@foc No matter what the topic is, you always idealize Taiwan, its culture, government, everything and deny any arguments talking about flaws.
It reminds me of the thread about Taiwan population decline, you just could not accept, that if government does very little to support, for example, availability of housing for young people without rich parents it can be called they are doing nothing, as it has no visible effect - less and less people want to have children - and you defended the government very stubbornly.
You are mistaken. I have many criticisms of Taiwan. Taiwan is like most other relatively wealthy societies. It does many things well but also has real problems.
You and some other posters here have a very superficial understanding of Taiwan because you have not lived here very long and you are illiterate in Chinese. As a result, you repeat canards, half truths, and lazy narratives that I have heard from poorly informed foreigners here for decades.
Just for the record, some things that I think Taiwan could do much better include:
Protecting the environment
Migrant workers
Land use policies
Indigenous Taiwanese
Education for non-elites
College tuition
Rampant blind developmentalism
Discrimination
Traffic
Taxes that are too low and do not reach the property-owning classes
An ineffectual legislature
Poor local government
Cronyism and nepotism
Closed shops
Tourism policy
Poor quality of public debate
Coddling of inefficient industries
There are many other problems but those came to mind first.
Please, not this one.
I have seen too many people saying
“I have been doing this for 30 years, you know nothing.”
Most of them never looked at whatever the issue was from another perspective or for whatever reason did not want to look.
Ignorance, pride and ego, money or fear of losing their job or high status position were some of the most common reasons.
Also, for example, if you spend a lot of time in a place that stinks so bad, you would get used to it.
But if someone comes there from a place with a fresh air, he would be like “What the heck is this bad smell?!”
And even pleasant fragrances become ordinary and we ignore them after getting used to them daily too, the same as disgusting odors.
@foc has been around the block here. He reads carefully across multiple languages and comments critically on a range of issues related to our lives in Taiwan. There’s no need to mischaracterize his approach.
Doctors are for example very educated people, who worked very hard and needed to be intelligent to get where they are.
Still it does not mean, that they do not live in a bubble for whatever reason, either ego, peer pressure and talking mostly with people with the same education background or because of corruption.
And just because patient hasn’t spent many years in the university and hasn’t worked decades in the field, it does not mean it is always safe to religiously follow whatever doctor says about his health.
I’m most concerned about PM2.5 pollution. 36% is from vehicles, 27% is from China, 25% is from industry, and 12% is from other sources. Geography exacerbates the problem in western Taiwan.
The mix is different in the north. In Taipei, the main domestic source is vehicles since there is relatively little industry in the Taipei basin these days.
That said, ozone pollution is also a big issue in Taipei, and that is mainly caused by vehicles again. Taipei’s geography makes it worse. My understanding is that we notice the ozone pollution more. Northern Taiwan has very high vehicle density, which is the source of many other problems that impact our quality of life.
No true for many children in the south of Taiwan whose first language is Taiwanese. My sons first language is Taiwanese, Mandarin his second language. He could not speak English as a young child. He started learning English at around 8 years old.
The view from just near my home. Plenty of fresh air. I need to drive down the mountain to get any stink. @FOC has reasoned posts. I think we are approaching near four decades in Taiwan. We all can see things differently. Sometimes we even noted different things about life here in the good old 80’s. It’s great to see the young whippersnapppers come here and tell us old folks how it is nowadays. We have no more sage advice to offer lol
Okay, you can continue this circlejerk without me.
If someone has only the “I am older, so I know better than you” card left to pull out of their sleeve, I know they have no real arguments and just want to keep their status quo…and their “face”.
LOLZ I don’t need to indulge in anything. I’m fading away in the wilderness.
So how is this discourse changing anything for the deported? Or helping with poor air quality on the western plains?
A lot of people here who get lung cancer are not even smokers.
Better those mountains are alright. Still far from good, but visibility is decent. Taiwan, in very deep areas, have good days. Especially after rains. No one seems to be monitoring soil and water pollution after said airpollution becomes water/soil borne
those mountains are alright. Still far from good, but visibility is decent. Taiwan, in very deep areas, have good days. Especially after rains. No one seems to be monitoring soil and water pollution after said airpollution becomes water/soil borne 
