bumbler - someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence
synonyms: blunderer, botcher, bungler, fuckup, fumbler, sad sack, stumbler, butcher
It’s not surprising when you look back at Ma’s academic record:
Ma entered the best seniro high school in Taipei through a special quota reserved for oversea Chinese. He did not have to tak the entrance exam like everyone else did. (He was born in either Canton or Hong Kong).
Ma again entered Department of Law at National Taiwan Univ through a similar special program, which add extra scores to oversea Chinese in the entrance exam.
Ma still holds the record as the only SJD from Harvard that does not pass a bar exam.
Why the hell do people expect presidents to wave a magic wand and make everything all right again? Especially in the face of massive vested interests, organised crime which is indistinguishable from ordinary business, an unimaginative culture which above all wants things to remain exactly as they are, and an education system so poor that people can’t comprehend that energy (and other resources) costs money. God help us if the TaiKe mouthbreathers currently running the DPP get into power next time around; it’s difficult to achieve anything good from the president’s office, but it’s all too easy to make a right bloody pig’s ear of it.
Because they wanted the man who had influence over the vested interest groups, organized crime, and would stamp out any semblance of a creative culture so they could hang on to the status quo that the DPP threatened. As it turns out Ma is following the inscription on his father’s urn: “Replace independence with gradual unification, strengthen China, and work towards unification.” Weakening Taiwan and allowing for Chinese sovereign creep is strategic.
Who exactly are these “Taike” mouth breathers? Do you mean Tsai Ying-wen with her PhD from the London School of Economics, Su Tseng-chang, NTU graduate who passed the Taiwan bar when the pass rate was less than 1%, Dr. William Lai, with his graduate degree in public health from Harvard?
It’s amazing after all these years to hear members of the foreign community still mindlessly repeating these stereotypes.
The big problem with Ma and his crew is that they keep doing more of the same thing, more heavy industry, more cheap labour, more big business breaks, more half empty industrial parks, they are too old and out of touch.
To be fair, I think both parties are really at a loss for what to do about Taiwan’s changing economy. There aren’t any fresh ideas from the DPP about what to do with the economy beyond extending and expanding Taiwan’s nascent welfare state. They are not encouraged or forced to come up with new ideas because while there is broad discontent, there is little consensus on what must be done to get Taiwan back on track.
But the problem with Ma is that he is fundamentally not very interested in things like improving Taiwan’s economy, quality of life, or educational system. He is focused on essentially fictional issues like the legal status of the Republic of China and its claims to the Senkakus.
[quote=“Feiren”]Who exactly are these “Taike” mouth breathers? Do you mean Tsai Ying-wen with her PhD from the London School of Economics, Su Tseng-chang, NTU graduate who passed the Taiwan bar when the pass rate was less than 1%, Dr. William Lai, with his graduate degree in public health from Harvard?
It’s amazing after all these years to hear members of the foreign community still mindlessly repeating these stereotypes.[/quote]
I was referring to the rank-and-file of the DPP, especially those in local government seats. I’m not repeating a stereotype: I’m describing the idiots I see on TV (although to be fair, the KMT variants aren’t a whole lot better).
Tsai Ing-Wen is (as far as politicians go) not too bad, but having a higher degree simply means you’re good at sitting in a quiet room writing about arcane topics that nobody cares about. It’s not very relevant to running a chaotic country like Taiwan.
I’d agree with that. Taiwan in general is not renowned for Big Ideas, and I think both of the main parties are looking at The West for inspiration (as they usually do) and seeing a huge shambles. It’s beyond their ability to formulate a grand strategy for a very unique country, and the Great Unwashed wouldn’t accept such a thing anyway. They just want things to stay the same, except with cheaper electricity, lower house prices, and higher salaries.
Why should Ma not be blamed for his own failure after five years in office and a total control of legislative branch? Too bad Ma has tortured Chen to gone mental. Otherwise, Ma’s dear Janes and Jones can still blame Chen for Ma’s own faults.
Well, firstly because he gave the people exactly what they wanted: for the moneyed classes, a license to go to China and print (more) money; and for everybody else, “stability”, ie., the daily routine remains unchanged. So what are we blaming him for, exactly?
Secondly, because no president has control of everything, unless he’s a dictator. He has very few options for making deep structural changes. At a mundane level, there’s always someone who will say “no”, even if it’s fundamentally a good idea. As for things like salaries and living standards: well, the government can (and should) regulate access to, and sustainable use of, shared resources such as the environment, and that has a large effect on the relative costs of things. But it’s not the government’s fault if a concrete box costs 10x the annual salary. It’s the fault of agents and string-pullers who manipulate the market, and the ordinary people who are prepared to go to the bank, cap in hand, and sign their life away in order to pay the mortgage.
In fact it was under the DPP administration that Taiwan’s exports to China boomed.
It was the Chen administration that opened up trade opportunities. They, however, wanted to do it on their terms. Ma wants to do it on China’s terms. One critical issue between Taiwan and China is the issue of sovereignty. By sovereignty I mean contribution to local well-being, building of infrastructure, establishment of a world beating medical system, rule of law etc. These are things owned and paid for by the people of Taiwan not China. To establish true sovereignty the Chinese have to start investing in Taiwan. The most likely outcome of that will be targeting of sovereign wealth schemes such as Lao Bao by China. That after all is where the money is and the long term economic security of Taiwan’s population is. It put the Greeks in the pockets of the Germans and if the Chinese are savvy enough and adroit enough the same will happen to Taiwan.
