just unearthed midway through the pile.
I see why I saved the article. I was interested in a front-page Taipei Times (4 December 2008) piece titled "Losheng Activists Block Demolition." The article is about the last holdouts of protesters and residents of the Losheng Leprosy Sanatorium in Taipei County (Sinjhuang City). The sanatorium was partially demolished to make way for an MRT line extension, despite protests and also despite promises from Ma the Incompetent who as a candidate promised to preserve the Japanese colonial era landmark (and the only home ever known by many or most of the patients).
The quote that caught my eye was:
"Sinjhuang Precinct Chief Hsu Yung-sheng said through a loudspeaker (to the students barricaded inside and protesters outside) ... "You shouldn't be htere. You should stay home and study."
Yes, once again our brave men in the police corps are leading the way toward democracy and the responsibility of the youth. Where were these brave heroes of "education" when students joined the zombie hordes of the Red Shirt "movement?" Did they swat down (or up) the thumbs of enraged but generally non-thinking students who wasted their time (when they should have been home studying) over an issue that served to improve the lives of absolutely nobody? No.
But when students stand up and defend the rights of some of Taiwan's weakest members of society, the brave guardians of peace come on full force, saws and backhoes ready at hand.
Makes me proud to be a New Taiwanese.
I see why I saved the article. I was interested in a front-page Taipei Times (4 December 2008) piece titled "Losheng Activists Block Demolition." The article is about the last holdouts of protesters and residents of the Losheng Leprosy Sanatorium in Taipei County (Sinjhuang City). The sanatorium was partially demolished to make way for an MRT line extension, despite protests and also despite promises from Ma the Incompetent who as a candidate promised to preserve the Japanese colonial era landmark (and the only home ever known by many or most of the patients).
The quote that caught my eye was:
"Sinjhuang Precinct Chief Hsu Yung-sheng said through a loudspeaker (to the students barricaded inside and protesters outside) ... "You shouldn't be htere. You should stay home and study."
Yes, once again our brave men in the police corps are leading the way toward democracy and the responsibility of the youth. Where were these brave heroes of "education" when students joined the zombie hordes of the Red Shirt "movement?" Did they swat down (or up) the thumbs of enraged but generally non-thinking students who wasted their time (when they should have been home studying) over an issue that served to improve the lives of absolutely nobody? No.
But when students stand up and defend the rights of some of Taiwan's weakest members of society, the brave guardians of peace come on full force, saws and backhoes ready at hand.
Makes me proud to be a New Taiwanese.
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