Just Saying | When did Hong Kong’s youth lose their basic humanity?
Yonden Lhatoo is appalled by the lack of empathy for others among the city’s university students, as illustrated by the vile attack on the No 2 education official over her son’s suicide
What happened to Hong Kong’s youth? Age, naivety, idealism, rebelliousness or other standard factors aside, how did they end up losing that most basic and essential value – empathy for a fellow human being?
I have devoted much of this column space in the past to trying to understand and explain what is bothering our unhappy young people, where they are coming from, and what drives them to some of the drastic behaviour – most of it politically influenced – we have seen these last few years.
But try as I might, I can think of no justification for the vile conduct of the youngsters who put up a message, 12 sheets of A4 paper long, on the so-called “democracy wall” of notice boards at the Education University campus, attacking the city’s No 2 education official.
The taunting message congratulated Undersecretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin for the loss of her 25-year-old son, who jumped to his death from a residential tower in Yau Ma Tei.
“The remarks are entirely disrespectful, against the moral values of society and cold-blooded,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said.