Friend Poll
Corbett | March 24, 2004 2:08 AM
I've been randomly asking my Chinese friends the following simple question: "Do you think it was fake or not?"
Results:
Chinese friend 1 (Tech CEO): "Oh, come on, this makes me sick. I'm disgusted. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life. Maybe it's time to move to China."
Chinese friend 2 (Record executive): "C'mon, we all know it's fake. It's too obvious. What can you expect from Chen? That's the kind of person he is."
Chinese friend 3 (Design company owner): "Yeah, right. I guess that's just the way it is. It's pretty amazing that Chen could turn exactly the right way at exactly the right time, and the bullet ends up in his pocket after scratching the knee of Lu. Pretty amazing."
Chinese friend 4 (Tech company CEO): "Fake! It's all just a big joke. Ridiculous. Stupid!"
Chinese friend 5 (TV news anchor): "It is pretty strange isn't it? All these weird loose ends. Nothing seems to fit together very well."
Chinese friend 6 (Media executive): "Unbelievable. I can't believe I came back from China to vote in this joke election."
Chinese friend 7 (German car company staff): "I want to go get a gun, walk in front of Chen's face and shoot myself twice and die."
Chinese friend 8 (Artist manager): "Impossible! This is so incredibly stupid. I'm going down to the protest and scream."
Chinese friend 9 (Movie executive): "What a joke. Who's he trying to kid? It's too hard to believe isn't it?"
Chinese friend 10 (Media executive) "It just makes me feel so sad. I can't even eat when I go home to see my parents. None of us have an appetite. Another four years of this idiot. Oh my god..."
Chinese friend 11 (Surgeon) "No doubt, he was definitely shot. I'm a doctor, and there's obviously a wound. The head of the department from my school (Taiwan University) was the surgeon. The circumstances behind why and how he was shot - no one knows yet, we just have to wait. That's a bit unusual.
Chinese friend 12 (Cosmetics company CEO) "To answer your question, definitely fake. What do you foreigners think?"
Chinese friend 13 (Telecom executive) "Don't know. There's not enough evidence. Usually in this kind of event, the police are quick to gather evidence. It's strange that there's no evidence yet. If after a while there's still no evidence, I'll have some doubts."
Chinese friend 14 (China TV personality and model) "I came back from China for this election. I'm more concerned about my parents. They are both so sad and upset. Blue or Green, they all play by the same game rules. It's not being handled very well either way."
Chinese friend 15 (VC and marketing executive) "That's a good question. My gut feeling tells me it's fake - a little over 50% chance. Either way, if it was or not, the whole way Chen communicated and handled the situation is a manipulation. It was manipulated."
Chinese friend 16 (Entertainment reporter) "Fake. It was just a way to make sure he could get into office."
Chinese friend 17 (Movie company President) "It's real. Not really much to say there. Who would play with their own life? He's a victim, and now we have to find the shooter. Have you seen the movie Wag the Dog? Sometimes the conspiracy theory works, sometimes it doesn't. How can the shooter be so accurate, as to hit the window, but only graze the President? Taiwanese democratic behavior is suspicion. It's not right to automatically brand someone guilty until proven innocent. Isn't the judicial system based on 'innocent until proven guilty?' Whatever the situation, what happened, and the circumstances behind it need evidence first before assuming manipulation or wrong doing."
Chinese friend 18 (TV drama actor) "Fake. Too many questions surrounding it."
Chinese friend 19 (Investment Banker) "I don't really care. I don't watch TV, so I'm not influenced by the media at all. I only care whether or not it will affect my investment return."
Chinese friend 20 (Insurance company manager) "Their was a shot, and yes, there's a gunshot wound, but it's all acting. That was all staged. I mean there's four things that are just too weird. 1) The timing - It happens after the stock market closes, 2) The security - They didn't seal off the area at all, 3) the protocol - this is a serious event, for chrissakes the President gets shot, and it's handled only as a standard police case. There's no immediate expert investigation, or a rush to send it up to the highest law to find out what happened. 4) Money - they even hand out money to the people around the President!"
Chinese friend 21 (Motorcycle cop) "I don't know. I don't give a shit. Whoever gets elected is all the same. Just as long as the boss keep paying my salary."
Category: Mr. Asia
Comments (15)
Comments
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Scott Sommers
March 24, 2004 4:58 PM
You leave the impression that the incident was so clearly a fraud no one could believe it. I wonder how many of the people you asked have handled firearms. Do any of your friends live in Taiwan? In case you missed this fact, millions of people voted for President Chen the next day. Surely these comments could have reflected the opinions of at least one of them. Or perhaps that's just the kind of people you know.
corbett
March 24, 2004 6:01 PM
Scott, the kind of people I know are just the people I happen to know or work with. They live either in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, China, or Hong Kong. All the males have handled firearms extensively in the military.
