B.B. I respect your enthusiasm for posting, and it is good to see that you have strong opinions. Make sure that they are grounded in fact, though, otherwise it will just weaken your argument. First of all, what do you mean “forced to have an abortion”? Do you mean tied down to a bed kicking and screaming? Or do you mean not being supportive of choosing to give birth to a child? If I can not force a woman to have a baby, how can I force her to not have a baby, short of tying her down and assaulting her womb. I think you are referring to a case where the journalist in question did not receive the moral support she wanted from her lover. Rude, selfish and uncaring, yes, but not illegal. Now if he refused to pay child support, that would be illegal, at least in Canada. But telling your girlfriend to get an abortion is not “forcing her”. Not under normal circumstances, anyway.
On to the Paraguayan diplomat thing. The man is innocent. Why? Because he has not been proven guilty. In democratic soccieties, the burden of proof is on the state (the police, the courts, the prosecuting attorney, etc.), not the individual. In other words, Mr. Paraguay doesn’t have to prove he’s innocent, but whoever is accusing him has to prove he’s guilty. How can this be done? Not through the use of his medical records, that’s for sure. Medical records are confidential under the law. It is illegal for anyone to disclose medical records of an individual without that individual’s consent, hospitals included.
Even if it were admissible, it still doesn’t prove anything. Assuming that the medical records say he did have genital warts, who is to say the girl didn’t infect the guy? We know she doesn’t believe in safe sex, so assuming she wasn’t a virgin when she met the man, it’s entirely possible. It’s her word against his. No way for us to know. Also, please remember that this girl was anonymous, and her face/physical identity obscured. If she is willing to destroy this man’s reputation and career so publically, she should at least have the courage to go public with her own identity.
She also said that there were four other women in the same situation as her, one of whom had tried to commit suicide. “How pathetic it is to be a Taiwanese,” the woman’s suicide note stated. “Because as one, you can never have any injustice redressed.” What does this have to do with being Taiwanese? Do Taiwanese men never pass something nasty to their sexual partners? Never? Did she think that he didn’t marry her because she was not Latin? Again, no names, no independent confirmation, just nameless, faceless accusations.
How can any man possibly defend himself against that kind of slander? I couldn’t, but if I were innocent, I might go to the hospital, get my privates checked out and disclose my medical bill of health to the public, all because of an anonymous report.
But even this is not good enough for you. So even though it’s entirely possible this man is innocent, you condemn him, and discount any action he would take, even if it might point in the direction of his innocence.
Don’t forget the political element involved here. This case was brought to the public’s attention one and a half years after their relationship ended. Why? Because it coincided with a visit by the Paraguayan president to Taiwan, and was intended to embarrass him and Chen Shuibian. Don’t forget, the only person who revealed her indentity in this case was a PFP legislator. We all know how much the PFP loves Chen Shuibian. They try to embarrass him using any tactics available to them, even when that information is blatantly untrue, as in the KTV ear-licking case.
Finally, the anonymous woman said she was unhappy with the way she was treated when she went to complain at the embassy. What on earth did she expect? Imagine for a moment that you are the British Ambassador to the United States in Washington DC, with a staff of over a hundred people. Imagine that an American girl approacches the Ambassador and says that one of the junior clerks gave her genital warts. What on earth would she expect the Ambassador to do? Fire him on this woman’s say-so? Ask him to unzip his trousers so that he could ahve a good look himself? Ridiculous. He would have told her (and rightly so) that he is very sorry for her distress but there is nothing he can do for her. And if he were a responsible man, he might make a mental note to have a private word with the man. Why private? Because these accusations were completely unsubstantiated.
B.B., if I were you, I would be less concerned about unproven and unprovable allegations, and more concerned about basic human rights in Taiwan. Judging from the tone of your posts, I guess you get most of your information from the gossip tabloids. Try thinking a little more analytically and objectively.
[url=Why needs to have a gf? - #4 by _monkey the way, this issue was discussed a while ago here.[/url]