Public Eye | Clowns belong in a circus, not a democracy

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. No, we are not talking about the pan-democrats. When the going gets tough, they run around like headless chickens. For decades they have demanded democracy. So what happens when the time arrives for hard decisions? They are leaderless and rudderless. The comical underbelly of the democracy movement has been exposed. This is not the crusading movement under one flag we have been led to believe. This is not the righteous force that will lead us to a glorious democratic future. This is a collection of clowns who told us for decades they wanted democracy, but when the crunch time came they did not know what they wanted. They split into different factions, each with its own spin on "true" democracy. Enough of their squabbling nonsense. Let's send them all to where they belong - the circus.

What parents tell their children is none of our business. If parents tell their children to go out and break the law, it is still none of our business. But if the children break the law, they must face the full force of the law. Parents need to understand that. What teachers teach the children is our business as a community. It is also the business of parents. If teachers teach children to break the law, they must face the consequences. What Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim tells teachers and parents is our business as a community. We pay his salary. He has no business preaching the government's political position to us. But was he actually doing that when he warned - or was it advised - teachers and parents against encouraging pupils to join the Occupy Central civil disobedience campaign? The government is politically opposed to Occupy. But civil disobedience involves breaking the law. Was Ng's warning political or was he simply warning against breaking the law? Some parents and teachers' groups and the democracy camp have accused him of causing white terror. White terror? Do they even know what that means? They say pupils should be allowed to think independently, without government interference. That is as it should be. But when they decide to break the law as part of their independent thinking, surely it is the responsibility of parents, teachers and even the government to knock some sense into them.