I'm just going down the list in my mobile phone, and the occasional friend I run into, and ask one simple ungarnished question. I'm not asking them who they voted for, or if the election was fair, or should there be a recount, etc. I'm just asking them, "Do you think it was fake or not?"
I'll keep asking until I get to 50 people.
Scott
March 24, 2004 9:14 PM
I appreciate your answer. But I am still left wondering why this is the case. Why is it that you don't seem to know even one of the millions of people who voted for President Chen. I know many. All of them are senior officers in high-tech companies, medical doctors, or teachers at national. universities.
Let me leave you with a quote from a close Taiwanese friend who is the Taiwan distributor for a major American high-tech firm. Here he is replying to my mail about Chen's victory.
"You are right. I won't have to migrate to another country right now. But I hate to endure Lien and Soong's sportsmanship for a long time. God bless Taiwan."
corbett
March 24, 2004 9:34 PM
Beats me why this is the case. Out of the list above, at least 4or 5 I know definitely voted for Chen. Go figure. You're more than welcome to ask your friends the same question, and I'd be happy to post their responses here to diversify my off the cuff poll.
Maoman
March 24, 2004 10:42 PM
Yeah, it seems to me that you need to diversify your polling sample. I didn't hear any kvetching about the shooting from anyone until it was apparent that the blues had lost.
The only "truth" that I can ascertain is that Taiwanese politicians of all poltical stripes are behaving like a bunch of boors.
Southpaw
March 25, 2004 1:48 AM
Not everyone in Taiwan is a CEO! It might be an idea to poll some other poeple; try a few taxi drivers for a little variety.
corbett
March 25, 2004 3:45 AM
good point. On an interesting side note...today, as most of my phone time was in taxis between meetings asking friends this question, when I finished my phone calls, three different taxi drivers turned around and said, "I think it was fake. That's my opinion." But since they weren't in my sample group, I didn't include their opinion...
Scott
March 25, 2004 6:49 AM
You must have a KMT magnet in your pocket. How is it that other foreigners know Taiwanese who show more sympathy? Millions of people voted for President Chen the very next day. Surely you should be able to find at least one of them.
Michael Le Houllier
March 25, 2004 9:28 AM
Would you get into a car and have me take a couple of shots at you? Didn't think so.
Scott Sommers
March 25, 2004 12:31 PM
This raises a very real question; did someone shoot at President Chen? Of course they did. The photo used by CNN and viewed around the world
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/03/23/chen.police.reut/index.html
clearly shows a bullet hole in the jeep window. There has NEVER been indication that the hole was there before President Chen was shot or that it was caused by something other than a bullet. So then what caused it? Of course, someone shot at President Chen. What happened to the bullet, I can not say. I can say that there is no marksman on Earth with the skill to shoot through a windshield with accuracy. Does anyone really believe that the President and Vice-president of Taiwan sat in a car while someone fired live ammunition at them?
Eric
March 26, 2004 7:57 PM
I'm just a random surfer who happened onto this site. Scott, cut back on the 'roids man, you are WAY too hostile. Corbett's said that it's just a poll of his friends, and that 4 or 5 of them voted for Chen. It's not supposed to be scientific and so what if it's unbalanced? Was he supposed to find a 50/50 split or something? Does this poll's opinions prove anything? Omigosh, Corbett asked 10 friends and they thought the shooting was fake so that proves it! You should do your own poll or start your own blog if you hate it so much.
fee
March 27, 2004 12:01 AM
I totally agree with Eric's comments. Scott, please calm down. Take it easy, please. Corbett, thanks for being honest and open and posting your experiences here.
corbett
March 28, 2004 1:03 PM
I've getting kind of busy, and asking 33 more people is kind of tough. If you guys could ask your friends the same question, and let me know their answers, that'd be really cool. I could add them to the list.
Scott Sommers
March 29, 2004 7:17 PM
Corbett,
You seem to have misunderstood what concerns me. The problem is that the way you phrase your argument you make it seem as though the evidence has caused you to oppose President Chen and the DPP¡¦s election. But the evidence you cite has been discredited. It doesn¡¦t appear that this fact has any relationship to your opinion, and I am left feeling you would repeat anything negative about the election whether or not you even believed it. If I am correct that you don¡¦t trust the DPP to represent the entire population of Taiwan, then you and I probably have room for agreement. That's fine, but I can't escape the feeling that your choice of evidence is based on your distrust of the DPP -- and not the other way around.
Regardless, thank you for your commitment to freedom of speech.
corbett
March 29, 2004 8:14 PM
Scott, the only phrase I wrote is: "I've been randomly asking my Chinese friends the following simple question: "Do you think it was fake or not?"
The rest are quotes from Chinese friends I know or bump into. If by listing the opinions of a small sampling of random friends I know is "phrasing my argument to make it seem the evidence has caused me to oppose President Chen and the DPP's election," then please share your psychedelic drugs with me -- or offer some comments from your circle of friends. I have not added my personal opinion here because I think the opinions od these people are more real and interesting since it is their democracy, not mine.