The Age of Enlightenment

In a public poll on November 10th, by TVBS, which can be found on the English KMT website and seems to provide the numbers for KMT think tanks strategies, it is stated:

10. Do you support the protest sit-in being held by university students at Liberty Square at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall?

Support 38%
Do not support 50%
No opinion 11%

So far so good. But what is really worrying are the answers to the following question:

11. Do you know the purpose of the students in this protest sit-in?

Yes 63%
No 37%

Three days after the protest and at a time it was already reported in the media, a day before a man burned himself on liberty square 37% of the Taiwanese did not know the purpose of the protests.

What are the reasons?
One reason might be the media strategy which is mainly based on modern forms of communication that do not reach older or less educated people, like it is possible with printed newspapers that explaining the reasons and goals of the protests and can easily be distributed for example by trade union members in factories or in public transportation.

Another reason might be that the age of enlightenment, which made up the way for the foundation of the United States or the French revolution never really reached Taiwan. People do not think on their own, they are controlled, they want to be controlled.


What is enlightenment? This question was answered in 1784 by Immanuel Kant (in English translation):

Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! “Have courage to use your own understanding!” — that is the motto of enlightenment. (more)