One of the ways to get beat up in Taiwan

I saw this story on the news last night.

The photos tell the story of one great way to get your ass kicked in Taiwan.

Variations of this have happened regularly in the 20+ years I have been in Taiwan. The foreigner almost always comes out as the victim of an often serious beating. This guy was lucky he didn’t end up in the hospital.

  1. American dude rides motorcyle on Highway 26 between Fangliao and Kending (Danger! Taike territory with Taike visitors from all over island joining the numerous local ones). Notice that he is lawfully in the the left lane because of the type of motorcycle.

  2. Black sedan (Danger! Danger! Taike alert! Taike alert!) dangerously passes him and cuts him off (Danger! Danger! Meth/alcohol/betel nut-intoxicated driver operating vehicle!).

  3. Instead of pulling over and settling down from a near miss in a possibly fatal collision, American loses his cool, pulls up beside the car, and yells (according to him, but a foolish confrontational act regardless of what he says) “What’s wrong with you.” (Danger! Danger! You have no idea who might be in car.) In this case, one of the occupants was this gentleman:

He says he thought that American dude told him to F-off. There’s no point in arguing over what was actually said. The point is that the kind of guys who were in this car want some foreigner to tell them to F-off. They live for this kind of confrontation. They will hear what they want to hear.

Actually, they don’t care if it is a foreigner. This happens to other Taiwanese people all the time. See this example from Jinshan in July.

  1. Two of the occupants beat the American dude down with golf clubs (Were they on the way to the Hengchun links? I think not.).

I’m not condoning what happened. The people in the car should be prosecuted. They were driving dangerously and whatever the American guy said could never have justified a beat down with golf clubs.

But what happened was entirely predictable.

Don’t do this.

Thank you, good advice, that road is dangerous. Good books says “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
In this case change it to “Keeping your mouth shut turns away wrath, any word will stir up anger.”

We too often forget that many of these guys are not cute little tattooed gangstas, but some are quite hardened. Think back to our home countries, we’d never act this way. There are many groups back in our home countries that would hurt/kill us for this kind of behavior. On Taiwan roads, 99% of the time you have to suck it up, swallow your pride and just drive ultra defensively, there’s nothing you can do, you can’t be pissed off all the time or go to war with the locals. Easy to say, very hard to do

Sounds like he lost that game by default.

The moral of the story is: Don’t forget to bring your golf clubs while riding a motorcycle.

If only everyone was allowed to carry a gun…when will we ever learn!!!

I agree with most of this except that in my home country, I would be far more likely to confront the offending driver. At the same time, I would have to assume that the driver is (A) packing a weapon (B) probably intoxicated and (C) way more likely to use his vehicle as a weapon. Then again, it might be some dumbshit kid who was doing a Speed Racer and didn’t even see me on my black bike. This road rage type-thing happens quite frequently at home. Fortunately, not that many people are getting shot. From what I can gather from this report, the waiguoren’s big mistake was stopping. For chrissakes, you’re on a big bike. You can roll up, say your “fuck you” and high-tail it out of there. If they follow, you head for the nearest copshop and let those cats mediate the deal. I mean, it’s in every Taiwan travel guide ever printed - don’t wrangle with the locals, cuz they don’t fight one-on-one and they have no compunction about bringing weapons into the mix. Having been in a few confrontations way way back in my early days, it only takes one carload of baseball bat wielding Taike to roll up on your local pub, looking for you, in order to learn that lesson.

Maybe then instead of a red mark, they would need to carry body bags and arrange funerals. That seems way better?

I remember in my home town there was a period of time for about a few months, there were weekly instances of freeway shooting due to road rage. At that time, I drove like an angel and kept my cool.

Well said about how we need to suck it and and drive on defense. I got into an accident here in TW before and it was not a fun process dealing with the cops and insurance. A lot of drivers here hide behind their 80% tinted windows.

walking is hassle enough, i can’t even imagine the rage i would be feeling if i was sharing the road with these dick heads.

Here are some tips I read

• Do not take your eyes off the road.
• Avoid eye contact with an aggressive driver.
• Stay cool; don’t react to provocation.
• Distance yourself from drivers behaving erratically.
• Do not make obscene gestures.
• Assume other drivers’ mistakes are not personal.
• Be polite and courteous, even if the other driver isn’t.
• Avoid all conflict if possible. If another driver challenges you, take a deep breath
and get out of the way.
• Understand that you can’t control the traffic, only your reaction to it.

Buddy didn’t do anything wrong or bad, he just did shit that’s wrong or bad for here.

[quote=“Feiren”]
Two of the occupants beat the American dude down with golf clubs [/quote]

Jeez, doesn’t anything ever change?

Unbelievably, well put.

[quote=“Rocket”]Buddy didn’t do anything wrong or bad, he just did shit that’s wrong or bad for here.

[quote=“Feiren”]
Two of the occupants beat the American dude down with golf clubs [/quote]

Jeez, doesn’t anything ever change?

Unbelievably, well put.[/quote]

You’re making an excuse for him, Rocko. You’re honorary Filipino as it is, but dude, he was wrong on at least one account. And it wasn’t telling Tai Pachino to fuck off. Salamat, kuya. Opo.

Dude doesn’t look particularly “beat down” to me. Has a hardly discernable pink mark on his arm. Probably got prodded with the rubber grip of a sand iron. :neutral:

And you, sir, are a genius:

Maybe then instead of a red mark, they would need to carry body bags and arrange funerals. That seems way better?[/quote]

:bravo:

You aren’t perchance Taiwanese, are you?

Guy

[quote=“super_lucky”][quote=“Rocket”]Buddy didn’t do anything wrong or bad, he just did shit that’s wrong or bad for here.

[quote=“Feiren”]
Two of the occupants beat the American dude down with golf clubs [/quote]

Jeez, doesn’t anything ever change?

Unbelievably, well put.[/quote]

You’re making an excuse for him, Rocko. You’re honorary Filipino as it is, but dude, he was wrong on at least one account. And it wasn’t telling Tai Pachino to fuck off. Salamat, kuya. Opo.[/quote]

Yeah, everybody wants to be Ninoy, nobody wants to get shot at the airport.
Oye como va, bra.

Anything a foreigner says is fuck you.

In a smackdown between a motorcycle and a car, the motorcycle loses…it’s just simple physics. I’ve got nothing against flipping off/insulting the idiot in the car, but you better make sure you have a narrow alleyway to escape through first.

Forget you

It’s stacked against foreigners anyway. If the foreigner “beat down” the gangster, he would be in jail now, preparing to be deported for a criminal record.

The gangster being Taiwanese probably has a criminal record 3 pages long and couldn’t care less about the extra entry in the police logbook, it makes him look hard and badass to his buddies.

You are right. #Laowaiprivilege is an ugly thing.

[quote=“Rocket”]

Unbelievably, well put.[/quote]

Thanks Rocket I thought it was unbelievably well put too if I say so myself