tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post432600535338573958..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: Daily Links, Sept 10, 2012Michael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-55487564809621203942012-09-10T22:10:34.441+08:002012-09-10T22:10:34.441+08:00"Re those thugs from the Chinese consulate pr..."Re those thugs from the Chinese consulate pressuring the Oregon town to have a mural removed; here are Japanese consular officials pressuring a town to have a comfort women monument removed."<br /><br />There is a crucial difference between the two cases. China was asking the government to force someone to remove the mural from their business's property. Japan was asking the government to remove the monument from the government's property. <br /><br />In a democracy, the former request should be impossible to fulfill and is repugnant regardless of the content of the mural - whether the mural was celebrating Ghandi and MLK or Stalin and Che. People have rights.<br /><br />But the appropriateness of the Japanese request depends on the message of the monument. It is entirely right for the government to decide what monuments it will erect and what monuments it will remove. Japan was asking the government to do something that is entirely within the proper scope of the government's power.<br /><br />It's similar the difference between the government deciding what is appropriate criterion for its own hiring, firing, selling and purchasing, and the government deciding for everyone else what appropriate criterion is for hiring, firing, selling, and purchasing.Readinnoreply@blogger.com