At the end of December 2016, both Taiwan and the world were shaken to the core, when images appeared in the local press and online, depicting students parading in Nazi uniforms proudly raising their hands in salute, an act banned in most countries of the world. Mail Online reported:
A school in Taiwan has been condemned after students waved Nazi flags and shouted ‘Sieg Heil’ as teachers stood by saluting them. The images were taken at Hsinchu Kuang Fu High School in Western Taiwan where a history teacher can be seen dressed as Adolf Hitler.
Some students were photographed inside a makeshift cardboard tank, while a history teacher stood still outside, dressed as Fuhrer.
High School Parade – Taiwan Style
A homeroom instructor suggested that a theme of the parade should be Arabic culture, but after two rounds of voting, it was decided ‘to go with Adolf Hitler’. One of the main reasons: some students said that they could easily convert their school uniforms by just making several minor changes.
Numerous students who were questioned declared that ‘Hitler and Nazis being responsible for millions of deaths’ never even crossed their minds.
Surprised? Taiwan was recently ranked the ‘third most ignorant nation’ (really, a ‘nation’?) in an ‘ignorance index survey’ (the Ipsos MORI Perils of Perception Survey), conducted by a UK-based market research company.
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In Taiwan, a bizarre lack of understanding of the past and the present is not…