Nazi paraphernalia on sale at Banqiao station?

Once again, people are confusing the Right to Free Speech with the Right to be an Ignorant and Insensitive Asshole…

oh dear…

its kind of an opposite of the movement happening in the west. which is like a right to be offended, this is a right to offend… or something like that.

even then its offensive just because of how insanely moronic it is.

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I hate to be a stereotyper (is that a word) but how many times did you ever see a Taiwanese offer a genuine apology while losing face.

It’s rare, very rare.

What’s so fishy about it? This is Asia, after all.

(If you watch the whole music video, you may get a different impression of what they’re trying to express, but it’s not exactly clear. A translation suggests they’re using the name as a pun on the word “hit” as in “hit song”.)

More articles follow. TL/DR summary:
The government firmly condemns the incident and (possibly) equates Nazism with ROC nationalism, and the opposition firmly condemns the government and (at least the New Party) equates Nazism with colonialism, the DPP, and the Sunflower movement.

The list of organizations issuing condemnations (either collectively or via individual members) continues to grow.

  • German office
  • Israeli office
  • Tsai’s office
  • Ministry of Education
  • Humanist Education Foundation
  • Our Story Alliance of History Teachers
  • “Action Coalition of Civics Teacher” [sic?]
  • NTU professor Hua Yih-fen (花亦芬)
  • Representative to Germany Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉)

Shieh has been criticized for his criticism:

“If the education system had fully incorporated history about the state violence that occurred in Taiwan, young students would naturally be critical of Germany’s Nazi regime,” Shieh said on Facebook on Saturday. “Instead, certain political parties still boycott the revelation of historical truth and continue treating the [ROC] national flag as a special symbol.”

Saying that the students were also victims to some extent, Shieh lamented the nation’s continued “worship” of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and retired military officers’ efforts to curry favor with China while waiving the ROC flag in Taiwan.

“I will tell Shieh that he is now the nation’s representative to Germany and is no longer just a college professor or TV anchor. We will let him understand this,” Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) said in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun’s (馬文君) criticism of what she said was mockery of the flag.

Tsai has also been criticized for her criticism:

Separately yesterday, New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) issued a statement urging the Presidential Office to apologize to the students for throwing them under the bus over the cosplay event simply because of opposition from Westerners.

“It was just a student event that school authorities did not have a hand in creating the content for, as it was aimed at facilitating creativity … not advocating Nazi ideology,” Yok said, adding that the public had blown the issue out of proportion.

Yok said the real “modern Nazis” are the DPP government, which has beautified the Japanese colonial era, as well as members of the 2014 Sunflower movement who cut classes, staged demonstrations and illegally occupied government buildings.

Our Story spokeswoman Huang Hui-chen (黃惠貞) offers the following explanation:

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) launched the New Life Movement in the 1920s to imitate fascist movements in the West, which led to the institutionalization on campus of militarized uniforms, mandated morning assemblies, teacher-graded weekly diaries, military song contests and military instructors on campus, Huang said, adding that many of those practices still exist.

As I’ve said before, I’m not optimistic about Taiwan’s education system. :worried: At least now they’re talking about stuff.

@BHL4life, the concept of the “right to offend” does get discussed in western countries, from time to time. Ask Ezra Levant.

@the_bear, 70:30 has been the official line all along if I’m not mistaken, since the start of the big reform. What Chinese people actually think depends on things like family background etc. But even so, young people nowadays tend not to care much one way or another. They see him more as a historical figure than as a political symbol. (Your Yangshuo experience was almost three decades ago! To say nothing of the Chairman’s lifetime… :grandpa:)

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Not sure what you mean by “Ahem…”. I just wanted to point out that these students are not likely to run into a Jew who could tell them more about that chapter of world history.

Now I am wondering, what if students wore the uniforms of the People’s Liberation Army in Taiwan?

What’s next in creativity? Skinning live cats and dogs? That’s unique. There are many things that have not been tried before… one wonders why.

My quetsion is: this is really stirring the pot. Now it is engaged in a debate necessary for undertsnding. I strongly doubt a teenaged student wrote that letter. Kids nowadays are “awake”… but not that cunning.

The Association of University Professors 台灣教授協會 is also pessimistic.

In any case, we foresee little chance that the incident will be used as an opportunity to address, on a more profound level, the nation’s political, social and educational problems that were highlighted.

The incident presented a clear lesson on the potential pitfalls of encouraging students to use their creativity unchecked.

It neatly exemplifies the moral vacuum and abnegation of responsibility in society and, most crucially, the absence of transitional justice in the realms of politics, society and education.

For another (still pessimistic) view: The new education reform thread - #24 by yyy

Summary: a delegation of students went to the Israeli office to apologize, they exchanged gifts, and the school will start teaching about the Holocaust.

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I have seen this tonight at Banqiao. Hes anyone else noticed this weird compilation. Look carefully at the faces and read the sign.

What ZE FUCK?

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This must be what they refer to as fake news!

why fake, why news?

It’s presented as a class photo…the 64th graduating class. It obviously never happened, and some of them aren’t even real photos! And then there’s the obvious age difference. I’m all in favor of lifelong learning, but this is just…

But do you think that Anne Frank was friends with Hitler at school or there is no coincidence that they are standing so far apart in a class picture?

You think too much! There’s a simpler explanation…all the girls are together in a group. The sexes were probably separated into different classes at that school.

Is it racist that i dont recognize most asian faces in this picture?

Racist is a strong word, but you may need to check your white privilege. Oh, and your blonde privilege too. You must at least recognize Mao and Sun, right? And maybe Mr. Peanut the Dictator?

It’s not like it’s unprecedented.

Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ were requested by Lennon, but ultimately rejected.

yeah, but eventually they were rejected, by people who kne who Jesus and Hitler were.

I think that’s a standard pantheon for modern KMT supporters.

In the center you have SYS and CKS, of course. Right next to them you have Mao and Zhou En-lai, crucial to signify KMT’s agenda of rather surrender to the CCP than submit to the will of the Taiwanese people.

You then have the two figures that led WW2, Churchill and Roosevelt. Some other American presidents. Then you have the two most well known scientists in front. A couple of arts people representing. Then you have President Ma’s wife sandwiched between Ann Frank and Audrey Hepburn. Maybe it’s implying that Ex-first lady is secretly a Dutch citizen or something.

Oh and that’s not the presidents wife. That’s the burman woman Pootang and some Chinese revolutionary.