Get your act together, fools

On PBS the other day, I saw part of a documentary on the creation of the state of Israel. I didn't know this, but apparently, the success of the creation of the Jewish State was helped largely by Jewish Americans holding fund raisers, raising awareness, and even going to Israel against British law to prepare for what they felt was an impending war with the neighboring Arab Nations. Taiwan is not in quite the same situation. Yes, there are plenty of successful and influential Taiwanese Americans that are quite concerned about Taiwanese recognition as an independent nation on the world stage. However, the Taiwanese living in Taiwan are divided on the issue. Some believe they are Chinese, even though they've lived in Taiwan all their lives. Others believe they are Taiwanese, a separate nation already independent due to a functioning government. In addition, the Taiwanese in Taiwan often are dismissive to the Taiwanese in America saying, "What do you know? You don't live here anymore." In turn, the Taiwanese in America find that the Taiwanese in Taiwan have a skewed view due to the government controlled media. From personal anecdotes from friends that go back for the summer or for a stint to live, many Taiwanese youth don't care much about the issue either, unlike the Taiwanese American youth, who are very well aware of the political issues facing Taiwan. The exception is when I meet them outside of Taiwan when traveling. Since they're comparatively rare in the world, I'm always surprised when I meet one, and they always seem somewhat relieved. It seems that many Taiwanese people don't really have a sense of being Taiwanese until they leave Taiwan and see the discrepancy between how they view themselves and how the world views them. If Taiwanese American youth have had to struggle with their identity between being Taiwanese and American, the youth in Taiwan still don't have much sense of their identity in Taiwan and might not even be aware that there's an issue. American politics in the last eight years has been fairly divisive between Democrats and the Republicans, but I have no doubt that every American, regardless of party, unites together against a common cause. I'm not so sure about the Taiwanese in Taiwan. They don't seem to have a sense of themselves, nor a sense of urgency. On the odd chance that China invades, I'm not so sure a Taiwanese neighbor will not stand idly by to watch another get hauled away. Not every democratic citizen has to be heavily involved in politics. But they should at least be aware of the issues. Taiwanese people in Taiwan need to get their act together and start working with each other and expatriates towards common goals and develop their culture, instead of bickering along party lines outside of election time. There's no easier victory than where your opponent defeats themselves. But what do I know. I live in America. Wil Chung is a programmer that is working at a startup. He likes writing on blank cards and the smell of cedar at night. Recently, he wrote a program to find all 27x word score words in the TWL scrabble dictionary.