English teachers nabbed in drug-ring bust (Part 2)

[color=red]Admin Edit: [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/english-teachers-nabbed-in-drug-ring-bust-part-1/20782/1 here[/url] for English teachers nabbed in drug-ring bust (Part 1) [/color]

"A number of individuals on the expat bulletin board Forumosa.com, where this news item is hotly discussed, have posted comments to the extent that James will deserve whatever punishment he gets, with some even expressing the view they “would have no sympathies if the Taiwan authorities did give out the death penalty.” Others have accused him of “ruining it for all of us.” While some have stuck up for legalization of drugs and civil rights, the overall tone of the posts has been very moralizing.

I suppose it’s not surprising that white foreigners would be the first ones willing to cast the torch to burn James at the stake, mostly out of a desire to distance themselves from such behavior. The problem is that this save-my-ass-first attitude does absolutely nothing to improve understanding between foreigners and locals at a time when the relationship is clearly transforming.

How this case is handled by media and the justice system should be of special concern to an expat community that has grown large enough and networked enough that we “foreigners” can’t blend into the woodwork anymore. It’s now inevitable that our alien mores, including wide-spread drug consumption, will increasingly come into conflict with local, more conservative values and their reflections in the national Criminal Code.

That Taiwanese investigators release video evidence to TV networks prior to prosecution is extremely worrisome, and we can now rest assured that it affects “us foreigners” too. More cause for worry is that while Taiwan guarantees the right to remain silent, the right to a lawyer, and the right to a phone call, police often don’t mention this.

We should also remember that the wonderful livability of Taiwan is afforded by a general sense of goodwill on the part of most Taiwanese, not the law. Taiwanese law does not guarantee a tremendous number of rights for resident aliens: we are not allowed to own businesses or property under their own names; our dependents do not have the right to work; we are only allowed to work the one job specified by their work permit, not multiple jobs as in most developed countries; we have reduced privileges with banks, telecom accounts, drivers’ licenses, and banks; we cannot form labor unions; and there is no independent review in cases of deportation.

Given the fuzzy legality of most of Taiwan’s systems, a shift in attitude towards “foreign guests” is worrisome (and in fact some of my Taiwanese colleagues have told me they already sense such a shift coming out of the new nationalistic ideas promoted by the DPP). Taiwanese employers routinely tell foreign workers not to worry about work permits, but when there is a problem, the worker is deported while the employer pays a small fine. When the law and goodwill run up against each other, the law always wins.

publish.pots.com.tw/english/Comm … index.html

  1. Sounds like the posters above who really know what happened can expect a knock on their door any time now… Remember that you have the right to remain silent even though the police don’t tell you that.

  2. This is certainly bad news for the expat community, and getting up on our moralistic high horse and throwing the first torch to burn this guy at the stake isn’t going to help us.

  3. Certainly Asia has plenty of organized crime and plenty of drugs even without the white man. [I had some very tasty “yellow butterfly” X tabs in a Beijing nightclub in 1998] But we make a convenient scapegoat and it will be hard to shake this.

Excellent article. Impressive and well put. Mr. Frazier has put together my thoughts perfectly on this subject. It’s a sad reality.

Yep, thanks to perfunctory police officers.

This one cracks me up:

[quote=“Bassman”]I have compassion for him. Do I feel sorry for him or pity him? NO[/quote] Hey! You funny, you guy! :slight_smile:

I haven’t been to ONE foreign rooftop party where drugs were not involved. Where do people think the weed they smoke or the E they pop comes from? Just last night I had to hear about people stopping taking stuff because their ARCs are expiring soon.

THese stupid idiots that got caught did it so that other stupid idiots can smoke themselves into a lumplike haze.

And now all of a sudden nobody wants to have anything to do with them.

Go figure. I’m sure some people here commented on this thread stoned.

Dude, how about my rooftop parties?
I’m sure we were all just a little bit drunken.
Which, while it is a horrid and disgusting habit, is at least perfectly legal. Unless you’re driving. Or thirteen.

People who feel negative about drugs often feel VERY negative about it, though. Even weed can get a lot of extremely negative responses. I have in the past also opted not to go to parties or camping trips because I heard there would be weed present. However, if someone wants to do it at their house it doesn’t bug me.

I doubt if the people who actually supported weed cared enough to jump into the discussion. Firstly, people who are against it often have a kind of self-righteous attitude of whatever you say is wrong, and well, they do have the law on their side. It’s kind of silly to walk around advertising the fact that you do drugs or smoke weed, especially in Taiwan.
In the world of drugs you can play together all you want, but when you get caught you go down alone.

Damn Skippy.

There is a slight difference between catnip and weed, so yes, your parties aren’t valid to my point.

