Instead of black or white, why not learn to survive in gray?

Taiwan hasn't been peaceful in the past few weeks. We are not stranger to political power struggles between various parties, corruption scandals and inefficient government, but we have democracy to be thankful for. The recent uproar has resulted in polarizing views in which some compare the opposing side as the "Red Guards" in the Chinese Cultural Revolution - a bunch of easily manipulated young people to uphold an absolute and uncompromising political view that deem everyone who holds a different view the hated enemy. How ironic it is, that these folks claim to be speaking for the very system that they are destroying.

However what really bothers me deeply is the amount of blind hatred that has consumed them. We all hold different views about the same things. Even the members of a religion have varying views on what the religion mean to the individual. In the movie American Hustle, the con man tells the Federal Agent that this world is "fucking gray". That's exactly the point that has been missed, that there is no such thing as black and white.

So why insist on this black or white? Why try to add more white into a pot of gray paint? It's pointless! The folks who like to claim that they stand with the side of the justice are often the ones violating this very justice. It's much easier to hold an absolute view because it makes it easier to be passionate about it. Think the Nazis and the Japanese Imperial Army of the second world war. People were made to believe that there is no alternative in allowing differences to exist, hence the war. However it was all nothing but a lie of the ones in power to satisfy his own insecurity. "Fuck the Government", anti-police views, campaigns that attacks the individuals are all maneuvers to convince the others to sympathize with the one who defines himself as the victim. These are, however, the stereotypical political moves that people are too smart to identify. Wisdom or not, instead of elimination, why not figure a way to live in the gray?

What is absolute is that we are already in an era of globalization. Nations find the last bit of competitiveness by signing trade treaties with one another. It's really the solution that isn't a solution. However as a country that relies mostly on export and import, there is no other choice but to except this reality. So instead of trying to live in denial and violently fighting against it, polarizing the society, why not spend protest time on upgrading skills and competitiveness instead?

Opportunities are fought and respect is earned. I still believe in the original "American Dream" where one has equal right to work hard for his dream, regardless of his origin. I really hope that our new Taiwanese dream doesn't become one that makes people think they deserve certain welfare because of their origin.

The irony is, the more time we spend on street protests, the higher the chance we will end up living in the streets. Perhaps it's good to practice before it happens for real.

Again, I am sick of living in a society sustained by hypocrisy. The only absolute value is what you believe yourself to be. There's no fighting against that.

I think it is very sad that I no longer feel comfortable sharing my thoughts with any person around me in real life, and that this has become my refuge.