This article purports to tell the story of “Anonymous”,a foreigner from the kaohsiung area, and his experiences of partying and being busted.
However, this article just reads “funny” to me. Makes me wonder if Jason Blair has moved to Taiwan to continue his illustrious journalistic career.
Seems more like a composite of various people’s experiences rather than one guys story.
Also, I am highly doubtful of how “Anonymous” served his rehab/sentence and then was allowed to remain in the country. Doesn’t that warrant automatic deportation once released for us “furriners”???
Anyway, while the article does serve as a cautionary tale, if it is indeed a composite, it should say so (but, this would be much less interesting, wouldn’t it. Journalistic accuracy is so frustrating, isn’t it? )
Hoping the wiser heads (lol) here will either confirm or correct the legal details related to this story.
[quote]By the way, if after reading this you think you know who I am, don’t be afraid to come and ask me about it. I’m not ashamed.[/quote]The dumb f*cker should be ashamed. Perhaps this ignorance is one of his main problems.
Ignorance indeed. You would have thought after the first scare he would have stayed the hell away from anything even remotely related to drugs of the people who do them. But no, he had to do a clean-up act for the guy who went away and kept smokin. Apparently he was married. Maybe that kept him from being deported.
Cops don’t need to listen in on anyones phone calls when it comes to druggies. Just catch one of them, tell him he’s going away for life until he names names, and let him go when he does. I’d sing like a canary to keep my ass out of a Taiwanese court system and jail, wouldn’t you?
even Stanley Huang, ex-LA Boy and ABC said first that pot smoking is not such a serious crime, but later amended his statement to say that people should be aware of and respect the laws of the country they are in.
whether that was on his own or the advice of his agent, hard to say.
but he has been sporting the skinhead look for quite a while, eh
It’s a true story. The writer owns a streetside restaurant here in Kaohsiung and it’s no secret who he is. As the article claims he’s not ashamed. As to being deported, I don’t know what the ‘rule’ is on that, but way back when, I personally knew a guy who got caught with two joints at a club (after he stuffed the big bag of X he was selling in the sofa) and served an almost identical sentence. He’s still here in fact, and has been for quite a long while. His parents were missionaries of sorts. Back home they would probably be called members of a cult. But that’s another interesting story in itself.
I’m the editor of Xpat Magazine and personally know the guy who wrote it. It is a factual story.
He has cleaned up his act.
He isn’t ashamed of the experience because he learned from it and feels that he’s improved himself because of it.
He wrote the story to inform other foreigners about the way the system works here because it’s very different from our home countries and he’d like to help others steer clear of the Taiwanese judicial system.
I’m quite confused as to why anyone would think that there’s something wrong with this.
I was impressed to see that he had actually rehabilitated:
He might have had to learn the lesson the hard way (wow, turns out all those straight people weren’t so dumb after all), but some people just need a bit of stick to get some basic rules for life into them. And hey, it was a little over a month, which isn’t bad at all. Not only that, but he was in a privileged part of the prison. Says a lot for the gaol system here.
Maybe more people should be dragged off the streets and put in the slammer for a month to cool down and learn some common sense, like he did. It might actually help.
[quote=“Fortigurn”]but some people just need a bit of stick to get some basic rules for life into them.[/quote]Guess they’d be your rules, would they? You are a GOOD MAAAN and he was a BAD MAAAN.
[quote]Every church has its own history. Paul Adefarasin’s House on the Rock deserves a mention. Born with a silver spoon, Adefarasin squandered his life away on drugs in the United States until he saw the light in 1994.
From the living room of his mother in Lagos , he set up a church that blossomed over the last seven years to 7,000 worshippers at its present headquarters. This is in addition to 36 other branches both within and outside the country.
Eloquent and charismatic, Aderafasin is one of the favourite televangelists. Through his “Something Is About to Happen” television programme, he has been able to touch the lives of many weary souls in many ways. Many find his turn-around from his previous drug addicted lifestyle as a great challenge in their own lives.[/quote]Hallelooly Praise de Lord!!!
Why not just make it part of the visa application process?[/quote]
Because I think more of the locals need it than the visitors.
Er, no, not my rules. The new rules he has chosen for himself. Basic rules for life like ‘Don’t do drugs in a country which has strict laws against drugs’. Nothing to do with me. I said nothing about my rules.
I don’t understand this. I said nothing about myself, and I certainly never said anything about him being a ‘BAD MAAAN’. On the other hand, he claims to have been ‘rehabilitated’, so clearly he believes his previous way of life needed change (perhaps you do not, but you can take it up with him - not me)
[quote][quote]Every church has its own history. Paul Adefarasin’s House on the Rock deserves a mention. Born with a silver spoon, Adefarasin squandered his life away on drugs in the United States until he saw the light in 1994.
From the living room of his mother in Lagos , he set up a church that blossomed over the last seven years to 7,000 worshippers at its present headquarters. This is in addition to 36 other branches both within and outside the country.
Eloquent and charismatic, Aderafasin is one of the favourite televangelists. Through his “Something Is About to Happen” television programme, he has been able to touch the lives of many weary souls in many ways. Many find his turn-around from his previous drug addicted lifestyle as a great challenge in their own lives.[/quote]Hallelooly Praise de Lord!!![/quote]
I have no idea what this has to do with this thread.
The cult is/was the Children of God, also known as “The family”. A very messed up group indeed with some less than great influences on those who grew up in their cult. Not refering to the food stall guy, but with regards to the guy who was caught with 2 joints, perhaps think about the bad influence of the cult when judging those who grew up in it. I remember about 7 years ago one of the sisters of the guy who did time in “rehab” having suicided. I did not know her well but had met her. She seemed like a very nice girl. Quite a few of them had basically grown up here. At least one of the other older brothers of the guy who did the “rehab” was living in Gaoxiong/Kaohsiung last time I saw him a year or 2 ago and had a relatively normal life I think. Was working in export trade. I think another younger brother has left Taiwan. He was possibly the most camp guy I ever met. I am 98% sure he was working as a gay prostitute in Taibei for a while.
I can basically confirm that at least one other foreigner in Kaohsiung (not mentioned in this thread had a similar story about the “rehab”, and yes he is still here (he is married to a local). I know him well enough to believe everything he said about it, and it basically confirms what is described elsewhere except his conditions were maybe a bit worse…
Oh yes I remember them from my days at DNA. The older sis jumped of a building in Taipei and I’m pretty sure the younger guy got deported. I always heard about them belonging to a cult but never knew exactly what it was about.
Oh, I’ve heard of them! Buncha hippies who believed Dave Berg was the messiah, or something. Free love as a form of outreach. Statutory rape scandal… Did I miss anything? They’ve got a center in Danshui which sells children’s books or something. Apparently “flirty fishing” is no longer policy–they’re supposed to only do it with people they know. (Damn!)
Interesting story. Those signs at the airport aren’t a joke. I think so many North Americans are jaded that they think it’s funny and quaint, not a real warning… DRUG TRAFFICKING IN THE ROC IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH…
or whatever it says. If trafficking will get you a death sentence, imagine how harsh regular drug use is?
)