I have nothing against people doing drugs…I comment because this week I heard a drug user complaining about them being stupid enough to bring drugs into the country.

I am snappy right now thanks to the idiot at MOS…forgive me. I have been emotionally and physically scarred for life.

Sounds like you’re hanging around with the wrong crowd. I have not seen any illegal drug abuse (or use) at any of the parties I’ve been to in Taiwan. Tobacco cigarettes, moderate alcohol drinking, sure, but nothing else.

Hell, I never wanted to have anything to do with them in the first place.

I know you didn’t want anything to do with them, because you obviously don’t do drugs. I meant people buying drugs, and now shaking their heads at the stupidity of it all.

Option 1: You’re a liar.

Option 2: You’re an idiot.

Option 3: You have no social life.

Note: 1, 2, and 3 apply equally to “foreigners” and “Taiwanese”. There’s no way getting around it - pick one of the 3.

I just bought DJ Chozie’s CD from 5大 records. He’s the funkster!

Is it possible that these guys get extradited?

Yep, thanks to perfunctory police officers.

This one cracks me up:

Keep Laughing Buddy, I hope you laugh till ya head falls off. One definition doesn’t sum everything up, does it?

What have you been taking to be amused by my statement? Gee, you think you actually understand what compassion is, don’t you? Got your favorite little dictionary there. Awww, how cute. Now let’s see what a few more definitions have to say… OH and…

Try harder next time.

[quote]Definitions of compassion on the Web:

* a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering
*[b] the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it[/b]
  wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

* [b]Compassion is a sense of shared suffering, most often combined with a desire to alleviate or reduce such suffering.[/b]
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion

[b][color=red]* transcends both natural human sympathy and normal Christian concern, enabling one to sense in others a wide range of emotions and then provide a supportive ministry of caring and intercessory prayer. Also called the gift of Mercy.[/color][/b]
  [www.acts17-11.com/dictionary_gifts.html](http://www.acts17-11.com/dictionary_gifts.html)

*[size=200][color=red][b] a Primary Law and prime virtue, is when a person is moved by the suffering or distress of another, and by the desire to relieve it. Compassion is empathy, not sympathy

I believe this is appropriate for times such as these.

This guy, the actor Duncan Lai, claims he, along with the Taiwanese dj were hired by the other six people there for entertainment. The media seems to believe them!

[quote=“sojourner”]

This guy, the actor Duncan Lai, claims he, along with the Taiwanese dj were hired by the other six people there for entertainment. The media seems to believe them!
[/quote]

That’s what I’d say too if I were an actor. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

This is going to be typical of the demonization and scapegoating that comes with a hot button issue like drugs. The parents think, its not my kid, its those foreign devils. The government says, its not our society, its the influence of decadent western culture. Organized crime is happy to have the populace put the scapegoated white man under the microscope. The media and the society want to believe foreigners are solely to blame for this problem… and conversely to eat up the feeble lies of the actor’s publicist. This yoke will be hard if not impossible to shake. Expect more prejudice, discrimination, and testing of body fluids, both individually and institutionally.

This mentality is not confined to Taiwan of course. Many countries, indeed continents, are in similar denial about AIDS and homosexuality. Or witness the US attitudes assumptions and prejudices regarding blacks in New Orleans, now laid bare to further embarass us in the court of world opinion.

[Text removed by moderator - please remember, promotion of illegal activities is against the rules and YES that includes which drugs you believe “everyone should try”.]

Ha ha ha ha! No-one on the website takes drugs! Titter, titter. Not me, your honour - I’m as clean as a whistle, butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth, goddam druggies, gimmie the bullets and I’ll shoot them myself, hanging’s too good for them, think of the children…! etc etc :unamused:

[quote=“mod lang”]Option 1: You’re a liar.

Option 2: You’re an idiot.

Option 3: You have no social life.

Note: 1, 2, and 3 apply equally to “foreigners” and “Taiwanese”. There’s no way getting around it - pick one of the 3.[/quote]
To whom or what are you addressing this post?

I was talking to Jack.

[quote=“Comrade Stalin”][quote=“mod lang”]Option 1: You’re a liar.

Option 2: You’re an idiot.

Option 3: You have no social life.

Note: 1, 2, and 3 apply equally to “foreigners” and “Taiwanese”. There’s no way getting around it - pick one of the 3.[/quote]
To whom or what are you addressing this post?[/quote]
I would think that he’s referring to:

To which I add second mod lang’s opinion. I probably have one of the lamest social lives of any foreigner in Taiwan and even I have seen a boatlod of pot/hash going around house parties, bars, and outdoor events. And that’s among the foreigners, who are at least semi-discreet about it. Locals can be ten times worse with just snorting/smoking that shit out in the open.