Want China Times
Editorial
Date: 2015-08-27

Taiwan’s economy has been stagnant for years, with salary levels falling and most people

A man carrying a box of bottled water at a supermarket in Taipei, Aug. 11. (Photo/Wang Ying-hao)

believing our economic policy is to blame. Failure to loosen regulations, high tax rates, the small margin by which the Taiwan dollar has depreciated and the failure to sign a significant number of free trade agreements (FTAs) are all blamed for the country’s economic woes. These are just small problems, however. Taiwan’s real problem is that society has become more and more prone to knee-jerk reactions.

Two weeks ago, Typhoon Soudelor brought power shutdowns and contaminated the water supply as it swept through the country. This caused unprecedented scenes of scuffles in supermarkets over bottled water and acts of violence against technicians working to restore power to the over 4.4 million households that experienced blackouts.

This kind of behavior suggests society is getting more impetuous, with people reacting to things without thinking them over. People glean information from the internet without waiting for verification and act out in an impulsive way as a result. This kind of impulsiveness is behind many of the social movements that have gripped Taiwan in recent years.     [FULL  STORY]