Politics and elections around the world this year does seem wackier than usual. Or is that cause I’m paying more attention this year. Anyway, wonder what’ll happen later this year when the US elections roll around.

most of us in Taiwan thought that it’s fake.

Who is “most of us?” Did you take a poll?

The government first announced that he was hit by fireworks… which was odd. probably an extreme attempt at calming fears.

I don’t think it’s just coincidence that elections are wackier these days. It’s a wacky-ass world.

there’s an x-ray of him with the bullet lodged in his clothing. weird, that it could end up in his clothing…?

ugh id ont know about this one. Too precise in timing in my opinion.

chris – you have mistyped your website URL many times. why even type it in if it has errors in it? :)

do people really think this is some sort of elaborate hoax? sounds unlikely.

ahhh. i see now why “mmm” commented about it being faked. political affiliation is clear! from the ny times article:

‘Some supporters of the Nationalist Party, speaking on television call-in shows, in Internet chat rooms and in street interviews, raised the possibility that the incident was arranged in advance to generate a last-minute sympathy vote for Mr. Chen. Several people said the event reminded them of a “ku rou ji,” an ancient Chinese term for a self-inflicted wound intended to trick a foe.’

Is the majority of Taiwanese still very much for separation from the mainland or have the threats from China and the warnings from the US (Bush meddling where he shouldn’t) finally hit home? Either way, I think it’s hard to say whether the incident was staged or not, at least at this moment.

let’s PLEASE not get into this issue here on my site. it brings hateful people.

Some interesting links about Taiwan’s history. As always, read everything with a grain of salt. Try to have healthy skepticism toward all forms of media. :)

http://www.taiwandc.org/hst-1624.htm
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb.....aiwan.html

Chris isn’t typing his URL every time he comments, the URL field is auto-filled with his typo every time he calls up a comment window.

but on march 11, he posted it as: http://akuma.dyhamiqvision.com/

I suppose the latest typo has a greater chance of being reproduced in the next comment. :)

Yeah, much of Natalie’s family is over there right now to vote, so we were a bit worried when we heard about Pres. Chen last night.

BTW, to the naysayers, this looks like a pretty real wound to me:

Given that the wound is real, then, we have to conclude that this was a true attempt on Chen’s life (although this wasn’t the best effort at assassination I’ve ever seen, given that the weapons used were “homemade” according to the NYT), so any theories that this was “faked” in an attempt to get a sympathy vote can be summarily dismissed. Arranging for one’s self to be shot in public is far too risky for any sane human being to attempt for the sake of getting a sympathy vote.

i think the most appropriate response to the incident would be to wish the president and vice president well…and pray for their well being. to say it was staged is very poor taste (to say the least). would someone risk his life? if you’re going to stage something, at least pick a better time to do it…in a moving car? and if they were going to stage it, they should have really played their cards right in the aftermath. instead, Chen came out and acted very calm and cool to calm people’s fear (and maintain order in taiwan).

this whole assasination attemp seemed so fake, maybe the pan green party is just trying to earn sympathy votes from its people.

you got evidence for that? i thought not.

this is why i do not want to discuss Taiwan on my site. any further comments like that will be deleted.

Any further comments, except from me, of course. :)

Here’s an article by the BBC about the accusations of the shooting being faked:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asi.....560355.stm