Can young people in Taiwan live a leisurely life? | New horizons of grassroots influence

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New vision of grassroots influence Wang Weixi

President-elect Lai Ching-te attended a meeting held by the Democratic Progressive Party yesterday“Investing in future generations”At the Youth Forum, he emphasized that after taking office, he will create a country where young people can “live leisurely.” This is what he quoted from the literary writer Ye Shitao: “Tainan is a place suitable for people to dream, work, fall in love, get married, and live leisurely.” He wants to lead Taiwan to a broad road of educational innovation and young people’s physical and mental health.

This is of course a glorified promise by the DPP to win back the votes of young people, but look at the common plight of young people today: low salary, unable to afford a house, afraid to get married, afraid to have children… How can they live a leisurely life?

This reminds me of the promotional short film “On the Road” that Lai Ching-te filmed before the election. It imitates the American road movie method. President Tsai Ing-wen drives the car and takes the presidential candidate Lai Ching-de on the road. Midway, he hands over the baton to Lai Ching-de and replaces him. Driving Xiao Meiqin towards the future.

After the film was released, the Democratic Progressive Party believed that it was a success and that if the party continued to be in power, it would be able to lead the people of Taiwan to a better future. It was even translated into multiple languages ​​​​and broadcast overseas.

The producers and producers of this film may be right to imitate the techniques of American road movies, but by naming it “On the Road”, they don’t know that the DPP and its producers and producers of the short film know what the original work wants to express after the election. What is the content?

Picture taken from: (FB Lai Qingde)

“On the Road” is a novel published in 1957 by Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), an American novelist and poet during the so-called Beat Generation. Although it is a famous literary novel, the content is about the protagonist in the book pursuing individuality, hitching or driving with several young men and women, and crossing the American continent several times. Along the way, they drank excessively and talked about Eastern Zen Buddhism. When he got tired of walking, he blocked roads and stopped cars, stayed overnight in villages, wandered from New York to San Francisco, and finally dispersed. Although the book shows the mountains, rivers, plains, deserts, and towns on the vast land of the United States, it also shows the confusion of young people about their own future during the hippie era in the United States, and the idea of ​​”new illusions” that criticized all existing social customs. . This novel caused an uproar in public opinion as soon as it came out. It is recognized as a representative work of the hippie movement in the 1960s and can be regarded as the origin of American road literature. It was later adapted into a movie in 2012 with the title “The Bohemian Generation”, which is derived from the film’s title. This shows how dissolute and nihilistic the young people were at that time.

Although Jack Kerouac had writing talent and his works were popular among young people at that time, critics did not give him much praise. In fact, Kerouac himself also died of vomiting blood due to esophageal varices due to liver cirrhosis at the age of 47 due to smoking marijuana and drinking too much when he was young.

Therefore, “On the Road” actually reflects young people’s confusion about their own future and their disappointment in the country and society, and they indulge themselves to numb their body and mind.

Think about it, under the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party, aren’t Taiwan’s current young people also as disappointed and helpless as they were during the “On the Road” era?

The problems of high housing prices, low wages, the fear of getting married, and the fear of having children have always been unsolved. However, the government allows high-ranking officials to engage in corruption, corruption, deception, and sexual affairs. How can they stand it? Therefore, some people also call today’s young people in Taiwan a generation of emptiness.

Can Lai Qingde solve the problems of young people now just by asking them to “live leisurely”? He is just like Tsai Ing-wen, a good speaker who can only speak literary and youthful words!