Week of May 9th, 2014

Have felt a lot of rage this week.  The temperature here just turned to sauna and it is affecting me in a bad way.  First thing that threw me into a fit was reading this article about how Taiwan is considering fining pedestrians in intersections using their smartphones.  The quote that got me was, "according to the government, Taiwanese drivers don't yield to pedestrians (even when they have the right-of-way)."  I get into many conversations about driving and the local habits, and anyone that has been here for extended periods of time laugh off how pedestrians are the lowest rung on the streets, or going through red lights is the way things are.  Survival of the fittest they say.  This stuff is ingrained in the Chinese DNA from thousands of years of fighting for every scrap.  Total bullshit.  First of all, trying to legislate stupid is infuriating mainly because it is the idiots themselves and their ridiculous lawsuits that force us to warm people that coffee is hot or not to iron your clothes while you are wearing them.  I'm good with the fact that if you are dumb enough to text in an intersection and get wiped out, that the collective gene pool will be better off without you.  If you dig into the links on the above link that reiterates the law that pedestrians have the right in the crosswalk and how they are hoping that drivers respect them without heightened police enforcement.  I have never seen someone get pulled over for any infraction and watch the cops standing by while incredibly dangerous maneuvers are pulled and simply shake their heads.  There are cameras everywhere and it seems that the way it works is that you can do whatever you want, but if someone gets hurt, they will prosecute you based on what the cameras show.  Am sick of how the social contract breaks down as soon as there are no consequences for your actions.  Shame on you Taiwan.

Something else that has been riling me up the last 3 weeks is the Boko Haram abductions of 230 girls in Nigeria for having the nerve to go to school.  On April 14th, there was a brief story about it on CNN.  Up until the last couple of days...nearly 3 weeks after the kidnappings, there was almost no news coverage and no one that I talked to had even heard about it.  Over the last few days, have finally/thankfully seen world governments/press reacting to it and even some Muslim organizations denouncing it.  World outrage and action should have been swift and unceasing.  The way that women are viewed in some cultures is sickening and I am calling you out on this Islam.  I give the Asians a lot of crap, but they recognize that women are strong and smart and deserve our respect as equals (for the most part).  Western societies have issues with objectification, but we have women leaders in all walks of life and feel it evolving further.  The Muslim world allows this shit to happen institutionally.  Women have to cover their hair so men aren't tempted by their beauty.  What?  Cutting your nutsack off would be far more effective long term.  I remember on my first study abroad overseas that they taught us to respect the differences in other cultures...they aren't weird or dumb, just different.  Any culture that allows women and girls to be treated this way, or even allows it to happen by inaction doesn't deserve to be called culture.   I better stop cause my head wants to explode whenever I think about it.

OK, one more thing.  Sarah Palin's baptising terrorists with waterboarding literally made my stomach hurt.  I think most of us agree she is a horrible creature,  and this was uniformly denounced in the media (except Fox), but there are still a significant amount of morons that clapped at this rhetoric.  And I would bet that 99.9% of those that did call themselves Christians.  Sorry for the above denunciation Islam, Christians are capable of the same horrible thoughts.  I seethe when I hear Ted Cruz, Sean Hannity, Rush et al blame all your problems on Obama and it makes me that much sadder to realize that a sizeable chunk of Americans buy into it.  Do I defend Obama on everything...hardly.  It's this constant refrain that everything he does is the opposite of the right thing, and that any problem on the planet is a conspiracy by him/caused by his ineffectualness just astounds.  It makes dialogue about compromise and solutions impossible.  The Dems are hardly innocent bystanders here, but I am a person that identified myself as Republican from as early as I can remember.  Have been binge watching The Newsroom, and whatever your feelings are on Aaron Sorkin, there was a passage at the end of an episode by Will McAvoy that said what I have been thinking better than I could.  When he was asked if he calls himself a Republican so that he can rail on them ,his reply was, “No, I call myself a Republican because I am one. I believe in market solutions and I believe in common sense realities and necessity to defend itself against a dangerous world. The problem is now I have to be homophobic. I have to count the number of times people go to church. I have to deny facts and think scientific research is a long con. I have to think poor people are getting a sweet ride. And I have to have such a stunning inferiority complex that I fear education and intellect in the 21st Century. Most of all, the biggest new requirement-–the only requirement-–is that I have to hate Democrats.”

I fully intended on going into detail about this list of 100 things that indicate you've been in Taiwan too long.   but got sidetracked obviously.  Will take it up next week.