As I have said before and still hold to be true, it is the museum (gu gong) that is of primary interest to the Chinese. They want their antiquities back. You cannot be a world leading power and have the eyes of your history sitting in another man’s backyard. It is dishonorable. The Chinese know that. It burns them, but the museum is vulnerable. If Cash My Check did one good thing for Taiwan he robbed the Chinese of honor, placed it on a box full of kindling, and said come and get it if you dare.
Who exactly are these “Taike” mouth breathers? Do you mean Tsai Ying-wen with her PhD from the London School of Economics, Su Tseng-chang, NTU graduate who passed the Taiwan bar when the pass rate was less than 1%, Dr. William Lai, with his graduate degree in public health from Harvard?
It’s amazing after all these years to hear members of the foreign community still mindlessly repeating these stereotypes.[/quote]
Their elite education (and I say this having graduated from the same school as Tsai) makes their populist politics and xenophobia all the more shameful. The person who screwed me over during my time in Taiwan’s government was educated in Kyoto and the University of Ohio (latter for grad school) and previous to his political appointment worked in the DPP’s international office. One would expect erudition and multiculturalism out of the Hoklo elite rather than base tribalism and worship of WW2 Japan.
Education means jack shit if it is used as a status symbol as it is often seen by Taiwanese and if they use rote memorization. I learned more about politics in grad school in the pub. It’s a practical art after all!
Who exactly are these “Taike” mouth breathers? Do you mean Tsai Ying-wen with her PhD from the London School of Economics, Su Tseng-chang, NTU graduate who passed the Taiwan bar when the pass rate was less than 1%, Dr. William Lai, with his graduate degree in public health from Harvard?
It’s amazing after all these years to hear members of the foreign community still mindlessly repeating these stereotypes.[/quote]
Their elite education (and I say this having graduated from the same school as Tsai) makes their populist politics and xenophobia all the more shameful. The person who screwed me over during my time in Taiwan’s government was educated in Kyoto and the University of Ohio (latter for grad school) and previous to his political appointment worked in the DPP’s international office. One would expect erudition and multiculturalism out of the Hoklo elite rather than base tribalism and worship of WW2 Japan.
Education means jack shit if it is used as a status symbol as it is often seen by Taiwanese and if they use rote memorization. I learned more about politics in grad school in the pub. It’s a practical art after all! [/quote]
I find in Taiwan, often the higher the education, the more bigotry we see willfully on display (especially those with local PhDs). This is not true of all, but it is a disturbing enough trend for most people to notice. Politics is rife with ignorance regarding outsiders, and now after all these years, the local baby-kissers have finally realized there is a penny to be made off the foreign barbarians (welcome to the rest of the world Taiwan!) so we see a relaxing of immigration laws and a bump in scholarships. Too bad Taiwan missed its heyday, and most of the expats have moved on to China or elsewhere and Taiwan has become a sleepy backwater enclave with much fewer direct or connecting flights and a foreign population with much less sway or spending power.
I don’t think many of the legislators or top politicians actually care, they are almost all very wealthy. They still send their kids overseas for education and green cards. Both recent presidents had that in common. Some do care but are surrounded by a sea of corruption, ineptitude and gangsterism.
Education is over valued in Taiwan or Chinese society. It’s more about the title and then many get lazy or get sucked back in to the local ways like Jason Hu. He is a perfect example of overrated education credentials, with a PhD from Cambridge in God knows what. What has he done for Taichung and what has he done for his family and friends. Which comes first? We all know the answer.
[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]
Politics is rife with ignorance regarding outsiders[/quote]
KMT-censored textbooks brainwash all elementary and high school students to view the history as a boxing ring, in which heavy-weight westerners repeatedly beat down skinny Chinese. Other cultures are completely ignored in those books. Taiwan’s own history before KMT arrival is either skewed or oppressed.
Chen’s administration tried hard to make Taiwan more friendly and open to the world. Guess who block his legislative reform? KMT! Now Ma’s presidency brings back the xenophbia that lies in the core of KMT ideology. They are not called Chniese Nationalists in vain.
the above whining set aside. A real interesting question is that what thinking makes US favors KMT and despises DPP?
To be honest, if I wanted economic results and I was a government head, I would be contacting some of the thinkers in the Singaporean or Hong Kong government to come to Taiwan and get it into better economic shape.
I have noticed that people that have a lower or low education tend to be more honest and straightforward, but the ones with high degrees here tend to be the most racist and classist. It goes to prove that money doesn’t buy you class.
Free association lead me to two questions. Can anyone help?
Which single word can describe a person who is a both stupid and evil?
CAn any movie character be described as stupid and evil and a little funny at the same time?
No. 2 in Austin Powers came close but he was not so stupid.
Nick Nack is one but unfortunately he was too serious.
The hyenas in Lion King was evil, a little stupid, and a little funny but they were not human characters.
