Why We Should Protect Taiwan the Way We Protected Mbappé
I used to ask myself: would reunification really be so bad?
People on both sides of the strait share the same blood. Families were torn apart in 1949. Many who fled to Taiwan never saw their hometowns, or the relatives they left behind, ever again. Politics robbed them of that. Part of me thought reunification might heal that wound.
I changed my mind. Not because of any politician, but because of posts like this one:
"If I were China's decision-maker, I'd keep the island, not the people. Give them 5 days to leave by whatever means, and bomb everyone who stays to death. With China's industrial capacity, we can fire a million rockets a day. Come back in a month and see which Ultraman is still alive."
Read it again. 23 million people, five days to abandon their homes, and everyone left behind dies. Written like a joke, with a cartoon reference at the end.
They call it "reunification." But you cannot claim to love a people while planning to bomb them off their own land. That isn't reunification. It's ethnic cleansing, said out loud.
And the casualness is the most frightening part. Mao once spoke of a war in which half of mankind might die as if it were a statistic. Decades later, his admirers talk about human lives exactly the same way.
Now think about Mbappé. A week ago most Chinese netizens barely knew his name. Then he made one joke about a meme. Within days he faced a flood of online abuse, lost his sponsors, had his matches pulled from state TV, and was pressured into apologizing in three languages. Most people watching thought: this is too much. No one should be treated like this.
Mbappé went through it for a few days. Taiwan has lived with it for decades: daily threats, military drills on its doorstep, its people dehumanized online, its friends punished economically. I can't imagine what that feels like.
And the playbook doesn't stop at borders. Bully, threaten, punish economically, demand submission. If we stay silent when it's used on Mbappé and on Taiwan, we have already accepted that it can be used on us.
When someone openly fantasizes about bombing every person who disagrees, that is no longer a political opinion. It's a call for mass murder of civilians.
Standing with Taiwan isn't anti-China. It's refusing to accept that 23 million people can be erased because a government wants their land.
International soccer star @KMbappe should not apologize for calling Mao Zedong a dictator. Mao was a dictator, and by orders of magnitude, he did more harm to the Chinese people than a comment from a soccer player ever could. Mao was the leader of the CCP for decades and his dictatorship and disastrous policies killed tens of millions of Chinese people in the Cultural Revolution, the Great Famine, and other atrocities. Involved in the Party from its first national meeting in 1921, Mao is the principal historical figure for a Party that continues his practices of oppression and ideological purges. For decades, the CCP has denied the Chinese people basic human rights including freedom of expression and freedom of religion. These are rights enjoyed by Mbappe and millions of people around the world and Mbappe should exercise this opportunity to tell the horrific truth about Mao’s dictatorship.
The real disgrace in this news story is the companies rushing to apologize so they can continue to do business in China. The CCP is the largest oppressor of the Chinese people and their human rights, and those businesses that work with the CCP help normalize its crushing brutality. https://t.co/HOjVTW1q7F
Ils sont où les défenseurs de la liberté d'expression si chère à la France ???
Ils sont où les supporters de l'équipe de France ??
Mbappé c'est seulement quand il y'a le Mondial où la Coupe d'Europe ?
Ce pays est-il si ingrat que ça ? ?
Pour protéger son club et son championnat il s'est exécusé mais qui le soutien lui ?
Aujourd'hui c'est lui qui a besoin de se sentir porté et soutenu !!
Alors
#StandWithMbappé
#StandWithMbappe
#TousAvecKylianMbappe
Aujourd’hui, je lance le mouvement #TousAvecKylianMbappe.
Peu importe les opinions, personne ne mérite l’acharnement et l’injustice.
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