台灣人很保守嗎? Are Taiwanese Conservative?
Being a small island, Taiwan is short on natural resources; consequently, its people tend to be conservative and narrow-minded. The precariousness of its nation-state status also produces a certain anxiety that narrows the minds of the people. Marginalized by the world, most Taiwanese care more about scandals of local politicians or gossips about celebrities than major issues happening in the world. Sadly, even when gathering information through the mass media and the internet has become a piece of cake nowadays, people have not really developed the habit of updating on all sorts of knowledge; nor do they have a broad view of the world. As a result, Taiwan is lagging behind in its competitiveness, and Taipei can no longer measure up to Shanghai’s prosperity and globalization.
In recent years, many people may think that the younger generation of Taiwanese is becoming more open-minded. Well, people may seem to be gradually accepting homosexuals and it is certainly easy and fun to make friends with gay people, yet straight guys still laugh at sissy boys and call them insulting names. People might get along with their gay friends well, but how many would open-heartedly accept their children as homosexual? Last Saturday, Taipei city held its first ever gay parade and over a thousand gays turned up for the event. As they marched through the streets, many people stood on the side of the road and watched in curiosity or indifference. Newspapers still report parents being either enraged or broken-hearted upon learning that their children were gay. The atmosphere is far from friendly for homosexuals.
Some of today’s young people may claim to be bisexuals or homosexuals, but it makes one wonder whether they are doing it only because it is the cool thing to do these days. After all, they have not received much instruction on sexual matters from their parents or teachers, and have learned the most about sexuality from watching pornography. Their seeming open-mindedness may not be a progressive development at all, but provides a good opportunity for the commercialization of gay things.
Being a small island, Taiwan is short on natural resources; consequently, its people tend to be conservative and narrow-minded. The precariousness of its nation-state status also produces a certain anxiety that narrows the minds of the people. Marginalized by the world, most Taiwanese care more about scandals of local politicians or gossips about celebrities than major issues happening in the world. Sadly, even when gathering information through the mass media and the internet has become a piece of cake nowadays, people have not really developed the habit of updating on all sorts of knowledge; nor do they have a broad view of the world. As a result, Taiwan is lagging behind in its competitiveness, and Taipei can no longer measure up to Shanghai’s prosperity and globalization.
In recent years, many people may think that the younger generation of Taiwanese is becoming more open-minded. Well, people may seem to be gradually accepting homosexuals and it is certainly easy and fun to make friends with gay people, yet straight guys still laugh at sissy boys and call them insulting names. People might get along with their gay friends well, but how many would open-heartedly accept their children as homosexual? Last Saturday, Taipei city held its first ever gay parade and over a thousand gays turned up for the event. As they marched through the streets, many people stood on the side of the road and watched in curiosity or indifference. Newspapers still report parents being either enraged or broken-hearted upon learning that their children were gay. The atmosphere is far from friendly for homosexuals.
Some of today’s young people may claim to be bisexuals or homosexuals, but it makes one wonder whether they are doing it only because it is the cool thing to do these days. After all, they have not received much instruction on sexual matters from their parents or teachers, and have learned the most about sexuality from watching pornography. Their seeming open-mindedness may not be a progressive development at all, but provides a good opportunity for the commercialization of gay things.