Taking a step back to look at Hong Kong's situation, I sometimes find it difficult to accept what I see. But the reality is that we are in total social disarray. With intolerance breeding in every corner, and hatred generated on every issue, we are left with only feelings of defeat, irritation and anger. Political campaigns to push the people of Hong Kong further down that path are incapable of constructive leadership - the kind we need most.
Where has reason gone? Emotions have taken over; people are categorised and given unfair labels; society is split into uncompromising factions, polarised and forced into extremes. Neighbours are turned against each other. People with different opinions become enemies. Social discontent has ripped apart the fabric of society, with people gravitating to opposite poles. Social, historical, economic and personal issues become solely political. And, unsurprisingly, Beijing is always portrayed as conspiring over ways to control Hong Kong.
Sitting back and watching political scientist Ivan Choi Chi-keung spit out offensive, crass, disrespectful and unscholarly statements on a TV show at the weekend was disheartening. Accusing people with a different political affinity of being basically inferior to his 'political kind' is unforgivable. But his prejudicial comments seemed almost welcome. Interestingly, Hong Kong today has striking resemblances to Abraham Lincoln's America. Professor Choi, by effectively saying that those on the 'left' of the political spectrum are inferior, echoed Lincoln's opponents, who claimed the same of people of African origin. The United States, split over the slavery issue, was filled with dissatisfied countrymen, just as our streets are filled with the discontented. America's biggest threat was the risk of implosion; today, Hong Kong's political atmosphere is explosive and destructive. In Lincoln's America, people were denigrated based on their skin colour, race and heritage. In Hong Kong, people are vilified on the grounds of political affiliation.
Lincoln's America was consumed by a bloody civil war. Hong Kong will not see such bloodshed, but there seems to be no end to this social haemorrhaging.
In today's Hong Kong, people on the 'left' are held hostage; the prime suspects for every evil. We are cast as foul-mouthed, uneducated thieves. Posters bearing my name and photograph have been vandalised with outrageous inscriptions.
Hong Kong cannot be a place where hatred, abuse, malice, spite, inequality and prejudice are celebrated instead of being despised. Ridicule cannot become a substitute for sophistication and intelligence. Our rule of law cannot be replaced by social discrimination.