Perhaps because it’s the end of summer, people’s moods are less volatile, and there seem to be fewer social events in the news. So, the most talked-about news this week is actually about the Taipei Metro’s “Angel EasyCard” and “Devil EasyCard”—Yui Hatano.
Let’s start with a few keywords to give you a basic understanding. The key figures in this incident are Yui Hatano, Ko Wen-je, Taipei EasyCard Corporation, Taipei Metro Corporation, and Mr. Tai, who is the chairman of the EasyCard Corporation. (Please forgive me, I genuinely can’t remember Mr. Dai’s name; only Dai Ligang keeps popping into my head, but he’s a weather anchor, not the chairman of the EasyCard Corporation.)
I believe everyone knows more about the origins of the “Angel EasyCard” and “Devil EasyCard” than I do, so I’ll start with the final result.
Following Mayor Ko Wen-je’s announcement that public sales were prohibited, the Taipei EasyCard Corporation adopted a telephone pre-order system, resulting in 15,000 EasyCards being sold out in just four hours late at night.
This makes it unclear whether Ko Wen-je is the mayor of Taipei, or whether Mr. Dai is in charge.
Because publicly announcing online and ordering by phone were, in the eyes of Ko Wen-je and Mr. Dai, not considered public sales! This is probably a bizarre phenomenon only seen in Taiwanese politics.
We originally thought that Ko Wen-je, as mayor, would separate public and private matters and apply the appropriate methods, but when his subordinates have problems, he always passively covers them up.
For example, the deaths and injuries of Chou Li-liang in the Taichung MRT construction accident, and Hung Chih-kun in the leaked official documents incident, have both been cited as examples of this problem.
My statement that I’m being passive is also deliberate. Just look at Ko Wen-je’s positive assessment of other civil servants who are “not his own”—you’ll see the difference in how he treats those who aren’t his “own people.”
Now let’s look back at the key role the EasyCard played in this incident; it highlights the most fundamental problem with what everyone calls “procedural justice.”
Compared to politicians manipulating loopholes in the rules, a group of people who constantly shout about justice but do things that violate it are actually more repulsive to me.
Politicians manipulating the rules, at least anyone with a brain can do it—it’s a two-way street. But those who shout about justice focus on labeling you, not even giving you a chance to intervene in the rules.
If you still want to stand up and resist, this group will find ways to forcibly impose social pressure on you; this method is more effective than politicians’, but also more insidious.
Because ordinary people, when bullied by politicians, can retaliate through administrative mechanisms. But when faced with these labeling individuals, you can only compete with them for the power of discourse, which is a relatively weak position for ordinary people.
If the EasyCard were a typical corporate image card, then even if they wanted to use pornographic films as covers, or even use genitalia as designs, as long as it complies with domestic rating regulations, no one would have any say.
The problem is that the EasyCard is not just a typical corporate membership card; the value it represents is the overall image of public transportation on the island of Taiwan, and that’s a positive asset accumulated over decades by successive mayors and all citizens of the Republic of China.
And the result?
An EasyCard with a long-standing positive reputation has been reduced by the EasyCard Corporation to the same level as a betel nut box sold by a betel nut vendor on the street.
Ultimately, who is Yui Hatano?
This editor also watches porn, but has never carefully remembered the identities of the actors. Even if you’re very familiar with porn, love porn, or even like my friend who wants to audition for porn actor roles, it doesn’t mean the whole world has to be like you.
A group of netizens who shout about democracy, freedom, fairness, and equality, yet they always do things that only authoritarian communist countries would do. Then, if someone’s values differ from yours, you’re quick to point fingers and accuse them of being hypocritical and pretentious. This is pretty much the most absurd and laughable kind of person.
Those who shout about hypocrisy are the ones truly using hypocrisy to disguise themselves. Hypocrites talking about hypocrisy is utterly ridiculous.
I suggest everyone try to stop judging others’ opinions from a hypocritical perspective. Instead, use your brain more to think about whether the cause of each event is legitimate. If everyone could do things as correctly as possible from the beginning, Taiwan would have surpassed the UK and the US long ago. ** In fact, many people in Taiwanese society, including university scholars and professors, and even ordinary people, have steered this incident towards the false issues of “work equality” or “**sexual equality**.”
Some have even made statements like, “How obscene is the Yui Hatano EasyCard?”—reflecting a complete distortion of values and perspectives.**
The issue is never with Yui Hatano as an individual, but rather with the meaning behind her work, and what value that meaning holds for Taipei City!
These people fail to consider the most fundamental questions:** Was it worthwhile for the Taipei EasyCard Company to choose an actress who has no real value to Taiwan, has made no outstanding contributions to Taiwan, is unknown to many, and has filmed numerous adult films in Japan, to represent Taipei City’s image? Does it have any positive value for Taipei City’s image? **And what is the reason for insisting on issuing Angel and Devil cards?** ** In fact, this issue doesn’t need much discussion. Anyone who sticks to the facts and doesn’t just look at the surface (like saying Yui Hatano is beautiful, or that being an adult film actress is a profession) can see that the fact that EasyCard Corporation hired Yui Hatano to endorse EasyCard and that the Taipei City government behind it is a ridiculous farce.
Even the Japanese government prohibits using the adult film industry to endorse public facilities, yet Taipei City has become the city most enthusiastic about the adult film industry. Isn’t that laughable?
I think the next step for Taipei City and Ko Wen-je might be to listen to the advice of his professional advisors and readily open up sex-themed zones.
** (Addendum: Mr. C, you don’t need to rush to label me as discriminatory, because the real discriminator is you. I was clearly discussing the legality of the forum itself, but you were only thinking about the professional value of sex workers.)
The editor of this internal news site would like to take this opportunity to ask Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, what kind of city is Taipei in your mind?
Additional note: The editor of this internal news site finally Googled the chairman of EasyCard Corporation’s name. It turns out his name is “Dai Chi-chuan”, although I think I’ll probably only remember Dai Li-kang for a while.